Chatting to the landlady after our beer tasting, we mused about how the trade is doing. We talked about PubCos, Breweries, beers, pricing, the smoking ban and all the usual stuff that comes up when you talk to publicans about their business, as I often do. Then she took me by surprise; "You know what I wish had never happened?" "Go on" I said. "The bloody X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing etc." Her view is that these have ruined Saturday nights in lots of pubs. Saturday used to be couples night, so now, the landlady propounds, it is hard to get the female of the species particularly, to get her arse off the couch and come to the pub with hubby. Sometimes, it might be the other way round, but either way it has vastly affected trade. It leads to more drinking at home, as couples sit on the settee with varying degrees of reluctance, supping bottles of wine or cans of lager.
Now I have to say, I'd never considered that, as I never watch either. All in all though it had a ring of truth to it and is yet another indication of how changing social and leisure attitudes have affected the on trade in the UK.
Putting it on in the pub isn't the answer either it seems, as it alienates as much as attracts.
As early as the 1950s pubs were complaining that television was keeping potential customers at home - it's nothing new.
ReplyDeleteOf course I am aware of that, but it is the specific nature of the programmes concerned that has an alleged specific affect.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with your landlady on that one. Although the effect has been around for some time, as Curmudgeon points out, I've actually heard people say they are not going out on that particular night because the X-Factor is on. Very sad really.
ReplyDeleteOh, should say, a Happy New Year to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteReciprocated! Here's to a great 2010
ReplyDeleteWell, more power to Simon Cowell I say.
ReplyDeleteMrs Professor Pie-Tin sometimes accompanies me to the pub but she knows that I'd much rather be there with my pals and she would much rather be at home with a bottle of cheap Chardonnay and her ugly sisters watching TV.
It's terribly old-fashioned, I know, but I happen to think of the pub as a refuge from the travails of domestic life.
It's my safe haven when 'er indoors has got the hump over some piddling issue.
Happy New Year by the way.
Interesting. Didn't those big event shows used to be on earlier in the evening specifically because, if they were on after 7pm, nobody would be in to watch them? Now they are the main event.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this has been somewhat of a complaint from licensees over the years, the X-Factor is an interesting case. With the growth of multi-channel TV and digital recording, television viewing has become much more fragmented as people get used to viewing on demand. The days of everyone sitting down to watch a particular programme at a particular time are gone. So generally it’s not the problem it once was.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are certain programmes, the X-Factor being the prime example, which people still prefer to watch “live”. These tend to be on Saturday nights-a night that used to be seen as couples night and will undoubtedly affect trade to varying degrees.
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ReplyDeleteI think your landlady's correct, and she's in a better position to judge than most of us. The TV companies seem to be targeting Saturday nights with these blockbuster shows much more than they used to. What hooks the audience is the suspense of wanting to know who's won ... excuse me while I yawn.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I'm so glad there's no TV at The Rake, I get no-one asking for sport, X-Factor, the national-bloody-lottery etc.. I'm someone who hates these reality TV shows with a passion that these wannabe plastic fruit-loops can only dream about.
ReplyDeleteCancel all these shows and get people into beer again!