Mod to Suedehead - Page 570

nice pic of 2 of the guys from the infamous photo shoot
http://z5.ifrm.com/5902/155/0/p1038875/2gerry_at_terry_Spencer_book_launch.jpg

I think Wetherspoons does that from time to time, special offers on guest ales, "beer festivals", etc. I remember reading somewhere about how Weatherspoons works, something like they buy the beer in huge quantities directly from the breweries, sell it cheap, sell it quick. Often the beer will be close to expiry and therefore cheap, but as they can shift it quickly, beer going stale is not a problem. Probably something a traditional tied local can't do. I bet Wetherspoons makes most of it's profits on food, rather than selling ale.

I remember in Bristol a heck of a lot of locals closing down, all tied pubs. There was one right near where I lived, seemed to have a new landlord every 6 months, they tried all sort of things, karaoke nights, live music, quiz nights, hanging flower baskets, they just couldn't make it work....problem was, there was a Weatherspoons, one minute walk away in the next street.

I'm sure there's something else that has caused the demise of the tradtional local. Years ago, the tradtional tied pub was owned by a brewery, now many tied houses are owned by pub companies like Punch. So the pub company is buying from the breweries, and the landlord has to buy the beer from the pub company, and try to make a profit. If he can't, it's the landlord that loses, not the pub company. There's now a middleman, that wasn't there before.
Edited by MikeDT - 8/8/12 at 5:04am

^ True. Many pub companies and brewers are also heavily involved in property development and see a large estate of pubs as opportunities to make profits by selling sites to be used for other purposes. They are not tied to the industry any more. Youngs is a perfect case in point. Taken over, brewing moved to Bedford; now Youngs no longer have any ties with beer making and their pubs are being converted to gastro pubs where they seek to make money from food.

Superb!

Agreed.

I used to do the group PR for what was the largest UK Pubco - I felt dirty.

Seeing people using their redundancy, inheritance, savings etc to take on their 'local', determined to make a go of it (did it never occur to them the pubco was selling because, even with huge resources behind them, they couldn't turn a failed pub around?) when I, and my colleagues, knew it would almost certainly be a boarded-up shell, within three years.

We'd press release local papers; advise them on how best to market the pub and offer help on theme nights, events etc... most didn't have a clue.
Many failed.

High rents, as you state, being tied to the pubco for stock and, ultimately even the smoking ban - no vested interest from me, I've never smoked and hate it but... - meant licensees were screwed at every turn... but Wetherspoons had a different formula, and it works.

There are now two near me; one I have been in twice and one, opened earlier this year, I haven't - and I like pubs. But not a 'Spoonies' boozer.

I like Manchester city centre pubs in the afternoons and midweek evenings, but not at weekends.

I enjoy 'country pubs' but someone has to drive - which sort of takes the fun out of it for me, so often, I stay local and use the 2-3 on my doorstep, which gets boring. Occasionally, I can't be arsed and open a couple of bottles of wine at home, slap on a film or sport and get hammered - but that's a bit sad.

FTR: back in '69, I had a p/t job in a local car wash and, with my Saturday wages - plus tips - I could go to a youth club on Saturday and Sunday (having got a few pints first (though I could not get served ) and have a bop.

Mild was still available (and popular) up here and, for a quid, you could get 10 - yes, '10' pints for a nicker... something's gone wrong.

Edit: I certainly couldn't drink 10 pints back then - and doubt I could manage it now... but it is only 10.15am.
Edited by Ed Vaughan - 8/9/12 at 2:16am

That's exactly what happened to my former local, I was referring to previously - The Hop Pole in East Bristol.


Note the "To Let" sign. Used to play on their darts team twenty years ago. That's what Punch Taverns can do. Was owned by Ushers of Trowbridge, which I think exists only by name now.

No Spoonies boozers where I am now though.. heh....and things are completely different here, as you can probably imagine. Basically the breweries are state owned, booze is cheap like the cigarettes, and most drinking establishments are family owned and seem to be very well frequented.. Think there is a smoking ban, but it's certainly not enforced AFAICT.

BTW my first legal pint was at the Ashley Arms, Ashley Down, Bristol, 50p for a pint of Toby in March 1981. Because it was cheap and didn't have a lot of money been a college student.

EDIT:-
just had a look on the Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ushers_of_Trowbridge
"Defunct 2004, purchased by Punch Taverns" ... well that's that.
Edited by MikeDT - 8/8/12 at 8:41am

Bass Weejuns-"Larson" and "Larkin",in Black(TK Maxx) - £50.Had them in larger Sizes as well(10 1/2 and 11).If anybody is interested.

P.S.Take a Shoe Horn,as they do not provide you with one-when trying on.

Excellent to see.

Thanks mate , the knowledge on here from the OG's is inspiring . I still get into John Simons when im up west and even got into Mikel Rude shirts of late . My coming of age was the post suedehead look of Toppers and Ruperts a London 'football ' look .. fringe n buckle loafers and interlace from Shoe Box in Bush market , South sea bubble patchwork crew necks were the bollocks and expensive for the era with brush denim Brutus jeans from over Petticoat lane ..  pure BUDGIE - surely a hero .

DA still goes to all the home games , think hes involved in one of the fans fanzines . Was the top boy along with the one armed man until the casual era started early 80's . 

Im afraid this is a familiar sight in Bristol these days, i grew up in soundwell, the crown on the main drag has been boarded up for years now, pretty sure that was an ushers pub. Toby bitter think i paid 80p for my first pint of that, went to a fund raiser a few yrs back in the legion in staple hill, and was suprised to see they still sold it, had about 8 pints and walked out as sober as when i walked in. Bristol & district darts league?

cool.. more info about the Terry Spencer book? cheers

Was East Bristol darts league, I know away matches were at pubs in places like, Redfield, Whitehall, Easton, St. Werburghs, Montpelier, played at the Inkerman in St. Pauls once. Only played for a couple of seasons, then I moved out of Bristol for a few years. Yeh, Toby bitter, us students were certainly sober at Brunel Tech College in the afternoons...haha. I'm quite sure most of the Ushers pubs met a similar fate, many of them now pulled down, with flats in their place. Think it was mostly Ushers boozers we played darts at, like the South Wales Railway near Stapleton Road station, long gone and is now flats or something.

In Soundwell there's two Wetherspoons fairly local, Kingswood Colliers and Staple Hill Oak. A small pubco tied boozer doesn't really have a chance. I'm sure the Crown in Soundwell was Ushers. I think the Turnpike is more of a restaurant than pub now.
Edited by MikeDT - 8/8/12 at 4:45pm

Great stuff!