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Thread: The Great Put Decline, Essay help

  1. #1
    Teetotal
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    Default The Great Put Decline, Essay help

    Hi Guys, my names Pete.
    I'm new to here, but was wondering if you'd be able to help me...
    I have to write a 4000 word essay in Economics as part of my coursework. I have decided to choose the decline of pubs over the last 10 years as my title.
    I was wondering if you guys would mind helping me... I have to do primary research, eg. Survey or Questionnaire and i thought that this would be a great place to pose the question as its a dedicated forum.
    Would you mind answering a few questions?
    -Why do you think people are visiting pubs less causing them to shut down (no right or wrong answer, personal opinion please!)
    -What are the biggest differences pubs have undergone in the last 10 years in your opinion?
    -What is your favourite thing about British pubs?
    -What is the worst thing about British pubs?

    Thanks very much, any replies would be fantastic!
    Peter

  2. #2
    I'll stay on me own Andy Ven's Avatar
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    Hi Peter, I have some bullet points in mind. You will find they have been discussed elsewhere on this forum (except maybe for elasticity of demand).

    Price/Competition – from supermarkets. It’s so much cheaper to drink at home with supermarkets offering deals, often selling alcohol as a loss leader

    Competition/Product Placement – pubs, bars, cafes (Cafe Rouge etc), clubs, restaurants. It’s sometimes difficult to define what constitutes a pub and where the line is drawn between a pub and a bar and a cafe. The pubs I believe that are suffering the most are those that sell mainly drinks.

    The ones that have been able to compete for market share are those that sell meals and provide for a wider range of customers, such as families.

    Supply – the tied house system makes it so much more difficult for some pubs to compete on price compared to others nearby

    The smoking ban – smokers can drink and smoke in the comfort of their own home rather than having to stand outside

    The recession means that there is less disposable income for people to spend on a night in the pub.

    Duty and VAT – I’m not sure what proportion of a price of a pint is made up in taxes but the perception is that it’s a fair chunk

    Other overheads – business rates, the amount that satellite broadcasters charge for their sports coverage – some publicans are just priced out so they can’t compete with those that have it. Maybe the same principle applies to the cost of DJs and live music acts brought in to attract punters.

    The growth of the chain pubs (Wetherspoon’s etc) who are able to compete on price because of volume and cheap meals has, in my opinion, resulted in fewer local pubs with a unique identity – it’s cheaper to eat and drink at the Wetherspoon’s in town. This I feel has what has changed significantly within the last decade.

    Changing attitudes over time with regard to drinking and driving – either we drink just one or maybe two pints or don’t bother at all. Maybe rural pubs without public transport links have been hit harder

    Have social (equality) attitudes also changed in terms of wives not putting up with their husbands going to the pub every night and leaving them in the house – maybe a generational change?

    Could I suggest that people network in other ways, such as over the internet, rather than relying as heavily as they used to on the local pub.

    Youngsters are now required to prove their age more so than when I was 18 (ish) so fewer can go into the pub and get served.

    I like a pint and a chat in my local, just bumping into people I have not planned to see and therefore I might not have seen them. It’s therefore a focal point for a community.

    When it comes down to it, you can’t replicate the quality of a cask ale at home.

    The worst thing is you can’t always control who you meet in the pub or on the way home! Oh, and I can’t stand listening to karaoke or music that is so loud you can’t hold a conversation.

    What can also be a deterrent is that a decent pint is now likely to cost £3 – it soon adds up. Ironically though, it’s amazing how many more pubs sell cask ales compared to even 2 years ago (a pub offering decent cask ale has to turnover sufficient volume otherwise it goes stale). This has coincided with an exponential growth in CAMRA membership and outlets such as Wetherspoon’s joining the ranks of real ale pubs.

    If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know!
    Waes hael!

  3. #3
    This Space For Hire arwkrite's Avatar
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    Bullet Points ! What you got there Andy ? A machine gun ? Back to my measly input.Excuse me if ,as normal , I ramble when given the chance.Andy has provided more ideas than I can think of but I will try a different tack.

    1, The younger generation, while being accused of Binge drinking, can also look on regular drinking as a health risk, anti social and a threat to their jobs. For my regular sojourn to the pub my stepsons consider me an alcoholic in my habits. They drink designer beers, out of bottles in fancy bars at inflated prices. This may happen once a month. They complain of feeling hungover after 7/8 bottles of the stuff. I go down the local pub three or four times a week, have at the most 3/4 pints of real ale, talk to a variety of friendly people, walk home to an empty house and wake up next day feeling fine.It is not because of me that pubs are shutting down. A persons drinking habits are his business and may be his own problem. I am to old to be told what to do by kids because they have ideas different to mine.

