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Why do our ‘hard-pressed’ pubs turn so many away?
• THE question posed recently on these pages about where you can go for a quiet drink raises an important issue about our inhospitable pub culture.
I teach English “one-to-one” in informal language exchanges and I am constantly faced with the problem of the general lack of hospitality and comfort of London pubs, bars and cafés for our get-togethers.
Recently we ordered a coffee and a glass of wine in a pub and we were told with great sarcasm that we should go “down the road for coffee”!
Apparently, it’s normal (and allowed in the licence) for pubs to switch off the coffee at around 5pm, presumably to sell more profitable booze.
But as an irony and anomaly, in the “down the road coffee chain” a civilised small beer or wine cannot be had.
Surely it’s unique in the world that in London the sale of alcohol and coffee is kept separate? In any case, the coffee chains tend to close at 7.30pm so are little use for our needs.
On trying yet another local pub the licensee, seeing our notebooks and dictionaries pointedly turned down the lights – the message being “boozers only wanted here”.
In another pub the music was turned up to get rid of us.
There is a constant moan from publicans and the trade about various threats to the pub industry.
So isn’t it strange that they choose not to cater for the huge number of us who, in effect, are excluded from their “public” houses.
Instead, the licensing authorities seem concerned that back-street pubs are able to sell endless pints to mostly older men many of whom grow visibly more unsteady as the night progresses yet continue to be served.
In the high street pub, the licence allows that coffee is turned off in favour of pushing large glasses of wine onto younger customers.
The atmosphere is allowed to be poorly lit and play loud music so that customers shout to be heard. The licence allows there to be not enough seating which can lead to aggression. The licence allows that people can/must stand uncomfortably with a full glasses, struggling with belongings, while drinking. This can cause fights to break out through jostling.
So what is it with licensing authorities and government who allow this “inhospitable”pub setting (unique in Europe) to carry on, causing associated drinking problems here?
Please join us in putting this question to the authorities.
ABI GREEN address supplied
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