Opening times on pub pages

[bcfczuluarmy]

Sat in The New Mill (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/33135/) and noticed opening times feature on the page. How new is this and what magical work goes into it checked a couple of pubs I was in last weekend in Taunton and some have times and others don't. Assume it's harvested somehow rather than manually entered.

Nice feature and if internet harvested could be more accurate than the what pub entries that most have fell foul of.

[Mobyduck]

Dave mentioned it recently in the Brighton In Spring thread, the info comes from the pubs Facebook page, if there is no Facebook page then no times are displayed.

[NickDavies]

Fine if it's from pubs' official FB pages. But some pubs have random pages too - usually dating from the Facebook Places - where random people have contributed - I came across a pub recently which had three unofficial 'duplicate' pages as well as its own. If you're feeling pro-active you can report them to FB in favour of the correct page, though you'd thing the pub or whatever, itself would do that - especially when they get slagged off by food ranters on unofficial pages.

[rpadam]

Fine if it's from pubs' official FB pages. But some pubs have random pages too - usually dating from the Facebook Places - where random people have contributed - I came across a pub recently which had three unofficial 'duplicate' pages as well as its own. If you're feeling pro-active you can report them to FB in favour of the correct page, though you'd thing the pub or whatever, itself would do that - especially when they get slagged off by food ranters on unofficial pages.
If anybody gets redirected to an official Facebook page from an unofficial one linked on this site, then if they leave a post on That Doesn't Go There! (http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?6-That-Doesn-t-Go-There!) then we can tidy-up the pub page details. Ditto for any missing Facebook links noted.

[Dave M]

Glad you like the feature I've found the data to be pretty good on the whole. Although there are examples like this where the times have gone a bit wrong The Concorde (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/304/)


Fine if it's from pubs' official FB pages. But some pubs have random pages too - usually dating from the Facebook Places - where random people have contributed - I came across a pub recently which had three unofficial 'duplicate' pages as well as its own. If you're feeling pro-active you can report them to FB in favour of the correct page, though you'd thing the pub or whatever, itself would do that - especially when they get slagged off by food ranters on unofficial pages.

Yes you are quite right that there is some dodgy info on Facebook left over from the old Places stuff. The opening times only get shown where the link we have is reported as being a managed page, of course the page still might not be an official page as such but I would say the vast majority are.

I've tried reporting duplicates to Facebook, one of which got corrected almost three years later and one got rejected for no apparent reason.


If anybody gets redirected to an official Facebook page from an unofficial one linked on this site.

I do have a script that I run every three months or so to try to pick up on those. It usually corrects a couple of hundred.

[Aqualung]

A pub's official Farcebook page is unlikely to be bettered for this sticky subject. There will still be problems with the one man band micropubs and my nearest pub which just opens when they feel like it, not that I would recommend it to anyone.

[sheffield hatter]

Glad you like the feature I've found the data to be pretty good on the whole. Although there are examples like this where the times have gone a bit wrong The Concorde (https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/304/)

I assume this is because of people using either am and pm when referring to the hour 12 noon. As am means "before noon" and pm means "after noon", the hour 12 cannot be either am or pm and is just 12 noon.

[oldboots]

I assume this is because of people using either am and pm when referring to the hour 12 noon. As am means "before noon" and pm means "after noon", the hour 12 cannot be either am or pm and is just 12 noon.

Conventionally, 12am is midnight and 12pm is noon but if it doesn't say then we're pretty much in the dark.

[sheffield hatter]

Conventionally, 12am is midnight and 12pm is noon but if it doesn't say then we're pretty much in the dark.

For what it's worth, this from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12-hour_clock): The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language has a usage note on this topic: "By convention, 12 AM denotes midnight and 12 PM denotes noon. Because of the potential for confusion, it is advisable to use 12 noon and 12 midnight."

...or close at 11:59pm.

