Trans Pennine Real Ale clampdown

[DiscoStu]

Simple, drink a proper drink (real ale).

"Proper"?

Warm. Tastes like it was scooped out of the Thames. Stupid names.

I fail to see the fascination.

Give me a cool, refreshing lager any day of the week.

 

[yorksrob]

Yuk, i'd rather have beer that tastes of beer rather than that bland nitro keg slop

 

[Evvy73]

Reading this thread about whether pubs should sell Lager or not reminded me of The Wellington in Bedford - an excellent ale house, that also has a good range of foreign beers, but none of the normal Lagers seen around.

They are even kind enough to let you know this before you enter the pub with a sign on the outside saying "No Fosters, No Stella, No Carling, No Cr@p!!".

You can view the sign on Google Streetview HERE

You can't say you haven't been warned!!

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Now that I would not have a problem with, I like the York tap for that reason, its this annoying and stupid stereotyping of lager drinkers that p**ses me off.

 

[Sapphire Blue]

What utter cack!

Oh dear, someone doesn't agree with you, so it must be "utter cack", eh.
And you accuse others of "arrogance in its extreme". The irony.

As guards we all get trains and runs we hate,at Picc we have Chester races and a hell of a lot of football fans during the season, it's a part of our job and most of us accept that.

So what! This rant of yours is nothing to do with your work, but more to do with an attitude which says there has to be a solution found to the problem, as long as it does not inconvenience me. Unless you deny the problem exists?

Regarding the atmosphere the atmosphere when I walked in was more akin to a morgue than a pub. Ideas like this will cause pubs to close through the arrogance that the Lager fizzy drinkers are the cause of all evils,

Not the cause of all evils, but the cause of this evil is the "Lager fizzy drinkers" though, as has been well documented. All three of the pubs named in the thread so far, would do quite well, thank you very much, without the "Trail" every Saturday.
As for the wider subject of pubs closing. Surely more to do with the fact that you can buy your fizzy lager cheaper at the supermarket/offy than you can in the pub. Cask conditioned ale drinkers do not have that option.

well sorry Sapphire Blue you maybe in the wrong century. Real Ale has not been the drink of choice for many a decade and clinging onto the notion that a "Real Ale Drinker" is any better than a Lager drinker is arrogance in its extreme.

No fella, tis yourself stuck in the last half of the last century. Consumption of cask ale is on the rise and has been for years now with the boom in micro-brewing helping this along very nicely. Lager and nitro-keg sales, on the other hand are dropping year on year. People are not accepting the mass-marketed products of the multi-nationals in the same way they did in the 1980's and are looking for a more stimulating alternative. Choice. The arrogance seems to me, to be coming from folk who ONLY drink lager.

Back on topic. Something had to be done. Everyone, whatever their choice of pint can see that. The lager "ban" is being tried, it may work, it may not.
It is not a personal attack on you.
You have the choice of many other places to get your fix in the meantime. Enjoy!

(P.S last pint drunk - Peroni. It's all about the choice)

 

[yorksrob]

If it were up to me, lager wouldn't be banned from the rail ale trail. It goes against my philosophy of not banning everything that moves.

That said, given the large numbers of bars around where it's still impossible to get even a bottle of decent ale, let alone pint of cask (and I notice that these places always seem to have space for thousands of brands of cider or whatever the latest fad is) perhaps lager drinkers might get a taste of what it's been like to be an ale drinker for the past twenty years or so !

 

[ANorthernGuard]

If it were up to me, lager wouldn't be banned from the rail ale trail. It goes against my philosophy of not banning everything that moves.

That said, given the large numbers of bars around where it's still impossible to get even a bottle of decent ale, let alone pint of cask (and I notice that these places always seem to have space for thousands of brands of cider or whatever the latest fad is) perhaps lager drinkers might get a taste of what it's been like to be an ale drinker for the past twenty years or so !

If there is a market for it people will sell it, it is that simple thats why Micro breweries stay microbreweries its all about market forces. Yes Real Ale is making a comeback but lager still has about 70+% of the market share That is a hell of percentage, any pub that wants to lose that amount of potential is courting disaster, one of the biggest growth markets is actually imported and home grown lagers budvar is a famous one and the ones that York Tap sell are excellent and do is Samual smiths Ayingerbrau (now known as Alpine) Real Ale market share has increased by around 2% The biggest boost is in the Cider Market. Sorry guys but Real Ale is not making as many leaps and bounds as you think.

