a swift one - A Beer Guide Whinge

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I have said a fair amount about the Good Beer Guide in the last few days, but concentrating on local issues. I do have a whinge about it in general though, which occurred to me when I realised I overlooked the Sair issue.

It is a useful tool for carrying about and finding pubs in areas with which the drinker is unfamiliar, I am not denying that, but my complaint is the arbitrary way that areas are split up. Our home town for example, shows Huddersfield with separate entries for Meltham, Marsden and Slaithwaite. This means that a visitor to the town will go to the main Huddersfield entry but not knowing the outlying areas may overlook the others, so missing out on some decent pubs that are possibly as easy to get to, especially by car.


Its when you use it for places that you are unfamiliar with that it starts to fall down. Take Leeds for instance. The City centre is covered, but there is an entry for Holbeck as well. How many passing through Leeds know that the Holbeck pubs listed are as close, if not closer, to the railway station than those listed for the city. And who really knows where Holbeck is? I certainly don't if I use the guide's criteria. Sheffield suffers a similar fate, with a strange split between Sheffield Centre and Sheffield North.


In contrast, Manchester City centre is listed in without any splits. Liverpool likewise, although it does shown different areas outside the centre. May be this is the way to do it. Use the postcode as a starting point and anything under that postcode listed under the name of the largest town,(ie Huddersfield) with sub sections to show the other areas (ie Huddersfield:Meltham).


I realise I am being picky and a little pedantic, I know there is a map to help in the guide but this is not neccessarily on the page that you need when searching for those unfamiliar pubs. I just want it to be as easy to use as possible for me when I am out am about, and I do not want to miss out on decent pubs because of the areas arbitarily selected by the guides editor or sub editor that do not mean anything to me.

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