To be disappointed that more and more village locals are being turned into "fine dining" gastropubs?

[Beerlovingwalker]

I live in a fairly nice part of South East England. Sometimes I'm out on a walk and fancy popping in the local for a pint, wearing my muddy boots and sporting very windswept hair. I step in, to find that what was a great local watering hole has turned into yet another pretentious fine dining "gastropub". They all state that one can still walk in for a pint, but it's really actually an upmarket restaurant disguised as a pub and - judging by the lack of locals at the bar - no longer a place where the average joe feels comfortable to pop in for a casual drink.

If I decide to book for a meal once in a while, the portions are absolutely miniscule, and the prices don't have pound signs in front of them! Just a number. ("Duck confit with braised cabbage - 9"; that sort of thing). The prices are always extortionate. Is pub grub no longer in fashion?!

I love food and meals out as much as the next person, but it saddens me that local residents are being deprived of a decently priced local pub, for drinking and socialising purposes as much as eating. I wouldn't be so bothered if there was a good balance of all types of establishment, but it seems to be happening more and more where I'm from.

AIBU to feel this way?

Unfortunately this is probably the only way the landlords can make the business pay. It's probably not a choice between gastropub and cheap pub, but a choice between gastropub and no pub.
I would just go in for a drink, mid walk, in my boots, messy hair etc and not worry about it at all

Every pub you’re describing that I’ve visited have welcomed us with muddy boots and a muddy dog. They all have fires and big cosy chairs in the bar. They bring a dog bowl over and don’t mind when the dog’s beard drips water on the floor. I’d much rather sit on a comfy chair after a long muddy walk than perch ungracefully on a bar stool.

I don’t think traditional pubs are actually that welcoming. We have one in our village and it’s definitely got a ‘no outsiders’ vibe. We wouldn’t ever go in without someone who isn’t a regular. It’s the type of pub that food offerings are a pack of nuts, a pack of salt and vinegar walkers or a pack of pork scratchings. Where we used to live the traditional pub had a similar vibe, heads turning as you walked into the bar and all conversation stopping entirely.

YANBU.

DH and I used to regularly (and I mean once a month) to our local. They did amazing food, great value, and they had an extensive gluten free menu.

Then it got taken over by a chain.

Now the price of the food has doubled, the portion sizes have halved, and there is no gluten free menu. You have to ‘ask’ if they can do the dish you want gluten free. Except the bar staff never know, so have to go and ask, come back 5 mins later and say no sorry, so you choose something else, they have to go and ask again. JUST GIVE ME A LIST OF WHAT YOU CAN SERVE GLUTEN FREE FOR ME TO CHOOSE FROM AND STOP WASTING EVERYONES TIME!

They used to do an amazing chicken and ham hock pie, with plenty of mash and veg. I was relieved to see that still on the menu but when it arrived, the pie was in a tiny dish, with just a pastry ‘cap’ on top, the content of which were about 3 forkfuls. And all I got with it was three sticks of thin posh broccoli and 4 baby carrots!

So we won’t be going back, which is really sad, it’s lovely inside and out, the staff are lovely and welcoming, we had our wedding reception there and it was a really special place for us.

The chain have ruined it.

It's how they stay open and in business

I used to go to a lovely country pub all the time. The food was freshly made and inexpensive, the decor was cosy and there was a roaring log fire, and the pub even had a dog and a cat. The owners moved abroad and sold it to people who turned it into a gastro-pub. The food is now generic, over-priced and served on wooden boards, and the new owners painted the whole place white, put in refectory tables and a load of stainless steel. I went there once and decided it wasn't for me.

There's a happy medium. Our local (reopens tomorrow yea!) had a large bar downstairs and and more formal restaurant upstairs. They serve from bar snacks, chips etc to good French style food. Mains are £10-20 so reasonable for what you get and portions do not require a starter though I did order chips as a side for my dads lasagna (he is a big eater and a fan of lasagna and chips, I don't judge )

It's demand driven. If nobody wanted that, they would make no money and change. Plenty of people want it. Younger people drink a lot less alcohol than previous generations so all the money is made from food.

Not using '£' is a deliberate ploy not just a style choice.
There have been studies to show that without the '£' people are less likely to notice the prices as we do not associate that number with actual money and so spend more.

Local people having pints doesn't keep a pub business afloat. There was something on the telly that showed half a dozen pubs who were struggling in different ways.

The best pubs near me are good local pubs that also offer excellent food. If I've been for a walk, I don't want to walk into a village pub and feel like I've entered Hot Fuzz. Pubs that blend local and slightly wider than local in their market tend to be nicer.

So, how often do you go to your local? I'd guess that that sort of pub can only survive if there's a good core of regulars who are there more often than the occasional Friday night - particularly at times of the year when there aren't any passing walkers.

One of our locals has gone, after a series of licensees who haven't lasted. Apparently as soon as they begin to make a profit, the brewery whacks up the prices they are charging them. I think the one that thrives without food probably benefits from the Indian restaurant opposite - groups often meet at the pub first, or move there afterwards.

