It's funny that The Moon Under Water is a pub name used as part of the Wetherspoons chain considered their growing market share is akin to Big Brother being everywhere. I bet they trademarked that name with a wry smile.
I fear you attribute too much cultural and literary awareness to marketing men.
The thing is, Wetherspoon's don't get everything right but they did make some good changes to the way the pub trade was going when they first started. No ghastly piped music, low prices, no fruit machines, no jukeboxes, no TV sets. Big (in many cases, beautiful) old buildings that would have been flattened if sold to property developers - it wasn't all bad.
Sure, the food's crap but some of it's actually pretty good value crap and not everyone either wants, or can afford, to eat scratch-cooked food whenever they eat out.
We have a couple of gorgeous local pubs where we go for a sarnie and pint in the summer months. My fav is this one http://www.debeninns.co.uk/fox/ which is part of a smallish chain. Their main meals are quite expensive, but you can't beat sitting by the fish pond on a summers day with a drink in one hand and a BLT in the other.
You don't half like to generalize. Maybe it's just the pubs you go to.
One of our local Spoons isn't full of drunks, serves decent beer, mostly around the £2 to £2-30 mark for hand pump ales and bitters and their food is pretty good. The pub has got a 5* food hygiene rating and is supported by CAMRA.
And believe me, I've been to more pubs (including country pubs) than most people have had hot dinners, so I know a good pub when I see one.
Completely agree.
Wetherspoons are my first choice usually. My local is one, and so is my parents down London way - lovely pubs, great service, friendly staff and a lovely mixture of customers: young men, old men, groups of young women, OAP groups. 'Spoons have broken down barriers for many, specifically women.
And it's better than the pubs closing entirely and turned into flats.
Why can't they just stay as they are as locals drinkers pubs with atmosphere, warmth and character? A place where you can go to drink and have a good old knees up and have the craic with the landlord and the regulars. Surely there's still a demand for a friendly old locals pub. Why are breweries one by one killing off all our old traditional locals pubs and refurbing them out of all character and turning them into these bland, bare corporate looking places with no warmth or atmosphere?
My local corner boozer used to be the busiest pub in town till the brewery came along, ripped it apart out of all recognition and turned it onto one of these gastro pub/wine bar type places. It's no longer the same pub and apart from the outside it's now totally unrecognisable to the pub we once used to drink in. Before it was refurbished it had individuality, character, and warmth. You could go in anytime by yourself, pull up a barstool and strike up a chat with the landlord or one of the many local regulars. It was like an extention of my own home and a place to go to make friends, have a good time and a good drink and the odd live band every Thursday.
Now it's dead and the only time it gets anyone in is Friday and Saturday nights when the middle class winos go there for their £15 fish and chips.
Well if you know where you like, why go to places that annoy you with people you automatically judge based on their choice to also patronise the establishment? If they are snobs, then what are you doing there, snobwatching to bait them? (snip)
I don't go to these places if I can help it but the point I'm making is that so many pubs which me and my wife like to drink in. i.e old fashioned friendly locals boozers, are slowly being phased out by big chain breweries. All but one pub in our town is now a food pub or a trendy wine bar.
I don't for one second believe that the need for traditional real ale boozer/locals style pubs has disappeared otherwise how is it that the only pub left in our town which is still a real locals pub happens to be the busiest pub in town and if you're not in by 9pm on a weekend it's standing room only.
When we travel into Stoke on Trent at the weekend where they still have a good selection of decent old drinkers pubs the place is absolutely packed out with drinkers and locals. It's just a shame that we have to keep moving on every time another pub gets ruined by another ghastly refurb.
There are still some good old friendly locals boozers about where you can have a good old time and get a few down ya neck where you can have the banter with the regulars and the landlord and landlady treat you like a mate and know you by name and what you drink etc.but sadly we now have to go looking a bit further afield to find them. Good old fashioned drinkers pubs with real character and personal nik-naks and conversation pieces dotted about the place seem to be dying out as breweries can't help but keep wrecking good old traditional pubs in favour of turning them into gastro pubs and family friendly eating houses which all look and smell the same.
