The George Hotel

The George Hotel in Hatherleigh has been almost totally destroyed by fire. The loss of this glorious centuries-old pub is, in pub terms, a tragedy. All that history up in smoke; it can never be restored. But the George can be rebuilt, just as the good old Chichester Arms in Bishops Tawton rose from the ashes after a devastating fire three years ago. Careful and intelligent design and good North Devon craftsmanship should see the Hatherleigh landmark back in action, hopefully quicker than we might imagine while looking now at the North Devon Journal's brutal footage of the inferno.

Is Darling the Beeching of pubs?

By Adam Wilshaw

A NORTH DEVON pub trade spokesman has accused chancellor Alistair Darling of being the “Dr Beeching of pubs”.

The comparison is to the widescale railway cuts of the 1960s, administered by Dr Richard Beeching, which led to numerous smaller branch lines being closed.

Barry Lewis, chairman of the Barnstaple and North Devon Licensed Victuallars Association, said: “Supermarkets and Beer Duty are killing us. Mr Darling is the Dr Beeching of pubs. There are 589 licensed pubs in North Devon and they police their own establishments, supermarkets do not. Once the alcohol has left the premises they wash their hands of it, yet we seem to be held responsible.”

Mr Darling has been widely disliked by the pub trade for some time, and there was even a campaign to bar him from every pub in the country.

North Devon MP Nick Harvey said: “I appreciate that with off-sales there are no real control measures at the point of consumption. I have had meetings with the licensing minister and the treasury to argue that the latest rise in beer duty is too much of blunt instrument to tackle this problem. There needs to be minimum pricing for supermarkets and I am now pressing for this.”

The Journal published a special report in October examining the current fate of our local pubs. According to the many pub landlords we spoke to, talk of the end of the pub seemed premature, although it was clear the trade was perhaps facing the toughest conditions for a generation.

But active North Devon Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) member Terry Burrows said local pubs which sell quality ale and decent food in a friendly environment will thrive despite the recession. He said some pubs in the area were closing or bereft of custom, but the pubs he cherished most were popular and relatively profitable.

From the North Devon Journal.

North Devon Camra

"You Can Take A Lady There"...

A proofreader I know, who is of distinguished vintage, once said that Marshall's pub in Boutport Street in Barnstaple was the only place a gentleman could take a lady (for a drink) in the town.

Now, taking nothing away from his town centre local, which has been praised by Camra for the quality of its beer, I think that place has a rival as a venue where you can take a lady, or even a potential lady. Lilico's.

 

I shouldn't be writing about Lilico's here, because it's not a pub. It's a tapas bar. But it is a local independent tapas bar which sells a decent pint of real ale: namely, Cornwall's finest, Tribute. Some bars don't sell real ale, so JOLLY WELL DONE and TOOT TOOT LILICO'S!

Lilico's, The Square, Barnstaple

Adam's Ale Rating: 3 out of 5

Drink this: Tribute

Village pub landlord calls time for good

From the North Devon Journal:

By Adam Wilshaw

A VILLAGE pub landlord says he is declaring himself bankrupt and quitting the trade after a sudden downturn in profits, adding to fears that North Devon’s public houses are facing decimation.

Patrick Oakey has closed the Fox and Hounds pub in Fremington, where he has been the landlord since 2004, and is moving out of the pub, which is also his home, with his wife and two teenage sons.

Mr Oakey said large numbers of people, particularly younger customers, were being lured away from pubs, such as the Fox and Hounds, by cheap supermarket alcohol. He also said the smoking ban had hit his takings and because of the credit crunch he was unable to secure credit to see him through a bad patch.

Campaigners and senior politicians, including North Devon MP Nick Harvey and Torridge and West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox, not to mention Prince Charles, have warned that thousands of traditional English pubs are in jeopardy, partly because of the economic recession, but also because of the way large pub companies, who own the majority of pubs, often oblige their tenants to buy beer through them at prices higher than cost (known as a tie).

Mr Oakey said: “My client base has always been youngsters and when they walk in the supermarkets and see cheap alcohol they are not going to come in and pay £3 a pint.

“It’s part of village life and it is sad it has closed. Enterprise (the firm which owns the Fox and Hounds) will get someone else in.”

He added: “I will miss it. I have spent four years building the place up. I wouldn’t have another pub.” He also thanked all his loyal customers.

The Fox and Hounds lease is on the market for £97,500. According to Cowling, which is the agent dealing with the sale of the lease, the pub has a turnover of £175,000 with a rent of £23,000 a year.

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has warned that almost 60 UK pubs are closing every month. In the Barnstaple area alone pubs currently on the market include the Wrey Arms in Sticklepath, the Tavern in the town centre, and Funky Munky on the Strand.

The pattern is the same across North Devon and Torridge. A recent Journal investigation found that many pubs in North Devon were struggling to make profits, although local Camra members said good quality pubs which served well-kept beer and good food in attractive environments were still doing well.

Landlords blamed cheap supermarket alcohol and the recession for the decline in takings in recent months. But some pubs are bucking the trend and reporting healthy custom.

