Too Hot or Not?

How has the weather been suiting you?  Is the so called heat wave a good or bad thing, putting aside, if one can, the fact that when we are all brown bread, it will likely be even hotter?  At my age there is nothing I can do about it anyway - if ever I could have in real terms. Well, for me, I love it. I delight in getting up and seeing sunshine. I feel lifted by it even when hot, though hot and humid probably takes the edge off it for me.  Dry heat is fine, sticky heat less so. But on the whole, I give it a big tick.

Getting back to two of my favourite things, pubs and beer, how has the heat treated pubs and how are pubs treating cask beer?  Starting with pubs,it seems on the whole it is a good thing. A variable of course was the World Cup which has distorted things a tad. it is a variable that only comes once every four years, but it has coincided with the lovely sunshine and has undoubtedly boosted things until the home teams exited. I noted my local brewery, JW Lees, report a mixed and inconclusive picture of World Cup games over normal trade.

Speaking to various landlords and landladies too - even handed me - the picture is again rather mixed with pubs with beer gardens or at least usable outdoor space doing well, though inside has been quieter.  Just as you'd expect I suppose.  My own observation backs this up.  Approaching pubs I've noted the busy exteriors and the not so busy interiors.  It is difficult to tell whether those who would normally sit inside have just decanted to the outside, but chatting to the bosses, trade is slightly up with a noted shift to lager, soft drinks and rosé wine.  

What of cask beer quality I hear you ask?  Well, perhaps surprisingly, pretty damn good overall. Clearly some are better than others, but the only really warm stuff I've had was in a Liverpool pub. I got chatting to the manager there who apologised. A bit of further chat revealed that only the lagers were pythoned to point of dispense, with the cask beer through an old fashioned chiller and like as not half inch uncooled beerline. Not a winning formula. Not spending money on correct dispense and cooling is a poor idea.

Given that cask is still a pretty big thing in my area, it would interesting to know how the cask experience manifests itself in the rest of the country. Do let me know and more generally, how the trade  seems to you to be doing in your area.

On a different tack,  I see little to no evidence in the pubs in my area of zebra striping or whatever, with low alcohol or zero drinks not a thing with the possible exception of Guinness Zero.  Is that availability or lack of demand. Does one trigger the other? is it different elsewhere? You tell me? 

One thing I do miss, given the preponderance of family brewers in my area is a decent imported German or Czech beer.  Not that the house brewed lagers are bad, but they don't quite hit the same spot. 

A Good Point by B and B

Boak and Bailey made a point a couple of weeks ago which struck a chord with me.  They said "We’ve decided to spend a week blogging like it’s 2008 again: more posts, shorter posts, and more bouncing off other bloggers."  Ah the good old days.

Back then when I used to post a lot - and I've been having a look at my old stuff and you should too - it's great stuff and a lot of it short. A remark about a pub or two, or a beer, or a little industry comment.  Maybe a longer piece about a more complex subject.  Much more enjoyable and frankly a lot easier to do.  It doesn't take much to see my enthusiasm for blogging has slowly but surely declined and actually I'd like to arrest that. I'll never get back to the heady days of hundreds of posts, but on the basis of little and often I think I might manage a few more.  I still have plenty to say and for many reasons,I don't find the writing time - or the inspiration and inclination - so easy to find. Among other things, you can probably blame YouTube for that. There though, I can also find a lot of beery stuff -  much of it wrong or too obvious - but either way, I am kind of drawn in.  You can learn a lot from YouTube, though not all of it worthwhile even when it hooks you in.

So, on that basis, I recommend to you all this channel.  WandoJames is co-owner of the Big 6( Big Six sometimes) pub in Halifax and he specialises in how British pubs and pub culture have changed since the Beer Orders and are changing and adapting still.  If you want to get a better grasp of how pubs operate, the different models and pressures as well as the subtle changes that many will only notice after they are pointed out then his channel Pubs, Pints and Places is for you.  

So I won't rattle on. And James doesn't either. His stuff is just a few minutes long. Why not have a look at Wando James and you can thank me later by letting me know in the comments what you think.  

According to CAMRA, the Big 6 is derived from a mineral water company that operated here a century ago, whose memorabilia adorn the walls.  It isn't (as I originally thought) its street number.

