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Products and services where the new version is not as good or has significant disadvantages as the old
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jon81uk
Member
Does anyone have proof they have added palm fat, or just started declaring which fat they use? Cadbury chocolate has use vegetable fat in addition to cocoa fat for at least fifty years, maybe longer. But at some point around 2014 they started declaring that the vegetable fats are palm & shea. What we don't know is which vegetable fat was used pre-2014.
Although this 1997 article states https://www.independent.co.uk/news/all-because-the-lady-loves-vegetable-fat-1235080.html
"Vegetable fat - similar in nature to cocoa butter and coming from African shea, Indian sal and Malaysian palm."
So it is highly likely they have always used palm fat, but the ratio of shea to palm has probably changed or possibly more vegetable fat, but legally vegetable fat cannot be more than 5% of the finished chocolate product.
D6130
Established Member
Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Once a fine complex ale brewed by craftsman for generations and requiring 2-3 weeks settling in the cellar before being tapped and vented to be enjoyed at its best. Since the massive boost in sales prompted by the Madonna/Guy Ritchie publicity about 20 years ago, the brewery - although they strenuously deny it - have, in my opinion, sacrificed quality for quantity....and the vast amounts of it exported to London are usually sold too young, too warm and without a sparkler - not to mention the ridiculous prices - resulting in a very poor product over the bar. 
Ashley Hill
Established Member
Much the same with Bass. Now a poor imitation of itself.
D6130
Established Member
....and Marston's Pedigree, London Pride and numerous others which have effectively become 'national' brands. Landlord is still a fine beer when properly - cellared and served in a Taylor's pub in Yorkshire....but they are becoming increasingly difficult to find, as the new American CEO - who has absolutely no background in the brewing and pubs industry - has decided that there's more money to be made by selling-off their tied houses for housing and concentrating on expanding and modernising the brewery to increase production of Landlord for the free trade. I've a horrible feeling that it won't end well!
eoff
Member
I agree it is getting harder and harder to find quality products in a sea of listings and doubtful reviews.
And it seems I am offered Prime for Students on nearly every order and I have had an account since at least as long ago as 1998.
I sign up for some random online course for about £20 each year to get verified student status. Saves a fortune.
This. I've always found them to be no quibble with refunds and returns. My main issue with Amazon is the awful search functionality!
Yep returns is an area Amazon does much better than Argos. I wonder if it’s based on some philosophy or value of having enough as I have returned items with Argos, through online and not through store, but it feels like it’s a hassle a bit.
I think Amazon realised that the friction of being difficult takes up more effort than just saying "yes" and weighs negatively on the customer's perceptoin. It's possible it behaves differently if the item is very high level and/or if a particular customer's history flags they may be cheeky
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Not to mention the fact that their market share and thus power is such that they can probably pass on all costs to the supplier.
I gave up having takeaways delivered when my favourite Indian restaurant switched from in house deliveries to using third party services as the food always arrived cold.
Kite159
Veteran Member
A new windows update has changed the default picture viewing software so it seems you can no longer change the file name within the software. The option is there to edit, but try and change the name just throws it back without saving. Only way is via Windows Explorer itself which is quite annoying when it comes to labelling photographs.
2-3 weeks settling time seems a bit over the top. I can, however, recall the Blackpool Camra beer festival in 1975 when we ordered some Taylors beers, which was perhaps the first time they had been available so far west of Keighley.Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Once a fine complex ale brewed by craftsman for generations and requiring 2-3 weeks settling in the cellar before being tapped and vented to be enjoyed at its best. Since the massive boost in sales prompted by the Madonna/Guy Ritchie publicity about 20 years ago, the brewery - although they strenuously deny it - have, in my opinion, sacrificed quality for quantity....and the vast amounts of it exported to London are usually sold too young, too warm and without a sparkler - not to mention the ridiculous prices - resulting in a very poor product over the bar.
The Taylors rep was horrified when he saw that we were serving it direct from the cask with very little head. "They wouldn't stand for that in Yorkshire" he said.
I don't think we had any Landlord at the festival. It started off as a bottled beer and was introduced as a cask beer when one of their landlords suggested it might be nice.
CaptainHaddock
Established Member
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 2,719
I thought of your post yesterday when I ordered a pint of Landlord in the Cross Daggers in Coal Aston and am pleased to report that in my opinion it's as good quality as I remember it.Timothy Taylor's Landlord. Once a fine complex ale brewed by craftsman for generations and requiring 2-3 weeks settling in the cellar before being tapped and vented to be enjoyed at its best. Since the massive boost in sales prompted by the Madonna/Guy Ritchie publicity about 20 years ago, the brewery - although they strenuously deny it - have, in my opinion, sacrificed quality for quantity....and the vast amounts of it exported to London are usually sold too young, too warm and without a sparkler - not to mention the ridiculous prices - resulting in a very poor product over the bar.
Interesting, I am not a fan of the juices that come out of them machines. I wish they would serve freshly squeezed orange or Tropicana.
eyebrook1961
Member
HIE at Middlesbrough, whilst a hotel that both my better half and myself enjoy (friendly staff, nice breakfasts etc), they use an orange juice concentrate that is then watered down - problem with this is that you don't know how strong (or weak) your orange juice will be in the morning. Often had to have a glass of iced water to accompany the juice, and have also had to ask them to add more concentrate too . . . there's no consistancy 
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Served properly, my opinion is that Landlord is as nice as it ever was. It's not like the likes of Doom Bar or Pedigree where production was moved to Burton and the taste of the beer was ruined.