I find myself wrestling with the age old battle of love and hate, and contradictory passions in one pub

An ill wind was wailing through the world economy, through all our bones and the future bones of all our future generations for ever, as we made our way through half-deserted streets to one of the most popular pubs in North Devon and Torridge.

I was feeling a bit depressed about the future for our pubs because I had recently met a North Devon pub landlord who was about to declare himself bankrupt and close his business. He said he was being squeezed from all sides; by the pub company, the smoking ban, and by cheap supermarket booze of all types and horrors. But despite all that he could have made a go of it, maybe, if only he had had more of one vital business ingredient: customers.

Sometimes it is good to acknowledge the blindingly bloody obvious. Pubs are closing because customers are not using them, and other pubs are still busy and profitable, because customers are still using them. So how about a case study? One of the most popular pubs in North Devon is the Wetherspoon's outlet The Panniers, in Barnstaple. It will never close. It will survive the recession. It would survive a nuclear war. And on a dank Thursday evening this month, the place was so ramjam pack-a-doodled that when I arrived with my friend we took the only two remaining chairs.

I was still chewing over all the stinking doom in the news. Pub doom. My own eyes weren't helping. Walking to the Panniers through the glistering Barnstaple town centre streets, all but deserted, we passed empty pub after empty pub.

But not the Panniers. There can only be two reasons why the Panniers is such a success; good beer and cheap prices. Because the place has atmosphere the way big brand keg lagers have taste, the way Gordon Brown has a radiant smile, the way David Cameron has sincerity, the way house prices are clever, the way plastic window frames are acceptable in a public house context (no PVC frames at the Panniers by the way, fellow window freaks).

In fact, if you have ever been in a Wetherspoon's pub anywhere in the queendom you will know what the Panniers is like. They are all the same.

Same hotel lobby decor, same food, same prices. The only thing to tell you you are not in Nottingham or Norwich is the local accents of the many punters.

The beer was superb, as good as a good rub down in an ice house by a crackling wood blaze while the huskies keep guard against the glacier pirates. I had a crisply glorious pint of Smoky Joe. My friend had a soothing draft of something dark and powerful. He was satisfied with it and it made him philosophical. As we sat and talked - mostly about babies - I noticed we were surrounded by adults of all ages, most of whom were eating curry from metal pots. If I had been tiresome enough to ask them how often they came here, they might have said: "every week".

If you are interested in good, low priced ale, the Panniers is a perfect hostelry. Cheap grub too. Probably tastes quite nice. And, you know, I hate the place.

I hate it because it is the bland pub universe cousin of a corporate fast food chain outlet. The place has a sort of psychic anti-character impact on the space it contains, with its school dining hall ambiance. There is no sense of community. Good pubs make you feel like you could own them, in some vicarious customer way, if you were a regular.

In terms of character alone, look at a pub I have wrote about before on this blog: The Reform Inn, in Pilton. It doesn't sell cheap curry and it does not welcome children or have a wide variety of the finest beers known to man and beast. But in all its eccentric, even ugly, brilliance, the local boozer offers a rare sanctuary from the blanding-out influence of the boardroom folk. What choice we have left is debatable. But there are still good local pubs who deserve our custom, even if it's just £3 a week.

We drinkers vote with our pint pots and our wine glasses, and the Panniers was as full as can be on Thursday last week. The beancounters will tell you this success was proof of armour against the ill wind blowing through the economy.

I kept thinking of my ideal pub.

ALEFLASH - The Hoppiest Beer In The Known Universe

ALEFLASH!

If you want to get your head around possibly the hoppiest beer in the known universe, get down to the Red Barn in Woolacombe for a pint of Proper Job. It is a fine beer, kept in peak condition. Proper Job. Red Barn. You must try it. ALEFLASH ENDS.

Beer Vs Beer

A strangely serious post this week...

George Orwell wrote an essay in 1946 about the cost of buying books, which he compared to the cost of buying cigarettes. He wanted to look at the assumption that buying books was "too expensive" for most people, so he made a rough calculation of how much he had spent on reading material. The sum seemed like a lot, but it was much less than what he was spending on tobacco. Orwell was a relatively frugal man but he did smoke a lot, in common with most of his contemporaries.

In the essay he went on to question the relationship between the financial cost of his books and their actual value to him. His essay concluded: "And if our book consumption remains as low as it has been, at least let us admit that it is because reading is a less exciting pastime than going to the dogs, the pictures or the pub, and not because books, whether bought or borrowed, are too expensive."

I think this sort of thinking could apply to how we view our pubs, which must be treasured as community enginerooms as well as unique pieces of an historical jigsaw.

In these times of rising unemployment, plunging pension pots and depressed wages, it might seem crazy to encourage people to buy beer and food in our pubs. But surely a small amount of our spending is about choice and is about the total enjoyment of our lives. What is exciting about beer and pubs should be more important than the mere ingestion of ethanol alcohol.

