Watch Out for Wednesday

Thursday is the new Friday some would have you believe - well, especially for those that work from home for part of the week. The logic is, if you can get away with it, that if at all possible, you don't work Friday and Monday. This makes sense, of course, as you then get a longer - much longer - weekend as it were, as you don't have that pesky journey to and from work.

Now I have a feeling that while this applies across the board in the UK, the effect is more acutely felt in London. Not only is there a greater concentration of workers, but almost uniquely, most still travel to work by public transport and are thus more likely to have a soothing libation after it.  I may be wrong, but I rather fancy that many journeys to work outside London are made by car and certainly in the dog days of work for me, after work drinking simply did not happen and that can only have got worse since then.  In London, however, the after work pint still occurs, and I always enjoy being there at work chucking out time for the bustling atmosphere.

A couple of weeks ago we were in London for the first time in ages - well last October - and after visiting some quite busy pubs on Tuesday night, on Wednesday I met my pal Nigel for a couple of lunchtime pints and a chance to put the beer world to rights. For convenience, we met at Woodins Shades, a Nicolsons pub across from Liverpool Street station. This was around late lunchtime, and it was fair to say that the pub was very quiet indeed. In fact, Nigel remarked that he used to work in the vicinity years ago and then the pub was always full at lunchtime. Not so now, it seems. 

Two or three pints later, after Nigel departed to his Cask Marque duties, I arranged to meet E nearer our neck of the woods. You get decent if expensive pints in the Culpepper, a quite posh and very attractive pub in Commercial Street, a ten-minute walk away from Liverpool Street. It has become quite a favourite of ours. I got there about half past three. It was deserted, and I remarked on this to the barman, who cryptically said it wouldn't be for long. He wasn't kidding. Within half an hour the pub was getting reasonably busy, and within an hour, by half past four or thereabouts, it was rammed.  

Fortunately, I had sat on a bench and was able to squeeze E in, as by the time she arrived, it was standing room only - and it isn't a particularly small pub.So what's going on? It seems, from what I can glean, that most businesses require workers to be in the office for a certain number of days in the week if working from home. It also appears that the day most choose to be in work is Wednesday, so if you want to go to the pub for after work chat and see your colleagues, Wednesday is the best day for it.

In these difficult times, working from home does pubs no favours, but this at least offers a glimmer of light if it is repeated elsewhere. Elsewhere in London, that is.

We also visited the new(ish) Aldgate Tap, which is dead handy for us. It seemed to be trading well on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. It must help, it being so close to Aldgate Tube Station. Prices here are decent for London.

Talking about pricing. London is never cheap, but we noticed how much more expensive it was since our previous visit in October last year. I think the cask beer in the Culpepper had risen by the best part of a pound.

Busy or Not?

Recently there's been a fair bit of talk on Twitter and the blogosphere- does that still exist? - about how pubs are faring in January. Of course, most of this will be observational and anecdotal, and impressions given on, say a Friday night, may not give the full picture of how things would look at 4 p.m. on a Tuesday, but that is the nature of the beast.  Even if you know the landlord or landlady well, they are hardly going to share their financial position with you, though if you know them well enough, you can certainly gain a touch more than if you just throw your head round the door and glance round.

My own view kind of echoes that of Boak and Bailey, and my general impression is that customer numbers and spend, is generally holding up fairly well, but on the negative side, outgoings for supplies and fuel may well be not only cancelling this out, but will in a great deal more cases than we'd like to believe, actually throw them into a negative situation. My own discussions with a few pubs would indicate that the cost of heating is really the main concern. After all, nobody wants to visit a freezing cold pub and heating a pub in the quiet times is quite a burden nowadays, hence the huge variation in opening hours that we commonly see.