My only visit was to attend the funeral of the late Tony Allen of Phoenix Brewery fame.  I must go back when it isn't so crowded. In the meantime Retired Martin wrote about here. It is rightly in his top 100 pubs.

Understanding Gen Z

I was pretty struck by an article in the Sunday Times this week.  Written by Charlotte Ivers, it discusses the toxic effects on Gen Z caused by their use of smartphones and by extension, social media. Seemingly Gen Z suffers from Obsessive Compulsory Disorder (OCD) in astonishing numbers.  This particularly affects young women for whom the percentage is 6.1% against a national figure of 2.2%.  As a whole, mental health issues are suffered by almost a third of the Gen Z cohort. That is, those born between 1997 and 2012.

It seems for Gen Z that short form video sequences and addictive social platforms make this generation, which has known nothing else, find focussing difficult and affects their ability to think and interact with others on a one to one basis. A little bit of googling takes the matter further, explaining that this generation fears judgement, suffers stress in dealing with other people and that they counter this subconsciously by maintaining a blank expression or averting their gaze, simply as a way to organise thoughts and process what is needed in interactions. Looking people, in particular older people, in the eye can be a step too far for many.

This brings me back to beer and pubs.  I have, from time to time, moaned about this sort of thing, but I suppose I'm saying that maybe I should look on it a bit more benignly than I have hitherto. Perhaps I'm realising it isn't as easy for some of the youngsters of today as it was for me as a 19 year old when I first worked in a pub - though it was a still very daunting. Different times - different pressures.

Then we were from a generation - the first after the Second World War - that was expected to sink or swim. It was the world we knew. Being told to chat to customers and perform in a certain way was accepted. That was how it was everywhere. It was tell, not show.  In the 1970s West of Scotland, the Boss did explain the various niceties as being designed to bring repeat custom, but in the main at work in those days, it was "Dae as yer telt." Nowadays, it seems that a more egalitarian way, such as "You all right there?" is seen by Gen Z as perfectly acceptable to both give and receive in most circumtances. 

Things have moved on - for better or worse and now I'm sort of concluding that pushing back and complaining about lack of interaction or proper training in pubs is somewhat pointless and the current position should be regarded as just how it is now. Reacting to the staff concerned or even to the management isn't going to change anything, and if what I read is true, likely just to add to the mental pressure that some young people feel. 

Oh I know this isn't universal and that a bit of gentle "show and explain" training wouldn't be a bad thing at all, but I'm just going to try and get over it.  For my generation, we can just say with certainty "Life is too short" and go and quietly sup our pints. Elsewhere if needed. And know, as all generations do, that we did it better.

Unless they are being deliberately couldn't care less, or cheeky, or offhand, or lazy, or just ignore you........... Well that didn't last long! 

Monopoly Hidden in Plain Sight

In late June, we headed up to the North East last week for a couple of nights to celebrate the E's birthday. Now, I used to spend a fair bit of time in Newcastle back in my working days, but the Northumberland coast? Completely unknown territory. What would we find apart from dodgy weather?

Our home for two nights was The Olde Ship Inn in Seahouses. Central, it does food, and it offers nine cask lines, though I doubt if E considered the latter aspect when booking us in.Well, you never know, I suppose, but she didn't mention it. On checking in, we err, checked out the bar. The board was a bit of a samey sea of IPAs, goldens, and bitters. Still, a first scan of the wickets threw up a surprise: Hadrian Border Brewery. I thought they’d gone under years ago! Gladly corrected, I went for their Farne Island Blonde which after a long drive was very welcome. I asked why there wasn't a single dark beer on and the barman looked at the pumps like he was noticing this for the first time. "Oh, sometimes we have them, just not right now." Right then. The stout revolution clearly hasn't made it up this far north yet.

We went for the obligatory seaside wander. It’s your classic British coast setup: loads of chippies, a couple of ice cream spots, two curry houses, and that familiar, comforting touch of souvenir led tackiness. Despite the recent heatwave, Seahouses was a bracing 17°C, made even more atmospheric when the sea haar (that thick coastal fog) rolled in.

Naturally, after a wander - spoiler - there's not a lot to see -we fancied a pre-dinner pint, hoping for the best we nipped into The Bamburgh Castle Inn opposite the harbour and our digs. It’s a massive, modern lounge-style place owned by The Inn Collection Group. Very food-led. They had a couple of handpumps from Alnwick Brewery - a name we’d end up seeing almost everywhere -but it was overall a tad underwhelming. A quick glance at the rest of the bar gave the game away: the whole offering was from Molson Coors. Carling, Madri, Staropramen, Worthington, and Blue Moon. Hmm. I choked down a poorly presented Alnwick Amber, followed it with a Blue Moon, and decided then and there I wouldn't be repeating the experience.

