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opinion pubs

How do you feel about pubs closing for private parties?

“See, this pisses me off. I haven’t been to this pub in two years, I go out of my way, and it’s shut for a private bloody function.”

“I can’t begrudge them, not in February during a hospitality crisis. Guaranteed business when they might otherwise be totally dead.”

“But what message does it send? Don’t bother coming here, it’s never open.”

“Maybe it’s about the message it sends to the regulars and locals – that this is a space they can use when they need it.”

“Harrumph. I suppose my view is that only pubs with more than one room should host parties. One-room backstreet pubs aren’t designed for it.”

“So you let the big chain pubs have all the party business? And force people to have their parties in pubs they don’t like, or don’t have any connection with?”

“I think there’s something in the idea that pubs should keep regular hours, be open as often as possible, and resist the idea of reservations. They’re training people out of the idea of a quick pint. They’re making spontaneity impossible.”

“When you’re managing a business you don’t want spontaneous customers. You want to be able to plan staffing and project earnings.”

“But pubs aren’t just businesses…”

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opinion

You’re Dead to us Now

Someone who reads the blog and follows us on Twitter wrote to us last week. His email began: “Your definition of Craft Beer/Breweries I feel is the best I’ve seen in an attempt to clarify a confusing situation.”

“Do go on,” we said smugly, sitting in noxious clouds of our own self-satisfaction.

“At what point is a Craft Brewer no longer a Craft Brewer? Can that happen?”

The blood drained from our faces. That is a very awkward question.

It helps if, like us, you don’t think of this as binary, but a question of degrees. And, as the definition of ‘craft beer’ in the UK isn’t (yet) fixed or externally validated, and if you think it’s a worthwhile idea, you need to have your own criteria.

The more boxes they tick, they more likely we are to think they’re a craft brewery. By extension, if those ticks are rubbed out, our thinking goes into reverse.

If Thornbridge start using clear bottles, or ditch cask ale, or start describing Jaipur only as “a premium beer made with the best malt and hops”, we’d begin to have doubts. Brewdog, for all their attempts to monopolise this territory, do lots of things that don’t sound very much like craft brewing to us: a few more steps in that direction, and they’re out, at least in our minds.

Finally, does it matter if a brewery stops being ‘craft’? No. It doesn’t necessarily mean their beer suddenly tastes bad, or that we hate them, just that our relationship changes. ‘Craft’ is not synonymous with ‘worthy’.