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Do you still have a local?

A

Ann B

Guest
Every year, we all know we have lost so many local pubs. Yesterday, on the news, they said that 52 pubs had closed every week for the first 6 months of this year. Although I can witness this happening, I was staggered at that amount, and sad about the mathematical conclusions. We have few local pubs in Sheldon anymore. And even fewer that I would choose to spend a night in. So I am surprised that it makes me sad. We always choose to go 'for a drive' and stop at a country pub now. But sad that we can't pop into a local and say hello to some folks we vaguely know.

Ann
 
Ann B, There are not many pubs around where we are nowadays. I am glad you made the comment about not wanting to spend an evening in the few that are left. My wife and I also go into the countryside to a pub, although we don't drink. We go for a pub lunch quite often. Everyone keeps banging on about the smoking ban bringing about the demise of the locals. I do not know anyone who drinks in any local pubs nowadays, and the reason is always the same. The behaviour of too many people who drink too much and think they have the right to abuse you. If you speak up it causes trouble.
 
Hi Stitcher,

Same as you. We never consider anything else now. It is such a pleasure to go for a drive and stop for a bite to eat. Guess that is what we are all doing now.

Ann
 
Although I have never been a drinker as such, it hurts to say that the treatment we get from out of town pubs is far better than that experienced in the City. We normally have a drive out somewhere, visit a garden centre or a country shop selling local produce then have a lunch and come home again.
 
Drinking and driving is - rightly - not done anymore, at least not by many, so you cant drink, you cant smoke, cant relax, cos' of the bad element who drank 6 cans before they went out...........

Every corner shop sells beer all day long, and that IMO is a big part of the problem. I even see van drivers buying strong lager and drinking it as they drive off, mid afternoon.

Cant drive, there aint a Local, so more people drink at home, pubs are empty, so more pubs close, its a viscious circle. If beer wasnt so accessible, for so many hours of the day, people might just get back to the tradition of a few pints of a night, in the pub, after work........if there was any work, or any pubs they would anyway.......LOL
 
Ann B, I agree about the local pubs but i found it quite pleasant in the Three Horse Shoes, Coventry Rd, not a pub & you have become a member but The Sheldon Heath Social Club is well run and i can`t say i have seen any trouble in there. Len.
 
Of course all those things count but people used to sit in the pub for a chat with friends and a pint, most of those who go to the pub nowadays do so for the pint only and their behaviour stops others from going. When the pub becomes run down and closes, the bad element moves to the next pub and they drive all the decent people from that one and it becomes run down and closes and so on.
 
Hi Len

When mom and dad were alive all of our family were often in The Sheldon Heath Social Club. We went there after mom's funeral. It was always a really good atmosphere in there. And you are right, there was never any trouble in there. I also agree, of the pubs left in Sheldon, The Three Horse Shoes is the best. I did used to love The Bernard's Grange, where I met my husband. He was in a group, and they were playing in that wonderful back room, the one with the stage. But it's just a Whacky Warehouse now. The gardens with the pillars, oh I used to love it then.

Ann
 
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Alright pubs have got a bad image but if we took the blinkered view you take stitch, we might as well shut the lot and walk away.
Lots of pubs I go to are really friendly places. we must keep our pub heritage alive.
 
Yes Ann i have three locals in the village where i live, The Whistling Duck which is the nearest The Bell and The Brewers Arms and they rely on passing trade and of course us locals:D

Mossy
 
It was not a blinkered view, it was an explanation of what is happening in the area where I live. As someone else posted the best places in some areas are where the pub has been made into a members only establishment. We all know that if these places had remained as local pubs, they would also be shut, or their closure would be imminent. As a members only place the one by us is very busy, and trouble free.
 
I'd recommend the Cross Keys, prodigal-son. Good beer and the best steak and chips I've had for a long time!
 
It seems to me the demise of pubs,is down to social engineering,"you will have a cafe society"like it or not.:(.
The pubs most of us used in our youth,would have been a family affair,aunts, uncles and even grandad,would have been there,so youngsters behaved themselves,or the family put them straight.
We now have new places opening up,chrome plated vertical bars,where the aim is to sell as much booze as possible...and the punters drink for affect.
As for the smoking in pubs,that should have been left to the landlord, a smoking or non smoking license.
Two places I know closed,directly because of the smoking ban,one was a Navy Club and the other a British Legion Club.Would anyone deny an old ex-serviceman having a chat with his old comrades.
Nah,I think it's all part of the government plan,to destroy everthing British.

