Pubs seem to think they're re-opening

[Icehaven]

Apparently most Wetherspoons with a garden are opening but aren't taking bookings, which presumably means it's first come first served?! That'll end well! They'd have been the busiest pubs in a lot of places anyway but add an impatient queue of Legends who can't get in and it'll be carnage.They'll need riot police at the one in Birmingham on Broad street, it's got by far the biggest pub garden in the city centre and it's always rammed at the worst of times.

[Ferris]

I know I'm not really adding anything, but I had 4 Guinness in a pub last week with a friend from Toronto and it was so fucking nice. I'd not been to a pub since feb 2020, and I'm sort of still boggled by how much enjoyed seeing the whole experience of going somewhere new, talking to someone face to face not from my immediate family, in a place neither of us live, and surrounded by strangers (albeit masked up and 12' away). I know that's an insanely privileged thing to be posting (and we both got PCR covid tests before we met up so it was pretty safe) so I won't go on about it too much (that's why I've kept it to myself thus far).

Can't wait for pubs to be back though. Just sedate visits to a half empty bar, no need for mad tearing about the place like a twat, but it's really nice to think about.

[Ferris]

Apparently most Wetherspoons with a garden are opening but aren't taking bookings, which presumably means it's first come first served?! That'll end well! They'd have been the busiest pubs in a lot of places anyway but add an impatient queue of Legends who can't get in and it'll be carnage.They'll need riot police at the one in Birmingham on Broad street, it's got by far the biggest pub garden in the city centre and it's always rammed at the worst of times.

I think it was Robespierre who said "the public must die so that Wetherspoons might live"?

[idunnosomename]

Just unscrew all the hinges off your doorframe and tada your pub is no longer indoors

[George Oscar Bluth II]

My local's outside space is entirely booked up on Monday from 4pm till 11, Friday the same and booked up from open to close on Saturday.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

My local's outside space is entirely booked up on Monday from 4pm till 11, Friday the same and booked up from open to close on Saturday.

Be pretty pointless them opening if they weren't filling up every table, they may still be making a loss.

[PlanktonSideburns]

Will bollock anyone I meet who says they've been to a spoons from now on

[JamesTC]

Opened a window in my bedroom. Ahh sleeping in the great outdoors.

[Pinball]

On the plus side, when everything gets converted to apartments there won't be a housing crisis anymore.

[Blue Jam]

On the plus side, when everything gets converted to apartments there won't be a housing crisis anymore.

Or Edinburgh will just have 100 Airbnbs per resident instead of the mere 50 we have now.

Not sure about this pub booking idea. My local will be doing it and I'd love to support them and get back and see all the regulars but booking and time slots are for restaurants, pubs are for being spontaneous and relaxing and not worrying about the time. It's a bit like takeaway pints in that as much as I love going to the pub it just doesn't feel right.

Probably will make a booking at a restaurant though.

[A Hat Like That]

Apparently most Wetherspoons with a garden are opening but aren't taking bookings, which presumably means it's first come first served?! That'll end well! They'd have been the busiest pubs in a lot of places anyway but add an impatient queue of Legends who can't get in and it'll be carnage.They'll need riot police at the one in Birmingham on Broad street, it's got by far the biggest pub garden in the city centre and it's always rammed at the worst of times.

I don't drink on Broad Street but don't they have two there?

as for the others ...

Square peg - nope, unless you also like bus fumes
Briar Rose - nope
Dragon Inn - only has a small bit of outside space.

[Blue Jam]

I don't think any of the Wetherspoons in Embra have a decent-sized beer garden, but this city has a real shortage of beer gardens in general.

I guess The Pear Tree will have people queueing round the corner again, then. I don't fancy freezing my arse off at a picnic table with a £5 pint of Blue Moon so I won't be joining them.

[Butchers Blind]

I'm going to wait til things get back to some sort of normal before heading back to the pub. Booking ahead and only outdoors and have to be seated then wearing a mask when you stand up is not how I want to enjoy my local.