Whenever I am in a supermarket I see queues of people with trolleys stacked with junk food and cheap alcohol among the necessities. That's their choice and I'm no health freak. My argument is that the value of cheap alcohol in supermarkets is much less than the value of a pint in a good local pub in North Devon and Torridge. Try this rhetorical calculation and think about the choice:

You earn the minimum wage or not much more and after paying the bills and everything else unavoidable as well as charitable giving, you are left with £3 one Friday night to spend on the treat that might greatly increase your happiness in the drizzly depth of December. That £3 could buy enough alcohol from a supermarket to make you drunk. You could get some powerful booze, go home, watch the TV and sink in to a private oblivion. Or you could have a friendly pint of beer in your local pub, where you will meet people, and hopefully find humour or gossip. When I was a hospital porter earning £10,000 a year and paying my own way, I always had a couple of quid to go to my local for a pint.

And just as a book might add more joy and music to your life than a packet of cigarettes, and with value impossible to calculate in terms of money, so too a trip to the pub will improve your life more than a turn down the aisles in the superstore. How can it not?

An MP's view of the pub trade...

North Devon MP Nick Harvey (who is my MP), is deputy chairman of the all-party parliamentary beer group. He told the North Devon Journal: “I am acutely aware that these are difficult times for the beer and pub trade. Most recently I and my colleagues have been lobbying the Government, with Early Day Motion 2159, protesting at the detrimental effect of supermarket alcohol prices.

“Pubs are closing at an alarming rate of five a day, compared with three a day last year, four a week the year before and two a week the year before that.

"Barnstaple is no exception to this trend with the recent closure of several longstanding establishments in Boutport Street and elsewhere.

“Tax hikes combined with the ban on smoking in public places and supermarkets selling beer as a significant lost leader, to the extent that it is cheaper than bottled water, have all had a negative impact on a struggling industry.

“While pubs have served a historic role, off-trade has always existed alongside, providing consumer freedom of choice. However, economically off-trade, thanks to the supermarkets, is now clearly a serious challenge with an annual turn over of about £13bn almost matching pub sales.

“I and the APBG will keep pressing the Treasury, Department of Communities and Local Government and Health regarding alcohol duty being a blunt instrument to deal with binge-drinking (the real target being supermarkets selling alcohol below cost price), the positive value of pubs to our communities and the need for regulation and licensing not to be so burdensome as to push yet more pubs out of business.”

There are 57,000 pubs and bars in the UK, contributing £18 billion to the economy and employing 650,000 people. The Business and Enterprise Committee is currently holding a new enquiry into the role of pub companies (the last was conducted in 2004), with submissions closing at the end of September.

According to Mr Harvey, the pub companies have failed to adopt previous recommendations that rents should be sustainable, tied tenants should not be worse off and that the upward-only rent reviews and gaming machine tie must cease.

The British Beer and Pub Association reported this week that beer sales between July and September fell by 7.2% compared to the same period in 2007.

Beer sales in pubs dropped 8.1% and sales in supermarkets fell 6%. BBPA chief executive Rob Hayward said: “Sinking beer sales and the record five pubs a day closing is a barometer of the UK economic climate. But any prudent diagnosis would also identify the specific impact of the budget’s 9% beer tax increase.”

This story appeared at the same time:

By Adam Wilshaw

GOOD local pubs which sell quality ale and decent food in a friendly environment will thrive despite the recession, according to a North Devon campaigner.

North Devon Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) member Terry Burrows said some pubs in the area were closing or bereft of custom, but the pubs he cherished most were popular and relatively profitable.

There are fears the traditional English local pub is facing an uncertain future, because of cultural and economic changes. Mr Burrows was one of a number of pub-goers, landlords, and brewery firms the Journal spoke to this week about the health of the pub trade in North Devon and Torridge.

Recent warnings about any widespread demise of our local pubs seem premature, given the responses we received. It can also be difficult to establish precisely why a pub closed: Was it because the rent was too high? Too few drinkers? Beer too expensive? No food? Too much food? No “smoking garden”?

Drinkers lured away by cheap supermarket beer? But there is little doubt our boozers are facing a number of problems, and the industry is having to work hard to entice in customers. North Devon MP Nick Harvey (Lib Dem) and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox (Conservative) have both attacked the Government for increasing beer duty, for example.

Mr Burrows said: “From our experience, the good pubs, that offer what the community wants and are involved in the community, are thriving. It’s not all doom and gloom.” He said ever-increasing beer tax and cheap alcohol in supermarkets were harming our pubs. In addition, pubs which could not offer a smoking area were struggling to keep customers.

On the other hand, sales of cask ale continue to increase year-on-year. Pub landlords and landladies reported a mixed picture.

Jeff Sweet, from the Tavern in Diamond Street, Barnstaple, said his business was still busy at weekends with loyal regulars. And the landlord of a larger Barnstaple pub, who did not want to be named, said pubs had to increasingly offer “added extras”, such as live music, or they would go under. He too said many drinkers seemed to be switching to spirits which are, by alcohol volume, cheaper than ale.