Just because I'm paranoid...doesn't mean they are, not, out to get me.;)
 
Ray Barrett said:
It seems to me the demise of pubs,is down to social engineering,"you will have a cafe society"like it or not.:(.
The pubs most of us used in our youth,would have been a family affair,aunts, uncles and even grandad,would have been there,so youngsters behaved themselves,or the family put them straight.
We now have new places opening up,chrome plated vertical bars,where the aim is to sell as much booze as possible...and the punters drink for affect.
As for the smoking in pubs,that should have been left to the landlord, a smoking or non smoking license.
Two places I know closed,directly because of the smoking ban,one was a Navy Club and the other a British Legion Club.Would anyone deny an old ex-serviceman having a chat with his old comrades.
Nah,I think it's all part of the government plan,to destroy everthing British.

Just because I'm paranoid...doesn't mean they are, not, out to get me.;)
Click to expand...

I'm a non smoker but I do agree they've treated smokers like lepers.
Should have had a designated room within the pub with good extraction.
It's not British the Government want to destroy, it's ENGLAND:redface::(
 
For those of you who travel to the green hills of Bromyard I have to say the Holly Tree is now closed. The Queens ( quite rough ) closed a while ago as did The Wheatsheaf at Whitbourne. TC's Bar is now a Cafe style bar with an older clientelle than before. No more closures appear to be in the offing.
 
I agree entirely with your view on the smoking Frothy.:).
However,I first encountered this in Scotland,and they told me up there,that the idea was to send the Pensioners outside in the cold...to kill them off.:rolleyes:....so as to have more money for the leaches.:shocked:.
 
Arkrite,
Down your end,near Ross-on Wye,I went in a pub "The Axe & Cleaver",and had the best pub grub I have ever known.The business was brisk and the prices were reasonable.My bro.uses the place regular.:).
 
Ray Barrett said:
I agree entirely with your view on the smoking Frothy.:).
However,I first encountered this in Scotland,and they told me up there,that the idea was to send the Pensioners outside in the cold...to kill them off.:rolleyes:....so as to have more money for the leaches.:shocked:.
Click to expand...

Careful Ray:D:rolleyes:

Back on thread. If one cares to go up to the City centre, off the beaten track, there are lots of great pubs:)
 
The thread is about 'HAVE YOU STILL GOT A LOCAL' you have to live in the City centre to have a local there.
 
By the same token Frothy, fifteen minutes on the motorbike which could take me ten miles is local??? A local by anyones definition is easily within walking distance.
 
Stitcher said:
By the same token Frothy, fifteen minutes on the motorbike which could take me ten miles is local??? A local by anyones definition is easily within walking distance.
Click to expand...

I think your just being argumentative and I won't go along with it
 
Times have chaned in the 40s/50s most people didnt have thier own transport, and pubs were on almost every street hence the term local. Its quite common today to hear folks say i use so and so as my local wich may be a few miles away.
 
Agree with some of the comments on this thred, but think we sometimes look through rose tinted glasses. I am 50 in a few months and was born and grew up in Kingstanding. I started using pubs when I was about 16 so 34 years ago now and their was plenty of trouble even then. I can remember the 42 bus being stopped and the Police called many times on a Thursday and Sunday nights coming from the Crown and Cushion Disco's on our way back to College Road. The Charlie (King Charles) and the Kingstanding had the Police called nearly everytime I went in to throw out the locals or stop the fights. Remember being in the Church Tavern Church Lane and such a big fight broke out they called the Special Patrol Group !.
 
This can go on forever so this will be my last post on the subject. I worked on doors for years, I also drove the night service buses and was a hackney carriage driver until I retired. I am 70 now and of course there has always been trouble spots but nothing like today. Almost every adult I know wil not visit pubs any longer. My son is 38 and he never goes into pubs other than outside of Birmingham. This has nothing to do with the smoking ban, it has everything to do with bad behaviour. As I said, when a pub shuts the rough element moves to the next pub and so on. In a private members onle establishment, smoking is still banned, but they are thriving. The thread started with 'do you still have a local'? A local was always known as a pub just down the road, not a bus ride away. Sadly many residents in Brum do not have a local today.
 
The Digby is a nice pub, within walking distance for me, also the cross keys, no more then 15 minutes away,good pub good food.
 
Hello Ann, Yes it was on the news again yesterday, severn pubs are closing every day, peoples habits have changed over the years,the only time my
wife and I went into a pub over these lastfew years has been for a meal, and
there are some good ones around serving really good food for a reasonable
price.Some of them round our way are even doing BOGOF, yer buy one, yer get on for nought! The supermarkets are not helping matters, I saw you could buy strong cider cheaper than bottled water in Sainburys at one time. Nothing ever stays the same does it?Quote; To be truly ignorant man
requires an education. Plato Take care now Bernard:cool:
 
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