[dr_christian_troy]

I'm quite happy to wait for the opportunity to walk into The Blue Posts in Berwick Street, order a pint, sit in the back of the pub and read a book. All of the local pubs around here have bookings solid through until June, on all accounts it sounds stressful.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Be pretty pointless them opening if they weren't filling up every table, they may still be making a loss.

They're lucky, they have benches out front and a big garden, probably bigger than the actual pub is so it's very probable they think they can make a bit of money at least. A lot of other places near me are not opening yet.

I also very much hope pre-booking is not the new normal. Pre-booking is for cunts. If you want a table, get there early enough to bag one.

Will bollock anyone I meet who says they've been to a spoons from now on

I don't consider my friends politically radical at all, or generally engaged in stuff like this, but at least two of them have told me they're boycotting Spoons completely once things open up, which surprised me. There's a movement afoot.

Like, I could deal with Tim's stupid Brexit opinions4u, but his behaviour since March 2020 has been reprehensible in my view.

[Icehaven]

I don't drink on Broad Street but don't they have two there?

as for the others ...

Square peg - nope, unless you also like bus fumes
Briar Rose - nope
Dragon Inn - only has a small bit of outside space.

The other one is a Lloyds sports bar and I dunno if it's got a garden or not but I'm guessing not as it isn't on the list of Spoons opening on the 12th.

[non capisco]

Just had my arm twisted to join a mates' booked table at a boozer on Thursday. My tolerance is probably now so low I'll be cossack dancing naked after half a pint. So, yeah, come to Peckham if you fancy seeing that.

[The Mollusk]

I don't consider my friends politically radical at all, or generally engaged in stuff like this, but at least two of them have told me they're boycotting Spoons completely once things open up, which surprised me. There's a movement afoot.

Like, I could deal with Tim's stupid Brexit opinions4u, but his behaviour since March 2020 has been reprehensible in my view.

Last spring when the pubs were open for a bit I went out for drinks for a mate's birthday. They'd chosen a fucking Spoons and when I tried arguing for a better venue in light of their treatment of their staff through the pandemic, my friend countered that in these trying times it's better to frequent Spoons because the need our patronage in order to support the suffering bar staff who would otherwise be out of a job. This is sort of like the argument that was raised in the Amazon thread in GB, which I find fucking stupid and not much different to saying "I keep littering because otherwise street cleaners would be out of work."

I used to drink in Spoons all the time because I'm a cheap date and since I used to go to gigs all the time, pre-drinking there made sense to my bank account. I turned a blind eye to a lot of the shite and will freely admit I could have done more, which I'm vowing to do from now on. Not that I'm at all eager to get back into the pubs for another few months at least, but when I do, it won't be Spoons.

[bgmnts]

I support war because it employs people in the military industrial complex.

[Sebastian Cobb]

One of my most left-leaning mates, to the point of running as a councillor in the Greens at one point was also a massive skinflint and tried to drag us all to spoons if he could.

I can't say I've ever really been a fan, I found them too big, noisy (despite no background music etc) and characterless. Like a focus-grouped pub that's had everything sanded off to hollow mundanity. No wonder Brewdog (who are also pricks) managed to seize a market by pretending to be a rejection of them.

[Blue Jam]

I used to like going to the Caley Picture House in Embra purely because it's a nice old Art Deco cinema and 'spoons actually did a really great job of doing it up. Mr Jam and I once went there for Valentine's Day because they had a meal deal on, the steaks we ordered were really good because it's hard to fuck up a steak in Scotland, and the surroundings actually were pretty romantic. The place was rammed as well, loads of couples had had the same idea.

Never again. Feb 14th 2022 we're going to Nando's.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think I saw The Wonder Stuff and Pop Will Eat Itself play there.

[George Oscar Bluth II]

Of course, if you're a skinflint boozer in London who rejects Spoons you have to go to Sam Smiths which...isn't immune to shit working conditions and insane, eccentric ownership.

And the beer is shit and gives you terrible hangovers.