    I live in a rural community, after 6.30pm you can forget Public Transport, it dont exist. A lot of people drink and drive, but a lot dont. Country pubs often close on the quiet nights and all do food to boost the takings. Some people say that they do not visit a pub now because of the smoking ban. I have yet to meet anyone I know who has taken this course of action. People who would pop out just for the odd infrequent drink have told me it is now cheaper to stay at home and drink supermarket alcohol. Listen a bit more and you learn that they now appear to drink more at home than the odd pint they did before in a pub. Just last night I passed a phone box. On the shelf was a half size vodka bottle and two red bull cans, both empty. That must have been some phone call or do BT now deliver. Forget about the idyll of country life we got drink and drug problems like every where else. Pete you say about changes in the last ten years but I believe the rot set in further back when breweries were made to sell pubs off to what amounted to real estate companies. These companies care little about pubs and communities only profit and loss on every unit.

    My favourite thing about British Pubs is British Beer. I can put up with questionable company as long as the beer is right.

    The worst thing about SOME pubs are often the toilets, followed by ill trained staff with an ignorant attitude towards customers. Apart from the price of beer I cannot think of one common denominator to tar all pubs with. But we all complain about the price of beer so you could put that down as normal.

    Better get off my soap box before I fall off and leave the floor for those members with clear minds and straight answers.I wonder whats on at the phone box tonight?

  4. #4
    We're not really 'ere! trainman's Avatar
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    All good points above.
    One thing about the smoking ban was that there was a perceived expectation (not by me) that folk who claimed not to use pubs because they were too smokey would start to do so, thus, to an extent, making up for the loss of smokers who didn't want to be constantly nipping out for a fag. Not a bit of it - that demographic mostly don't use pubs because they simply don't like 'em, so there never were compensating numbers to soften the effect of the smoking ban.
    Probably connected to that is the advent of 'metrosexual' men who may briefly visit a pub for a bottle of something tasteless when they leave the office, ostensibly to have their face briefly seen in a social environment whilst wishing they were home sharing a bottle of Sauv Blanc or Merlot with the missus. And that leads to another factor - the very large increase in wine consumption in the UK, with some extremely drinkable wines available at very affordable prices.
    The biggest factors in pub closures though have to be the ever increasing prices (triggered, in part, by the tax escalator) versus the ever decreasing price of cheap lager & cider (never real ale!) in the supermarkets.

    The best recent thing about British pubs is the explosion of choice for the real ale market, with micro breweries offering such a variety (where you can find it) that the ale drinker, price apart, has never had it so good. The pubs where these choices are found, with the exception of Wetherspoons, tend to be the very essence of what an English pub should be, with more warmth and character (and fewer problem customers) than any high street circuit pubs. They are a dwindling breed, but are cherished by most who read these pages.
    Last edited by trainman; 17-06-2010 at 07:21.

  5. #5
    Inndigestion Strongers's Avatar
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    The smoking ban is a good excuse for a loss in trade from pub owners/managers who have not adapted to a changing society. I know of only one place where the smoking ban had a massive impact as it was located on the first floor of a building on a high street where there were no smoking provisions.

    If you look down the high street you will see all manors of local shops no longer trading and boarded up. People do not have the disposable income anymore and I am one of those that drink at home more now, and yes I do drink more now than I did when I went to the pub 3 or 4 nights a week.

    I think that the majority of pubs now rely heavily on dry sales and the ones that don’t have to build up a reputation for top quality beers and be in an area where the hard work will be appreciated by the local population.

    I have been to a lot of old boozers, that are so popular with people on this site including me, and they have been almost empty when all the pubs in the surrounding area have been packed. The landlord/landlady are obviously concerned about this, but they do not have a proactive approach to change it as they have been selling beer for 30+ years and they are not about to start selling food or making coffee etc etc.

    A good pub to mention is the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town where they have taken a failing grotty old estate pub and turned it into a real ale emporium selling local beers and pies and hot meat sandwiches like the old days and people are lapping it up. Good luck to them and I hope that the novelty doesn’t wear off.

    My favourite thing about the local pub is that it is a great leveller and you’ll find bank managers talking to roofers and old talking to young.

    My least favourite is the cost.

