MyShout

The Czechs have the correct attitude to beer and bar culture. We should learn from them, says

Tony Jennings

During a recent Friday evening trawl with a colleague around some of the many pubs and bars in downtown Ceske Budejovice in Southern Bohemia, I was struck by the fact that although the outlets we went to were packed, nobody seemed to be getting drunk. Fired up by the MA's "Welcome Back to the Pub" campaign I decided a look at these phenomena could make a contribution to this initiative, as well as justifying our outing. The drinkers were noisy but the vibes were good-natured, with impressive amounts of alcohol being downed. Enough in fact to almost persuade me that I had perhaps misread the statistics and that the Czech nation was actually consuming 156.5 litres per capita of beer - not annually - but every weekend. The evening remained good natured however - right to the end. We never saw anything vaguely approaching an argument and we didn't see even one casualty on the way back to our hotel.

I know it may seem a bit trite to do a Hogarth and compare this Czech Beer Lane with the English Gin Alley, but you couldn't help noticing the difference.

Yet when it comes to drinking the two nations have a lot in common - both are big beer drinkers and both have strong pub - as opposed to café and bar - cultures. According to the Labour Party's Chair, Hazel Blears hopes of socially engineering a Continental café society here are doomed so instead how about a revitalised pub culture modelled on Czech lines?

So what makes the Czech model different from ours? Beer is much more part of the Czech culture than most English people can imagine; it is often referred to as "liquid bread", the very staff of life.

As an example a Czech general practitioner whom I know often prescribes beer for her patients' conditions and recalls how she herself was given low- strength beer to drink by her granny from the age of five as a health drink.

This attitude towards beer is reflected in the Czech licensing laws; there are not many to speak of and you can sell beer where you can sell it - on a hot dog stand for instance. There is a similar light touch on opening and closing times and very little evidence of any abuse of the system by drinkers.

That's two things we perhaps can't do much about. The health Fascists would hate the idea of us adjusting our kids to be beer drinkers from an early age and government here will never give up its passion for the micro-management of everything whether it is necessary or not. One thing we could copy the Czechs on is that they allow little or no vertical drinking but go for table service instead. The Czech experience shows that where drinkers take it sitting down, sweetness and light have a chance of prevailing. Everybody has their own space and the irritation at being jostled or feeling crowded, especially as inhibitions crumble, is avoided. Ordering and being served at the table is another plus; there is no fighting for the barman's attention and lastly you just settle the bill at the end of the session.

For my money that really would be a welcome back to the pub, but how many retailers would be prepared to take that sitting down I don't know.