Chris Franks, who sells beer wholesale from 37 independent breweries to pubs around North Devon and beyond, said: “Nothing has changed an awful lot, the ones who put effort in are doing all right, but no one is making a lot of money.” He also pointed out that North Devon and Torridge have a number of excellent breweries, including Country Life in Abbotsham and Barum in Barnstaple.

But Debbie Furnifer, landlady of popular local hostelry Marshalls, in Boutport Street, Barnstaple, said the pub had been quieter than usual in recent months. “I think people are scared to spend their money,” she said. “The regulars are still coming in.”

Few pubs are freehold businesses; the majority are owned by larger firms who lease the premises. Punch Taverns, which has a number of pubs in the area, said it was “passionate about safeguarding the future of the great British pub”. A spokesman told the Journal: “Pubs across the country face a challenging trading environment but we continue to work closely with our licensees in North Devon and across the country to help them find new ways of improving their business, developing their retail proposition and financial stability. This ranges from identifying new or improved food offers to developing other areas of their products, offers or service. Punch also has an industry leading support and training programme for licensees.

“Within our leased estate we have some great examples of pubs that have introduced new facilities, such as Post Office counters, which help them to become focal points of the communities they serve. The North Devonshire area has a small conurbation with limited road access and seasonal trade.

"The pubs have to continually strive to be the best they can be to attract customers and keep them coming back. Offering value for money and having an offer that suits the needs of the local market place is key to success. We have some fantastic outlets in the area which are really bucking the economic trend. The London Inn, Braunton, and the Rock Inn, Georgeham, both have great licensees at the helm who have developed an offer that is just right for their local market place. They consistently deliver excellent levels of customer service and are highly successful as a result.”

But some of the people pulling the pints were less optimistic.

Lee Sycamore, landlord of the Old Market Inn in Holsworthy, said: “With high street spending at its lowest for years, pubs closing down at a rate of five a day, and beer sales for the period of July to September down by 7%, a very grey picture has been drawn over the licensed trade. “The credit crunch has seemed to have hit us all. Speaking for ourselves, as a freehold pub, the trend on most sales seem to be up on last year so far. Beer and food sales have increased significantly, however wines and spirits have fallen dramatically.

"I can only put this down to customers being less extravagant at the end of the evening by cutting out on that last night cap, and saving a small amount by not having a bottle of wine with their meal, just one glass instead.”

But he said next year “could be worse than ever”.

He added: “Calls have gone out to the Government not to put the normal taxation on beers, wines and spirits next year in their budget. A public house is a vital hub for communities through both good and bad times.”

Arthur Scrine, landlord of the Patch and Parrot in Cooper Street, Bideford, said: “We have the same old crowd in here. We’ve got all the golden oldies and the credit crunch has not affected them coming in. The price of beer may have gone up, but we are still the cheapest pub in Bideford.”

Mark Birch has been the landlord of the Black Venus Inn, in Challacombe, on Exmoor, for the past four years and believes the current economic downturn had not had much effect on trade, although he had a stark warning.

He said: “It’s about a level par to last year although there are definitely not as many tourists around. People still have the same money to spend but they are just being a bit more careful with it.

"I don’t think the increase in beer duty will affect us at the moment but, if the Government insists on maintaining the current 4% levy, I think it will kill off the industry.”

Jon Hutchings, from the White Hart hotel in Holsworthy, said: “Generally the pub trade is down however I feel its all about innovation. What with the smoking ban last year and with cut price alcohol sales in supermarkets we are in a difficult time. “Late night weekend trade is down however it is also picking up again but this is due to new ideas and promoting events at weekends such as live music and DJs.

“We are at a time where you cannot expect business to just walk in the door. You have to go that little bit further to entice the customers in. Our food trade is on the up with particular attention focusing on local produce.”

YIKEAROONIES!

Yikearoonies!

Have you ever seen a big woman fall

off a bar stool?

Watching The Heavens Unfold In The Pub Section As The Future Looks On

Sometimes a pub visit creates a venn diagram of glee, sensation, and nostalgia.

The circle of glee in the diagram comes from your companions and the beer while the circle of sensations are the slow warmth of the alcohol in your blood and the brace of farmfield air when you step outside.

The final circle, of nostalgia, is the thought of the merry drinkers who are now gone, who argued at your ear or at ears like yours, and the afternoons and evenings you have spent ignoring the stale inhuman defeats of money, mortgages and DIY by tilting your hat at the good life.

The glee, sensation and nostalgia circles intersect at The Pub Section. In the Pub Section I found the Chichester Arms in Bishops Tawton, a pub so determined to thrive that it was born again, nine months after a devastating fire in 2005.

I arrived one midweek evening with my wife and baby just as autumn was starting to blow cool through the North Devon countryside. The Chich, as it is popularly known locally to generations of fans, is a dining pub but it has not destroyed its pub DNA in pursuit of the Hungry Belly Pound. It has kept the cosy chaos of all lovely country pubs without being cloyingly twee or phoney.

Indeed, there was some controlled chaos in the kitchen when we arrived; a key player, the chef, I think, was unexpectedly unavailable. But the barman stayed friendly.

