OK, so I am Scottish, which means I like a drink... and after the recent fire in Camden and the flames wrecking the celebs favourite watering hole, pubs have been all over the news...
Whilst the Hawley Arms was invariably rammed with people wanting to catch a glimpse of Borrell, Fielding, Winehouse et al it was actually a half decent boozer. This fire, whilst also decimating the livliehood of all the market traders who had previously survived being turfed out by camden council in their bid to remove the character of Camden Town in knocking down the stables, it's a blow to everyone as it means that another pub has disappeared. This had me thinking, where are all the good proper pubs going?
To me this is a worrying trend that is becoming increasingly evident.
I left my current job yesterday (22nd feb) and for this I was asked to decide on a location to have a bit of a leaving do. Whilst scanning potential venues across West London (I work in Kensington) it really struck me just how few pubs there actually are around these parts that I would want to spend any real time in. Within a mile or so of my work there are probably 20 drinking establishments - only four of which i would classify as a pub. The rest are members only bars, cocktail bars, tapas bars or just shit bars. Of these pubs 2 are too small (you can only get about 10 people in them - the Elephant and Castle and Churchills), one has toilets akin to those in Trainspotting (Greyhound) and the other, well it's nigh on impossible to get a drink in there (Builders Arms) - you've more chance of dying of thirst before you're going to poison your liver (especially on a Friday)...
As such the do was held in a very nice and spacious 'bar' (not pub) with a wide selection of ales and lagers (The Britannia)... not to mention a privelege club and wine list - not really the staple diet of what I would call a pub i.e. there are not too many blokes reading the Racing Post supping a half with whisky chasers.
Now this is perhaps not a massive shock given the location of deepest darkest Kensington. With it's neighbours of Notting Hill, South Kensington and Knightsbridge the locals are more the Mahiki set than Mackay set if you get my drift, but even looking further afield this trend continues...
Thinking of decent pubs within old london village, for every 'Ship' or 'Fox and Firkin' there must be 10 slug and lettuces... the number of pubs is simply dwarfed by the number of all pervasive Gastro 'pubs'... Quite frankly this is not good enough. But how did this happen?
The odd thing is that nobody i know really likes these types of bars. And they are bars, they are not pubs... there is a difference... Pubs are dark and dingy, bars are bright and airy... Pubs have small frosted windows, bars have giant full sized windows. Pubs menus consist of nuts and crisps maybe extending to a beer and a burger. Menus in bars include salads with pinenuts and crispy lettuce. Pubs are good, bars are not.
Everyone always says they would rather be in an 'old man boozer' which has a bit of character and a bit of atmosphere - not something you can really enjoy in a soulless pitcher and piano. Whilst this may well have something to do with the people that I hang out with, I can't really believe that anyone prefers these bars... though i do concede that their toilets are generally a damn sight more usable.
I think that it's time for pubs to make their comeback... for old man boozers to rise out the ashes again and impose their all round dingyness and soggy beermats to one and all.
Bring back the boozer... now let's go for a drink.
