Re: Bar News
Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2018 1:54 pm
lucky wrote:Thanks! That's the first mention of anything being a rent boy hangout (as opposed to simply "friendly sailors"), though there have been plenty of references to places that female sex workers and their sometimes lesbian pimps used to frequent (hence point 4 I assume). Nobody else has mentioned the Casino Club either, where was that? The Angel's Castle Bar, I was mixing up with the Press Bar at the back of the Royal, you're right. Did you ever drink in the North Star down in the docks? People seem to think that was memorably rough, but we don't have an exact location.
Sorry, this isn't exactly current Bar News.
HalRobsonKanu wrote:I remember going to the Press Bar at the back of the Royal Hotel two or three times in the mid-nineties, underage drinking with my school mates. I remember at the time having a vague idea that we might have been in a gay bar but being too naive to really know what was going on.
It certainly wasn't anything like any of the stereotypical ideas of what a gay bar might be like. In fact it was one of the scruffiest, run down establishments I've ever visited and most of the patrons were pretty old and rough looking. Still, it was about £1.20 a pint in there and nobody ever bothered us.
Simon_SW17 wrote:HalRobsonKanu wrote:I remember going to the Press Bar at the back of the Royal Hotel two or three times in the mid-nineties, underage drinking with my school mates. I remember at the time having a vague idea that we might have been in a gay bar but being too naive to really know what was going on.
It certainly wasn't anything like any of the stereotypical ideas of what a gay bar might be like. In fact it was one of the scruffiest, run down establishments I've ever visited and most of the patrons were pretty old and rough looking. Still, it was about £1.20 a pint in there and nobody ever bothered us.
Nothing changes, most gay pubs are still pretty gross although there aren't so many old men! I was home in January and we went to Pulse. The draught choices are Carling, Carling cider, Carling red fruit cider, Groslch and one other delight that I forget. And house spirits that taste like turps. Lovely.
Amoore wrote:To be fair, if you're an independent that doesn't have the buying power of the likes of Wetherspoons, your range of draught will generally be limited to the company you choose to align yourself with. Whether it be Heineken (Fosters/Strongbow/Heineken/John Smiths), Molson Coors (Carling/Groslch/Worthington/Coors Light/) or Carlsberg (Carlsberg/Somersby/Tetleys).
Simon_SW17 wrote:Yeah, you'd have a few core products that you'd need to sell but there's nothing tying you to one brewer's range exclusively. There are so many great products on the market, the owners of Pulse are clearly not interested in the quality of their beer.
Amoore wrote:With respect, price is a key issue for most independents and if stocking a set range of products means greater incentives financially, it is going to be a serious consideration. I'm not saying it's the only consideration - any of the main breweries' core lines are generally the biggest sellers so it makes sense to stock them too. Carling for instance is the biggest seller in the UK, no matter what you may think about it.
And when you talk about having to have "a few core products", generally those few products would take up the average amount of lines available in a small bar or club, with little room for extras without considerable investment. This is one of the reason Brains Bitter was squeezed out of so many Brains pubs. Because Heineken's preferred bitter was John Smiths.