No wonder pubs are closing down

I regularly hear how pubs are closing all the time and that is something that genuinely worries me as I happen to quite like pubs!  But, given the comments of Daniel Griffiths when discussing how two gay men were thrown out of a Soho pub for kissing I'm not surprised that pubs are being shut down if his establishment is as authoritarian as he makes it sound.

Maybe the landlord of the John Snow and Samuel Smith brewery (owners of some of the worst pubs in the UK and produces of some truly horrific beers) don't like gays in their establishments but then maybe they should have thought twice before opening up shop in Soho... for those who haven't visited Soho it's not overtly gay like Brighton or Canal Street in Manchester but it is a place where you will find just about anything and everything happening and like as not you'll see as many openly gay/lesbian couples as you will heterosexual couples.

All I can suggest to James Bull and Jonathan Williams is to try anywhere in Covent Garden and particularly the Retro Bar, which is down a tiny alleyway off the Strand.

Comments

  1. Anonymous16 April 2011 at 21:56

    I have spent a lot of my life working in pubs. When a couple has been getting overly affectionate we would always gently suggest that they tone it down a bit. If they insisted on getting stuck in we would have thrown them out, but I've never had to do that.

    Nothing to do with gay or straight, just about appropriate behaviour.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jonathan Miller17 April 2011 at 22:20

    Neither the pub in question, nor the brewery have made any comment about gays. Isn't it wrong of you to have implied that they have an anti-gay policy?
    The only ones quoted in the articles are the aggrieved snoggers, who for some reason felt the need to make it clear that they hadn't actually gone quite as far as to feel each other up, and a bloke from Barnsley.

    It seems to me that yet again the BBC have manufactured an 'oppressed minority' story out of nothing.

    I'd also have to disagree about Samuel Smiths - they brew fantastic beer - especially their stout.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A.J. Wimble18 April 2011 at 11:02

    There are plenty of pubs that would discourage people being overly familiar with each other, regardless of sex. If heterosexual couples were happily snogging then maybe there is a story here, but as long as all couples are being treated the same then fair enough.

    I also agree with the past poster that Samual Smiths brew a pretty nice pint.

    ReplyDelete

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