3 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘It had some nefarious characters – but with lovely shoes’

The Glory was a haven for outlandish self-expression and the early stomping ground for many of the UK’s most infamous drag queens. It made me ready for lifeIn a packed pub, revellers chat, sip lager and look at their phones. Suddenly a side door crashes open, and in walks drag sensation John Sizzle, dressed as a hair-raisingly accurate Diana, Princess of Wales. She saunters demurely to a halo, fashioned from tinsel and coat hangers and stuck to the wall, stands under it, and starts lip-syncing to Beyoncé’s Halo. The crowd erupts. Continue reading...

Politics

21 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘I bonded with a new group of friends there – and it led to my dream job’

Ye Olde Swiss Cottage in London was gaudy, draughty and built on a traffic island. But it was just the escape I neededEarly in my career, I was going through a difficult chapter in work and life. Having moved down to London from Glasgow, I felt socially untethered, unsure of where I belonged. I yearned to feel part of a gang like I’d done back home, but I had no clue about how to find one. Continue reading...

Politics

27 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘While drinking and singing there I met my partner’

I was a bit nervous when I first joined a pop choir that included a weekly pub singalong. I needn’t have worriedWhen I walked into Auberge, a pub near Waterloo station in London, on Thursday 21 October 2021, I didn’t know a soul. By kicking-out time, I had 50 new friends. I’ve been back almost every Thursday since. Continue reading...

Politics

45 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘We celebrated Christmas in July – and suddenly every night was Saturday night’

At the start of the first festive shift, the other bartender and I silently pulled our crackers and grimly donned paper hats. Yet it worked a treat and taught me the value of making your own funI was an employee and a customer at this pub as a teenager in the early 1990s. This was one of four or five pubs clustered around the high street in the town where I grew up in Somerset. We gravitated towards the Blue Ball as teenagers, not because they served underage drinkers. They didn’t. And we could only afford to drink lime and soda anyway. No, we loved this place because it had (drumroll) two bars. So we were not only cool enough to go down the pub (never “to the pub”, strictly “down the pub” or, better still, “down the Blue”), but we even had our own bar. Continue reading...

Politics

51 h. ago The pub that changed me: ‘It was a refuge from teenage pressures – and a portal to excitement’

At the Faversham there was thumping house music, projections of lava lamp bubbles, and bottles of K Cider. Rave culture had hit Leeds, and my friends and I plunged inI can mark out stages in my life by the pubs I’ve been to – and I started early. My grandparents used to take me to the Sandford Arms across the road from their house in Leeds on a Saturday afternoon to play the jukebox – and since I remember records like Boney M’s Rivers of Babylon this must mean I was about four. My other grandparents, meanwhile, actually ran a pub in the city centre. Their days usually started with my grandad, who did not have the bonhomie of a natural landlord, groaning to my grandmother: “You open up, Kath, I can’t face it!” Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago The pub that changed me: ‘We’d walk home with kebab sauce dribbling down our chins’

I’d love to claim the Hand & Heart in Nottingham taught me something profound – but it was mostly about bankrolling free roundsWhen I was a teenager, before Tripadvisor, pubs lived as mental notes rather than star ratings. There was the one where – exactly like that scene in The Inbetweeners – we realised they’d serve us a pint at 16 if we ordered some food (one shared plate of chips). There was the one you might get lucky in on Christmas Eve; the one you’d take a girl to, to impress her with the romantic views; and the one that only served cider in halves because it was so brain cell-poppingly strong – a pub best tackled before a bank holiday Monday, known colloquially as “Super Cider Sunday”, when you still had a few brain cells to spare. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago The pub that changed me: ‘It was close. It served Guinness. And it had (just about) functioning toilets’

Every week my DisOrient FC team and I would show up at the Park Tavern, our second home, drown our sorrows after a five-a-side match and forge ongoing friendshipsWhatever else you might say about the Park Tavern, you can unequivocally say this: it is, without question, the closest pub to the five-a-side pitches where my team DisOrient FC used to play every Tuesday night from 2011 to 2016. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago The pub that changed me: ‘We would flirt and mingle with the wild children of the wealthy’

To me and my friends from a Battersea council estate, the Dome seemed the very height of Thatcherite hedonism – and seeing ‘successful’ people up close was an eye-openerIn the mid-1980s, as a Black kid from a Battersea council estate, pubs were not part of my life. To my mind, they were where white blokes got lagered-up before rolling out on to the streets to abuse people who looked like me. None of my mates were big drinkers; we were much more interested in music (rare groove and hip-hop) and trying to meet girls. Rooms full of aggressive-looking men held no attraction for any of us. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago The pub that changed me: ‘The barman banned me – no process, no second chances, no appeal’

The world’s largest Wetherspoon’s has seal-spotting views, a green leather banquette and a grand central staircase. I would do anything for that pub, so imagine my surprise when I was given my marching ordersIn the most prime imaginable bit of Ramsgate beach real estate, right on the sand, stands a handsome, turn-of-the-last-century building that had claimed for the longest amount of time, some years in neon, to be a casino. I’d never been allowed in as a kid. Then in the 90s it was leaning towards defunct, by the 00s it looked a bit haunted, then there was a fire, and wham, 2017, it turned into a Spoons. It had been trailed for a few months ahead, and I’d sworn off it; the living nightmare that was Brexit was only a few months old and Wetherspoon’s Tim Martin was one of its most gracelessly triumphant fuglemen. He could keep his (incredibly cheap) pints and his (superhumanly fast) nuggets. Continue reading...

Events

6 d. ago More than 5,000 pubs facing sharp business rate hikes as tax valuations double

It comes after weeks of criticism from pub bosses, industry chiefs and politicians over changes to business rates in the Budget.

Economics

6 d. ago 'Timeless' footwear store could disappear from high street after 150 years

The iconic British shoe shop loved by Kate Middleton is reportedly expected to be acquired in a joint takeover.

Events

1 week ago Outraged pub bosses threaten to go on STRIKE and change opening hours in protest at Budget tax grab by Government

OUTRAGED pub bosses are threatening to go on strike in protest at punishing taxes they fear will force many boozers to close permanently. Opening times could also be pushed back from the traditional 11am start as publicans try to give Chancellor Rachel Reeves a bloody nose following her Budget tax grab. Others are considering ringing...

Events

2 w. ago Jeremy Clarkson launches low alcohol booze range during dry January for top beer fans

TV presenter and pub landlord Jeremy Clarkon has made the move in a gear change from his own drinking habits. It marks a U-turn as he was previously against alcohol-free booze

Sport

3 w. ago Voices: ‘It is a broken industry’: Readers on why pubs are struggling to survive – even at Christmas

Our community said Britain’s pub culture is slowly fading, blaming high prices, changing social habits and tough Christmas trading conditions that have left some pubs without festive bookings and fearing they may not survive into the new year

Events