I like to follow the UK Admins Breweries/Places Housekeeping thread in part to see what places were closing, so that I could plan any trips accordingly.
Now that we all can close places again, these don’t need to go to an admin. But do we want a thread for pubs, bars, bottle shops and so forth that we have loved and lost? There may be quite a few of them due to COVID, and it’d be a shame to see them go gentle into that good night.
Likewise, places that close may find a new lease of life, so to speak, or become another bar worth checking out. We need good news as well as bad.
Places that I’ve seen closed or closed myself in the last few weeks:
Pint Shop, Birmingham
Pursuit of Hoppiness, Exeter
Cornerstone Cafe, St Peter Port, Guernsey
It’s a shame. The last two were places that had a good rating and were in a fairly beer-dead area (especially Guernsey). Those are the ones that really bother me.
I went there last year, nice pub. That’s be a loss for Stafford. As I remember they did a lot of live music so their situation would be especially tough.
Yes indeed, quite liked Floodgate when I was there. Cheap, cheerful with some nice oddities dotted about the place. Candid Beer nearby seems to be going strong by the looks of it. Fully recommend going there as an alternative. Not quite the same feel, bit like sitting around a staff boardroom table but the beer selection (and coffee) is top notch
I know that Covid-19 will have played it’s part here, however I am not surprised that Pint Shop, Birmingham have gone. I’ll start by pointing out that I’d not been there but am very familiar with the area and from reading the reviews it appears that the set up was strikingly similar to the Oxford site which also closed. They get a lot of things right, but perhaps seem to be biting off more than they can chew, pricing has always been scarily expensive as well in my opinion.
Yes, I think a few of the places, especially in the early stages, might be struggling already, with the pandemic being the last straw. And while I like the Pint Shops, their pricing was pretty extreme. Seems to work in the Cambridge location as it’s in the touristy area.
One of the bottleshop’s in Streatham (Art & Craft SW16 Mk 2) has closed down for good sadly. I always used to stop by when back visiting the parents, always a great seletion.
It’s always packed at Cambridge location, other than opening, but I’ve passed up some beers I wanted due to the pricing there as well. Service can be pretty hit or miss too.
The Oxford location could potentially have worked, virtually opposite the theatre, slap bang in the centre, lots of tourists etc, etc, but the lower ground floor which they tried to encourage diners to use was quite a big area and almost always absolutely dead, no one really knew it was even there until they had to access the toilets downstairs, they were forever re-launching the food side of things. But high prices, cripplingly high rents and JDWs and other chain pubs on the same road meant for most (including me) it was never ever a destination place, shame really as it was a cool place, was well kitted out, I just don’t think that they thought things through, which is probably where Brewdog succeeded and seem to be thriving in Oxford. They went to east Oxford, rents much cheaper, music, venues, lots of eateries, lots of students and 24 hour bus service.
First time I hit Oxford Pint Shop @Fin was a Friday lunchtime, first week of November … gonna say 2017. Was dead and we were there for food 1315-1430 … three or four folks aside from ourselves.
Enjoyed the beers and food … pricy Ish but central Oxford and I’m used to London so normal for me if not a touch cheaper.
Downstairs no one.
Couldn’t understand why
So few people and on a Friday!
Went back on a Saturday May 18 … for 45 minutes on a pub crawl say 1530-1600 … again dead … half a dozen other drinkers
Liked the venue the food and the drink … not phased by the prices myself … not sure what they were doing wrong really other than as you say … exact location and competitors
A notable new place has to be the Mikkeller Brewpub in Clerkenwell.
Less notable but the first micropub opened around here, the Horse & Groom in Chobham. I need to drop some stuff off at my parents’ on Friday so will take the opportunity to drop in.
Also a new Big Smoke pub in Wokingham (well, another Greene King pub which Big Smoke manage). Just looked it up and the new pub that Big Smoke are taking over in Reading is also a Greene King venue. I wonder what the relationship is?
I must have added about 20 microbreweries in London and the South over the last couple of weeks, although all have been opened without having been added on here for 12 months to 4 years.
One loss is Test Brewery in Hants, with the closure of the pub it was based at. Although the same guys own the micropub in Andover which is still going.
Thought I’d added it previously but have now amended that and added Boojum & Snark in Sandown. They have now expanded from a bar/bottleshop into a brewpub and therefore the Isle of Wight’s 4th brewery.
No info on line about the beers that I could spot but am told they had two of their own casks on a couple of weeks ago.
We stayed in Sandown last autumn. Timed it wrong, would’ve waited if we’d known about the new brewery! A new IOW brewery is the stuff that ticking dreams are made of.
Beer Ritz one of the pioneers of the independent specialist beer shop in Leeds for the last 20 years is closing. As far as I know they are quite a big player in beer distribution in the area so could be trying to focus on that.
I have said to my wife that we should visit the island again as neither of us have been since we were kids. I didn’t add anything about beer, I presumed she’d worked that bit out for herself.