Of course, this will ease as the weather gets better, but the big question, especially for those whose leases are up for renewal, is "Is it really worth it any more?" Looking at pub closures, some of them sudden and unexpected, the answer is, for far too many, likely a "No". While relief in the form of warmer weather is there for all, the sad truth is that looking forward there is quite possibly more of the same, as the war in Ukraine rages on and the fallout from that continues to affect economies. That, together with a reduction of fuel support for small businesses from the Governments, does not make soldiering on such an attractive proposition. Cold weather, sooner or later, is inevitable.

Another elephant in the room is price increases, though with the price of a pint being roughly equivalent to the length of a piece of string, that may not in the end matter quite so much as you might think. This varies of course, and while you are unlikely to have a clear idea ahead of time in a random visit to a city centre pub as to what a pint might cost you, it is much more noticeable in tied houses of local brewers for example, where the price of a pint is clearly known.  In my own locals, people often  approach the bar clutching their exact money and are acutely aware of increases. That doesn't happen so much in a free house, where, frankly, you could be charged anything at all. The dynamic is completely different.

So, back to the anecdotal evidence.  In the pubs I visited, last week, all were fairly busy, though in fairness, most were my local pubs, all with a loyal batch of regulars  - and that's as I'd expect. When you have a local that you are known in and where you know everyone, at least to nod to, you are likely to visit as usual, though of course, you may have the odd pint less.  I was also out of area on Saturday, in Bolton attending a meeting. Afterwards we visited a couple of pubs. The first, the Northern Monkey, a modern pub selling craft beer, was very busy indeed, as was the Wetherspoons opposite, the Spinning Mule, which could best be described as "rammed". I'm guessing the prices would be pretty dissimilar, though I can't be sure, as it wasn't my round in either. My final visit was to the ever popular Hare and Hounds in Shudehill, where the pub was pretty well stuffed as usual. That of course is expected from this venue, and this is a good point to add my usual advice to pubs. Concentrate on the offer. If it is good, even in hard times, people will come.

Where does this leave us? Pubs may seem to the casual observer, to be holding up pretty well, but the underlying issues remain. They still need our custom, but we should always be aware, that like the iceberg, what you see on the surface, is only a fraction of what is actually there.

I had a chocolate and orange stout in the Northern Monkey. Boy was it sweet.  I'm noticing rather a lot of beers are far too sweet these days. Give me bitterness in beer. Beer needs balance, and that often can't be achieved just by throwing in certain New World hops.

My three locals will also be increasing prices at the end of the month as the cost of beer from the brewery increases. I'll be keeping my eye on that, but I suspect that won't make much difference.

Sam's One Pound Gamble

It is true. That doyen of the cheap pint, Samuel Smith of Tadcaster has decided to get out of that particular game, with prices rises all round on re-opening. Well as far as we can make out that's the case, but of course, with Sam's, the facts are as murky as a Railway Arch Pint.

So what do we know? Samuel Smith, outside London is pretty cheap for draught beer and lager. In their heartland, pints are often £2 or less.  Rumour now has it that mild and bitter will rise by a pound a pint and lager by up to £1.20.  An entry on Facebook by one of their landlords, which seems to be a re-hashed version of something sent by the brewery to managers (all Sam's pubs are managed) - justifies the price increase.  It reads roughly thus:

"We have had no choice but to raise our prices. For years Sam Smiths pricing has been way below our competitors. Our family run company have been producing excellent value in brewing since 1758. In these uncertain times and let’s face it, no one really knows what the future holds, to open up hundreds of pubs is really risky and costly. We are just raising our prices inline or below of our brewing friends. 

Please bear in mind how really low our prices we’re for years and at some point to sustain stability we have no choice but get inline with everyone. 

When I made a quick visit to the THT on Sunday, our landlord mentioned he had a Sam's manager in, who had mentioned in conversation, the price increase will be in the range I mention above.  Now I can't yet actually confirm it and equally, I have no idea how prices will or won't change in London, or indeed how much we can depend on what we read elsewhere.