[Ferris]

I don't think any of the Wetherspoons in Embra have a decent-sized beer garden, but this city has a real shortage of beer gardens in general.

I guess The Pear Tree will have people queueing round the corner again, then. I don't fancy freezing my arse off at a picnic table with a £5 pint of Blue Moon so I won't be joining them.

A real dearth of outdoor drinking venues in general in central Edinburgh I have found. The Pear Tree is the only one I'd even vaguely consider, and it's fairly shit (but a cut above the three sisters or whatever that shithole on cowgate is called).

Haven't been to my native Brum in 4 or 5 years at this point (?) but that also suffered from a lack of solid beer gardens. Sheffield has some lovely ones though.

Worthless post. Sorry everyone.

[BlodwynPig]

I used to like going to the Caley Picture House in Embra purely because it's a nice old Art Deco cinema and 'spoons actually did a really great job of doing it up.

No! please stop

Mr Jam and I once went there for Valentine's Day because they had a meal deal on, the steaks we ordered were really good

NOOOO!

because it's hard to fuck up a steak in Scotland, and the surroundings actually were pretty romantic. The place was rammed as well, loads of couples had had the same idea.

For Christ's sake!!!

Never again.

ah, you had me for a while, welcome back BJ!!

Feb 14th 2022 we're going to Nando's

AGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

[George Oscar Bluth II]

A real dearth of outdoor drinking venues in general in central Edinburgh I have found. The Pear Tree is the only one I'd even vaguely consider, and it's fairly shit (but a cut above the three sisters or whatever that shithole on cowgate is called).

Haven't been to my native Brum in 4 or 5 years at this point (?) but that also suffered from a lack of solid beer gardens. Sheffield has some lovely ones though.

Worthless post. Sorry everyone.

I read somewhere that only 22% of Scottish pubs have outside space! Compared to, uh, more than that in England.

[Kankurette]

The Salisbury is taking bookings. I was worried it was closing down cos the windows are boarded up, but apparently not. Grand Central's looking a bit dilapidated though.

[Ferris]

I read somewhere that only 22% of Scottish pubs have outside space! Compared to, uh, more than that in England.

Having spent a lot of time pontificating on this, it's because of weather innit? If you're only gonna get use out of that space 20% of the year cos of your climate, you're better off having it as indoor space which you can fill with punters year round.

There's a similar lack of quality patios here as well, but Toronto had some really solid ones because although they're useless in winter, from late April to early October you can stuff them full of people (all of whom are desperate to sit in the sun due to the creeping dread of winter that they know is mere months away).

Edit: is the climate markedly better in the south of the UK than the North? And has anyone tried to correlate the average annual days over 15c with the percentage of pub square footage to at is dedicated for outside? Could be a very boring research topic for someone there.

[Blue Jam]

A real dearth of outdoor drinking venues in general in central Edinburgh I have found. The Pear Tree is the only one I'd even vaguely consider, and it's fairly shit (but a cut above the three sisters or whatever that shithole on cowgate is called).

That shithole on Cowgate is owned by G1 so even if it was actually nice I would never go there. Good thing none of G1's bland identikit bars are actually worth visiting.

The Cumberland is pretty nice, as is The Salisbury Arms, and The Raeburn was nice the one time I went. None are all that central though.

[The Mollusk]

Of course, if you're a skinflint boozer in London who rejects Spoons you have to go to Sam Smiths which...isn't immune to shit working conditions and insane, eccentric ownership.

Mm, I'd rather just drink less booze if that's the case. As capisco pointed out on the previous page, tolerance has gone way down now anyway so I can afford to go somewhere nicer and get decently toasted on four pints.

I have always been a sucker for indulging dismal circumstances and have long been grimly amused by how utterly fucking bleak a lot of Spoons venues are, but if the last year has taught me anything, it's that taking your foot off the accelerator and having a chilled and pleasant boozing experience is far nicer than railing cheap pints in a dank, urine-soaked hellhole for the sheer fuck of it.