To make matters worse, as the place filled up, a proper queue formed. That didn't prevent the staff shouting "Who's next?" into the crowd. If the beer had been any good, I might have braved the line and walked straight to the bar for another. It wasn't, so we left. It was probably for the best.

Back at a heaving Olde Ship, a fellow imbiber tipped us off that a fresh cask of Timothy Taylor Boltmaker had just been tapped. It was in absolute pristine nick. They also told us to check out The Black Swan which we did, stumbling round the back streets in an eerie fog to get there and were rewarded with a brilliant pint of Kirkstall Three Swords. A decent pub overall which we knew we'd return to.

The next day we walked over to Bamburgh along miles of pristine sandy beaches and the sun came out. Surprising me somewhat  Bamburgh is a tiny village dominated by a big, proper "fuck-off" castle. I had imagined it as a sort of decent sized market town or something like that. Well, you live and learn I suppose.

There are three pubs here, and a bit of digging revealed a depressing pattern. Two of the pubs sit just 80 metres apart, owned by the exact same company, serving the exact same Molson Coors lineup alongside those same underwhelming Alnwick beers. Someone has clearly spent serious money turning these places into smart, glossy gastro-pubs, but the beer selection is an absolute crying shame. Nothing imported, all Burton or Tadcaster brewed and all uninspiring. I suppose we should have tried the third Bamburgh pub, but we only had time for two as the buses aren't exactly frequent. 

So, why does is Molson Coors so dominant in this neck of the woods? When I looked into it later, it all made sense:

• The Tadcaster Connection: Molson Coors owns the massive ex- Bass Tadcaster Brewery not so far away in North Yorkshire. Being local keeps their distribution costs and carbon footprint incredibly low.
• Deep Roots: They’ve been brewing at Tadcaster since the 1880s, building unbreakable, historic ties with the region's working men's clubs and independent boozers.
• Loan Ties and  Volume discounts: As a global drinks giant, they can offer massive financial incentives and cheap wholesale prices to pub groups in exchange for total exclusivity on the taps.

On the bus back to Seahouses (free for us old gits - nice), we hit the remaining local pub. The Schooner Inn was a forgettable, unwelcoming keg-only boozer (Molson Coors/ABInBev dominating again, shocker), so I had a swift half of Guinness and moved on. I don't think E enjoyed her Staropramen, or was it Pravha? Does it really matter?

Finally, we popped back to The Black Swan which was rather handily next door. It's another pub that's had a fortune spent on a fancy refurbishment, and while two of their three pumps were inevitably devoted to Alnwick, the Kirkstall Three Swords was still firing on all cylinders. Plus, the atmosphere was cracking.with proper friendly, chatty denizens, admittedly all visitors like us.

On that and related subjects, CAMRA has today launched a bit of pop at the multi nationals* over denying the market by tying up pumps by discounts, exclusivity agreements and many other underhand tricks.  You can read it in the above link. My own additional view is that surely it can't be in the long term interests of businesses to limit their offer for short term gain on supply prices?

The moral of the story? When drinking on the Northumberland coast - and elsewhere for that matter - read the pumps carefully, be wary of corporate monopolies, and when you find a good pint of Kirkstall or Timothy Taylor or whatever - stick to it!

I know I'm having a dig at Alnwick Brewery here which may be unfair. Suffice to say they brew a broad range of beers, but the same two were everywhere. Maybe that's the deal with Molson Coors, and certainly the beers could have been better presented, but you can only speak as you find.

* Extract from the CAMRA Beer Report

Critically, artificial barriers have been constructed that leave independent local and regional producers excluded, in effect, from large parts of the UK beer market, in particular the on-trade. These include,but are not limited to, controls on the range of beers that a licensee is contractually allowed to source at a competitive price, and the draught
beers they are allowed to sell through their dispense equipment. 

All Change? Happen not.

The news broke late yesterday morning that Humphrey Smith had passed away.  The doyen of Samuel Smith Brewery was only 81 - though to some he had been around forever - and seemingly had been in poor health for some time though details are, as you'd expect rather scarce. Some insiders refer to him having been in palliative care for a short while, but whatever the circumstances, he is no more, so let's look back a little before looking forward.