Sam's pubs operate without televisions, with no music - recorded or live; no use of phones, laptops or even Kindles, as well as being liberally emblazoned by signs telling you in no uncertain terms what you can or can't do within. It probably isn't unfair to say that part of the quid pro quo for doing what you are told is low prices.  Having said all that, the actual sentiment of catching up may have some validity. Outside London, for draught products only, Sam's pubs are cheap as chips. In fact, cheaper than chips if you drink mild - but it is a bit of a gamble to pile it all on at once. Given the odd way Humphrey operates, like an East German holiday camp, he attracts a certain kind of customer.

Now if you are paying bottom dollar for your ale, you may well be minded to put up with all this, but if a price rise take your pint to broadly in line with elsewhere and you realise that five pints cost you a fiver more,  I dare say many won't.  After all, why pay £3 a pint to put up with Humphrey's lopsided world, when you can go elsewhere and won't have to?

Whichever way you look at it, this is a gamble and it signposts, the end of a unique business model, but if it backfires, it may also be the last blast of Humph's reign.

Wetherspoon's may be the likely beneficiary of any ex Sam's customers. While the Bailiwick of the opinions of another lopsided eccentric,  you can at leastphone your pals about it, while gently effing and jeffing. And you can get cask ale, which you can't in almost all the 33 Sam's pubs in my area.

Can't see it helping to re-open the many Sam's pubs which are currently closed.  You would have thought that a slow increase might have worked better, rather than a short, sharp shock.  Then again, people have short memories.

Reassuringly Expensive

There are plenty of folks around, though they'll likely deny it, that see expensive beer as a good thing for a number of reasons. There are aspiring brewers that wish to sell the fruits of their labour at top dollar; there are those that begrudge the cost, or feel superior drinking beer that others can't afford, especially if it is rare and has come from afar (rarity and distance makes for much better beer - a little known factoid.) I could go on, but you get the picture.

In Belgium recently I discovered that one of my favourite styles, gueuze and its cousin lambic are pretty well a snob's dream in Belgium. They are bloody expensive and to give you the picture, think around three times the cost of an Orval. Now of course you could argue that being so rare, so delicate and so difficult to produce, that this is the inevitable outcome. But of course, until relatively recently, that rarity wasn't reflected in the price. There are a few ways to look at this. One is that small artisanal brewers are at last getting just reward for their efforts, or, that the goose that laid the golden egg is being slowly killed, or perhaps, more benignly, are being elevated to a very expensive treat.

Speaking to Tim Flynn who runs the redoubtable New Oxford in Salford while at the Bruges Beer Festival, reveals that he can put almost no mark up on these beers, as they so expensive to buy in the first place, but he offers them for additional choice.  Now I didn't get the chance to check out supermarket prices in Belgium and they may well be reasonable, but it seems I won't be drinking very much gueuze/lambic in pubs, as to my mind you need several to fully get you in the zone, so that you can really appreciate the style.  That would be a dear do.

Maybe you don't find this expensive beer thing worrying at all? Is gueuze and lambic a special case?

My sour beer needs were met by Rodenbach at normal cost and I feasted on gueuze at the Bruges Beer Fest.

Pricey Keg?

You all know me. An open minded sort of a guy who takes things as he finds them, doesn't get hidebound by outdated definitions, always willing to try new things, never stuck in the past and very, very, generous with my moolah. A kind of modern day Adam Adamant. A few extra coppers here and there for beer? No problem if it is something I want to drink; no problem if it has quality running through it and it came a long way; no problem if it is in London where that's just the way it is, again as long as the quality is right. But what if I'm expected to pay extra for a beer that would cost me a lot less on cask? Less in the same pub even?

Back to the open minded bit. I'm stung, nay, cut to the very quick by those misguided miscreants, those picky trouble makers, those poor deluded souls that think I don't like craft keg beer out of badness. I've been complaining about the lack of availability of British craft keg up here in the grim North as I have had little experience of it other than a bit in London and Sheffield, but here we have in Manchester the chance to try it. Port St Beer House has installed extra keg taps for British craft keg, so me and E hot footed it there last Friday. E somewhat grudgingly it has to be said. It seems my keg drinking plan didn't meet with her approval. Cutting remarks such as "we could go to the Marble for a couple of decent pints" show you Dear Reader, what I'm up against in the search for enlightenment.

