It seems like an increasing number of pubs don't want my money. I went to the Good Mixer in Camden on Thursday night to see a band. No real ale available, or any other beer I particularly want to drink. I know at most dedicated live music venues and clubs this isn't unusual, but the Mixer is a pub that just has bands on sometimes. I guess they aren't that bothered about catering for my ale needs so I don't drink much in there.
On Friday I went to the Dublin Castle in Camden - a well known pub and music venue. There used to be three or four real ale pumps on the bar here - so at least I could usually get a pint of Trooper or similar, although the quality of the ales they served often wasn't good as the pub didn't seem to know how to look after them. Sadly the Dublin Castle has recently stripped out all the real ale pumps from it's bar, but at least I could still get a bottle of my old faithful standby - Newcastle Brown Ale. Now they even seem to have stopped serving that. I'd normally sink several pints in a night at the Dublin Castle, but on Friday I only bothered with one as there was really no beer in the pub that I really wanted to drink. They don't seem to be bothered about my custom so I don't bother to drink much these days when I'm there.
When I'm in Camden I like to drop into BrewDog before and after gigs. No real ales in there, but in spite of that they do always have a variety of tasty beers I actually want to drink. Not cheap, and the strongest beers aren't served in pints, but it's a handy port of call if I'm in a rush to get a couple of high strength liveners in before heading to a music venue where I might not drink at all due to the poor quality and high prices. I like to drop into BrewDog after gigs as well for a nice beer or two before jumping on the tube at nearby Camden Town station. However, although it's advertised as being open until midnight Thursday-Saturday it often seems to close earlier. More than once recently I've walked in there around 11.30 after a gig only to be refused service as the bar staff tell me they are closing. I have even gone there about 11.00 to find the place shut and all the lights out. Don't they want my money?
Last night I was planning to go to a gig in Greenwich - at a pub that apparently serves real ales. However, I found out too late that the band I wanted to see and I assumed were headlining were actually going on earlier than I expected. I realised that as it would probably take at least an hour and a half to get to the pub I was going to miss the band. So I'm showered and all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Disappointed but not wanting to put all that effort to waste on a hot summer night I decide on Plan B - to take a late stroll down to my local. The Railway Bell seems an oddly run place at times. Tonight is one of them. This pub stays open until 1AM but rather bizarrely won't let anyone in after midnight - which means when I often get off the train at New Barnet virtually within sight of the pub around 11.58 I am denied admission by security to a pub which is still serving for another hour! This seems a strange policy as in the last hour of opening there are usually very few people in in the pub - in fact the number of security people present combined with the bar staff is around the same as the number of drinkers for the last hour so they can't be making any money. And yet they still won't let me in to contribute to the money taken at the bar. But last night shouldn't have been a problem as I rolled up around 11.00 - with two hours drinking time to go. When I tried to get in I found the doors were locked! The pub was obviously still open as I could see customers inside - although not many for a summer Saturday night. I point to my watch and try to have a conversation with a security guy through the window pane of the door which he won't open, but I can only hear him shouting that they are shut. At 11.00 on a Saturday night. Once again the Railway Bell doesn't seem to want my money.
Plan B has also fallen though. Disconsolately I turn round and start to walk home - all I wanted was a few beers in a pub on a hot Saturday night. There are actually three other pubs within a hundred yards, but one is a McMullens house and I don't like their ales, the other is expensive with ales that are average at best - plus I don't like it's 'sports bar' atmosphere, while the third is really expensive with ales that aren't as good as they used to be.
Then I realise High Barnet is only a short bus ride away and Ye Olde Mitre Inne is open until 1AM. I put Plan C into action and about ten minutes later I am in what is probably the best (and definitely the oldest) pub in Barnet and finally enjoying a pint of quality ale in a pub that actually want's my money.