The issue is that a lot of pubs don't serve it properly. There's a reason why the big pubcos keep pushing keg over cask and that's because it is a lot easier to set up and serve, you just plug it in and away you go. Cask isn't so easy at all. It's not necessarily a London thing- one of the best pints of Landlord I've had was in the Bree Louise (RIP)- more a skill thing.
Also, sparklers are the devil's work!
D6130
Established Member
I would agree with you that a lot of problems with Landlord are caused by poor cellarmanship in non-Taylor's pubs....and also the fact that, like all Scottish and Northern English ales, it is brewed to be served through a tight sparkler to give it the necessary condition in the glass and most pubs in the South of England don't use them.
You may think that tight sparklers are the work of the devil....but Northern beers are brewed in a subtly different way to their Southern counterparts so as to be at their best when served with a tight creamy head. Southern beers are brewed to be served through wide brass tap handpumps (with a light, frothy foam on top), or tapped by gravity directly from the cask (completely flat). I think the dividing line runs from West to East - or vice-versa - a short distance to the South of Sheffield.
At the forthcoming CAMRA Calderdale Beer and Cider Festival (Arden Road Social Club, Halifax: 24-26th September) we shall be serving 22 beers from handpumps with sparklers....and 38 directly by gravity from the cask, about 10 of which will be wooden. It would be nice to have more handpumps, but they're very expensive and we don't have space for a long enough bar.
Declaration of interest: I'm on the organising committee.
Pedigree was (and still is?) always brewed in Burton.
CharlieSpotted
Member
- Joined
- 21 May 2014
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- 975
Perhaps it was just the bottled version, but I'm pretty sure it was brewed at what was Banks's Park Brewery* in Wolverhampton for a time.
Not any more since it was disgracefully sold down the river by Carlsberg, of course.
DelW
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- 15 Jan 2015
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- 5,983
Pedigree was always brewed using the Burton Union system of linked wooden barrels. Marston's themselves claimed that their use was essential for proper Pedigree - until they decided to abandon the system in 2024. Wherever it's brewed now, Union sets aren't used.
Some Burton Union sets have survived, notably at Thornbridge brewery, which acquired them from Marston's in Burton.
Some Burton Union sets have survived, notably at Thornbridge brewery, which acquired them from Marston's in Burton.
WesternLancer
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 12 Apr 2019
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- 15,166
I think this is the crux of the matter
CaptainHaddock
Established Member
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2011
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On a similar note free email accounts that make you jump through several hoops just to log in.
I’ve had the same Hotmail account for around 20 years and till recently I just typed in my email address and password. Now when I type in my address it doesn’t default to password, I get a choice of “Use your face, fingerprint, PIN, or security key”, “Use your password” or “send a code to *****@*******.com”. Then when I select and enter my password, it will then pointlessly ask me if I want to stay signed in, or it might try to create a “passkey” something I neither want nor need or, if the site’s feeling a bit malevolent, will claim I’ve tried to sign in too many times with the wrong password (which I haven’t) and not let me in at all!
Googlemail’s even worse as it doesn’t seem to understand that the user might try to sign in on more than one device and will frequently not let me in on my PC because I used my phone the last time I logged in.
My password on xsx works, no 2 step authentication needed, but sometimes it says the password doesn’t work despite being correct so I have to re enter two or three times then it will enter. Logging in with the phone USA probably less tedious but sometimes I purposely disconnect my phone from the Internet as it makes it easier to clear my mind or focus on other things and the xsx already has some friction to going on it that it isn’t as addicting.
It’s a reason I don’t want an eSIM only iPhone. It will make it harder to disconnect from the Internet.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
It's very easy to disconnect a phone from the Internet - you can turn data and wifi off with a single tap from the menu, at least on an iPhone, and if you don't want calls either just shove it in flight mode. Removing SIMs is a rather clumsy way to do it.
eSIMs also have the advantage that someone can't steal the phone and put the SIM in another phone to cheat 2 factor authentication as some have been doing.
But when you are addicted you will just toggle the data and flight mode back on. It’s more effective to fully disconnect the phone from the internet. There is a video about smartphone addiction that even agrees with this. As access makes the brain try harder than just removing the addiction or distraction.
some places will take your phone order and deliver themselves which is far preferable than me paying Deliverpoo and the food establishment handing over 20% of their revenue to a morally dubious company. I don’t trust any of the big apps
Also re Amazon, most of the goods shown anywhere near the top of a search are sponsored results - once you look for them it is quite amazing the proportion.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
It can't even sell books properly now.
I was looking for a guidebook for an upcoming trip. The first four or five results shown were AI slop, it was only after that that the real books from Lonely Planet etc were shown.
Between Amazon being a marketplace for AI slop and dropshipped Chinese crap, and Amazon's use of only the very worst delivery couriers, I don't quite see what the point of it is anymore or why anyone would actually buy anything from it. Most of the stuff on there is now sold by companies who seem to have a very limited life expectancy; I put a couple of them into the fraud screening software we use at work as a test and the results were illuminating.