We've also discovered that locals boozer pubs tend to be a lot cheaper than foody pubs. Most pubs we drink in you can get 2 double vodka and cokes for about £6. Around where we live some pubs would charge you that price for just one double and coke. Over a night out drinking, those kind of prices soon mount up.
I don't go to these places if I can help it but the point I'm making is that so many pubs which me and my wife like to drink in. i.e old fashioned friendly locals boozers, are slowly being phased out by big chain breweries. All but one pub in our town is now a food pub or a trendy wine bar.
<snip>
We've also discovered that locals boozer pubs tend to be a lot cheaper than foody pubs. Most pubs we drink in you can get 2 double vodka and cokes for about £6. Around where we live some pubs would charge you that price for just one double and coke. Over a night out drinking, those kind of prices soon mount up.
I completely agree with the sentiments Wizard; though there is a simple problem - property prices. The sky high levels mean that the local, cheap boozer is quickly becoming uneconomical. When it costs half a million for a typical pub how are they supposed to stay open selling £2 pints and £4 meals? For the older pubs where the landlord bought out the mortgage years ago, sure it's perfectly possible. But as they owners sell up the new ones are coming in facing massive monthly repayments. Of course most normal people can't afford this so the much maligned pub cos are putting up the cash and then getting stick for doing everything they can to get a return.
I agree though that is a real shame. I used to go to the pub with mates a lot but when you're hardly getting change out of a tenner for 2 drinks it's just not worth it - and I earn a reasonable salary. Gone are the days where you could take £20 down the pub and spend an evening drinking. But it's not a coincidence that the cheaper places are steadily closing down.
I completely agree with the sentiments Wizard; though there is a simple problem - property prices. The sky high levels mean that the local, cheap boozer is quickly becoming uneconomical. When it costs half a million for a typical pub how are they supposed to stay open selling £2 pints and £4 meals? For the older pubs where the landlord bought out the mortgage years ago, sure it's perfectly possible. But as they owners sell up the new ones are coming in facing massive monthly repayments. Of course most normal people can't afford this so the much maligned pub cos are putting up the cash and then getting stick for doing everything they can to get a return.
I agree though that is a real shame. I used to go to the pub with mates a lot but when you're hardly getting change out of a tenner for 2 drinks it's just not worth it - and I earn a reasonable salary. Gone are the days where you could take £20 down the pub and spend an evening drinking. But it's not a coincidence that the cheaper places are steadily closing down.
It's not just the prices though but I do agree that £20 goes nowhere in these places. If we go to our local which is now a gastro pub it can cost us £10 or more per round for 2 drinks as I'm no longer able to drink pints due to getting bloated up too quickly so I drink JD&Coke or a G&T and my wife drinks vodka a coke. Posh pubs sell premium.spirits at extortionate prices but trad pubs sell cheap house doubles for half the price.
We always feel like it's a waste of money. You spend a fortune and it's a boring night out but if we go to locals pubs it's often cheaper, your money goes further and it's a better night out and we get to have a bit of banter with the regulars. We get to chat to the locals, have a good laugh with the staff and they sometimes have live entertainment. The money we save by not going to one of these foody pubs ensures we not only have us a better night out but we can get more for our money.
I guess it depends whether you're going out for a drink or a meal. If I'm going out for a meal and have to pay restaurant prices I'll go to a proper restaurant where I can be waited on. I don't see the point in paying restaurant prices for glamorised pub grub. If I want to go out for a drink and a good time I'll go to a traditional boozer pub because foody pubs just aren't cut out for drinkers. If all I want is something to eat to line my stomach then a cheap cafe or an Asda all day breakfast for £2.50 does the job.
I'm not adverse to going out and spending £50 on a restaurant meal but I do object to spending that kind of money on a plate of fish and chips and a few drinks just because it happens to be served in a fancy manner.
