AIBU to think many pubs are overrated and not very welcoming?

[Bertiebiscuit]

More banging on in the news about pubs closing, who cares? Most of them are annoying blokey places, not much use to those like me who hate beer and sport and are sneered at for wanting decent sherry or good wine, which most pubs are very bad at. London pubs are especially awful, not enough seating, horrible music, very poor toilets and t v s broadcasting sport. Nightmare. Only Wetherspoons seems to get it right, affordable food, good range of wine and cocktails, lots of seating inside and out - I can ignore the sport. If I'm buying alcohol at ordinary London prices i expect somewhere comfortable to sit and decent facilities, most pubs aimed at men i suspect. So good riddance. I wish we were more like Europe, cafes serving alcohol as well as coffee and food.

If Wetherspoons is your idea of a good pub, then yes other pubs are not for you.

There are lots of pubs around so usually people can find one that suits them whether thats child friendly, sport oriented, has a pool table, good food, etc.

Not everyone suits pubs though. Sounds like it's just not for you.

Edited to add - just out of interest - how much money have you spent in pubs so far this year, roughly.

You can visit the pretend pubs that are more like restaurants. They tend not to show sports, have good drinks and ample seating.

You haven’t found the right pub for you. One of my absolute favourites is a little micropub type place, big on its craft ales and lagers but absolutely takes no issue with me wanting my Prosecco.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

More banging on in the news about pubs closing, who cares? The people who live and work in them? The communities they serve?

There are pubs that cater to every taste, whether that’s sports, dining, music, the ambience, or all about the quality of the alcohol. If you can’t find one you prefer to Wetherspoons, in London of all places, then I don’t know what to say to you. Maybe pubs just aren’t your thing.

Most people going to pubs are going for beer and sports. It would be ludicrous for pubs to stop offering those in order to attract the once in a while visitor who wants to sip a sherry in silence…!

You’d simply have more fun if you went to a wine bar or similar, pubs aren’t for you but that doesn’t make them the problem.

When I was younger I used to go in pubs a lot. I particularly enjoyed pubs in the afternoons because they weren't busy and were much pleasanter and more relaxed. People used to strike up conversations even if you were strangers there .
We used to leave when the evening customers came in.

I hardly ever go in a pub now and my most recent experiences have been enough to put me off pubs for life. Sorry Nottingham but both experiences were there because we happened to be visiting Nottingham and were looking for food.
One of them was in a Wetherspoons .
Virtually every table was filthy and covered with the debris of other customers meals because obviously there were too few staff to cope.

I don't know the name of the other pub but we had arrived in the city on a sunny Saturday and it was early evening when we went out to look for somewhere to drink , chose a decent enough looking place and went in to find every one of it's rooms was packed with extremely drunk people of all ages. Absolutely horrible atmosphere. We found a table but it was so unpleasant we just walked out without getting served.

I'm amazed anyone goes to pubs these days.

Loneliness increases the risk of premature death by 26% so I think it’s quite sensible to care about more community spaces, where older people can spend the day with friends relatively inexpensively, closing down.

They also employ a lot of people. But fuck them eh, seeing as you don’t like pubs.

I live in a village and here, and in other remote areas, the pubs did better before the stricter drink driving laws. The ones that have closed have not kept up to speed and offered something different. If a business cannot make enough money and does not appeal enough to its target audience then they will close, and that’s no more tragic than any other business closing. I remember being invited to a christening after party at a pub which advertised itself as family friendly. There were no high chairs and the staff moaned at me for getting up from the table to take my toddler to the toilet. It closed a year later. The pub in my village which is struggling has a big sign up saying “we are not able to cater for any dietary requirements”. Hilarious. The pubs I know in my area that are doing well are offering a wide variety of food catering to various dietary requirements, separate areas for dogs and their owners, friendly and helpful staff/good customer service, children’s menus, etc. They appeal to lots of people. They are not accessible other than by car or on foot so they will not survive if they only offer alcohol.

I think many pubs haven’t changed with the times and are failing because they’re stuck in their ways. Our local is a lovely welcoming place, but it’s literally a bar with a few tables and the same sad blokes who drink there every day, or a cold soulless dining room. We do eat there a few times a year, but only if we can get a table in the bar. The dining room is like what you’d find in a grim care home. No one wants to eat in there.

That said, the service is also hit and miss. Last time we went there, I ordered for myself and 2 dc because we all have the same thing, a seafood main with chips. I said, “the 3 of us will have the crispy Asian prawns with chips” and then dh ordered his pie and mash or whatever. They brought out, literally, one prawn and chips for me, a teen and an 8 year old to share. 😂 It completely went over the server’s head that I was trying to order 3 of the same main. Maybe too many people on WLI these days and they aren’t used to anyone ordering proper meals anymore? 🤣

That said, there is a pub in our local town who has totally diversified. It’s a proper old drinking pub, but they do a bit of food. Publican has started doing Sunday roasts and burgers to take away or uber eats. He has one special every night for takeaway/delivery and when it’s gone it’s gone.