 

[yorksrob]

If there is a market for it people will sell it, it is that simple thats why Micro breweries stay microbreweries its all about market forces. Yes Real Ale is making a comeback but lager still has about 70+% of the market share That is a hell of percentage, any pub that wants to lose that amount of potential is courting disaster, one of the biggest growth markets is actually imported and home grown lagers budvar is a famous one and the ones that York Tap sell are excellent and do is Samual smiths Ayingerbrau (now known as Alpine) Real Ale market share has increased by around 2% The biggest boost is in the Cider Market. Sorry guys but Real Ale is not making as many leaps and bounds as you think.

Well, those hostelries which don't even bother to stock a couple of decent bottled beers certainly lose my custom and I drink a lot.

 

[Bungle73]

"Proper"?

Warm. Tastes like it was scooped out of the Thames. Stupid names.

I fail to see the fascination.

Give me a cool, refreshing lager any day of the week.

It is not warm. Not if it's served properly.

It's a traditional drink made in a traditional (and natural) way. The colourful names give it character. I love going into a pub and coming across Ales I haven't heard of, or tried, before.

Not to mention if you buy Real Ale you're generally supporting a British brewer (lots of whom are small operations), rather than some multinational conglomerate.

 

[reb0118]

(P.S last pint drunk - Peroni. It's all about the choice)

[PLUG] Peroni ~ only £5.20 a pint in the Balmoral Hotel bar just outside the Waverley [/PLUG]

The Balmoral is the former railway owned hotel in Edinburgh. I no longer take part in these Northern English Ale Trails having devised my own "Former Railway Owned Hotels In Edinburgh Ale Trail", with the other hotel being the Caledonian.

No riff-raff, no atmosphere, & after a few drinks - no money! :cry:

More power to your elbow!

 

[Chapeltom]

Lager drinkers can be a bit of pain, but not all of them, its the people themselves, not the drink. I'm a beer enthusiast, not an ale enthauiast, I enjoy a lager now and then, usually San Miguel but am equally happy with a pint of ale, whether its stout, a golden ale, a bitter and equally happy with craft beers - not shying away from paying £4 for a half in somewhere like the Port Street Beer House in Manchester for a good, strong imperial stout, DIPA, IPA, Saison etc. I've paid £11 for a bottled beer without issues, as I knew it was going to be good and my word it was.

Its all about choice and whilst I'm not a massive fan of Carling, Carlsberg, Fosters etc. I hope for the TPE Ale Trail's sake, this ban discourages the idiots so that if/when its reversed. people start doing it sensibly. When I did it in July 2011 on a Friday, we had a pint a pub from Batley at midday and had a couple in Manchester after, no issues, a very pleasant session trying whatever beers we wanted along the way.

 

[Andrewlong]

I'm a real ale man myself. If you are going to drink lager, drink something which is brewed in its country of origin - not under licence on the other side of the world.

There are good lagers about, drinkers need to raise their sights and try something different.

Personally I avoid bitter brewed by the big boys and anything in tins (especially if it comes with a widget!)

 

[Stonesourscotty]

as much as these pubs seem to stock these horrible fad ciders some actually have some decent ones "Aspalls" found at Manchester Piccadilly 7% and a lovely taste "Merseycider" found at the head of Steam at Lime Street is a decent scouse cider and Thatchers vintage at the Berkeley near both wigan stations among some other real corkers. i hate horrible filth like bulmers and wrongbow even to the point when they only offer magners bulmers or wrongbow ill have a tap water or leave.

 

[MidlandMainlie]

as much as these pubs seem to stock these horrible fad ciders some actually have some decent ones "Aspalls" found at Manchester Piccadilly 7% and a lovely taste "Merseycider" found at the head of Steam at Lime Street is a decent scouse cider and Thatchers vintage at the Berkeley near both wigan stations among some other real corkers. i hate horrible filth like bulmers and wrongbow even to the point when they only offer magners bulmers or wrongbow ill have a tap water or leave.

Agreed I can enjoy a decent traditionally brewed cider as much as a Real Ale. Green Goblin (the cider not the Spiderman character) is a vey good one by Thatcher's.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

as much as these pubs seem to stock these horrible fad ciders some actually have some decent ones "Aspalls" found at Manchester Piccadilly 7% and a lovely taste "Merseycider" found at the head of Steam at Lime Street is a decent scouse cider and Thatchers vintage at the Berkeley near both wigan stations among some other real corkers. i hate horrible filth like bulmers and wrongbow even to the point when they only offer magners bulmers or wrongbow ill have a tap water or leave.

I always use the term 'Wrongbow' for the tins of cider available at Aldi and Lidl that have a noticeably Strongbow-esque colour scheme and are 5.3%abv... and even taste exactly the same but cost about half as much!

 

[table38]

A couple of posters I noticed at Stalybridge this afternoon, along with a door-man at the buffet bar:

 

[dysonsphere]

A couple of posters I noticed at Stalybridge this afternoon, along with a door-man at the buffet bar:

That is so sad not all of us drink real ale after all.