I didn't mean that the pubs were new. I meant that they are newly done out but made to look oldey. Like sticking in fake beams and laying down a new stone tiled floor or new floorboards polished and made to look all rustic etc. Place stinking of yacht varnish the minute you walk in. Halogen downlights everywhere with chrome fixtures and designer leather sofas in the bar etc. I bet it looked ten times better 20 years ago than it does now. Like a 'proper' pub.
My village local I mentioned is what you'd call a 'proper' pub.
However, I'd love it to have a makeover, as it's a dingy dump that's been pretty much unchanged sine the 1980s, when I was a teenager.
The toilets stink, all of them. There's a loose toilet seat. Some doors don't even have locks. Granted, they 'refreshed' the cushions on the benches, but that must've been at least 10 years ago. Requests seem to fall on the landlords fairly deaf ears, since he's clearly coining it in from his onsite brewery and his food. In fact, he can afford to close the kitchen for a 3 week period every year when he takes his family off to the Caribbean for 3 weeks.
If you were a passing tourist (and we get many that pass), you wouldn't stop, you'd go to the pub across the road, which has fewer real ales, is more expensive for food and beer, has Dylan Thomas and rugby "trinkets" on the wall, a miserable landlady and staff in pub polo shirts.
[QUOTE=The Wizard;72222075]I didn't mean that the pubs were new. I meant that they are newly done out but made to look oldey. Like sticking in fake beams and laying down a new stone tiled floor or new floorboards polished and made to look all rustic etc. Place stinking of yacht varnish the minute you walk in. Halogen downlights everywhere with chrome fixtures and designer leather sofas in the bar etc. I bet it looked ten times better 20 years ago than it does now. Like a 'proper' pub.
It's evident to me what kind of pub this is without having to set foot in it from what I've seen on their website. It one of those ghastly gastro pubs where you can't get a main meal much under a tenner and the wine and beer is vastly overpriced.
I bet it's not the kind of place you walk in by yourself and have a chat with the landlord or the regulars while you prop the bar up and share a bit of banter. I bet the only time the staff make conversation is when they ask for your order. It doesn't look like the kind of pub that we would want to drink in but if you're happy with it then each to their own.
Personally I'm sick of seeing so many good old traditional pubs being ripped apart and turned into these trendy overpriced eating establishments.[/QUOTE]
If you are still referringf to the two pubs I mentioned, how much would you like to bet? £10? £100? £1000? £10,000? And at what odds?
Would you like me to PM you with where to send my winnings?
The two pubs i mentioned look exactly the same inside as they did 10 years ago, which is exactly how they looked 20 years ago, which is exactly the same as they did 30 years ago when I first visited them.
The two pubs that I linked to, that you couldn't wait to deride, have never been "modernised" in any way, shape, or form internally apart from a new carpet when needed or a new lick of paint. The only addition The Anchor has had is a new dining room to the rear of the property which had to conform to strict planning controls due to the fact it is a listed building, however this was done with no impact to the original pub or its interior.
I know exactly what you mean by new "old" pubs and I won't go near them, as they aren't the sort of pub I would visit, but don't assume every single country pub in the country falls in to that catagory.
The reason why so many rural pubs have gone down the food route is simply to survive, most village pubs simply don't have enough regulars to survive on beer sales alone. If they all took your advice 95% of them would be closed within a year.
I think it's a reasonable consideration if you're ordering food, which is supposed to be served hot, if nothing more than from a hygiene point of view. There's no easier way to get food poisoning than from undercooked food.
Just because it isn't 'piping hot' doesnt mean it's undercooked. It probably means it's been microwaved though.
Just because it isn't 'piping hot' doesnt mean it's undercooked. It probably means it's been microwaved though.
Yes, but as food in general loses its heat pretty quickly after cooking and the plates are not necessarily pre warmed before serving, then I can't see it being a bad idea.
I'd rather the food was a bit too hot to start with than being too cold to start with, put it that way. After all, it's easy to let food cool a bit before eating, but you can't warm it up if it isn't hot enough, unless the food is sent back to the 'kitchen'.
