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11-03-2019, 15:17
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The Morning Advertiser has recently reported how pubs have grown to rival restaurants (https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2019/02/20/How-many-pubs-have-Michelin-stars?utm_source=copyright&utm_medium=OnSite&utm_campaign=copyright), with no less than seventeen now possessing Michelin stars. This is presented as though it is unalloyed good news, but should it really be seen as an entirely positive development?
Of course it is a truism to say that many, perhaps most, pubs would struggle to survive without serving food of some kind. However, there is a huge difference between offering snacks and functional food for people who are already in the area, and setting yourself up as a destination dining venue that people will make a special trip to visit.
I have written before how developing a destination food trade will, over time, tend to drive away other classes of customer. And that’s not just “drinkers” in a narrow sense, but anyone else who wants to partake in an activity other than eating, such as various sports, pub quizzes and meetings of clubs and societies. If you don’t feel at home if not dining, you will stop going.
While it may still have the outward appearance of a pub, it has in functional terms turned itself into a restaurant. In effect, it has sold its soul to continue in operation as a business. And is becoming a high-end gastropub really all that different from metamorphosing into an Indian restaurant or a convenience store? It certainly is unlikely to be much of a resource for its local community.
One of the Sunday papers recently ran a feature on the best pubs in Britain, and it was taken as read that each one would have, not a signature beer or cider, but a signature dish. A generation ago, that would have been unthinkable. In the early days of this blog, I asked whether it would have been better all round if pubs and restaurants had gone their separate ways (http://pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2008/04/separate-ways.html). Of course, that particular ship has long since sailed, but I can’t help thinking it’s still just as true today.
Incidentally, for those reading this on a mobile who can’t see the sidebar, please cast your vote in my new poll (https://vote.pollcode.com/78123131) on whether you’re really more interested in the pub or beer experience in pubs.


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