Blog Tracker
05-02-2017, 15:18
Visit the Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog site (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/pub-bits-televisions-in-pubs-1955/)
https://i0.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/halfton_tv.jpg?resize=650%2C440We’ve picked up lots of material on pubs that hasn’t made it into final text of The Big Project but we’re going to share some of it here in the coming months.Back in 1955 people were really worried about the newly ubiquitous TV set killing off clubs, societies, cinemas, and even threatening the church. Publicans were grumbling, too, as journalist Derrick Boothroyd discovered when researching an article, ‘New Ideas Can Fight TV Competition’, for the*Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer.*(28/02, p.9.)
He spoke to some who*‘moaned’ that their pubs were deserted, especially when the boxing was on TV, but for balance also found someone who was more upbeat — the*landlord of a ‘bright and cheerful’ public house:
TV has affected us undoubtedly… But it’s nothing like as bad as some people make out. I find the only nights that my trade is poor are when there is something really big on. Mind you, I’ve got to set out to attract people now and I think that’s what a lot publicans tend to forget. But provided you offer some incentive I don’t think TV need be feared. The average man — and the average working man in particular — is not the type who wants to stay at home every night. He wants to go out and have yap with his pals at the local — and if he has a decent local to go to, he’ll still go even if he has two TV sets. I should add however that it’s no solution to put TV in your pub. Everyone watches it and no one drinks. I’ve had mine taken out —and so have a lot other landlords.
Sixty-plus years on that still sounds like good advice*to us. We hadn’t really considered it but it’s funny how many of the pubs we warm to, from down-home to high-falutin, are TV free.PUB BITS: Televisions in Pubs, 1955 (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/pub-bits-televisions-in-pubs-1955/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/pub-bits-televisions-in-pubs-1955/)
https://i0.wp.com/boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/halfton_tv.jpg?resize=650%2C440We’ve picked up lots of material on pubs that hasn’t made it into final text of The Big Project but we’re going to share some of it here in the coming months.Back in 1955 people were really worried about the newly ubiquitous TV set killing off clubs, societies, cinemas, and even threatening the church. Publicans were grumbling, too, as journalist Derrick Boothroyd discovered when researching an article, ‘New Ideas Can Fight TV Competition’, for the*Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer.*(28/02, p.9.)
He spoke to some who*‘moaned’ that their pubs were deserted, especially when the boxing was on TV, but for balance also found someone who was more upbeat — the*landlord of a ‘bright and cheerful’ public house:
TV has affected us undoubtedly… But it’s nothing like as bad as some people make out. I find the only nights that my trade is poor are when there is something really big on. Mind you, I’ve got to set out to attract people now and I think that’s what a lot publicans tend to forget. But provided you offer some incentive I don’t think TV need be feared. The average man — and the average working man in particular — is not the type who wants to stay at home every night. He wants to go out and have yap with his pals at the local — and if he has a decent local to go to, he’ll still go even if he has two TV sets. I should add however that it’s no solution to put TV in your pub. Everyone watches it and no one drinks. I’ve had mine taken out —and so have a lot other landlords.
Sixty-plus years on that still sounds like good advice*to us. We hadn’t really considered it but it’s funny how many of the pubs we warm to, from down-home to high-falutin, are TV free.PUB BITS: Televisions in Pubs, 1955 (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/pub-bits-televisions-in-pubs-1955/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (http://boakandbailey.com)
More... (http://boakandbailey.com/2017/02/pub-bits-televisions-in-pubs-1955/)