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Spoons go dark.

Started by bgmnts, April 16, 2018, 12:58:15 PM

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Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 17, 2018, 07:56:29 AM
Apparently it's £3.40 in Sam Smiths pub in London now, so Spoons is probably the last remaining place for a cheap pint.

£3.40 in a Sam Smiths pub?!? Are you sure? I was in the Sam Smiths pub The Angel on St Giles High Street (lovely old boozer, my "go-to" pub whenever I'm in central London) not so long ago and it was just a couple of quid for a pint.

ASFTSN

#31
Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on April 17, 2018, 10:02:27 AM
£3.40 in a Sam Smiths pub?!? Are you sure? I was in the Sam Smiths pub The Angel on St Giles High Street (lovely old boozer, my "go-to" pub whenever I'm in central London) not so long ago and it was just a couple of quid for a pint.

Times have changed.  Pints except for the 2% alpine lager are usually over £3, and if you fancy a bottle of Taddy Porter or something else in their range from the fridge, that's going to run you nearly £5.

ASFTSN

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 17, 2018, 07:56:29 AM
Which parts? I can't recall having any difficulty finding at least a 6/10 pub anywhere in the centre, outside of maybe Canary Wharf. And that's preferable to a Spoons.

Not for my tastes.  As you know, a pub is more than the price/quality of the beer and the furnishings.  I like them to be a slightly misanthropic refuge.

Around here in the SE, pubs are so often stuffed to the gills with identikit flat-cap and Jarvis Cocker spectacles cooldads,  vicious yummy mummies, Guardian blind-date bodysnatchers and bestubbled Macbooks.   

And children.  So many horrible children.

A good benchmark for me is whether or not you can buy some dry-roasted peanuts in a packet.  If they come in a little dish on a plate then I will probably still end up drinking there, but it's not really a pub. 

One has - quite literally - recently been built in the middle of the pavement.  It looks like it has totally obscured the view out of / light into the flats it was built in front of.  I walked past it the other day and looked inside (it's like a glass box there's so many windows) it was totally packed with people all sitting down, eating shit looking pseudo-posh dinners.  I couldn't see a single non-white person in there.

Paul Calf

#33
Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on April 17, 2018, 09:09:31 AM
The point is more that it cost £2.90 2 years ago so that's a massive increase.

It is, yeah. But I think costs are rising in London as land value rises. It truly will be a playground for the rich unless something happens to prevent it.

Sebastian Cobb

Aren't Sam Smiths the ones that pressure the staff to underserve pints and banned swearing?

ASFTSN

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on April 17, 2018, 10:42:30 AM
Aren't Sam Smiths the ones that pressure the staff to underserve pints and banned swearing?

Apparently.  Really nice pubs in most cases though.  EDIT:  Especially by London standards.

SteveDave

Quote from: Dr Trouser on April 17, 2018, 06:46:25 AM
I remember when that was a perfectly acceptable porn cinema before it got ruined.

Then it became a Quasar Laser Game place for a while in the early 90s.

Replies From View

Quote from: Dr Trouser on April 17, 2018, 06:46:25 AM
I remember when that was a perfectly acceptable porn cinema before it got ruined.

Everything gets ruined with spunk eventually.

Quote from: SteveDave on April 17, 2018, 11:23:37 AM
Then it became a Quasar Laser Game place for a while in the early 90s.

How did that work with all the UV lights they will have fitted?

Cold Meat Platter

Some interesting speculation here:

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/wetherspoon-social-media-exit-busted.html

Allegedly trying to cover up pro-brexit focused data harvesting.

daf

#40
Quote from: Paul Calf on April 17, 2018, 08:07:01 AM
And £3.40 is cheap for a London pint.

I remember the outrage when pints broke the quid barrier when I was in college back in the early nineties. We were all on a full grant too.

Ah, happy days! 

ASFTSN

Quote from: Cold Meat Platter on April 17, 2018, 12:21:12 PM
Some interesting speculation here:

http://zelo-street.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/wetherspoon-social-media-exit-busted.html

Allegedly trying to cover up pro-brexit focused data harvesting.

Hmmm.  Definitely speculation stated as proof over anything else there, but interesting.  I do wonder how many people go so far as 'Liking' Wetherspoon's on FB would give a shit if they found out that was the case. 

H-O-W-L

Quote from: Beagle 2 on April 16, 2018, 01:03:54 PM
They're right that it's a waste of time. I don't know why everything feels the need to have a "social media presence". You buy a bottle of vinegar and it invites you to follow it on fucking Twitter.

right fucking sinister how even fucking mushy peas tell me to tell all the cunts on shitter that i'm shovelling them into my gob straight out of the can at 6:30 in the morning on a tuesday while freshly endrunkened. FUCK OFF. ILL EAT THEM IN PEACE. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH JUST FUCKING EATING THE CUNTS AND GIVING YOU THE MONEY FOR IT?

