Is reviewing pubs a chore at times?

[Farway]

I have never found reviews a chore, but then I do not visit tens of pubs every month, and I do avoid those that seem "Interesting", maybe I am missing some great finds, but there are so many apparently decent ones I have not yet visited that the less appealing can wait awhile

I just scribble notes on bits of paper, usually forget what the beers on offer were, but always get a photo or three

[Soup Dragon]

I dont see note taking or writing up reports as a chore, just hard to manage the time to write them up - currently have around 30 outstanding and i go away again on Saturday!

I wrote them originally for my own enjoyment, as there wasn't really anyone around here on the other site, or on PG but now that Andy Ven, Del, Danny, Ale Monster (excellent reviews), Staaly and others write locally, i feel they are more useful, even if these guys don't agree with what i put! Other members, like Bucking F and Oggy, seem to be visiting the area more and more and i know Mr A likes to see what is alive and well in Walsall, so i tend to just get on with them!

[Quinno]

Definately not a chore for me and I would say that without the writing up side of things, I wouldn't have visited half the pubs I have or discovered so many fantastic (and some not so) pubs.

Like Gill I hate the backlogs and if there is a chore, it is this but when I find myself doing dozens of pubs a month it is an occupational hazard. I have nearly 500 in my current backlog of notes...The problem is for every half dozen I post, another dozen join the queue.

I was going to reply to this thread in-depth but Mr B has written pretty much what I was going to say anyway.

In my year off I kept up my visit rate but decided to avoid taking notes - so some of my future contributions might be a bit thin on the content side for a while...

[Oggwyn Trench]

The reviewing has revived my intrest in pubs , and i have started revisiting areas i have not drunk in for years . I am trying to get all my local area reviewed at the moment , just a couple in Muxton and a few in Wellington then to the delights of South Telford if any pubs are still left open there

[Andy Ven]

I think everything in moderation for me. Credit to Soup D for giving every pub a try regardless of any preconceptions - if a pub is not worth visiting I appreciate someone's opinion in advance giving me an indication of that before I waste my evening.

Personally, I enjoy filling in the blanks on Pubs Galore but I recognise that it's also valuable to update your own, and other reviewers', reviews and photos.

It's nice to do 5 or 6 pubs in one day and post something later, even if it just means having a half or a coke in each (as Soup tends to do), but I would be looking forward to a break from it if I had reached triple figures over the course of a few weeks, partly because the novelty wears off. Soup D we salute you.

I did a two-day tour on the Severn Valley Railway a fortnight ago (I'd looked forward to it for a long time) and I had a mild craving for a beer the next day. This is not my AA confession but I did think that I should lay off it for a week until the craving had gone. Maybe that's just me being cautious.

[ROBCamra]

There are times I must admit that I visit a pub and think "I just can't be ar5ed writing things down today. I'll remember anyway as I'm only having a couple"

And guess what? Sometimes I do remember and er, quite a lot of the time I don't.

This is why despite visiting York regularly, there are still loads of pubs I've been to in the city that I haven't reviewed. I have just done two from last weekend though.

[Strongers]

I do love venturing out not knowing what I'm going to find, that's why I do it. I print a google map of the area and put a cross on it where there is a pub. I usually mark down 20 as some will be closed or gone and others will be chain bars (ABO/Slug etc) where a swift half is all that is required. I do find writing the reviews a little tedious as I find I repeat myself and I seem to have developed the same reviewing format, which was not intentional.

I've been thinking about doing an English course as it is sometimes very frustrating trying to convey to others my observations and my reviews can take an age to write and stuff gets left out as I get the hump.

[Rex_Rattus]

It's not a chore for me either. I enjoy writing up reviews, and get the writers' itch when I'm up to date (which is most of the time) and haven't got one to do; then I have to get out to more pubs. Bit of a vicious circle really. Often I will write the review word for word as it is going to appear when sitting in the pub, just leaving me to type it up later on.

Like Strongers I enjoy the mystery of visiting pubs about which I know nothing except the name. Not for me the printed out Google map; it's the photocopy of the relevant page from the A-Z with pubs indicated with little red dots. A bit low-tech, but it does the job. Very occasionally one finds a pub of real quality in the most unlikely of places, which is what gives me the biggest buzz, but usually one is wading through a mass of "OK" pubs. Then there are the dire pubs - but they still have to be written up, and for these I will always strive to identify any plus points, even if it is only a friendly welcome from the landlady. Marvellous stuff this reviewing; I can't get enough of it.

[gillhalfpint]

I have done the photocopy of A-Z page marked up with pubs, but now - if at home with a printer - I like to look them up on PG then print a map of the most central pub and mark where to find the rest from that.

When in the caravan it is a line drawing of the streets which more often than not confuses me when I get to the area, but its all fun trying to find the way round a strange place, and my first port of call is usually tourist information where I have fun with someone at the desk locating the pubs on a free map. Apart from Carlisle where they wanted £2.50 for a street map.

Looking forward to pubs in York, but my trouble there is I have so many favourites, I don't tend to get to try some of the others. Guy Fawkes and Pivos are recent additions to my list there.

[Farway]

I note some. like me, do a printout of the PuG Google map to locate pubs

I normally also correct the pub location, if widely out, during my review. Hopefully saving someone else the problem of looking in the wrong place

Do other reviewers do this?