Landlords brand Starmer’s late night pub plan a ‘waste of time’ (free to read) www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/cf62abd...

New blogpost - does cask beer suffer from a lack of visibility in the pub? pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/10/out-...

New blogpost - a journey into Middle England, in the shape of Atherstone, Warwickshire: Part 2. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/10/a-jo...

New blogpost - a journey into Middle England, in the shape of Atherstone, Warwickshire. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/09/a-jo...

I know it's a different society and brewing culture, but it would be nice if we in the UK had a tradition where a wide range of breweries released a special beer in a specific style at a particular time of year along the lines of Oktoberfest.

Liverpool has the best pubs of any English city - and it’s not even close (free to read) www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/9379bb9...

New blogpost - whisper it softly, but I really don’t find Wetherspoon’s congenial places just to go for a drink. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/09/sett...

If you didn't like Charlie Kirk, that's your right. If you're gloating over his death, you're beneath contempt.

Pubs are in a financial death spiral (non paywall link) www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/c94852c...

Another post on the re-opened Crown in Stockport but worth a reminder of what a good pub it is again. Nicely refurbished preserving the heritage interior & with 8 cask ales including Bass as a regular. Shame most of the etched glass has gone in recent years, but definitely up there with the best.

New blogpost – is it really the case that the long-term decline of the pub trade is mostly due to pubs being poorly run? pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/09/only...

Good to see Sam Smith’s Bird in Hand at Mobberley open again after six years. Apparently the brewery only supplied one cask of Bitter, which sold out on the opening day yesterday. Decent number of customers in 🍻

New blogpost – nobody should imagine that cutting the drink-drive limit wouldn’t have a significant detrimental effect on the pub trade. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/08/limi...

As my dear departed landlord, Steve, said of the village local. If the doors aren't open they won't come in. In my patch, passing trade is so irregular these days limited opening hours are a disaster.

New blogpost - pubs that open short and erratic hours shouldn't really be surprised that they have no customers. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/08/if-y...

The village pub I run is being taxed to death, by the licensee of the Wonston Arms, Hampshire. Link free to read. www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f31f4db...

The ‘real’ drinking pubs serving £5 pints and no fancy food – and thriving www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/1037610...

New blogpost – reviving Boddingtons Cask Bitter represents a significant declaration of faith in the cask market by one of the international brewers. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/07/fres...

"The laws in your location require you to verify you're an adult before accessing certain features on Bluesky, like adult content and direct messaging." Ah well, not doing that, so that's an end to DM's on here.

New blogpost – what are the reasons behind the long-term decline in cask ale sales, and can anything be done to reverse it? pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-...

The Bass revival is real - or, at least, there's plenty of it out there. Banked, flat, somewhere in between. Controversially, perhaps, the best pint was at the Five Bells in Wootton Bassett, Wilts

Cask ale volumes down by 7% over 12 months, and it now accounts for only 8% of beer sold in pubs. britishbeerbreaks.substack.com/p/is-cask-be...

Team bonding exercise.

The Castle Hotel, Halton, Cheshire in the 1950s. Still open as a pub.

New blogpost – it comes across as something of a sick joke to expect pubs to display beermats celebrating a swingeing increase in their costs. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/06/addi...

The Laurieston Bar, Glasgow. If only more pubs could look like this ☺️🍻

New blogpost – imagining that the pub landscape can be transformed into one of free-of-tie independent freeholders is a “three acres and a cow” fantasy. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/05/ties...

Pub numbers down by over 15,000 in the past 25 years ☹️ Public Health will chalk this up as a win, of course. www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2025...

That brickwork alone is top drawer but decent ale as well. British Oak, Stirchley - Brum

Absolutely monumental pub, sadly currently closed, as with so much of their estate.

New blogpost - pubgoers are a lot less willing to stick around until last orders than they used to be. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/05/earl...

Lager is difficult to do well, and most British craft brewers fail that test.

This is a massive change in drinking habits - and why the VE Day extension was so pointless. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

New Bass pumpclip 👍🔺 Certainly stands out better on the bar than the previous one, which was a bit dark. Also good to see it being (correctly) described as a Pale Ale rather than "Amber" like Pedigree.

There’s certainly a lot to this. A lot of male friendship is about shared ritual and routine.

New blogpost – it may seem trivial, but Wetherspoon’s ongoing chicken bites famine is indicative of an uncharacteristic failure of supply chain management. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/05/scar...

New blogpost – is German beer losing its lustre both at home and abroad? pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/05/down...

Could be useful in getting the knowledge to correctly identify off-flavours. e.g. diacetyl = butterscotch; butyric acid = baby sick etc.

New blogpost - pricing in pubs doesn't work the same way that it does in supermarkets. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/04/pric...

Good news for National Bass Day 😊🔺

New blogpost – by reviving the Burton Union system, Thornbridge have demonstrated that there can be a successful niche market for a product no longer considered viable in the mainstream. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/04/part...

New blogpost - how Wetherspoon's reinvented the economic model of the pub trade from the ground up. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/04/rein...

Oh look, Robinson’s have launched a new cooking lager! 🍺 www.robinsonsbrewery.com/our-beers/br...

New blogpost – the idea that there is any kind of widespread market for “mid-strength” alcoholic drinks is fanciful. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/04/mid-...

New blogpost - in a remarkable feat of innovation, a pub refurbishment has rediscovered the old concept of having separate public and lounge bars. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/03/what...

New blogpost – five years on, the shadow of lockdown still hangs over the hospitality industry and society in general. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/03/five...

New blogpost – following on from Jay Rayner’s pointed observations about food and restaurants, some thoughts from me and others about beer and pubs. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/03/pub-...

Interesting quote from Tim Dewey of Timothy Taylor’s in the latest issue of CAMRA’s BEER magazine: “I was Public Enemy Number One when I criticised PBD. A lot of small brewers used their tax advantage to compete on price, keeping the family brewers off many bars.”

New blogpost - it is disingenuous to claim that advertising alcohol-free beers does not also serve to promote the parent brand. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/03/refl...

New blogpost - some forthright words of gastronomic wisdom from food writer Jay Rayner. pubcurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2025/03/food...