Wetherspoons are my first choice usually. My local is one, and so is my parents down London way - lovely pubs, great service, friendly staff and a lovely mixture of customers: young men, old men, groups of young women, OAP groups. 'Spoons have broken down barriers for many, specifically women.
I would certainly question "great service", I've been in plenty of 'spoons where there are many people waiting and one or two bar staff.
Whist they would never be my first choice I have used them, especially if I'm working in an unfamiliar tow and it's past 9 pm. At least with a 'spoons you know you will get a reasonable pint and hot food at that time of night, something very few pubs offer after @ 8:30 in the evening!
The problem is Wizard your mistaking a busy pub for one thats making money. Most pubs can't afford to have people sitting around "nursing their pints", no matter how friendly they are or how well they sing.
My local is what you would refer to as a "proper pub" and it's great, but thats down to a very loyal customer base and a very good landlady. Should those customers move away, I fear the pub would die. When I tell people I go there they look at me all wide eyed. They have a pre-conceived idea of the place and don't wish to venture in.
While the majority of `gripes` about the food & service can be recognised by most. Why are those with a complaint airing their views here rather that the pubs that are taking their money. If you don't complain to those ripping you off with poor food\service then nothing will ever change
My village local I mentioned is what you'd call a 'proper' pub.
However, I'd love it to have a makeover, as it's a dingy dump that's been pretty much unchanged sine the 1980s, when I was a teenager.
The toilets stink, all of them. There's a loose toilet seat. Some doors don't even have locks. Granted, they 'refreshed' the cushions on the benches, but that must've been at least 10 years ago. Requests seem to fall on the landlords fairly deaf ears, since he's clearly coining it in from his onsite brewery and his food. In fact, he can afford to close the kitchen for a 3 week period every year when he takes his family off to the Caribbean for 3 weeks.
If you were a passing tourist (and we get many that pass), you wouldn't stop, you'd go to the pub across the road, which has fewer real ales, is more expensive for food and beer, has Dylan Thomas and rugby "trinkets" on the wall, a miserable landlady and staff in pub polo shirts.
I would certainly question "great service", I've been in plenty of 'spoons where there are many people waiting and one or two bar staff.
I think that's the norm for 'spoons.
One I used to use had at least 6 or 7 people behind the bar 'chatting', whilst another was furiously pulling pints for an increasing line in disgruntled customers.
When I asked "excuse me, I'd like a ...." I was always told "Oh, I'm not serving".
My polite reply was "why are you standing behind the bar then?".
The exception was/is the Red Lion And Pineapple in Acton. The barman there was efficient, knowledgeable and friendly.
Wetherspoons are OK for what they are, the food is pretty much all microwave stuff (even the steaks come in part cooked then nuked), but the few I've been in are clean and drinks prices are pretty good. If I was in town lunchtime I'd pop in for something to eat but doubt I'd go there for dinner.
Other local pubs down here are grim, if I want a 'nice' pub then its a six to ten mile trip each way for me. Pubs have changed, typical pubs are all but gone now and never to return. I do wish more pubs in the UK would encourage family dining. Its so nice when I'm in Spain (as in many other parts of Europe) to see whole families out eating their evening meal together.
While I agree about family dining etc, It's one of my pet hates, when trying to have a nice quite drink and a chat, to have kids running about the place, children should not be in pubs.
Why can't they just stay as they are as locals drinkers pubs with atmosphere, warmth and character? A place where you can go to drink and have a good old knees up and have the craic with the landlord and the regulars. Surely there's still a demand for a friendly old locals pub. Why are breweries one by one killing off all our old traditional locals pubs and refurbing them out of all character and turning them into these bland, bare corporate looking places with no warmth or atmosphere?
My local corner boozer used to be the busiest pub in town till the brewery came along, ripped it apart out of all recognition and turned it onto one of these gastro pub/wine bar type places. It's no longer the same pub and apart from the outside it's now totally unrecognisable to the pub we once used to drink in. Before it was refurbished it had individuality, character, and warmth. You could go in anytime by yourself, pull up a barstool and strike up a chat with the landlord or one of the many local regulars. It was like an extention of my own home and a place to go to make friends, have a good time and a good drink and the odd live band every Thursday.