Blue Jam

Quote from: ASFTSN on April 17, 2018, 10:19:38 AM
Not for my tastes.  As you know, a pub is more than the price/quality of the beer and the furnishings.  I like them to be a slightly misanthropic refuge.

Around here in the SE, pubs are so often stuffed to the gills with identikit flat-cap and Jarvis Cocker spectacles cooldads,  vicious yummy mummies, Guardian blind-date bodysnatchers and bestubbled Macbooks.   

And children.  So many horrible children.

A nice cafe near me closed recently and I felt bad for the owners, but at the same time I had stopped going there because the yummy mummies and hipster dads were making it really unpleasant. The final straw came when a child almost spilled a drink on my laptop because its parents were quite content for their three kids to run around screaming and bumping into other customers. How they keep their Macbooks safe I do not know...

The other day I was at the Cramond Inn, the Sam Smith's near Cramond Island in Embra, and noted that they had a "family room" as well as a main dining room, presumably so diners without children could dine in peace. They needn't have bothered- the family room was nice and quiet and all the children there seemed to be hunched over colouring books, behaving impeccably. The same goes for Brewers' Fayre and the Wetherspoons pubs that allow children in. I never see kids running round in those places- families in those chain pubs always just seem to be enjoying spending time together. Also those pubs tend to provide colouring books, toys etc because they appreciate that children get bored in adult environments- they're much more welcoming to families than the hipsterish craft beer places and I think the families appreciate it. I appreciate it...

Admittedly I do like to go to a pub at the weekend to read the Guardian/Observer magazine, but my two favourite places which get it in are an old man's real ale pub and a goth pub. I love goth pubs but that's a whole other thread...

idunnosomename

Sam Smith's are fucking horrible. It's just like I imagine it was like when everywhere was a Watney Combe Reid and they just had Red Barrel.

Paul Calf

Quote from: Blue Jam on April 17, 2018, 01:05:09 PM
A nice cafe near me closed recently and I felt bad for the owners, but at the same time I had stopped going there because the yummy mummies and hipster dads were making it really unpleasant. The final straw came when a child almost spilled a drink on my laptop because its parents were quite content for their three kids to run around screaming and bumping into other customers. How they keep their Macbooks safe I do not know...

The other day I was at the Cramond Inn, the Sam Smith's near Cramond Island in Embra, and noted that they had a "family room" as well as a main dining room, presumably so diners without children could dine in peace. They needn't have bothered- the family room was nice and quiet and all the children there seemed to be hunched over colouring books, behaving impeccably. The same goes for Brewers' Fayre and the Wetherspoons pubs that allow children in. I never see kids running round in those places- families in those chain pubs always just seem to be enjoying spending time together. Also those pubs tend to provide colouring books, toys etc because they appreciate that children get bored in adult environments- they're much more welcoming to families than the hipsterish craft beer places and I think the families appreciate it. I appreciate it...

Admittedly I do like to go to a pub at the weekend to read the Guardian/Observer magazine, but my two favourite places which get it in are an old man's real ale pub and a goth pub. I love goth pubs but that's a whole other thread...

You just reminded me of The Intrepid Fox. I miss The Intrepid Fox...

Icehaven

A pub near me has just reopened after a refurb and has either just become a Greene King pub or always has been but just didn't shout about it before. It plays music, shitty sort of easy listening 70s stuff everyone except the landlord and his wife have forgotten now, there's sport screens everywhere, I mean it's literally impossible to look in any direction without a huge sport screen in your eyeline, with sport channels on constantly wether there's any sport happening or not so half the time it's just commentators talking shite then loads of adverts, and the sport sound is ramped right up too so there's a constant cacophony of shitty music and jabbering TV noise competing with each other, the drinks are expensive (nearly £8 for a Strongbow* and a Guinness), the food's expensive for what it is (very basic pub grub), the sausage (singular) on the breakfast was the size of a baby's thumb and the whole place stinks of cooking fat. And still, still, I got a filthy look from some miserable twat when I said I wished it'd been turned into a Spoons. I mean I voted remain too but I'm not a fucking masochist.


* Which was the only cider they had on draught, ffs.

Blue Jam

Quote from: icehaven on April 17, 2018, 01:30:56 PM
There's sport screens everywhere

Related to that, those big "SKY SPORTS SHOWN HERE" signs are a pretty reliable indicator of Pubs To Avoid, even if you happen to like sport. Also a TV tuned to BBC News 24 or Sky News with the sound off and the subtitles on- who wants to be reminded how shit the outside world is when they're trying to hide away from it with a nice pint, eh?