I drank two fine pints of Exmoor Ale, as crisp as the dew forming on the hills and I ate a beefburger, regular readers will be astonished to hear. It was superb beef, and was well-cooked, but needed a bit of seasoning.

I took the last few mouthfuls of my final Exmoor Ale outside to look at the stars and the waxing moon, and to inhale some of the frosty nostalgia.

There were few constellations on show, but I saw Cassiopeia and the north star. Cassiopeia was named after the Greek mythological wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia, you know; she was sent to the heavens because she bragged about her beauty, hardly a punishment for any crime, including honesty. I managed to find the moon too, without looking at a book. You could spend an hour in a beer garden in the twilight, thinking of venn diagrams, and how many bits of life fit in circles, and go quietly insane.

I had my baby boy in one arm, his eyes like mirrors inside his woolly hood, while his mother finished her dinner in rare peace inside. An almost mythical experience.

My boy was too young for a sip of my beer, although he was "baptised" with ale in his first week of life, and I didn't want to share the magic stuff anyway. But he was not too green, I hoped, to absorb the sense of the dark countryside just out of sight. I was so fixed in the Pub Section, being watched by the future.

THE CHICHESTER ARMS, BISHOPS TAWTON, NORTH DEVON

ADAM'S ALE RATING: 4 OUT OF 5

DRINK THIS: EXMOOR ALE

A perverse turn of events in Cornwall

You know how it is early in the evening in a trendy Cornish fishing village, streets lined with tempting quality restaurants, when you go with a scratchy-tired baby and arrive at the Shipwright public house instead?

Looking back the choice seems perverse, I don't know, maybe even perverted.

We should have fled when we saw the menu. Menus on laminated place mats are rarely an indication of imaginative, careful, dining on the horizon.

But as my travels so far have revealed, the quality of food on offer in a pub is not necessarily on a par with the quality of the beer, and so it proved at the Shipwright where I drank a pleasant pint of Doom Bar.

Doom Bar is one of the best beer names in the world; it also has unintended resonance in certain situations.

The pub, in St Ives, was selling itself as a place to eat with large signs inviting in the unwary, and the perverse, and it had big plastic menus on the tables, so it is only fair to judge it by its food too.

As I looked at my big plastic menu, I was ignored by all staff, whose only task in relation to food, it seemed, was to put numbers in a till and take your money (you could go and bugger off, for all they cared, was the impression I got), I chewed on this question: why is buying a plate of food such a problem in our pubs?

Surely this is a simple enough transaction: I pay you £8 for a burger and chips and you provide that advertised food, and here's the crucial bit, in a form which is undisgusting. Seems simple to me! In fact, I didn't go to chef university, but I serve tasty, cheap-ish food at home most nights of the week. But the cack I have been presented with pubs in the UK I would not serve to my family. They would think I had gone up the pole.

The reason, I suspect, that pubs, like the Shipwright, serve up such dismal grub is because they are far removed from the basics of kitchen life and the pleasures of cooking. The idea for the plastic menus, for instance, and the boring food, was probably farted out by a frownsome middle manager in an office at 3pm one bleak Wednesday, one dreak March day.

So this is the meat of the matter: my burger was tasteless, gristly, cheap and soggy. The bun that contained the flesh was sodden with the water used to wash the tasteless heap of salad by its side. The handful of chips were lifeless, tasteless, and, in fact, virtually pointless. My wife's 'prawn salad' was in fact five battered prawns and a bit of tasteless lettuce and two tasteless factory tomatoes. It was, all told, a disgraceful way to accompany a good pint of beer in a fairly unspoiled public house by a busy little harbour.

So much for that. It's not the end of the bleeding world, I hear you rumble. Indeed not.

But why go on about it? Why whinge? Well, with good reason, my friends, with good reason. Our pubs face terrible peril. They are going bust. I want the good ones to prosper. Some will prosper by selling good food, and if they can't manage that, and it takes effort and money to serve food well, then sticking to good old crisps, nuts and scratchings.

Maybe a sandwich.

Maybe a pickled egg. On festival days.

Please go to the North Country Inn (an incantation)

I can't expect you to respond,

But please go to the North Country Inn.

The pub has solid walls and wooden window frames.

Please go to the North Country Inn.

The staff are friendly and the beer is in a cask, if you want it.

Please go to the North Country Inn.

I ate a cheeseburger there - and chips.

Please go to the North Country Inn.

The cheeseburger was good and better than the mean filth served up in those fast food places that make so much money; you know: lifeless formica hellpits copied from US suburbs, where it's always sunny, at least in the movies, not like here.

Please go to the North Country Inn, instead.

I can't expect you to comply,

But please go to the North Country Inn.

The furniture is pubby, not trendy trash from retail sheds, without history and memories of drink digressions and nicotine.

Please go to the North Country Inn.

You won't feel like a cog in a businessman's feeding game.

Not at the North Country Inn.

In a world of plastic windowframes, there is hope.

In a world of designer bars half-designed badly by bad half-blind maniacs,

I can't expect you to respond.

Please go to the North Country Inn.