Now it's dead and the only time it gets anyone in is Friday and Saturday nights when the middle class winos go there for their £15 fish and chips.
I suppose your pub will be the exception to the norm, a lot of pubs are struggling and they need to do something to stay open. In the case of your pub, it sounds like they got it wrong, I dont know.
As for the Wetherspoons debate, I find they are hit and miss. The ones in Derby are fine, serve a good variety of drinks and the food is fine, if you are not expecting gourmet.
Wetherspoons are OK for what they are, the food is pretty much all microwave stuff (even the steaks come in part cooked then nuked), but the few I've been in are clean and drinks prices are pretty good. If I was in town lunchtime I'd pop in for something to eat but doubt I'd go there for dinner.
Other local pubs down here are grim, if I want a 'nice' pub then its a six to ten mile trip each way for me. Pubs have changed, typical pubs are all but gone now and never to return. I do wish more pubs in the UK would encourage family dining. Its so nice when I'm in Spain (as in many other parts of Europe) to see whole families out eating their evening meal together.
How do you know that about the steaks? I've had rare steaks there before, how exactly do they part cook that?
How do you know that about the steaks? I've had rare steaks there before, how exactly do they part cook that?
Don't know about 'spoons, but I've seen Hungry Horse pub meats. They come vacuum packed and labelled accordingly.
I've seen a pack of meat, labelled 'mixed grill'. Clearly it was a single portion.
Don't know about 'spoons, but I've seen Hungry Horse pub meats. They come vacuum packed and labelled accordingly.
I've seen a pack of meat, labelled 'mixed grill'. Clearly it was a single portion.
And the steak was pre-cooked within that pack? Again i've eaten at Hungry Horse and had a rare steak.
And the steak was pre-cooked within that pack? Again i've eaten at Hungry Horse and had a rare steak.
The steaks weren't, but I wouldn't put it past the catering suppliers to supply the steaks pre cooked to 'rare'. Then they are simply reheated or slapped on the griddle for a fuller cook.
All in all, it shouldn't be that difficult to cook a steak to order from scratch. It was Little Chef that had no grill.
The steaks weren't, but I wouldn't put it past the catering suppliers to supply the steaks pre cooked to 'rare'. Then they are simply reheated or slapped on the griddle for a fuller cook.
All in all, it shouldn't be that difficult to cook a steak to order from scratch. It was Little Chef that had no grill.
Assuming nothing significant has changed at Wetherspoons since I worked in the kitchens there a few years ago, the steaks absolutely do not come in pre-cooked. Nor does the gammon or bacon, or burgers.
Sausages, chicken, the curries, pastas, chilli dishes all come in frozen, as does the rice, nan bread, chips, fish, jacket potatoes.. and most other things. But the steaks and burgers come in fresh and are grilled on-site.
Assuming nothing significant has changed at Wetherspoons since I worked in the kitchens there a few years ago, the steaks absolutely do not come in pre-cooked. Nor does the gammon or bacon, or burgers.
Sausages, chicken, the curries, pastas, chilli dishes all come in frozen, as does the rice, nan bread, chips, fish, jacket potatoes.. and most other things. But the steaks and burgers come in fresh and are grilled on-site.
That would explain a lot.
Surbiton Wetherspoons some years ago, would do the 'curry night' promotion.
We tried on a few occasions to get in on it, but each time we turned up, all the tables were taken.
One evening we turned up at 5pm to bag a table. We managed it.
Off to the bar we went at 6pm, asking for curry night, only to be told "curry night is off".
We asked why and they said "we're out of rice".
Just rice, they had everything else, including the curries.
I pointed out to the manager that there were 3 supermarkets within a 4 minute walk. Why not pop out, buy as much rice as you can and boil it in the kitchen?
He said he couldn't do that.
