What Makes A Beer Garden A Beer Garden?

[ETA]

We quite often see the term 'Beer Garden' used by reviewers and pubs, but what exactly is the difference between a beer garden and a pub garden?

Having spent time in Germany, where a 'Biergarten' implies somewhere where beer is actually served - rather than just taken to after purchase from the bar - I think I suggest a beer garden is a garden in which you can actually buy beer, either from a bar in the garden itself or by ordering from the staff and having it brought out to you. A pub garden where you just go and drink beer you've bought inside, is, I suggest, just a pub garden where you drink beer rather than a Beergarden as such.

Or am I overthinking this? What does everyone else think?

(I shall now take a beer into my garden to ponder this.)

[Soup Dragon]

Hi ETA - i use three general terms when describing outside facilities:-
Beer Garden - has tables and most of all, grass!
Patio - as in beer garden, but guess what? No grass.
Kid's Play Area - this could be either grassed, or not - the main feature of course being some sort of play equipment for kids that we are tempted to try out ourselves.

I just see it in very plain terms!

[gillhalfpint]

These days any outside drinking area can be classed as a beer garden, a place where you can carry your glass of beer outside to drink it. If I have to classify the different sorts of outside areas on the pub page, it is getting a bit too much IMHO. Sorry.

[london calling]

Even without grass if its an outside space I call it a beer garden.

[AlanH]

I tend to class a beer garden as any outside area to take your drink, but a couple of tables on the pavement or a tiny smoking den in the back yard is pushing my classification a bit far!

[hondo]

Hi ETA - i use three general terms when describing outside facilities:-
Beer Garden - has tables and most of all, grass!
Patio - as in beer garden, but guess what? No grass.
Kid's Play Area - this could be either grassed, or not - the main feature of course being some sort of play equipment for kids that we are tempted to try out ourselves.

I just see it in very plain terms!

I concur :)

[Strongers]

I'm with Soupy on this one. There aren't many pubs with a bar in the beer garden so if I come across one I mention it in my review.

[Alesonly]

Best Beer Garden I know is on the Griffin at Whetstone yes it has a bar in the garden and large screen TVs for watching the footy in summer a nice big garden as well. Pubs a bit poky & and Twigs & candles poncey inside but OK.:D see the web site for details. The Griffin (http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/66146/) Its Got very Expensive since Strongers last visited.

[Aqualung]

I tend to class a beer garden as any outside area to take your drink, but a couple of tables on the pavement or a tiny smoking den in the back yard is pushing my classification a bit far!

For the purposes of filling in the option on this site, I agree with this.

[Farway]

Tend to agree with Soupy, & Aqualung, chuck in few flowers maybe, and in some pubs a stream running through = garden

Flagged courtyard with tables, mmm, bit dubious, depends on size & maybe if it has plants in tubs etc then possibly creeps under the wire for me

Just somewhere for smokers to puff away, nope

[Strongers]

I often use the phrase "some outside seating" which means that the outside area isn't really a garden.

[london calling]

I often use the phrase "some outside seating" which means that the outside area isn't really a garden.

Good idea.Will use that phrase as a few pubs have outside seating but when garden is pushing it a bit.

[aleandhearty]

I tend to class a beer garden as any outside area to take your drink, but a couple of tables on the pavement or a tiny smoking den in the back yard is pushing my classification a bit far!

Pretty much my take on things.

[trainman]

Rather than starting a new thread I found this, which has some relevance.
In view of pubs potentially opening under guidelines and primarily for outside drinking (I think?), who has a favourite pub with garden/outside area?
I previously mentioned a lack of enthusiasm for drinking externally at a pub (but will bow to majority in company) so not too many I can necessarily recall. Halfway House (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/53015/) has a large grassed area and a beer festival when I was last there long ago, there are a handful nearer-by I can think of with concrete 'gardens', but where would you head to for a positive outside experience..? (External space, not out-of-body)...

[ROBCamra]

The Baum (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/55901/) I think. ;)

[sheffield hatter]

...who has a favourite pub with garden/outside area?
I previously mentioned a lack of enthusiasm for drinking externally at a pub (but will bow to majority in company) so not too many I can necessarily recall. Halfway House (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/53015/) has a large grassed area and a beer festival when I was last there long ago, there are a handful nearer-by I can think of with concrete 'gardens'...

The Halfway House that you mention got one of my very rare 10s when I was there just over a year ago. Happy days!


...but where would you head to for a positive outside experience..?

There are quite a few near me, but I think in this weather and with the pubs reopening after more than three months abstinence, they're going to be hugely crowded.

The Blake Hotel (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43068/)
The Wellington (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43091/)
Shakespeares (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43362/)
Kelham Island Tavern (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/56068/)
The Fat Cat (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43149/)
Gardeners Rest (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43179/)

The Blake is the largest of these, I reckon. The others, if a one metre separation is attempted, will soon become full.


...(External space, not out-of-body)...

Maybe your mention of an out-of-body experience is not such a bad idea. Do you have a supply of magic mushrooms?

[oldboots]

I'm rather stuck, the pubs in our city either have no or small beer gardens or are rubbish pubs. The alternative is a bus trip to somewhere with better pubs and public transport isn't at its best at the moment. Looks like Beerhawk and Roosters Brewery etc will continue getting my custom for a while.

[Al Bundy]

Living in a city centre (Liverpool), as I do , there are no pubs that I can think of that have an actual garden (grass and shite). There are loads of pubs however that advertise they have a 'garden' but these are either courtyards, pavements, terraces or, in a few cases, just the entrance to the outside shitter so its either down to reviewers to put people right or just get on with it.

[rpadam]

The Halfway House that you mention got one of my very rare 10s when I was there just over a year ago. Happy days!
It's just about in walking range for me going out, but getting back is a different matter...

[trainman]

The Blake Hotel (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43068/)
The Wellington (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43091/)
Shakespeares (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43362/)
Kelham Island Tavern (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/56068/)
The Fat Cat (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43149/)
Gardeners Rest (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/43179/)
?
I now recall turning right from bar to an outside area at Wellington, but no memory of such at Shakespeares, KIT or FC, but there may be reasons for that...
Here's another I did make a note of: Selborne Arms (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/59531/) but, after taking notes (good old days), I stayed in the bar!

[trainman]

And some council planning madness in Beeston, where the magnificent Crown (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/62675/) cannot get permission for a temporary marquee...

https://www.nottinghampost.com/whats-on/food-drink/notts-pub-calls-common-sense-4257104

[Tris39]

Certainly not a 'fag passage' out back, but I'd like a winding, meandering path, some grass, a great selection of flowers, no stupid Stella Artois umbrellas or some such and certainly not the waft of dog poo, for me make a good garden. Here are some of the more interesting that spring to mind:

I think that the most interesting outside space, largely because of the river but not really a 'garden':
The Head of the River (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/31736/)

Most arboreal and not for nothing known as the Ewok Village:
Faltering Fullback (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/25432/)

Worst, largely because it is essentially a traffic island surrounded by dual carriageways and most easily accessed by a subway!:
Ye Olde Swiss Cottage (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/23756/)

Beautiful garden, grumpy landlady:
The Harrow Inn (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/59771/)