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| British pubs in peril as beer sales fall The traditional British pub is in peril. Squeezed by a nationwide smoking ban, rising costs, competition from supermarkets and the economic downturn, the pub industry reported today beer sales have fallen to their lowest level since the Great Depression. Pub managers around the country are now pulling about 14 million pints a day, 1.6 million fewer than last year and 7 million less than at the height of the market in 1979. The pressures on the industry are speeding up a long-term decline - more than 1,400 pubs called last orders for the final time last year and the Campaign for Real Ale claims more than half Britain's villages are "dry" for the first time since the Norman Conquest of 1066. Rob Hayward, the chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, whose members brew 98 per cent of Britain's beer and include nearly two-thirds of the country's pubs, urged the government to rethink heavy taxes which the industry blames in large part for its woes. "We need a change of approach from the government," Hayward said. "Brewing is a major industry, beer our national drink and pubs a treasured part of our national culture." The group's Quarterly Beer Barometer revealed total beer sales were 4.5 per cent lower between April and June, compared with the same quarter last year. Beer sales in pubs fell even further, sinking 10.6 per cent, while sales in shops and supermarkets rose 3.8 per cent. Pubs have repeatedly criticised supermarkets for selling multipacks of drinks at below cost to entice custom. However, there are fears that the sliding pub beer sales will have the effect of spurring on another, less attractive, aspect of British culture as cash-strapped pub owners return to sales promotions that encourage binge drinking - such as selling cheap drinks until a team scores in a soccer match. About half of Britain's 57,000 pubs have ditched a voluntary code banning aggressive happy-hour deals and other promotions after the beer and pub organisation said it could be in breach of European competition law, prompting police to call on the government to step in. That has raised speculation about an intense price war among pubs in Britain's major cities and towns. "Sadly, the trade repeatedly shows that it cannot be relied upon to consistently act in a responsible way," said Chris Allison, a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers. Some pubs are beefing up the food side of the business to make up for declining beer sales. Mitchells & Butlers, Britain's second largest pub group, revealed last week beer now accounts for just a quarter of all revenue but it now serves about 110 million meals to customers each year. Enterprise Inns, which has about 7,700 pubs, said it has had to give more help to licensees coping with difficult trading conditions. After battling with the smoking ban in England, which marked its first anniversary this month, the pub chain said it was struggling to cope with pressures on consumers' disposable income, such as high mortgage costs, petrol prices and gloomy sentiment. However, in good news for the trade, some consumers suggested traditional pubs could survive by transforming to meet new demand. Ian White, 44, an IT director for a hospital, a nonsmoker visiting London from Leeds with his wife and three sons, said he goes to the pub more these days. "They're increasingly more friendly to families, the quality of the food has increased," White said. "The ones that are closing aren't seeing the threat and the opportunity. Their old clientele who just wanted to booze and smoke are less inclined to go, but people like me are more inclined to go." http://www.theage.com.au/world/british-pub...gi.html?page=-1 |
| QUOTE (DRAKON @ July 31, 2008 12:13 pm) |
| You're not going to meet people of the opposite sex by staying at home. |
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| QUOTE (DRAKON @ July 31, 2008 12:13 pm) |
| Same thing happened in Toronto when they introduced a smoking ban. Many bars and restaurants lost business and some closed down. |
| QUOTE (optimaton @ July 31, 2008 08:26 am) |
| I'd love to be a fly on the wall if a hot babe comes up to you and asks, "Have you got a light?" |
| QUOTE (Emre @ July 31, 2008 04:05 pm) |
| In Australia it didn't make a difference. At least not in my town, all the bars, pubs and restaurants are operating as usual. |
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| Greece cracks down on drunken Brits Drunken British tourists are facing a crackdown from Greek authorities as they fight to tackle a rise in trouble at a number of resorts. Holiday spots on Crete and Zakynthos have recently been blighted with reports of drunkenness, violence and sexual assaults as thousands of young Britons descend on the islands, attracted by cheap drinks and a raucous nightlife. Greek authorities have now decided to take a hard line on the revellers in a bid to boost the faltering reputations of some of the holiday resorts. http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5jC...749CcT5OBLc1c1g |