The place was packed again, he must've lost a fair bit of cash that evening.
Comments
I fear you attribute too much cultural and literary awareness to marketing men.
The thing is, Wetherspoon's don't get everything right but they did make some good changes to the way the pub trade was going when they first started. No ghastly piped music, low prices, no fruit machines, no jukeboxes, no TV sets. Big (in many cases, beautiful) old buildings that would have been flattened if sold to property developers - it wasn't all bad.
Sure, the food's crap but some of it's actually pretty good value crap and not everyone either wants, or can afford, to eat scratch-cooked food whenever they eat out.
Completely agree.
Wetherspoons are my first choice usually. My local is one, and so is my parents down London way - lovely pubs, great service, friendly staff and a lovely mixture of customers: young men, old men, groups of young women, OAP groups. 'Spoons have broken down barriers for many, specifically women.
Why can't they just stay as they are as locals drinkers pubs with atmosphere, warmth and character? A place where you can go to drink and have a good old knees up and have the craic with the landlord and the regulars. Surely there's still a demand for a friendly old locals pub. Why are breweries one by one killing off all our old traditional locals pubs and refurbing them out of all character and turning them into these bland, bare corporate looking places with no warmth or atmosphere?
My local corner boozer used to be the busiest pub in town till the brewery came along, ripped it apart out of all recognition and turned it onto one of these gastro pub/wine bar type places. It's no longer the same pub and apart from the outside it's now totally unrecognisable to the pub we once used to drink in. Before it was refurbished it had individuality, character, and warmth. You could go in anytime by yourself, pull up a barstool and strike up a chat with the landlord or one of the many local regulars. It was like an extention of my own home and a place to go to make friends, have a good time and a good drink and the odd live band every Thursday.
Now it's dead and the only time it gets anyone in is Friday and Saturday nights when the middle class winos go there for their £15 fish and chips.
I don't go to these places if I can help it but the point I'm making is that so many pubs which me and my wife like to drink in. i.e old fashioned friendly locals boozers, are slowly being phased out by big chain breweries. All but one pub in our town is now a food pub or a trendy wine bar.
I don't for one second believe that the need for traditional real ale boozer/locals style pubs has disappeared otherwise how is it that the only pub left in our town which is still a real locals pub happens to be the busiest pub in town and if you're not in by 9pm on a weekend it's standing room only.
When we travel into Stoke on Trent at the weekend where they still have a good selection of decent old drinkers pubs the place is absolutely packed out with drinkers and locals. It's just a shame that we have to keep moving on every time another pub gets ruined by another ghastly refurb.
There are still some good old friendly locals boozers about where you can have a good old time and get a few down ya neck where you can have the banter with the regulars and the landlord and landlady treat you like a mate and know you by name and what you drink etc.but sadly we now have to go looking a bit further afield to find them. Good old fashioned drinkers pubs with real character and personal nik-naks and conversation pieces dotted about the place seem to be dying out as breweries can't help but keep wrecking good old traditional pubs in favour of turning them into gastro pubs and family friendly eating houses which all look and smell the same.
We've also discovered that locals boozer pubs tend to be a lot cheaper than foody pubs. Most pubs we drink in you can get 2 double vodka and cokes for about £6. Around where we live some pubs would charge you that price for just one double and coke. Over a night out drinking, those kind of prices soon mount up.
I completely agree with the sentiments Wizard; though there is a simple problem - property prices. The sky high levels mean that the local, cheap boozer is quickly becoming uneconomical. When it costs half a million for a typical pub how are they supposed to stay open selling £2 pints and £4 meals? For the older pubs where the landlord bought out the mortgage years ago, sure it's perfectly possible. But as they owners sell up the new ones are coming in facing massive monthly repayments. Of course most normal people can't afford this so the much maligned pub cos are putting up the cash and then getting stick for doing everything they can to get a return.
