Opinion
Topical articles and pieces from a personal point of view.
The long tail
I had expected there to be good news, verging on celebration. Having travelled the length and breadth of the UK over the past couple of years in my ca...
Should Big Beer be allowed to own pubs?
A customer walks into a Star Pub and asks for a local beer. It sounds like a feed line of a joke – and maybe this is a very dark one – but I witnessed...
Demise of a legend
The planned closure of Marston’s in Burton-on-Trent is like a death in the family. I have been to the brewery many times and delved deep into its hist...
Carlsberg tour of destruction hits new low
News that Carlsberg Britvic has announced the impending closure of the former Marston’s brewery and its primary logistics operation in Burton upon Tre...
Bright young things
People are drinking less. But don’t just take my word for it, there’s plenty of data to back it up. According to a report published by the BBC in Janu...
A sip is just fine
After a long days’ harvest this week I somehow found myself spending the evening at the pub. Sat outside in the blazing 5pm sun, European style on the...
Gen Z gets a taste for cask
I have a word of advice for the doomsters anxious to write the obituary of cask beer: you should have dropped in to the St Albans beer festival at the...
What about the workers?
“You haven’t heard of this pub? Why would you?” A few years ago, a neighbour was telling me about her new job in a local bar a bus ride away. Despite...
Seeing in the dark
I don’t have webbed toes. Or square eyes. Or hair on my chest. I admit to being shocked when it was revealed that carrots won’t really make you see in...
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