Pub Bitch: Pubco critics are 'confused'
Fighting on all fonts
Have you ever walked into a pub - go on, you have - and begun a conversation with your drinking companion(s) about the amazing fonts on the bar? That's what Scottish 'maverick'™ independent brewer BrewDog envisages happening when people see its new branded font. It's like nothing we've ever seen before, according to BrewDog co-founder James Watt, who has one on the bar of his own restaurant in Aberdeen, as do a growing number of pubs across the UK, apparently. "It is a totemic bastion for quality beer and a warning shot to the mainstream breweries that rely on garish lights and glittery logos to draw attention to the pallid, tasteless beers," he thundered. Signing up a posh London-based PR firm has clearly not dulled BrewDog's 'rebellious' streak…
Cuban cutbacks
Cuba, that bastion of communism in the west, has pulled the curtain down on subsidised cigarettes and cigars for old folk. This drastic step is not, as you may think, a sign the Castro Jr-led regime has finally woken up to the fact that offering over-55s cheap strong fags might impact their health, even if smoking might be a nice way to pass the time. No, according to the aptly named government-owned newspaper Granma, the removal of the subsidy is a response to the global economic downturn and Cuba's need to make savings. One citizen told the BBC she'd have to quit smoking on account of not being to afford the normal price, the equivalent of 25p for 20. Cigarettes, the government added, were "not a primary necessity". UK smokers can only dream of such a price...
Calorie King...
At a time when healthy eating is at the forefront of many a menu we're glad someone is keeping the junk food wagon rolling along, with Burger King in New York is rolling out what it calls its 'Pizza Burger'. I know the US is the birthplace of food that is bad for you, but this is going some. It's nine inch in diameter, and packed with a whopping 2,500 calories; that's 20 calories more than a man's recommended daily intake and 520 more than a laydee's. According to the wonderfully named John Schaufelberger, Burger King's vice president of global marketing, the Pizza Burger is "intended to be shared". No kidding. He added it demonstrated the type of menu offerings "our guests can expect". Aside from the laughable reference to Burger King customers as "guests" I'd say Schaufelberger's assessment of his business's demographic was spot on.
Pubco critics are confused
Worth a listen last week was The Guardian's Focus podcast: 'The future of the British pub'. Author Paul Kingsnorth must have raised a few eyebrows when he said it was more profitable for pub companies to "try and run a pub down, get permission to turn it into a house, and sell it off for an inflated property price… and when they don't do that" he went on, "they screw landlords into the ground" with rents and the beer tie. Fortunately though, Suzy Jackson of Punch Taverns was on hand to set the record straight: "People outside the industry would probably get confused with all the different messages, and a lot of what is said in criticism is presented in a way that is not representative of the truth". Excellent, glad we've cleared that one up. Suzy went on to explain the complex relationship between rents and beer prices, yawn…
To listen in full, click here: The Guardian's Focus podcast: 'The future of the British pub':
And finally, while we're on the subject of the death of the British pub, did you hear the one about the pub that was being turned into a funeral parlour? I kid you not...
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