Sky sports probably reduces the numbers interested in watching the football at the pub. Groups that go in after their football practice / rehearsal every week mean some midweek custom, but possibly only a pint apiece.

When my son was a student he worked in the kitchens of one of these chain gastropubs.
They might give it a fancy name and price on the menu but it still came frozen in a plastic wrapper.

It can be annoying but I do not bemoan the loss of 'old men's pubs, trying to get away from their wives

The other option is probably closing down. These little pubs often don't get enough 'drinks' trade to stay open.

There's definitely a happy medium. Still quite a few fairly traditional pubs with normal but decent pub grub where I live, as well as plenty of gastropubs. All tend to welcome muddy boots and dogs, since I live on the edge of a tourist area very popular with serious walkers. Our village pub has closed down though (hopefully only temporarily until someone new takes it on). I agree about the wanky menus with lack of pound signs!

I bet a lot more pubs will go a bit 'upmarket' just to recoup some of the money they have lost this past year. They will either just attract people with money or go under sadly :(
I doubt they wouldn't serve you in more casual attire : they want every penny regardless of how people are dressed for a night out. If they can get away with charging nearly 18 pounds for scampi and chips and peas then they will continue to do so!
I found eating out a rip off pre covid, so I bet this will it'll be even worse when the pubs can open up fully ( inside eating etc)
The old ' spit and sawdust ' pubs will disappear gradually.

The lack of pound signs is just a gimmick to stop you saying ' how much?' ! :)
I hope that the independent pubs will survive all this though ; it'll be sad if it becomes all chains and the little places can't compete.
Hospitality has been hit hard by this virus.

There is no money to be made in the "local". There hasn't been for a very long time. They change to attract a market or they die. Either way, you don't get what you want.

Yanbu. I'm really sad about the demise of pubs that are just pubs, with maybe a pastie or ploughmans lunch on offer.

I don't know why it's happened. Maybe we all just stay in more and look at our screens? I think the smoking ban might have had something to do with it too.

The traditional pub is dying out though. People can entertain themselves at home, buy alcohol more cheaply from supermarkets and those communities of "locals" you describe rarely exist anymore.

Villages are no longer full of people who work together on the same farms or in the same factories or towns who knock off at 5 and all go to the pub. They're full of commuters who often get home later and who don't really have a close relationship with their neighbours.

Cosy muddy pubs with scampi and sausage and mash are great but they're simply not in demand enough from their local communities to survive that way, unless they're in a tourist area. They need to attract outside clientele and to do that they need to offer posh food and make themselves a "destination".

Whilst I am disappointed like the OP I am not surprised. Business rates are an antiquated form of tax (should be turnover based), the ending of tied houses had perverse unintended consequences. Lunchtime weekday trade has ended in part because of factories with shift work ending, and in part because of workplaces having no boozy lunches. Then the cost of sky tv or others for sport if you offer it is very expensive for pubs, and other costs have increased.

The only thing I can see other than business rate reform that could help would be for the tax on alcohol to be less when served in a pub and more in supermarkets.

Personally I prefer the gastropub - I've never liked drinking in pubs, I'm practically teetotal these days but if I did go out I'd rather drink in a bar than pub. I'd rather eat nice food than drink booze though. I am city-based though, it may be different for more villagey locations where a pub is part of the community.

YANBU. We have one proper pub left in our Cotswold village - the rest have all succumbed to this - and we treasure it. It is a fantastic pub.

YABU. Walking into a traditional local is like walking into the saloon in a western. Silence falls, and all the heads turn to watch the invading stranger. Give me a nice gastropub any time, I feel comfortable going in.

There were much more village pubs before the late 1980's to be honest.

Once Assured Shorthold Tenancies came in and houses could be let for unfettered market rents, there was a real incentive for landlords to close pubs and develop them into housing. Our local pub landlord gradually built up a pub chain in the local market towns and villages. He chose those where there was at least one other pub because he could blame the local competition to the town planners' while saying there would be at least one other pub left often to the villagers.

Village inns that had been open for centuries were closed and gutted for the benefit of a few close-knit individuals. It will happen again but this time the justification will be Covid.

YANBU. Used to have a lovely pub near me, it was frequented by local farmers and dogs/wellies/windswept hair was never out of the ordinary.

Then it became a Bluebeckers and locals popping in for a drink wasn't welcomed any more. I arranged to meet someone there and it was made clear to us that being permitted to perch in a corner table with our drinks was a massive imposition. We certainly weren't allowed a table in the main pub, which had become more of restaurant.

Fortunately there still are places that are 'proper' pubs that allow all sorts. It shouldn't have to be the case that Wanky Sterile Pub Serving Food on Shovels/Slates/Flat Caps = profitable and Muddy Boots And I Only Want a Pint With Dave From The Farm Next Door = unviable. If they know how to run a decent pub they should be able to serve good food which brings in a bigger profit margin while keeping some space for men to stare into their pints in peace