The Two Woodcocks, Brockwell Park

Went into this pub once but there was no-one there, no drinkers, no bar staff, no-one. Eerie Portuguese grill still going strong and has thankfully kept the "Woodcocks" on the exterior

10 Dec 2009 12:18

The Florence, Herne Hill

xaventaner was clearly able to save on food by noshing into the enormous chip on his shoulder. I went there for a quiet pint on a sunny day and there were plenty of people there who you might describe as "visibly ethnic minority" but as so many of Lambeth's 40% ethnic minority population are Polish or Portuguese I can't work out the demographics of a pub at a glance. The waitress was definitely a recent arrival and no-one asked me to open a tab or treated me with hauteur.

If a pub caters to the people who've moved into the area in the last few years, very few of whom I would suggest are independently wealthy, then isn't that what a pub is supposed to do, cater to the local populace? And if you choose to cater to people who want a meal rather than sport and pool why is that treated as an act of class oppression. Why is a gastropub more offensive than a gay bar? Pubs are closing at the rate of 50 a week--they need to attract paying customers to survive.

Personally I find loud music and Sky sports more destructive of pub atmosphere than posh fish and chips--who wants to go out to watch TV or listen to the bar staff's mixtapes? It's nice to have a choice--that's called tolerance of difference.

10 Dec 2009 12:05