I agree though that is a real shame. I used to go to the pub with mates a lot but when you're hardly getting change out of a tenner for 2 drinks it's just not worth it - and I earn a reasonable salary. Gone are the days where you could take £20 down the pub and spend an evening drinking. But it's not a coincidence that the cheaper places are steadily closing down.
It's not just the prices though but I do agree that £20 goes nowhere in these places. If we go to our local which is now a gastro pub it can cost us £10 or more per round for 2 drinks as I'm no longer able to drink pints due to getting bloated up too quickly so I drink JD&Coke or a G&T and my wife drinks vodka a coke. Posh pubs sell premium.spirits at extortionate prices but trad pubs sell cheap house doubles for half the price.
We always feel like it's a waste of money. You spend a fortune and it's a boring night out but if we go to locals pubs it's often cheaper, your money goes further and it's a better night out and we get to have a bit of banter with the regulars. We get to chat to the locals, have a good laugh with the staff and they sometimes have live entertainment. The money we save by not going to one of these foody pubs ensures we not only have us a better night out but we can get more for our money.
I guess it depends whether you're going out for a drink or a meal. If I'm going out for a meal and have to pay restaurant prices I'll go to a proper restaurant where I can be waited on. I don't see the point in paying restaurant prices for glamorised pub grub. If I want to go out for a drink and a good time I'll go to a traditional boozer pub because foody pubs just aren't cut out for drinkers. If all I want is something to eat to line my stomach then a cheap cafe or an Asda all day breakfast for £2.50 does the job.
I'm not adverse to going out and spending £50 on a restaurant meal but I do object to spending that kind of money on a plate of fish and chips and a few drinks just because it happens to be served in a fancy manner.
My village local I mentioned is what you'd call a 'proper' pub.
However, I'd love it to have a makeover, as it's a dingy dump that's been pretty much unchanged sine the 1980s, when I was a teenager.
The toilets stink, all of them. There's a loose toilet seat. Some doors don't even have locks. Granted, they 'refreshed' the cushions on the benches, but that must've been at least 10 years ago. Requests seem to fall on the landlords fairly deaf ears, since he's clearly coining it in from his onsite brewery and his food. In fact, he can afford to close the kitchen for a 3 week period every year when he takes his family off to the Caribbean for 3 weeks.
If you were a passing tourist (and we get many that pass), you wouldn't stop, you'd go to the pub across the road, which has fewer real ales, is more expensive for food and beer, has Dylan Thomas and rugby "trinkets" on the wall, a miserable landlady and staff in pub polo shirts.
It's evident to me what kind of pub this is without having to set foot in it from what I've seen on their website. It one of those ghastly gastro pubs where you can't get a main meal much under a tenner and the wine and beer is vastly overpriced.
I bet it's not the kind of place you walk in by yourself and have a chat with the landlord or the regulars while you prop the bar up and share a bit of banter. I bet the only time the staff make conversation is when they ask for your order. It doesn't look like the kind of pub that we would want to drink in but if you're happy with it then each to their own.
Personally I'm sick of seeing so many good old traditional pubs being ripped apart and turned into these trendy overpriced eating establishments.[/QUOTE]
If you are still referringf to the two pubs I mentioned, how much would you like to bet? £10? £100? £1000? £10,000? And at what odds?
Would you like me to PM you with where to send my winnings?
The two pubs i mentioned look exactly the same inside as they did 10 years ago, which is exactly how they looked 20 years ago, which is exactly the same as they did 30 years ago when I first visited them.
The two pubs that I linked to, that you couldn't wait to deride, have never been "modernised" in any way, shape, or form internally apart from a new carpet when needed or a new lick of paint. The only addition The Anchor has had is a new dining room to the rear of the property which had to conform to strict planning controls due to the fact it is a listed building, however this was done with no impact to the original pub or its interior.
I know exactly what you mean by new "old" pubs and I won't go near them, as they aren't the sort of pub I would visit, but don't assume every single country pub in the country falls in to that catagory.
The reason why so many rural pubs have gone down the food route is simply to survive, most village pubs simply don't have enough regulars to survive on beer sales alone. If they all took your advice 95% of them would be closed within a year.