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| 'The End' for popcorn in British cinemas? The credits are rolling in Britain for the time-honoured cinematic tradition of munching popcorn at the movies - a newspaper reported today that increasing numbers of cinemas are banning it. A combination of health-conscious cinemagoers rejecting sugar-coated popcorn and disgust at its distinctive smell is steadily spelling "The End" for the snack in some arthouse cinema chains, the Observer reported. It quoted Daniel Broch, the owner of the renowned Everyman cinema in London's upmarket Hampstead district, who recently bought 17 more venues. "I will de-popcorn every new venue I acquire," he said. "It has a disproportionate influence on the space in terms of its overwhelming smell, the cultural idea of it and the operational problems created by the mess it produces. "I'm not saying no popcorn is better than popcorn," he added. "But I am saying there is no way in which it fits with the culturally sophisticated brand I wish to sell." The Picturehouse Cinema, a chain of 19 cinemas across Britain, will experiment with popcorn-free screenings in September. "Popcorn is a contentious issue. Lots of people absolutely hate it and have asked us to ban it, so we're going to do exactly that," the group's head of media, Gabriel Swartland, told the Observer. "If it's a success, and I've no reason to suspect it won't be, we'll roll it out across all our cinemas and make it a permanent fixture," said Swartland. But other cinemas which tried to go popcorn-free found customers demanded it. "Audiences in three venues... began asking for popcorn, so we provided it," said Richard Napper, the marketing director of the Curzon chain. http://www.theage.com.au/world/the-end-for...80810-3svi.html |
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| Man claims to be porn inspector LONGMONT, Colorado - A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop in the US to give him free pornographic videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren't underage. He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try. Police said the man showed a badge and left a business card from the police "age verification unit" in Longmont, Colorado. Commander Tim Lewis said there was no such unit. The business card didn't have anyone's name on it, but the store gave officers surveillance video of the man and police are looking for him. http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news/world...8306828759.html |
| QUOTE |
| Man claims to be porn inspector LONGMONT, Colorado - A man claiming to be a police detective tried to get an adult novelty shop in the US to give him free pornographic videos, saying he wanted to make sure the performers weren't underage. He made three tries within nine days last month and was turned down each time. The store manager called police after the third try. Police said the man showed a badge and left a business card from the police "age verification unit" in Longmont, Colorado. Commander Tim Lewis said there was no such unit. The business card didn't have anyone's name on it, but the store gave officers surveillance video of the man and police are looking for him. |
| QUOTE |
| Greece cracks down on drunken Brits Drunken British tourists are facing a crackdown from Greek authorities as they fight to tackle a rise in trouble at a number of resorts. Holiday spots on Crete and Zakynthos have recently been blighted with reports of drunkenness, violence and sexual assaults as thousands of young Britons descend on the islands, attracted by cheap drinks and a raucous nightlife. Greek authorities have now decided to take a hard line on the revellers in a bid to boost the faltering reputations of some of the holiday resorts. |
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| QUOTE (Zeus @ August 13, 2008 04:39 pm) |
| Theres been a 32% increase in drunken British yobos being arrested in Spain. Looks like the Mediterranean countries have had enough of these uncultured, filthy, cunts. |
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| Man banned from home over noisy sex A British man has been banned from visiting his girlfriend's home after neighbours complained about noisy sex, a local official said today. A court barred Adam Hinton, 32, from being within 100 metres of his 29-year-old girlfriend Kerry Norris' apartment, Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman Mike Taggart said. Residents of Norris's home had been complaining since 2006 about thumping music, banging headboards and screamed obscenities, Taggart said. Neighbours also complained about Norris sunbathing naked in her yard, and were upset that a six-year-old child in the building had been "subjected to the sort of obscenities you wouldn't want a six-year-old to hear," the spokesman said. "She is a classic nightmare neighbour," Taggart said, insisting the case was not about sex. "It's about allowing your neighbours to have a normal decent life without being disturbed." The court granted the city council's request for an injunction banning Hinton from the apartment because Norris had ignored a previous court order demanding that she be more quiet, Taggart said. Norris last week was forced to pay STG300 ($A641) pounds in fines and court costs for breaking the "noise abatement order," Taggart said. Neither Norris or Hinton could be immediately located for comment. Brighton and Hove is located in southern England. http://www.theage.com.au/world/man-banned-...80815-3vty.html |