Endangered species?

<editor's note>
From Roger Protz comes this reports that, like that of Mark Twain, the death of 
the British pub may be highly exaggerated. 

This column first appeared in the Morning Advertiser. 14 Nov 2002 
</editor's note>

Reports of the 'death of British pubs' premature - being sensible people, the 
Brits still have more pubs than either petrol stations or doctors' surgeries
There are more gravediggers around in the brewing industry than in the average 
cemetery. 

Last week Stewart Gilliland of Interbrew was predicting the death of ale in 
Britain, and now Peter Kendall of Coors says the British pub will be extinct 
within 20 years. 

Speaking at a trade conference in London, the chief executive of Coors said 
changes in drinking habits and beer's out-dated image would drive us out of 
the boozer and on to the front room couch. 

As a result of beer's decline -- seven million barrels a year in the past 20 
years -- he sees no future for the pub unless brewers pull their socks up and 
start to refashion beer's image. 

I think he's wrong for a number of reasons. People don't just go to pubs to 
drink beer, even though it accounts for two-thirds of the average pub's "wet" 
sales. Increasingly, people go in groups of both sexes and their choice of pub 
will be determined not only by the beer on offer but also by such 
considerations as food, comfort and welcome. 

Peter Kendall also overlooks the deep roots the pub enjoys in the British way 
of life and also the pub's remarkable resilience. In 1990 a market analysis 
predicted that by the year 2000, 10,000 British pubs would close. The report, 
I'm delighted to say, was hopelessly wrong. 

In 1990 there were 60,000 pubs in the country. Ten years later we still had 
the same number. The spread had changed. Many rural pubs have closed, but more 
pubs have opened in urban areas. 

Being sensible people, the Brits still have more pubs than either petrol 
stations or doctors' surgeries. Don't write the pub's obituary just yet. 

But Peter Kendall is right on one point: strenuous efforts have to be made to 
halt the decline in beer drinking. He points to the dramatic rise in wine 
consumption in this country and the need for brewers to learn from wine's 
success. 

Beer's decline can be put down to a number of factors. Aspirational young 
people think holding a glass of chilled Chardonnay gives them more social 
skill and grace than a pint of Old Knee Trembler. 

Women find pints intimidating and the bitterness of beer daunting. Both these 
problems can be addressed by putting beer into more attractive and smaller 
containers -- learning from the badged glasses of the Belgians and the 
Dutch -- and by stressing the enormous diversity of flavours now available, 
including wheat beers and fruit beers that are not overly bitter. 

There is also an economic factor: beer is wickedly expensive. If Coors and 
other big brewers want to encourage people to consume more of their products 
they should stop slapping two substantial price increase on their products 
every year. 

They should lobby Chancellor Gordon Brown to decrease duty on beer for all 
brewers, not just the micros. And they should present a united front to the 
bully boys of the giant pub companies and tell them to pass on some of the 
benefits of price discounting to their publicans so that beer prices across 
the bar come tumbling down. 

Peter Kendall says the pub can be saved if the industry encourages people 
"to celebrate beer as a sophisticated, natural product, a healthy drink of 
moderation, suited equally to men and women". 

He's right. He will, I'm sure, acknowledge that CAMRA is doing vital work in 
this area by encouraging more women to drink cask beer, with its wide range of 
aromas and flavours. 

The National Hop Association has for several years made strenuous efforts to 
increase drinkers' awareness of the importance of the hop in imparting 
fascinating flavours to beer. This autumn some 18 brewers have produced 
"green hop" beers, using hops straight from the harvest. The NHA stages an 
annual competition that encourages brewers to give beers new aromas and 
flavours by using single hop varieties or blending different varieties. 

Lower taxes, more attractive glasses, information about the healthy aspects of 
drinking and using the pub as a forum for debate must all be adopted to boost 
beer's image and sales. 

Hold off the undertakers, Mr Kendall: the British pub isn't ready for the 
knacker's yard just yet. 

Back to December 2002 front page