The brewery was established by his predecessors in 1758 and Humphrey took over in the early 1980s. Until then the brewery had run its 300 or so pubs mainly as tenancies, where the business was let out to individual landlords, while still tied to the brewery. Over a relatively short period all were converted to managed houses, which allowed Humphrey free reign to set his own rules and impose them on his managers.  This slowly but surely resulted in his somewhat idiosyncratic ways of enforcing the banning of mobile phones, music, televisions, laptops and of course, swearing at their pub estate. Over the years his iron rule was characterised by unannounced visits at all sorts of odd times of the day. I'm told that particularly, closing time was one to be especially on your guard. Subsequent peremptory sacking of managers for not following his rules to the letter was meted out.  That is all fairly well known though, as are the outcomes. Disobeying his edicts, which are usually displayed clearly all over the pubs, seemed to make him particularly crabby if the sackings and closures are anything to go by. Following such dismissals, a large number of his pubs were closed and remained so, some for many years and many are still. (Up to fifty percent.) But we know all this I think.

New to me yesterday was that he was an old Etonian, which I suppose explains a lot - or doesn't depending on your point of view. While it has been seen before in smaller measures, there was a fair old outpouring of support for him from some former colleagues and pub managers, mostly along the lines of "If  you obeyed the rules, you got on fine with him". The consensus, such as I could make out is that those who fell foul of him didn't think highly of him at all, while those who hadn't did. Despite ups and downs, the mayor of Tadcaster was pretty effusive in his praise of the man saying, according to the BBC, " Humphrey was a "true gentleman" and a "man of principle"."I've known him all my life and he's a respected person. He had Tadcaster at heart. He's done many things in Tadcaster unseen that people don't know about.There's a lot of amenities in Tadcaster that, if it wasn't for Mr Smith and the brewery, we wouldn't have. We've got a lot to thank him for."

As I've mentioned before in this blog, I've met Humphrey once and seen him in a local pub on one other occasion.  He was a dapper man, both times dressed in a dark blue suit and very busy looking. I last wrote about Sam's here in 2022 and I commend it to you and my two accounts of meeting the man. The first in 2009 when I actually spoke to him and the other ten years later when I was next to him and didn't.  I have also written fairly extensively about Sam's and their pubs when I was good at this blogging game. I commend all to you, particularly where I discuss his London estate, which was mostly acquired from one of the first Pub Companies, Henekeys, and operates on a modified model of the Humph regime.

I could go on, but I won't, but what will happen next?  His London estate run by his son, Sam gives us a clue. There the rules still exist, but are applied more in the breach than the observance. Mobile phones are used willy-nilly, as are laptops and swearing -  though I think anything excessive is jumped on - as it should be in any licensed premises.

My view is that is what will happen in the rest of the Smith Empire. While not encouraged, phones will be tolerated for simple things like silent scrolling, finding out the next bus and ordering an Uber etc. There is unlikely to be Juke boxes,TVs or live music. Illegal and ad hoc sackings and closures will become a thing of the past. Pubs will be able to attract managers more easily and more closed ones will re-open. I predict that young Sam will not throw out what makes Smiths different, but he will tone it down while keeping the best bits. That would be fine as I'm sure most of us still want the nod to the past that typifies Sam's pubs. If that does happen that is the optimum outcome and while not what Humphrey would have done, it is what he should have done,  

So farewell to Humphrey Smith.  A character, an oppressor at times, but a man who knew what he wanted and was not afraid to do just as he liked. Not always admirable traits for sure, but old school from a time breweries were full of such larger then life individuals, particularly family owned ones and Humphrey was probably the last of them in terms of running the business as a fiefdom.

They don't make them like Humphrey Smith any more and while that is a good thing, he certainly leaves a legacy to live up to. Or live down.

At times like this I miss my old mate the Pub Curmudgeon who would no doubt have also written about this. It has dragged me out of semi-retirement too.

Humphrey was very wealthy man. Rumour has it he was one of the first to see the value of the then derelict London Docklands, was also a landowner in Yorkshire and elsewhere, and freeholder of most of his pub estate including London. Lad did all right for himself.

I haven't used any photo of the Humph as I am unsure about copyright, but easily googled.