So I order a couple of halves to prove my doubting better half wrong. "A half of Schiehallion and one of Jaipur (both keg) please." "£4.50 of your British pounds" quoth the bearded barperson. "Fucking Hell" quoth me and her indoors in unison. Now there isn't a keg price-list in the PSBH - an oversight I'm sure - but there is one for cask. It's in the photo. Keg is apparently pricier. Lots pricier. What did it taste of? The Schiehallion of carbonic acid and metal, the Jaipur, like a fizzy, pale shadow of itself , which might just have suited a hot summer day in a beer garden, but on the whole just appeared to be rather pointless, especially in the PSBH where I have to say, they know their stuff cask wise and would have presented the real thing in all its glory.  We reverted to the much cheaper and better cask and noted that Thornbridge appear to be labelling some beers as "Thornbridge Hall".  New and old breweries I assume.

We burped all the way home, remarking that CAMRA has little to fear from new wave keg. At this rate it will price itself out of the market, so don't be afraid to pile on the cost new wave brewers. Oh I know it has extra production costs, but don't worry about price.  Nor you Dear Landlord.  Make the pips squeak. You both owe it to your followers.

And you my keg loving lovelies? Drink up. I've seen the future and it certainly works for me!

This is a bit of fun really, but it does illustrate a serious point on price. Just how much will that market stand?

How Come?

It was remarked from the top table no less, at the CAMRA AGM in Sheffield,  that in addition to having one of the most vibrant and enjoyable pub scenes in the UK for good beer, how reasonably priced it all was in our temporary home.  It seemed most pints were around the £2.30 to £2.60 range with a few exceptions.

I wonder too. These prices weren't just for local beers, but seemed to also apply in the free houses, where the beers came from near and far. Now Sheffield is very competitive and there are plenty good and varied free houses to choose from. Is it as simple as that? I really don't know, but we were all wondering how they do it given the upward price pressure on pubs that we all know about.

Equally some were wondering why others elsewhere in the country can't.  Or don't.

How Much is a Pint Then?

The recent increase in duty and VAT has caused howls of anguish in many circles and predictions of meltdown in the on trade. True it means that beer will be in for a steeper increase than any time in its history and that is regrettable, but how much is a pint anyway?

In the bad or good old days (depending on how rose tinted your glasses are) we knew more or less how much a pint would cost in our own manor. Pubs were mostly owned by breweries amd they to a large extent dictated how prices were levied. You knew roughly what was what. In the North of England Whitbread would be most expensive, then Bass, then Allied, then your local brewery and all were within pennies of each other. This hasn't been the case for years though and the variation in price, pub to pub, which is now the norm, doesn't on the whole stop people drinking in pubs. Other things might though, but the price charged to those dedicated to pub going is always these days a somewhat variable one.

Before the rise, my local charged £2.35 for a pint of any cask beer, whether mild, bitter or guest. The price varies by a few pence up or down in other in Lees pubs and of course elsewhere. In JDW it is likely to be still under £2.00 a pint in this neck of the woods and of course a trip to Manchester will see you paying anything from a couple of quid to £3 plus. The same picture I'm sure affects the whole country and of course, in London and the South East, the £3 pint has been common for quite some time. If there is a psychological barrier, it certainly isn't set at the £3 mark.

In effect nobody knows the price of a pint, as no such generality exists any more and people are therefore unlikely to make their pub going decisions on the premise that the cost increase now makes it too much. If you asked them how much a pint is, they couldn't really say.

As always the answer to pub going or lack thereof isn't solely price, but to paraphrase Bill Clinton "It's the offer Stupid". That's a truth that will never change and one that is becoming more and more important now.