    I could rattle on for hours!
    Last edited by Strongers; 17-06-2010 at 08:48.
    WE ARE THE BREADMEN - UP THE BEES

  6. #6
    Just Missed the Round Evil Gazebo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterChinnock View Post

    The Great Put decline, Essay help

    Hi Guys, my names Pete.
    I'm new to here, but was wondering if you'd be able to help me...
    I have to write a 4000 word essay in Economics as part of my coursework. I have decided to choose the decline of pubs over the last 10 years as my title.
    I was wondering if you guys would mind helping me...

    Thanks very much, any replies would be fantastic!
    Peter
    It might be a good idea to spell "Pub" correctly in your essay title.
    And you can really taste the hops!

  7. #7
    Humble Wordsmith ETA's Avatar
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    OK, my thoughts.

    I believe the factors affecting change the most are both social and economic. I base this on the observation that I frequently see town pubs full during the week, often with those on what I perceive as a limited income (the obviously unemployed, students, pensioners). This comment is not a dig at any of those populations - it is up to everyone how they spend their own money - just an observation that economic hardshit doesn't necessarily stop pub visiting.

    People do spend more time socialising at venues other than pubs - restaurants are the obvious choice, but I believe there is an increase in the number of people who entertain at home (barbecues, dinner parties, wide-screen tvs showing sports, and the growth of wine drinking has not, unlike on the continent, led to a significant increase in the popularity of wine bars. I think there are also more clubs (late night boozers for the hard of thinking, rather than "proper" members-type clubs) around now which relocates a large number of drinkers both spacially and temporally from the pub market. Conversely, I think there has been a decline in the popularity of teh other types of club - working men's conservative/labour party clubs, RBL etc etc.

    Changes in attitudes to drink-driving have had an effect in both rural and urban areas - though there are so many factors involved I think it would be difficult to separate this influence from any statistical analysis. For my own part, I will sometimes have a pint of something weak with a proper lunchmeal when I'm not driving far, but more than that I just don't do (Mrs A has a perfectly good driving license which I hate to waste, plus I use my bicycle when I can).

    Another change is the increase in the number of TTs around (despite the media-fuelled myth that binge drinking is about to cause society to collapse). I think there are 2 main reasons for this - health nazis have convinced the innocent that they will go to Hell (or other religious equivalent) if they go anywhere near a yeast spore, while there is an increasing proportion of the population which doesn't drink alcohol on religious grounds. That should not stop them visiting pubs, though - most pubs do sell soft drinks after all.

    The point about landlords' not moving with the times is well made, but does not apply universally. Chains like JDW - whether we like them or not - have been innovative and, while I hate to admit it, may very well serve a valuable role in saving teh pub trade. They have diversified (breakfast menues, early coffees etc) and adapted to the changing High Street environment, while only the very best tradional boozers will survive.

    Interestingly, this phenomenon is not unique to Britain - the same has happened in France where many traditional cafes have closed, citing the same reasons - smoking ban, increased taxation on premises and alcoholic drinks, and competition from chains and modern bars.

    Sorry, that was very unstructured and a bit of a ramble, but what do you expect at this time of the morning? Never mind, only 9 hours before my next pint...

  8. #8
    Roving RAT ROBCamra's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Evil Gazebo View Post
    It might be a good idea to spell "Pub" correctly in your essay title.
    Damn, I was just counting up how many times I go to the Put every month. Less than one I think.
    A pub is for life not just for Christmas

  9. #9
    I'll stay on me own Alesonly's Avatar
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    The main reasons I stopped going too the Pub on a Daily Basses is changes too working practises over the years.
    In the 70s I used too work in standard Telephones at New Southgate and I would go in The York Arms most lunch times.

    Then In the early 80s I worked on The Railway and most of us would often have a drink after work in the Local were we finished.then in the 90s come big changes in comes the Zero work limit that meant you cant drink nothing at all at least eight hours before work and only 7 units in any 24 hours before the start of shift. that was another biggest cause it did not just affect us it also applies too most site workers and a lot of company's are now using this so most workers don't drinking now if working next day. Think how many workers used too drink at lunch times and after a hard days work in factory's now if you go in a Pub at lunch times its dead except for a few pensioners.
    Don't You just hate Pubs that say
    ( We don't stock any Real Ales as theres Just no call for it.)

  10. #10
    Teetotal
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    Thanks for the help guys! Its great!
    Don't think i'd want to be writing an essay on puts...
    Sorry about the typo!

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