[NickDavies]

I've noticed that sometimes a pub's hours aren't displayed yet present on the linked Facebook page. If I delete the FB link and remake it the hours automagically pop up. Is this expected behaviour? Is it possible that the pub pages pick up the FB data when the FB link is first added and then don't update subesquently unless forced? So if they never had the hours originally they don't get to Pubs Galore? And that the hours on PG age with respect to the hours on FB?

[Dave M]

I've noticed that sometimes a pub's hours aren't displayed yet present on the linked Facebook page. If I delete the FB link and remake it the hours automagically pop up. Is this expected behaviour? Is it possible that the pub pages pick up the FB data when the FB link is first added and then don't update subesquently unless forced? So if they never had the hours originally they don't get to Pubs Galore? And that the hours on PG age with respect to the hours on FB?

Well spotted, I am aware of the problem, here's how it worked when I started it.
1) A FB link is added, all of the info is checked in the background and opening times will be displayed if it finds them.
2) For every FB link in the system (About 35,000 of them I think) they would be rechecked once every day and opening hours updated or added if there were none before.
3) Opening hours are only displayed on PG if they have been rechecked within the last 24 hours to try to avoid out of date info.

Sadly since the whole Cambridge Analytica stuff earlier in the year Facebook have severely restricted access to data. So in the last 24 hours only around 500 pubs have been rechecked so opening times wont be displaying on the other 34,500.

I'm working on improving this as it is very frustrating but it is possible Facebook may remove my access to the data entirely, their processes are very unclear. :mad:

[NickDavies]

their processes are very unclear.

Understatement of the year when it comes to Facebook. I look forward to N Clegg's spin on things.

Thanks Dave for clarifying.

[Tris39]

I've noticed that sometimes a pub's hours aren't displayed yet present on the linked Facebook page. If I delete the FB link and remake it the hours automagically pop up. Is this expected behaviour? Is it possible that the pub pages pick up the FB data when the FB link is first added and then don't update subesquently unless forced? So if they never had the hours originally they don't get to Pubs Galore? And that the hours on PG age with respect to the hours on FB?

The number of pubs I've been to where those in charge don't abide by their closing times rather defeats the opening hours data: "Sorry mate. We've called last orders.", once heard at 9.30!

[Aqualung]

The number of pubs I've been to where those in charge don't abide by their closing times rather defeats the opening hours data: "Sorry mate. We've called last orders.", once heard at 9.30!

If that happens in a pub chain and the opening hours are clearly displayed then it's worth complaining to head office. I did this years ago with a JDW that arbitrarily decided to shut at 22:00 on a bank holiday Monday. The person responsible was in big trouble.

[Mobyduck]

If that happens in a pub chain and the opening hours are clearly displayed then it's worth complaining to head office. I did this years ago with a JDW that arbitrarily decided to shut at 22:00 on a bank holiday Monday. The person responsible was in big trouble.

Quite right too.

[Tris39]

If that happens in a pub chain and the opening hours are clearly displayed then it's worth complaining to head office. I did this years ago with a JDW that arbitrarily decided to shut at 22:00 on a bank holiday Monday. The person responsible was in big trouble.

This too is maddening. Why do some staff think that bank holidays give cause for early closing?

[Aqualung]

This too is maddening. Why do some staff think that bank holidays give cause for early closing?

Under the old licencing laws it meant an extension in many places which is ridiculous as most people had to go to work the next day. Many micropubs don't open on a Monday but most do on a bank holiday albeit with Sunday hours but they can do what they like and many do! The nearest pub to me is not somewhere I go but you can never tell when it's going to be open. Whenever I pass it on the bus and it's open it invariably looks empty. I don't see how it can be making any money!

[Farway]

Under the old licencing laws it meant an extension in many places which is ridiculous as most people had to go to work the next day. Many micropubs don't open on a Monday but most do on a bank holiday albeit with Sunday hours but they can do what they like and many do! The nearest pub to me is not somewhere I go but you can never tell when it's going to be open. Whenever I pass it on the bus and it's open it invariably looks empty. I don't see how it can be making any money!

There was one near me did just that, opened when felt like it, and was invariably empty when they felt like opening.
Obviously never made any money & tenant went bust