Straight talking from our publisher…
It’s certainly been a full on four weeks – but you know me, I love being busy. It was great to catch up with so many people at the Scottish Bar and Pub Awards and the feedback has been absolutely brilliant. So well done to all the finalists, and of course the winners. It’s never an easy task judging and our mystery shoppers did an excellent job. I am always happy to supply feedback.
One of our most popular categories in the awards was Dog Friendly Pub of the Year – and we had hundreds of votes for the various pubs, with The Forth Inn winning. However not all pub groups are happy letting dogs in… JD Wetherspoon has just banned them! I think there will be a campaign to let them back in. JDW is known for doing things their way and it is definitely going against the trend. Hotels are becoming more pro-actively dog friendly. In fact Macdonald Hotels is offering holiday breaks with free accommodation for your dogs. Book me them in!
I love it when you come across quirky bars, and recently I have come across two. First up was the Eagle Barge Inn at the Caledonian Canal near Spean Bridge. A barge that has been converted into a bar and restaurant… it certainly was cosy. The other one was in Glasgow, The Summoner’s. It’s a gaming bar with comfortable arm chairs and multi-coloured keyboards. They call it an e-sports bar. It’s located on Pitt Street, and I’ve certainly not seen anything like it in Scotland.
New research shows that no alcohol is safe to drink. The report called The ‘Global Burden of Disease’ was reported in the Lancet. Although the researchers admit moderate drinking may protect against heart disease, they found the risk of cancer etc outweighed these protections! The same month another study published in the British Medical Journal found that moderate drinkers were at the lowest risk of dementia, compared to heavy drinkers and non drinkers… but then again another study found that even moderate drinking could increase the risk of dementia. The only thing going demented is me!
Glasgow City Council is discussing increasing licensing hours to 4am for night spots and public views are being sought, in fact it has been holding events for the public attend. It is talking about introducing it as a pilot programme. Personally I cannot see the point of this. I can recall one nightclub owner telling me that the people who are still out drinking at 4am are more trouble than the cash they generate. I was also out in Glasgow the other weekend, and never mind 4am, the pubs were not full at 11pm! So I hate to think how the nightclub industry is doing, but I don’t think increasing the hours for ‘night-time licensed establishments’ will do them any good whatsoever. Clubs have to adhere to much stricter rules than pubs that open late. The board want to make Glasgow more European – more like Berlin (population 10 million). I’ve got a better idea – why not just make it easier/ quicker for operators to get pavement licences?
