Day 241, Pubs, beams, missing structure

Pubs, yes, pubs.

What are they, where are they, why are they?

Those and other questions may not be answered right here today, here, today, in this informal missive.

Let's dive in, so what exactly are they?

From the point of view of the human entity they are a commercial business premises on which it is possible for those desiring it to buy and consume beverages, typically beverages of an alcoholic nature.

And where might these places be?

In the UK they are fairly widespread.  It did used to be the case that in our city centres there were many more of them, and they were of greater variety.

Let us use some outmoded terminology to outline what it used to be like.
If you were a bit of a square there would have been plenty of places to stand and spill nasty lager, get in fights when someone looked at your pint, and then cry if rejected by a member of your gender choice for companionship, or cry if someone had spilled something on your Ben Sherman (specifically excessively drunk males).
If you were a bit of a Townie then see previous sentences.
If you were an alternative sort, hardcore punk, goth, electro-technabod, hippie, biker, baker, hipster, flipster, or finger popping daddio then there was some cross-fertilisation, and although there may not be as many places it was always possible to be somewhere.
If you were into hip-hop or rap then that was something else entirely, pub culture isn't really a big part of that scene.

This very building here, The Washington, used to be one of the mixed places where all the freaks and spooks that were mainly not squares used to go.

Inside it was a pretty bog standard ordinary pub.  Apart from the millions of teapots that lined the shelf near the ceiling.  The teapots were a kitsch touch that really made the place.

Other groovetastic mixed places were the The Hallamshire just round the corner, and The Hornblower which was further up the same road as The Washington.  The Hornblower now sadly gone, The Hallamshire vandalised beyond recognition, and The Washington now a shadow of the former incarnation.  With The Washington I think it was the loss of the teapots, nothing to do with it being owned by a member of a local popular beat combo, nothing to do with that whatsoever.

So, why are they?

Good question, and too long to answer other than that all those hundreds of years ago one of our few sources of potable water was that that had been through the brewing process.  Brewing was done at home, often done by an alewife, and these places gradually developed into meeting places that became pubs.  Eventually capitalism started sniffing around, made some changes, improved the brewing process so that it could be made more cheaply and quickly, and standardised the product.  This had the effect that they brewed shit beer, they advertised an image that would appeal and distract from the shitness of the beer, they went on to remove most of the walls inside formerly nice pubs to make more room for people to stand and spill their nasty lager.

And so there we are, pubs in the main are now built for squares.  Don't be a square, go somewhere that has good beer and a good atmosphere, and be whatever you want (not a square though, remember that... oh well, okay, if you really want to be, be a square).

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