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Times change…during my formative boozing years in the ’70s children were virtually absent from pubs, perhaps allowed in beer gardens at the landlord’s discretion with the strict stipulation of them being ‘seen but not heard’ i.e. sit at the table and be quiet
However, underage drinking in pubs was rife with ID cards being non-existant. Managing to get a pint at 16 or 17 was a sought after goal seen as a coming-of-age badge-of-honour, goals I scored repeatedly being tall and prematurely rugged at that tender age.
Back then there was an amusing TV advert for Whitbread Trophy Bitter featuring the actor Brian Glover taking his just-turned-18 son for his ‘first pint’ and giving him fatherly advice like ‘take it slowly, don’t rush’. On entering the pub the locals welcome the lad with an ‘evening [name], brought the old man for a pint have you’. Wouldn’t pass the censors now
There’s numerous old beer ads on Youtube but I couldn’t find that one unfortunately.
As for children in pubs nowadays I agree with Corker’s wet-pub food-pub rule.
I’m fairly sure some mainland European countries allow purchase of beer and wine at 16
See the section on Europe here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age
I wasn’t aware that European countries have in general been raising the minimum age in recent years.
21 in the USA, blimey. Trump’s a teetotaler…nuff said
Interesting that in the USA an individual state could lower the age and accept an 8% cut in highway funding from federal government. You’d think that at least some of the shortfall could be made back by an increased tax take on alcohol sales that would surely go up along with related ‘booze tourism’ that would no doubt spring up. There must be a reason nobody’s tried it.
In Japan’s konbini (the ubiquitous convenience stores) there is sometimes an option to confirm that you are of age that pops up on the till screen. It seems to on a trust basis with us foreigners but whether that same trust is extended to locals I don’t know.
I wonder how often 16 year olds here end up having a drink with a meal. It certainly worked for this lot:
“Times change…during my formative boozing years in the ’70s children were virtually absent from pubs, perhaps allowed in beer gardens at the landlord’s discretion with the strict stipulation of them being ‘seen but not heard'”.
Yes, maybe we do have to recognise it is a generational change. Parents today have no qualms about taking children into pubs whereas the people in my parents generation (by and large) didn’t do so.
I visited two pubs in Southport yesterday. One is a wet pub, the other does food. But both have a no children inside the pub rule, clearly advertised on their doors. Perhaps a little bit surprising in the case of the pub which does food but I have seen the rule enforced there.
The wet pub is The Lakeside Inn, on the front and not far from the currently closed pier. It is one of several pubs in the country to claim the disputed title of “The Smallest Pub In Britain”. It is small inside but the outdoor tables do increase its serving area. And the recent trend for micropubs has muddied the waters quite a lot regarding the title.
One of the food pubs quoted in that Guardian article said that they have no trouble filling up with adults only. Adults who of course bring in more money than children per head.
I think Draught Bass was mentioned somewhere on this thread.
I was in Derby for a couple of days this week and wandered into a pub called ‘The Neptune’, a good, traditional wet pub home to the Derby County supporters club. Lo and behold there was the once-familiar red triangle clipped on a handpump. ‘A Pint of Bass please’ was requested with some relish and jolly good it was, one of the best pints I’ve had for a long time, in perfect condition.
Main reason for the trip was a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum near Tamworth. A magnificent place, highly recommended though emotionally rather taxing.
Bass Beer was the answer to the million pound question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? recently. The question was regarding which logo was described in Joyce’s Ulyesses and featured in Manet and Picasso paintings. A further clue was that it had been in use since 1876. I didn’t know it from the four options presented but he had a 50/50 left and the other option was Coca Cola which I was reasonably sure was first produced in the 1880s. Famous Grouse and Stella Artois were the other options.
The company supposedly had an employee queue overnight to ensure that theirs was the first trade mark ever registered when the relevant Act came into force on New Year’s Day 1876.
The Bass Red Triangle can be seen in Manet’s famous painting, on the bottle at the bottom right hand side.
I was at Blackpool for the first day of Lancashire v Kent today. The bar in the pavilion is a well regarded outlet for cask beer.
I had two pints of Bank Top Dark Mild. Brewed in Bolton and a fine example of the style.
I don’t suppose there are many other sporting venues in Britain where you can buy mild.
I have noticed whenever I have attended Lancashire matches at Blackpool that there is a quick turnover of the cask beers. There were five pumps in use today and there must have been at least ten different beers on offer throughout the day. I assume they must have been using firkins rather than barrels.
I see you and HDLG mentioned Perth Wetherspoons on the Jermaine Jenas thread on the main board. There’s a spectacular one in Derby, ‘The Standing Order’, a former bank as the name suggests.
Had a look in but as it was packed with ghastly riff-raff (copyright Clivexx) and I was still digesting my Draught Bass didn’t stop for a top-up.
I called in there about two years ago, during the lunch break at Derbyshire cricket ground. Likewise, it was packed out.
There is another Wetherspoons in Derby, which I used to occasionally visit before The Standing Order opened. That one is a bit more evidence for Clive’s argument!
There are two very good pubs near to Derby railway station. The Brunswick has its own on site brewery and The Alexandra has a lot of railway memorabilia, besides its well kept beers.
I had breakfast in The Albert And The Lion yesterday, the Wetherspoons at the base of Blackpool Tower. Let’s just say Clive would have said “I told you so” about that one!
The pub takes its name from a poem set in Blackpool recited by Stanley Holloway.
I noticed The Brunswick while walking to the station, a distinctive end-terrace building, though not open at 9.30am
Later I did pop into another nearby, The Victoria, a rather nondescript pub selling a range of strangely named beers from microbreweries.
I tried a half of something called Leatherbritches Bounder (a photo of Terry-Thomas on the pump
) from a brewery in Ashby-de-la Zouch. A straw-coloured bitter, far too hoppy and dry.
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