Pub annoyances #834

[Tris39]

Stockport Wetherspoons yesterday. A cacophony of mobile phone videos and games being played.

The Barrel Vault (JD Wetherspoon) likewise last night; I had to move twice.

[Brainypool]

Quinno’s reviews today reminded me of this one - a huge gripe for me at the moment is the dominant grey paint and ghastly pub refurbs that seem to have accelerated in the last few years (since Covid lockdowns). The particularly bad ones seem to be free houses too. Isn’t a pub supposed to be something cosy, warm, inviting? Why has every other landlord decided to abandon that concept?

[Quinno]

Quinno’s reviews today reminded me of this one - a huge gripe for me at the moment is the dominant grey paint and ghastly pub refurbs that seem to have accelerated in the last few years (since Covid lockdowns). The particularly bad ones seem to be free houses too. Isn’t a pub supposed to be something cosy, warm, inviting? Why has every other landlord decided to abandon that concept?

My guess is that it started like many things in the 'cultural space' - at the upper-end eg posh restaurants and posh people's houses. Then, like many things they do, it gets adopted by the aspirant middle class magazine reading wallies who want to ape them. Then it trickles down further as it's seen as the sort of thing that 'people with money' do and becomes omnipresent as the default thing. But by that stage it's done on a shoestring budget by people who have no sense of restraint, so the grey paint goes everywhere both inside and out.

On the upside, fads like this usually burn themselves out as those at the top recoil when they realise that their expensively-decorated grey house is now on the same basic level as the local Snot & Shovel pub.

Then a new thing comes along and the cycle repeats.

[Spinko]

My guess is that it started like many things in the 'cultural space' - at the upper-end eg posh restaurants and posh people's houses. Then, like many things they do, it gets adopted by the aspirant middle class magazine reading wallies who want to ape them. Then it trickles down further as it's seen as the sort of thing that 'people with money' do and becomes omnipresent as the default thing. But by that stage it's done on a shoestring budget by people who have no sense of restraint, so the grey paint goes everywhere both inside and out.

On the upside, fads like this usually burn themselves out as those at the top recoil when they realise that their expensively-decorated grey house is now on the same basic level as the local Snot & Shovel pub.

Then a new thing comes along and the cycle repeats.

Probably similar to how New Build estates are now populated by chavvy Deanos whereas maybe once were aspirational...

[Tris39]

My guess is that it started like many things in the 'cultural space' - at the upper-end eg posh restaurants and posh people's houses. Then, like many things they do, it gets adopted by the aspirant middle class magazine reading wallies who want to ape them. Then it trickles down further as it's seen as the sort of thing that 'people with money' do and becomes omnipresent as the default thing. But by that stage it's done on a shoestring budget by people who have no sense of restraint, so the grey paint goes everywhere both inside and out.

On the upside, fads like this usually burn themselves out as those at the top recoil when they realise that their expensively-decorated grey house is now on the same basic level as the local Snot & Shovel pub.

Then a new thing comes along and the cycle repeats.

Probably similar to how New Build estates are now populated by chavvy Deanos whereas maybe once were aspirational...

Perfectly articulated.

I'm sick of every pub having been plastered with Farrow & Ball smoky blue paint, grey wainscoting, bare brick with original panelling ripped out then exposed galvanized trunking, with 'ironic' Victorian-style sconce lights. Then there's the office-style exposed suspended ceilings. And all those contrived 'trendy' framed prints which probably come from a shop called Trendy Contrived Framed Prints R Us.

Then there are the heartbreaking and utterly unnecessary post COVID makeovers, with wonderful CAMRA-listed interiors gone forever from the likes of The Alpaca and The Englefield, both in the same street.

[Tris39]

Anyone spotted these things?

Yours for just £251.86!

[aleandhearty]

Anyone spotted these things?

Yours for just £251.86!

Have a read of this Tris, from 2011: https://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/show...p?9126-Autovax

[Tris39]

Have a read of this Tris, from 2011: https://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/show...p?9126-Autovax

Great for the pub; what's [s]not to like? As Gill and the articles mention, this is the bane of the North!

[aleandhearty]

...this is the bane of the North!

I'm sure they're still out there, but I've no idea how common they are, these days.

[Quinno]

I'm sure they're still out there, but I've no idea how common they are, these days.

Where known, there's a symbol in WhatPub eg https://whatpub.com/pubs/YOR/078/guy-fawkes-york where it is called a 'return tray', presumably because Autovac is a trademark.

As for how widespread they are, maybe Dave would be able to do a query to scrape the info if he was so inclined. I suspect there'll be a few dozen missing where the local CAMRA doesn't know/care.

It is possible to filter by 'return tray' in WhatPub but you can't meta-query any larger than a local branch so it'd be long, tedious and probably incomplete to try that it that way.