PDA

View Full Version : The Pub Curmudgeon - Another country



Blog Tracker
07-02-2014, 18:07
Visit The Pub Curmudgeon site (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2014/02/another-country.html)



http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XMB3jF0Qzyg/UvUfs-MUf5I/AAAAAAAADVc/rtm24Djbn08/s200/craftbeerco1.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XMB3jF0Qzyg/UvUfs-MUf5I/AAAAAAAADVc/rtm24Djbn08/s1600/craftbeerco1.jpg)
The Daily Mash may have made a joke of it (http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/london-twat-drain-great-for-provinces-2014012882966), but the view is often heard that London is becoming increasingly detached in economic and social terms from the rest of the UK. Its economy seems to be more a part of an international world of finance than the realities of workaday provincial life, it experiences a house price boom while the rest of the country is stagnant, and its sheer size and density make its transport problems and solutions unique in Britain. Also, unlike pretty much any other major city apart perhaps from Edinburgh, it has a large population of prosperous middle-class people living in inner-urban areas which gives them a distinctly different feel. A significant issue resulting from this is that, since so many politicians and journalists are based in London, it is all too easy to form the opinion that the capital is typical of the rest of the country and what works there is likely to work anywhere else.
It’s also home to the social phenomenon of the hipster (http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/types-of-hipster-you-encounter-in-london) which only appears to have spread outwards in a rather half-hearted fashion. This seems to be bound up with the direction that the London beer scene has taken. I get the impression that craft ales and lagers have become much more widely available there than anywhere else. The craft beer bar, or the minimalist makeover of an old pub, has become an essential centrepiece for the up-and-coming trendy neighbourhood. Many of the London microbreweries seem to intent on developing a cutting-edge image rather than brewing a a range of conventional, accessible beers. This has given rise to the phenomenon of “London murky” which really is very specific to the capital. And the sky-high property prices make it attractive to convert even thriving pubs for residential use, which is something you just don’t see here. All the pubs local to me that have been turned into something else have either been obviously struggling or already closed.
It’s sometimes said that, where London leads, the rest of the country eventually follows but, in wider terms spreading well beyond the world of beer, I get the feeling that the two are increasingly heading in different directions.


More... (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2014/02/another-country.html)