Cheap drinks that still include craft beers, no music, no sport, no news programmes, no selfish hipster parents... Why haven't more pub owners realised why 'spoons is so popular? Alright, you do get bombarded with Brexit propaganda, but that still beats the pub I saw Leeds which was plastered in VOTE UKIP signs- that message was even more offputting than "SKY SPORTS SHOWN HERE".

imitationleather

With the ease of online streaming now you'd think everyone would be realising that it's a lot better to watch sport at home.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Paul Calf on April 17, 2018, 01:14:26 PM
You just reminded me of The Intrepid Fox. I miss The Intrepid Fox...

I used to like The Intrepid Fox... *sigh*

A couple of years back Mr Jam and I had been doing some last-minute Christmas shopping in Manchester and were heading to a craft beer place when, in typical Manchestoh fashion, it started absolutely pissing down. Not wanting to get our presents soggy, we ducked into the nearest pub- which to our delight happened to be The Salisbury. A goth pub with cheap drinks including Hobgoblin on tap (it's not the best but it's nice to have an option other than lager or Guinness) and a nice friendly atmosphere despite the presence of a (cheap) pool table.

Goth pubs are always so welcoming, aren't they? Another of my favourite pubs in Edinburgh is a bit of a crusty pub and that's similarly welcoming. I love these places and I don't even like cider...

Utter Shit

Quote from: imitationleather on April 17, 2018, 01:56:52 PM
With the ease of online streaming now you'd think everyone would be realising that it's a lot better to watch sport at home.

Not really, unless it's a paid stream (GenieTV lads, it's brilliant) you'll usually end up with a stream that crashes every five minutes and is crap quality even when it's working ok. Most people don't know how to get a good quality stream, and Sky costs a fortune - so for a lot of people, going down the pub to watch sport is the best, or possibly the only, option. And (shock) a lot of people like the atmosphere of a good sports pub.

Sports pubs are designed for people who (again, shock) like sport - if you dislike that sort of atmosphere and want a quiet pub to read or sit in silence staring at your beer, you're in the wrong place. There are plenty of pubs that offer quiet (as already mentioned, most Spoons are like that and the drinks are cheap too), so why you'd go to a pub which is marketing a different sort of experience and then complain about it is beyond me, just the same as anyone who wanders into a goth pub and complains that they aren't showing Southampton/Burnley on a Monday night.

Blue Jam

Quote from: idunnosomename on April 17, 2018, 01:06:51 PM
Sam Smith's are fucking horrible. It's just like I imagine it was like when everywhere was a Watney Combe Reid and they just had Red Barrel.

Sam Smith's vary a lot- I'm not a fan of the London ones and I've had some shocking service in them, but all the other ones I've visited so far have been nice.

I still wouldn't order food in one, mind.

Neville Chamberlain

Haha, The Intrepid Fox! I'd forgotten all about that place, despite it being a semi-regular haunt (geddit?!?!?) whenever I was in London. The toilets (when it was in Wardour Street, at least) were surely contenders for the World's Filthiest Toilets. They were about the standard of a festival portaloo.

Didn't realise the one near Centre Point had closed down, too. Never liked that one as much.

jobotic

The pub near me that was plastered in VOTE UKIP crap has been permanently shut down after a bloke had his face sliced open and the landlord cleared everything up before the police got there. To add to all the drugtaking and and threatening the locals.

Fambo Number Mive

It wqould be nice if sports pubs had to have a little football flag on the outside so non sports fans didn't accidentally go into one and than dither about wondering whether to stay.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Neville Chamberlain on April 17, 2018, 02:19:51 PM
Haha, The Intrepid Fox... Didn't realise the one near Centre Point had closed down, too...

I wonder what happened to the massive spider hanging from the ceiling...

holyzombiejesus

The nearest pub to my house has 4 banners. One advertises Carling, another Help For Heroes, the third Sky Sports and the final one promotes their gut buster breakfast. I've not been in.

Neville Chamberlain

Quote from: Utter Shit on April 17, 2018, 02:09:16 PM
And (shock) a lot of people like the atmosphere of a good sports pub.

Well I don't and nor should they.

sevendaughters

I like the Sam Smiths pubs I've been in in Bolton, Ossett, and Scarborough. Apparently Sir Humphrey still turns up and kicks off at landlords all the time, fires them on the spot, that kind of thing, a classic old eccentric/cunt brewery type.

holyzombiejesus

Was it Sam Smiths who refused to let 'their' bridge be used by regular traffic following the floods in Tadcaster? Not sure if I have the details right but I'm sure they were quite cunty about it. Having said that, their pub in Dunham Massey is an absolute delight.