][1]A couple of interesting articles have popped up over the last couple of days in which the authors rail against the passing of the traditional pub.
Writing in The Telegraph, Ben McFarland blames the fact that 40 pubs a week are closing in the UK on the rise of the gastropub.
Meanwhile, over on the Glasgow West End site, drinks writer Roy Beers casts an eye over the pubs of Byres Road and is not altogether happy with what he sees.
There are rumours that Tennents bar is on the verge of being turned into a gastropub and, although the pub’s manageress says this isn’t the case, Mr Beers is worried.
As well as pointing out that Curlers has been refurbished and that a new place called Sofia’s has taken over Antipasti, his latest blog is a long heartfelt cry about the death of what he terms Real Pubs.
I understand where both writers are coming from but also can’t help but think that they are in much the same position as King Canute shouting at the tide to go out.
If anything is killing traditional boozers, it’s the double whammy of the smoking ban and supermarkets selling alcohol as a loss leader.
Pubs had to evolve and the old food offer of a grim pie in a heated cage on the bar was never going to work in Jamie Oliver’s Britain.
I suspect that decent traditional boozers such as the Three Judges, The Lismore and Uisge Beatha will continue to thrive alongside more contemporary places such as The Blind Pig, Black Sparrow and The Butchershop and Grill; all bars where the food is just as important as the drinks offer.