Just because it isn't 'piping hot' doesnt mean it's undercooked. It probably means it's been microwaved though.
Yes, but as food in general loses its heat pretty quickly after cooking and the plates are not necessarily pre warmed before serving, then I can't see it being a bad idea.
I'd rather the food was a bit too hot to start with than being too cold to start with, put it that way. After all, it's easy to let food cool a bit before eating, but you can't warm it up if it isn't hot enough, unless the food is sent back to the 'kitchen'.
I would certainly question "great service", I've been in plenty of 'spoons where there are many people waiting and one or two bar staff.
Whist they would never be my first choice I have used them, especially if I'm working in an unfamiliar tow and it's past 9 pm. At least with a 'spoons you know you will get a reasonable pint and hot food at that time of night, something very few pubs offer after @ 8:30 in the evening!
My local is what you would refer to as a "proper pub" and it's great, but thats down to a very loyal customer base and a very good landlady. Should those customers move away, I fear the pub would die. When I tell people I go there they look at me all wide eyed. They have a pre-conceived idea of the place and don't wish to venture in.
This is my local .http://www.thegrapeshotel.co.uk/
It gets repainted every year after the music festival.
I think that's the norm for 'spoons.
One I used to use had at least 6 or 7 people behind the bar 'chatting', whilst another was furiously pulling pints for an increasing line in disgruntled customers.
When I asked "excuse me, I'd like a ...." I was always told "Oh, I'm not serving".
My polite reply was "why are you standing behind the bar then?".
The exception was/is the Red Lion And Pineapple in Acton. The barman there was efficient, knowledgeable and friendly.
Other local pubs down here are grim, if I want a 'nice' pub then its a six to ten mile trip each way for me. Pubs have changed, typical pubs are all but gone now and never to return. I do wish more pubs in the UK would encourage family dining. Its so nice when I'm in Spain (as in many other parts of Europe) to see whole families out eating their evening meal together.
I suppose your pub will be the exception to the norm, a lot of pubs are struggling and they need to do something to stay open. In the case of your pub, it sounds like they got it wrong, I dont know.
As for the Wetherspoons debate, I find they are hit and miss. The ones in Derby are fine, serve a good variety of drinks and the food is fine, if you are not expecting gourmet.
How do you know that about the steaks? I've had rare steaks there before, how exactly do they part cook that?
Don't know about 'spoons, but I've seen Hungry Horse pub meats. They come vacuum packed and labelled accordingly.
I've seen a pack of meat, labelled 'mixed grill'. Clearly it was a single portion.
And the steak was pre-cooked within that pack? Again i've eaten at Hungry Horse and had a rare steak.
The steaks weren't, but I wouldn't put it past the catering suppliers to supply the steaks pre cooked to 'rare'. Then they are simply reheated or slapped on the griddle for a fuller cook.
All in all, it shouldn't be that difficult to cook a steak to order from scratch. It was Little Chef that had no grill.
Assuming nothing significant has changed at Wetherspoons since I worked in the kitchens there a few years ago, the steaks absolutely do not come in pre-cooked. Nor does the gammon or bacon, or burgers.
Sausages, chicken, the curries, pastas, chilli dishes all come in frozen, as does the rice, nan bread, chips, fish, jacket potatoes.. and most other things. But the steaks and burgers come in fresh and are grilled on-site.
That would explain a lot.
Surbiton Wetherspoons some years ago, would do the 'curry night' promotion.
We tried on a few occasions to get in on it, but each time we turned up, all the tables were taken.
One evening we turned up at 5pm to bag a table. We managed it.
Off to the bar we went at 6pm, asking for curry night, only to be told "curry night is off".
We asked why and they said "we're out of rice".
Just rice, they had everything else, including the curries.
I pointed out to the manager that there were 3 supermarkets within a 4 minute walk. Why not pop out, buy as much rice as you can and boil it in the kitchen?
He said he couldn't do that.
The place was packed again, he must've lost a fair bit of cash that evening.