THE NORTH COUNTRY INN, MERMAID WALK, BARNSTAPLE

ADAM'S ALE RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

DRINK THIS: OTTER ALE

Hermit hoar, in solemn cell

Hermit hoar, in solemn cell,

Wearing out life's evening gray;

Strike thy bosom, Sage! and tell

What is bliss, and which the way?

Thus I spoke, and speaking sigh'd,

Scarce repress'd the starting tear,

When the hoary Sage replied,

"Come, my lad, and drink some beer."

Samuel Johnson

A fascinating story from the Journal this week...

THREE-quarters of Britain’s pub landlords believe the smoking ban has been bad for a business, according to a new survey.

Figures released by the industry show 74% of licensees surveyed reported the ban was bad for business. Some 47% have laid off staff as a direct result. But when the North Devon Journal asked licensees in North Devon the picture seemed to be mixed.

Caroline McAuley, who works at The Crown in Lynton said: “It hasn’t really affected us as we have quite a good outside area and covered area with heaters. Generally we have been quite lucky — and there are quite a lot of smokers in Lynton — it’s quite a smoky village.”

And at The George and Dragon in Fore Street, Ilfracombe, staff also feel that the ban hasn’t made much of a difference. Staff member Rosie Beecham said: “The same people still come in and we are a food-orientated pub — so maybe people prefer that there is no smoking. I’ve still got my job.”

At the Pack O’ Cards in Combe Martin landlady Debbie Batchelor said: “I can honestly say it hasn’t affected us much. We have a nice smoking area – and sometimes that’s busier than the pub, with more people outside than in here. But the government saying the smoking ban would bring more people out to the pubs is a load of baloney. There are no more people coming out than there ever were before.”

Shaun Musto, landlord of the Earl of Portsmouth in Chawleigh, has seen no effect since the ban came in. He said: “I don’t think smokers avoid coming to the pub because they can’t smoke. I think they’ve all just got used to it. This is a family-run pub so we’ve not had to lay off any staff and it hasn’t affected our profits in any way. I’m a smoker myself and I used to smoke around 15 a day. However, since the ban came in I’ve cut down to about three per night.”

Pete Robertson, landlord of the Clinton Arms in Frithelstock, only has one local who is a smoker. He said: “The ban hasn’t affected us in the slightest as we have always been a country pub that relies heavily on food, which is 75% of our income, to survive. However, a lot of pubs in the area have been affected and have closed down. Some drinking pubs in the area have been killed by the ban. Others are trying to become food pubs, have been employing new chefs and it has cost them. We have not really seen an increase in non-smokers. There have been niggles from a few people about the ban but others have said it is nice to come in.”

Dave Sawyer, landlord of the Black Horse in Torrington, does not feel the smoking ban has affected his trade. He said: “It does make it nicer for non-smokers who come here to eat. Before the ban people would come in and take one sniff and walk out again. About 25% of our regulars are smokers and they just go outside — we haven’t had anyone moaning about it. Our food itself has increased, so that could be more non-smokers coming in. But as far as I can make out we haven’t lost any of our customers because of the ban.”

Lisa Harley, manager of The Corner House in Barnstaple, agreed that the smoking ban had been bad for business. She said: “Most certainly it has affected the pub trade. Anybody would be lying to say it has not.” She said it had also had an impact on team nights because players had to go outside to smoke and it would hold up the game.

Jon Hutchings, landlord of the White Hart Hotel in Holsworthy, said: “It feels like the government is trying to get rid of community pubs. The smoking ban killed a lot of the real drinkers and if you don’t have an outdoor area like us as we are a town centre pub, it causes real problems. This is why we took part in the Proud of Pubs week to raise all these issues with our MP.” Lee Sycamore, landlord of the Olde Market Inn in Holsworthy, said: “Since the smoking ban, pubs have benefited from cleaner air and a healthier atmosphere, however, it has caused more problems than benefits.

“Some 24 pubs a week are closing nationally, and a large proportion of these have been credited to the smoking ban. Many pubs are unable to take necessary measures to accommodate the ruling, leading to no Smoking Areas for their patrons.

“The influx of non-smokers that the government promised has not happened, so most licensed premises have suffered a downturn in business. Saying this a small percentage of pubs have seen an upturn in trade, but this is due to hard work and great expense to try and cater for everyone.

“Good food and good beers at reasonable prices counts for quite a bit, but also outside areas for smoking, drinking and dinning. Social areas for people to meet up and have a quite chat, as well as other usual pub activities."

Lisa Horforth, landlady of The Windsor Arms, Bradiford, said the smoking ban had hit everyone “big time”. In particular they have lost their afternoon trade at the weekend because customers can no longer smoke inside while playing cards. And the new smoke-free atmosphere hasn’t gained them any new customers either.

Lucy Vane, landlady from the Appledore Inn in Bideford, said business has been affected but not dramatically. She said: “We have got a courtyard here that is used, so we are lucky. Most of our regulars are smokers and we have had to cut back on staff, but not by a lot.