 

[AlexS]

Yes, but the whole point of it was to sample 'real ale', at 'real ale pubs', along the 'real ale/rail ale trail'. Not turn it into a massive pub crawl! I suspect they're not interested in attracting generic drinkers because that defeats the object.

 

[dysonsphere]

Yes, but the whole point of it was to sample 'real ale', at 'real ale pubs', along the 'real ale trail'. Not turn it into a massive pub crawl!

quite and I agree with you but it seems a very blunt method.

 

[yorkie]

quite and I agree with you but it seems a very blunt method.

Have you met any of the 'characters' that spoil the Real Ale Trail?

How would you solve the problem?

If people don't want to respect those rules, then they can go elsewhere. Simple!

 

[Cliveblackpool]

That is so sad not all of us drink real ale after all.

Going on a Real Ale trail is not compulsory!
Many 'Real Ale' pubs often serve a real draught cider, or perry (made from perry pears). A refreshing drink on a hot day.Take care, some are over 7%!
Plan your own trail, subject to a suitable rover/ day ticket. Preston to Blackpool South has some good pubs en route for instance. And not a lager ban for miles!

 

[theblackwatch]

A couple of posters I noticed at Stalybridge this afternoon, along with a door-man at the buffet bar:

I spotted one of these posters at Leeds today too. Anyone know if the policy has been regarded as successful to date?

I noticed that earlier in the thread that someone considered it to be discriminatory not to serve lager. Would it similarly be discriminatory not to serve real ale (as there are plenty of pubs which do that)?

 

[callum112233]

All I know is that there are no more morons in stupid fancy dress. I go to Greenfield every Saturday and there was always some idiot with a stupid costume. Past couple of weeks, there have been no costumes

So I guess the posters are doing some good.

 

[A-driver]

I spotted one of these posters at Leeds today too. Anyone know if the policy has been regarded as successful to date?

I noticed that earlier in the thread that someone considered it to be discriminatory not to serve lager. Would it similarly be discriminatory not to serve real ale (as there are plenty of pubs which do that)?

It's not discrimination. Pub management reserve the right motto serve anyone and don't have to give reason. If they want to only serve ale then that's up to them-if they loose business then they may rethink but I would guess try know what they are doing.

A pub isn't obliged to sell any type of drink. They can choose what they do and don't sell. If they decided to only sell lemonade then they would be well within their rights to.

As has been said, the point of the real ale trail is that you sample different beers at each pub along the route, the idea isn't to drink fosters or vodka shots in as many different pubs as possible. If people want larger they can go to another pub which serves that. It is not discrimination though!

 

[theblackwatch]

It's not discrimination. Pub management reserve the right motto serve anyone and don't have to give reason. If they want to only serve ale then that's up to them-if they loose business then they may rethink but I would guess try know what they are doing.

A pub isn't obliged to sell any type of drink. They can choose what they do and don't sell. If they decided to only sell lemonade then they would be well within their rights to.

As has been said, the point of the real ale trail is that you sample different beers at each pub along the route, the idea isn't to drink fosters or vodka shots in as many different pubs as possible. If people want larger they can go to another pub which serves that. It is not discrimination though!

I agree....I wasn't considering it to be discriminatory myself, just referring to other comments. I've been into plenty of pubs and found they don't serve real ale - the bar staff do seem a bit withered though when I just head for the door!

 

[noddingdonkey]

The villages have been a little quieter than usual the last few weekends, but not massively so, I'm reliably informed that the pubs (with the exception of those participating in the silly lager ban) haven't seen any reduction in takings.

There are fewer "morons in fancy dress" as somebody put it, they're just not wearing fancy dress which means that those who like to get worked up about things and mindlessly pigeon hole everybody on the Ale Trail as being a troublemaker don't notice them so much.

I'm pretty sure that the reason it's been perceived as quieter is the heavy police presence - which is the right way to do it, responding to the minority who cause problems rather than punishing the majority - and nothing whatsoever to do with the publicity stunt lager ban.

 

[Solent&Wessex]

I too have noted a heavy police presence, along with private security guards. At Marsden weeks ago there were 3 x riot vans and one of those trucks with little windows which looks like a big prison van, which I discovered once was a set of mobile cells to bang people up in until they can be transported en-masse to the nick. Huddersfield has had a far more noticeable BTP and West Yorkshire police presence the past few Saturdays. Even noted BTP at Stalybridge meeting incoming trains.

 

[Stonesourscotty]

i did the Southport line trail on Saturday and was a decent trail apart from the poor offering in southport itself.