Lees Freeze

JW Lees is freezing its prices for the whole of 2010. Managing director William Lees-Jones (left) said: "We are putting our customers and licensees first and are pledging that we will not put up the wholesale or retail price of any JW Lees beers in 2010. It would be "cynical" to raise prices because we have benefited from reductions in raw material and energy costs this year. However, any additional rises in beer duty or VAT would mean price rises."

Whayhay. More money in Tandleman's coffers and more importantly, in hard pressed publican's pockets, while not discouraging pub attendance. It might not make a huge difference, but it is a step in the right direction. Who's going to follow?

The Morning Advertiser has the story here.

Old Brewery Bitter

Way back in December last year, I mentioned I had CAMRA business at Sam Smith's Yew Tree, just outside Rochdale. A committee meeting took me there again last night.

Old Brewery Bitter is still served from wooden casks. At 4% abv, it is a decent strength without being overwhelming. Just edging the top of the "ordinary" bitter band or, if you like, just missing the "best" sobriquet, it is a very malty brew, full bodied, with slight forest fruits, just a hint of woodiness and a nice clean, malty bitter finish. I don't think it has the sheer drinkability that an ordinary bitter needs to have, but it is a good old fashioned brew when on form, which it was last night. I quite enjoyed it.

It was just £1.38 a pint.

Full of Shites

Go to page 145 of the 2008 Good Beer Guide for a superbly accurate description of the characterful and historic Victoria Inn. I simply can't describe it better. It is old fashioned in the finest sense. The pub is a delight. The letting rooms are small, but immaculate and the welcome genuinely friendly. The breakfast with free North East banter chucked in, is well presented and tasty. Go there!

We assembled after a brief kip, in the public bar which is pictured. The gimlet eyed and astonishingly thin matron running the show gave a commentary for us on our proposed pub itinerary. It went along the lines of "Aye, canny that one", "Fine", "Just doon the road and a good one" until we came to the Colpitts. "You divent want to gan there" quoth she. "It's full of shites." Malc took the situation in hand and inquired as to what constituted a "shite" in this case. "Why" she said, "the folk there'll pick a fight wi' ye and cut yore face"!

I won't bore you with the sorry tale of boozing that went next, except to say that the Elm Tree had poor beer (Adnams was particularly dire) and high prices, the Half Moon was superb, nearly a classic in fact, with lovely toasties at a mere £1.30 a pop and excellent beer from the Durham Brewery. Our last call was the Dun Cow, a great pub too, with a traditional corridor, a warm welcome and well kept beer.

What about the Colpitts I hear you cry? Did you brave it and emerge unscathed? Indeed we did. It was warm, welcoming, characterful and friendly. The only shites there were us and we didn't cut anyone's face. The beer was traditional Sam's and our usual round of three and a half pints cost under a fiver instead of the usual £8.50+

Ouch!

I was in the Marble Arch Pub and Brewery last night. They had a beer on, brewed by themselves, called "Well Cut" Mild. A 6% take on Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild perhaps? It wasn't very good, it wasn't a mild, but what it was, was £3.20 a pint. I have commented on their pricing of special beers before, but given that the Manchester Bitter at 4.2% is £2.20, I reckon that £3.20 a pint for a beer that has come 20 feet is pushing it a bit, even if it is 6% and even if it is organic!

There is a lot of odd pricing in this pub, with house beers often more expensive than bought in beers. Queer that!

City of Culture, but What About the Beer?

Liverpool is European City of Culture 2008, not that you'd know it merely from stepping off the train at Lime Street Station. There is nothing at all as far as I could see to celebrate or announce that fact. Not like the Scousers to hide any light under a bushel, never mind such a big one.