“Some people just won’t come into pubs now because of the smoking ban, they just refuse. We don’t have any more non-smokers come into the pub and those who do and go outside and eat tend to moan because everyone in the courtyard is smoking around them. I don’t think it is all the smoking ban though, the credit crunch has also affected business, people are hard up at the moment and the price of beer has gone up and will do again because the breweries have just put their prices up.”

Graham Stone landlord of The Beaver Inn in Appledore believes that only 10% of his customers are smokers, but the ban has still had an effect. He said: “We do quite a bit of food here and that has deflected some of the problems of the smoking ban, but there has been a downturn in bar trade, although this hasn’t necessarily been compensated by the food sales.

“We introduced non-smoking to our restaurant a number of years before the ban came in and although some people moaned we felt the positive outweighed the negatives. We also invested quite heavily in air conditioning and ventilation and the investments were worthwhile at the time, but not required anymore. We haven’t had a noticeable increase in non-smokers coming in, but it is hard to compare with the weather.

"Although we haven’t had to get rid of staff yet, we are concerned for the winter. People have also been affected by the economy and with the silly prices the supermarket sell alcohol for. Some smokers are not going to come out on a wet day. Personally as a non-smoker I thought it wasn’t right to enforce this on public houses. I haven’t noticed any improvements in the atmosphere because of it, but perhaps there are health benefits to my staff and costumers.”

Paul Breese, landlord of the Tiverton Inn, South Molton, has also noticed a difference since the ban came in to force in 2007. He said it was now down to landlords to think on their feet. “The Wetherspoons chain is the best example of this. It’s gone from being the biggest wet sales pub in the country to increasing its food sales. Only a third of its business is drink now, whereas 12 to 18 months ago it was 75% of the business.” Mr Breese is also the landlord of the Snare and Gin Trap at Bishops Nympton and the Castle Inn at George Nympton. Although he was concerned for both, he said they have weathered the effects of the ban well. He said: “There’s no smoking shelter at the Snare and Gin Trap. People who want to smoke have to go outside with a brolly.”

This had led to him selling electronic cigarettes so people can get their nicotine hits that way. In the last three weeks he has sold 10 at the Tiverton Inn. Barbara Butcher, landlady of the Mitre Hotel in Witheridge, has definitely noticed a change behind the bar. She said: “Some people just don’t come to the pub anymore. We don’t have a covered area for smokers to shelter under so when they go out for a cigarette, come rain and wind, they have to brave the elements. I think it’s a combination of factors as well as the smoking ban. The weather hasn’t helped and what with the rising cost of alcohol and people having less money in their pockets, people just aren’t venturing out as much. Our bar takings are definitely down and if we didn’t have our food and bed and breakfast trade to rely on, we’d certainly be in trouble.”

Jane Morton, at the Coaching Inn, South Molton, said she could not decide if the smoking ban was a bad thing. She said trade at the pub and hotel has been stable although the clientele has changed. “We’ve had an increase in non-smokers using it. But we’ve been affected in other ways. We’re very much a food-led pub. Where people would stay for a cigarette and a dessert, they’re now going home so they can smoke. It’s a shorter dining experience. An after dinner coffee would often lead to another drink or two.”

But Ms Morton, who is in the process of buying the pub with her sister, said blaming the smoking ban on a lack of trade was perhaps too simplistic. “Our regular smokers, who might have come out on a Saturday night, are more likely to stay away. But cheap alcohol from supermarkets is also having a huge effect. In our case the core trade is holding firm.”

Ady Taylor, landlord of the Tally Ho! in Hatherleigh, said: “At the moment we are doing fine. We found it difficult in January/February time as although it usually goes quiet at that time of year, it was worse than usual — maybe because it was the first winter after the ban. But, strangely enough, we have done well throughout the summer and there has been no major drop in trade.

“We have a very smart smoking shelter at the back of the pub which we installed and it has made a difference. If we didn’t have it, we would not have half the people in the pub that we do. There are tough times ahead for everyone and the smoking ban has not helped. There is also the duty on beer and the rise in electricity which all contributes, but I am optimistic. We are lucky as we are quite stable and our food is doing well.”

I see joy at the Williams Arms

The boy is enjoying the first stage of a possibly-extreme love of swings. Other park fancies do not elicit even a glint of recognition, but tuck him into a swing and his eight-month-old being radiates with unparalleled joy. A pub with a good swing - even a bad swing - is good news in any right-minded citizen's mind.

So, we - grandparents, parents, boy, and dog - arrived as an early autumn sun was dying over Braunton; a sublime, crystal evening.

Yes, I drank a pint of Doom Bar (a popular Cornish ale, so apologies for this: I always think it can seem a bit thin, despite its lustrous, ruby-looking, depths).

Yes, I ate a pie containing beef AND sausages (don't ask).

Yes, I admired, Fred Dibnah-style, the neat thatch work.

Yes, the barman did seem a little melancholic.

But all that - beer, pie, sky, grumpy barman - was zilch compared to the boy's glowing delight on the swing in the glorious dusk.

Children improve public houses: discuss.

