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Thread: why do some pubs close or stop serving early?

  1. #1
    Glass Half Full
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    Default why do some pubs close or stop serving early?

    I’ve been in a few pubs lately, notably The Bank, Mosely Street, Manchester, who close early, stopping their service before the official listed closing times. Is this acceptable and common practice? Rather absurd in 24/7 licensing Britain.

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    Fully paid up beer belly Farway's Avatar
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    I can't speak for all, but many close due to costs and lack of customers

    My local would close in the afternoon, but Fuller's insist it stays open, so light / heating /staff are all drain on profits, with only the one or two customers coming in for a pint, and I mean a pint, not 10, so hardly enough profit to justify opening

    24/7 licencing maybe allowed, but I think you will find that outside of very large cities there is no such animal, Portsmouth for instance has just one 24/7 licence, near the Channel Ferry terminal

    Another reason may just be staff shortage, again my local stopped selling food because the cook had not turned up, so guess same could aplly to ]bar staff on shift work?
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    This Space For Hire aleandhearty's Avatar
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    I think Farway has pretty much nailed it. Looking at it from a slightly different perspective, many of the pubs local to me don't open until late afternoon, Monday to Thursday.
    'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.

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    This Space For Hire Wittenden's Avatar
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    I'm not very often out and about in the late evening nowdays, but I do notice that a fair few pubs seem to shut around 10, which is annoying, as if I am out, I would have been to a meeting and in need of refreshment. I suppose it's due to lack of demand,staffing costs and the like. I must admit to a nostalgia for the old days when you knew the pub would open at six and close at eleven or ten thirty.
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

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    It's because the till is so full of money they can't fit any more in..............

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    Fully paid up beer belly Farway's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by an_ecumenical_matter View Post
    It's because the till is so full of money they can't fit any more in..............
    Naughty Boy

    And also may be linked to lack of public transport after certain hours?

    Again I can only refer to my local area, but I must even beat Cinderella to leave the party in the unlikely event of going to Portsmouth in the evening. My last bus home is 1837, yep, 20 minutes to 7 PM, none on Sunday to other nearby towns

    Comes down to local circumstances in the end I reckon
    Last edited by Farway; 16-05-2013 at 16:24.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wittenden View Post
    I'm not very often out and about in the late evening nowadays, but I do notice that a fair few pubs seem to shut around 10, which is annoying, as if I am out, I would have been to a meeting and in need of refreshment. I suppose it's due to lack of demand,staffing costs and the like. I must admit to a nostalgia for the old days when you knew the pub would open at six and close at eleven or ten thirty.
    I wonder if in the old days we went out knowing that we would be kicked out at 10:30 or 11 (afters not withstanding) and timed things accordingly. All part of the ritual. Nowadays if work is in prospect the next day staying till midnight closing is not a regular option and people tend to drift off when they're ready, which could be earlier than they might have done before because there isn't that 'we just got time for another' imperative. Hence pubs packing up early midweek despite being able to carry on later if there's the custom.

  8. #8
    Still about Mobyduck's Avatar
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    At the end of the day if the pub is out of the way punters cant get to them nowadays, a few decades ago now people used to drive to pubs, not possible now for obvious reasons, so a pub out in the sticks or off the beaten track today has to manage its hours of opening , or turn gastro , or close. Sad but true.
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    Quote Originally Posted by NickDavies View Post
    I wonder if in the old days we went out knowing that we would be kicked out at 10:30 or 11 (afters not withstanding) and timed things accordingly. All part of the ritual. Nowadays if work is in prospect the next day staying till midnight closing is not a regular option and people tend to drift off when they're ready, which could be earlier than they might have done before because there isn't that 'we just got time for another' imperative. Hence pubs packing up early midweek despite being able to carry on later if there's the custom.
    I thimk this sums it up in town / city pubs. I can't remember when I last heard anyone calling Last Orders. If I stay past midnight in my local haunts I miss the bus home (or have to make a different longer journey).

    Regarding afters, I remember hearing a story about a Leyton pub that is now flats which was having prolonged afters. At 05:00am the Landlord wanted to retire. A worse for wear bloke called Ken said to him "You can't ask us to leave, you haven't rung the last bell". The Landlord's response remains unknown.

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    Pub researcher (unpaid) rpadam's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung View Post
    I can't remember when I last heard anyone calling Last Orders.
    Heard it in the village club tonight (actually the barperson said 'Time' a bit early first, until shouted down and a revised call of 'Last orders' went out...).

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