We were meeting my mate Neville in the Ship and Mitre, a well known Liverpool Free House, but Graham suggested a sharpener in Doctor Duncan's first. This excellent Cains tied house had quite a range on. I had a half each of the Dark Mild and the Creamy Stout. The mild was stunning - smooth, malty, roasty and very moreish. The stout surprised me. I remembered it as being much sweeter, but this sample was bitter and roasty, though lacking the hop resin finish I like in a stout. Bit more EKGs please Cains. This was a great start. Graham had the IPA which is merely a best bitter of no real distinction. Unfortunately the Fine Raisin beer wasn't on, so I couldn't give my views on that!

The Ship and Mitre is a classic ex Bents house, but seems to me to lack the TLC it needs. The charming bar staff more than made up for that though, with wit and offers of tasters. Now I have to honest here. I have never found the beer in here to be at the peak of cask conditioning. It always seems a few notches off and so it was yesterday. Each beer selected seemed just a tad off what it could be. We drank beers from Skipton, Blakemore and Weetwood and all were around OK, but no more.

Leaving Neville to his do for a couple of hours, we skipped off. There are basically two boozing areas in Liverpool, the Centre and around the cathedrals. We were in the centre so we had to go to the Lion. This ex-Walker house has been messed about a fair bit since I lived in Scousley, but offers eight cask ales. Alas these are somewhat pedestrian. On offer were two from Bank's, Lees, (hooray) Black Sheep, Deuchars, Jennings and St Austell. The only unusual beer was Aspinall's (Gambrinus) Deliverance which had a nasty chemical edge and a good dose of acetone. Next the White Star. I remember drinking in here when the choice was Brew 10, Worthington and Bass, all on cask. The Bass was still there but the other three beers were from Bowland. We had tasters of all three and settled on Pale Crusader, which though poor, was the best of a bad lot. We looked in a couple of other pubs we knew from the past, but none appealed on beer grounds, though we did have excellent Okells Bitter in the pub behind Rigby's, which is being renovated. The bar in here couldn't have been more than eight feet long but had five staff working like Trojans behind it. Please note Tim Martin. The Wrekin (JDW) which we also had a couple of halves in (a very good Harviestoun Old Engine Oil and an utterly sweet and disgusting Young's Bitter) had two lack lustre staff for a bar three times as long.

We went back to the "do" for a couple then caught our train back to Manchester. We nipped into the Bull's Head which is an excellent pub. There two very decent pints of Rooster's YPA finished us off more than somewhat, though the £2.70 a pint price had a sobering effect! So Liverpool? Could do better, but of course we did miss some great pubs out. Next time the other drinking half of the city.

The pictures show Cain's Mild and Creamy Stout, the charming barmaid at the Ship and Mitre and my mate Graham outside the Main Bridewell, where he was once locked up! Click on the picture to see it in all its glory!

Alistair is no Darling of the Pub Trade

It seems that Mr Darling's recent shenanigans with duty increases have got on the wick of the pub trade more than somewhat. Following hard on the heels of the annual price increases imposed by the brewers before the budget, (nice timing guys) comes Alistair's whopping 4p a pint duty increase, plus a drinks escalator. This will see duty rise 2% above inflation for the next four years.

A campaign has started to bar our dear Chancellor from every pub in the land. Copies of a poster can be found here and printed off as required. It is a good bit of fun with a serious message. No-one in their right mind believes that the budget increase had anything to do with binge drinking and everything to do with revenue raising, with its daft attack on pub goers (mainly responsible drinkers in a controlled and licensed environment) in favour of those who buy their booze cheaply elsewhere and then create a public nuisance. But you can't help but feel the trade needs to do better overall and that the main gripe is the Chancellor got in first, thus preventing increases from licensees.

Nonetheless Mr D's interference is unwelcome and the poster campaign will at least get the cause of pubs a little more publicity than otherwise, which isn't a bad thing. The trade needs to be much more imaginative in its response to the current anti drink fetish of the press and needs to do much more to attract customers. The pub trade still hasn't got the message that the "offering" has to be much better than it currently is in all but a minority of pubs. The current round of price increases simply puts this fact into a sharper focus.