WILLIAMS ARMS, BRAUNTON, NORTH DEVON

ADAM'S ALE RATING: 7 OUT OF 10

DRINK THIS BEER: DOOM BAR, 4 PER CENT

Middle class hikers and small vases of cut flowers in the Rolle Quay Inn

It is good, of course, that fewer fathers are absent alcoholics these days, but the result of fewer pounds spent on ale in local pubs is that landlords are forced to look elsewhere for profits.

Offering food and enticing in women has saved some pubs from ruin. But these changes have also ruined pubs. Barnstaple's Rolle Quay Inn is not at all ruined but it has a minor deterrent: small vases of cut flowers.

I have nothing against small vases of cut flowers, as long as they are kept in their natural home: tea rooms where neat old ladies put china cups on lace doilies.

When I visited the Rolle Quay, it was 7.30pm on a gloomy, but dry, Thursday night at the height of the inglorious summer of 2008. I identified the regulars, because regulars tend to mark their territory like many other mammals. Rather than spraying urine about the place, I assumed, the regulars had opted for the usual pub voodoo of sitting in a line along the bar, where they could talk to the staff and prevent everyone else from enjoying easy access to the beer. This is an old pub game and it should not be attacked, because it forces strangers to talk to regulars and gives regulars a much-needed sense of power.

The rest of the pub, which easily passed the Adam's Ale "window test" (wooden windows good, plastic windows bad) was empty, apart from the furniture: chairs, tables, carpet, framed photographs of local scenes (when men were men and pubs were pubs and small vases of cut flowers were only ever seen in church) oh, and small vases of cut flowers. These days, pubs in Barnstaple are seldom busy on week nights, so the lack of custom was unsurprising. I was, however, dismayed to see small vases of cut flowers on each table.

The Rolle Quay is a St Austell's brewery pub and my pint was made by that Cornish firm. St Austell's beers are refreshing and decent. My pint was clearly from a well-kept cellar.

I had a choice of too many tables with too many little vases of cut flowers, so my eyes darted around like a man lost in a carpark, but I chose a seat next to a window so I could look at an abandoned stone warehouse, the steely sky and the ugly block of mundane new flats (with plastic windows) on the quay. Did prospective custom lurk in that brick and white plastic factory of dreams? To misquote Morrissey, planning regulations have so much to answer for.

I had a newspaper, but did not get the chance to read the tales of murder and rape in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. Ten seconds after I sat down, a couple of middle-aged middle-class hikers sat at the table next to me.

I get an almost-religious joy from walking in the North Devon countryside (I LOVE IT BEYOND REASON!)but I have never felt the need to do so wearing khaki shorts. Other people are less considerate.

And it would be easy to reduce to silly caricature the hikers who joined me in the Rolle Quay Inn that evening. So I will. They were aged in their late-50s, he with big grey beard, she with big grey legs. They wore shorts and waterproof rucksacks. I might have hallucinated this, but I think sandals were in evidence. They had the energetic fizz of retired teachers, freed at last from the punishing whims of England's perpetually disobedient, endlessly disappointing, children. If you wanted to button down the cliche once and for all, you would say they were Guardian readers.

I was, unusually, in no mood for eavesdropping, but it was hard to resist their conversation, littered as it was with commuter belt pellets of pomposity and such delights as: "It's always SO much better to come to these backstreet sort of places". Indeed.

No doubt reassured by the wooden window frames and small vases of cut flowers, this pair of woolly explorers were in for a shock when the landlord appeared.

He was a wiry little man of middle-aged years with long, lank, hair and the general air of a hard rocker who spent the 1970s carrying amplifiers and cider for Motorhead. I am sure he is a first-class landlord (the beer is certainly well-kept) but the hikers exchanged glances which said: "I suppose they let him take the orders in exchange for a bag of crisps." It was only when they asked him to thank "the landlord" for their food, and he said "that's me", did they bristle with shocking embarrassment and perhaps even a measure of regret, or even indigestion.

Fifteen minutes earlier, the couple had decided what they wanted to eat from the menu of solid pub food favourites (fish and chips, pie, curry) and had chosen to have starters as well as main courses. I bet they live in a converted grain store.

So they went on, exchanging condescending views about Barnstaple and the pub as if they were the cleverest human beings in all the Queen's land, and there was some private family mini-crisis I couldn't follow, no matter how hard I tried. No other customers arrived, but the pub has a lively darts scene and is (a bit) busier at weekends, I later discovered.

I drank my pint of Cornish ale quicker than I would normally have done, and rolled my unread copy of the Guardian under my arm, like a proper regular, almost. I half feared the hikers might try and speak to me as I got up to leave, still steady on my Brasher boots; we were so near each other.

But they didn't, and I left as the landlord turned on a stereo and allowed a Thin Lizzy song to escape at refreshing volume.

THE ROLLE QUAY INN, ROLLES QUAY, BARNSTAPLE

ADAM'S ALE RATING: 3 OUT OF 5

DRINK THIS BEER: ANY ST AUSTELL ALE, OR HAVE A PUNT ON THE GUEST BEER