They’ve created a meeting room upstairs and also host meetings and small conferences. He does a work from the pub special on weekdays. Free filter coffee and tea and free wifi 9-5pm, bring your laptop and work. People inevitably buy lunch or a piece of cake or stay for a drink after. It’s meant the pub is busy even during weekdays. That’s what pubs need to do to stay relevant in this age when most of us aren’t drinking much alcohol anymore.

Pubs closing does have an affect on the wider community, less jobs, less spaces to gather, watch sports, meet friends, play darts, whatever.

You maybe live in a particular place where women don't go to pubs, that's a bit unlucky. Where I am, there are loads of pubs, most serve food and most are pretty welcoming. You know the ones to avoid, especially on a Friday/Saturday night, Wetherspoons being top of that list.

Admittedly many, many years ago but I was in a pub in the Yorkshire Dales for Sunday Lunch and the following conversation took place:
Posh voiced lady "Have you got a vegetarian option?"
Landlord "Aye, tha' can bugger off somewhere else"...

I think Wetherspoons are awful. They might be cheap, but…

I try to find pubs that serve meals. And those that aren’t full of dogs and kids.👍

Local pubs supposedly must stay in business to serve the community, of which the majority never cross the threshold, but are first to complain when they close. See also village shops, "absolutely fantastic, but nothing like the range of stuff you can get a Lidl and so expensive, you know I couldn't even get any sun dried tomatoes". For all the sneering at Wetherspoons and how much I hate the brexit living Tim Martin, I accept that he has a business model that works. Decent beer at a decent price and he doesn't pretend to be offering haut cuisine, which we all know is still freezer to fryer/grill under the supervision of Chef Ping in most so called "gastro pubs".

If you were talking about the 1970s I might agree with you @Bertiebiscuit - but the world of pubs is vastly different now.

London pubs are especially awful, not enough seating, horrible music, very poor toilets and t v s broadcasting sport.

All London pubs?! Don't be ridiculous.

Snobbery much? They certainly cater for women, especially those of us with small pensions. I bet you're sniffy about LDL and B & M. Plainly you are rich enough to be able to not worry about the horrendous cost of living crisis most of us ordinary plebs are having to deal with.

You are going to the wrong pubs. We have an amazing selection here from traditional one, sports bars, real ale, wine bars, family owned (3 generations of women from the same family run it) with lovely toilets and comfortable chairs, a bar that serves local beers, ciders and imports wines by driving to the Loire valley, live music, bingo, magic, comedy … all in a town of 25,000 people so in London you are just looking in the wrong places. The worst place in town is Wetherspoons, full of drunks from 8am, and not even cheap now, pub on the high street matches or undercuts and out favourite is less than £1 more and actually tastes good

I can’t say I’ve ever found that to be the case. Rather the reverse.

Couldn't have put it better myself!

You need to be seeking out winebars not pubs.

Try the Archduke on the South Bank by Hungerford Bridge, for example.

Nothing to do with snobbery, Wetherspoons is not a pub in many people's eyes, more a cheap fast-food chain with beer thrown in, literally sometimes.

TBF, some Wetherspoons are shite whereas others are great.

Tim Martin to one side (awful man), their policy of choosing sites with architectural value/interest leads to some amazing sites. We were in Edinburgh a couple of years ago, and one there is fantastic - an old booking office next to the railway station:

https://www.jdwetherspoon.com/pub-histories/the-booking-office-edinburgh/

However, the one where I live isn't great. Boring architecturally (used to be Tesco!) and suffers from much better competition from other pubs locally. It is cheap, though, which is definitely its advantage.

Good riddance? People work there, supporting their families. Just because you don’t enjoy the atmosphere of some pubs, doesn’t mean other people don’t. I don’t like lots of places, it doesn’t mean I want them to go out of business! If you think Wetherspoons is the best available, then I’m thinking pubs in general aren’t for you. I think it’s great that there’s somewhere people can get together and watch sport and have a beer if they want to, plus i’ve never been in a pub that only has horrible wine available

Some pubs are crap, but lots are fantastic places. Perhaps you’ve not found the good ones? I have a specific one I go to if I’d like some nice wine or bubbly, and there’s another that has better lager on the taps (but rubbish wine).

We’re in our local pubs weekly and they’re a huge part of the community. Although one is to be avoided between 3-4 on weekdays as it turns into an afterschool club…