Five gems: what makes a good pub?
Just what does make a good pub? Mike chooses five of his favourite pubs in an attempt to answer the question.
Matt and I started Pint of Ale as a way of us writing about our love of pubs and the real ale that they serve. We didn’t really have much clue about the direction it was going to take. Well, 153 posts in, I see that we’re taking a very pub-orientated steer, with almost 80 of those posts being pub reviews and many more being about pubs in general. I started my pub counter in December and it now is now approaching 100 entries. With this mileage behind us, I thought I’d pose and then try to answer a question that I should know the answer to already - what makes a good pub?
I’ve taken a look through the 83 pubs on my pub counter list and chosen five that I think combine well to show just what makes a pub a good pub.
1: The Local
“The local” is a way of British life. Everyone knows where their local is. It’s a place to relax, it’s a pair of comfy slippers, it’s our favourite place for a swift one after work, a couple of Sunday afternoon pints, a place where all the faces are familiar. I live within one mile of many pubs, yet the local I choose is just over a mile away, down in the Aire valley next to the canal in Rodley. It’s The Railway.
The pub has changed hands a lot recently and it’s gradually changed from smoky dive to smoky smartness and yet it’s always been a favourite place of mine. At 10 entries, Matt and I have written more about The Railway than any other pub, but why?
On the face of it, The Railway is nothing special - just a small two-roomed boozer by the Leeds-Liverpool canal. But it’s my local! It’s friendly, easy to get to, a cornerstone of the local community, serves good ale and has a nice outdoor area.
Just as you love your own misbehaved brat of a child, your local will always be a “good pub”, regardless of what anyone else says. So a good pub is a local pub - support your local pubs, they’re an important part of where you live.
2: The fond memories
A very good friend of mine has a flat in the beautiful Northumbrian costal villae of Alnmouth. I spend a fair bit of time with Simon in Alnmouth, and a fair amount of time in The Sun Inn. It’s a small pub in this tiny village. It usually only has one ale on tap, an offering from Black Sheep, but there’s a certain something that keeps this pub very close to my heart, and that is the memories that the pub evokes.
From a warming pint after a bitter cold walk along a snow-covered beach to a night of new year celebrations with friends and locals, this pub reminds me of good times. When all the locals rushed out at midnight to see in the new year by the village church’s clock, we were made to feel welcome and it’s always good to feel welcome in a pub.
The pub is not the prettiest pub, nor is it the cleanest or smartest, it’s not the best in the area for ale, nor for food, but I love the Sun. It’s the best pub in the village and it’s in my top five list. A “good pub” is a pub where your friends are. A pub where you enjoy spending time, a pub that you want to go to again and again. A pub with memories.
3: Real Ale
I’m lucky to live in a city with so many good pubs that serve a wide and ever changing range of excellent real ales. It’s been a difficult choice, but I’ve chosen The Duck and Drake as a real “good pub”. The D&D, at first glance, is a real dive. It occupies a red-brick building on a corner of Leeds between a railway bridge and the bus station. The interior walls are bare and the floorboards old. But look past that and you soon realise that you are in a truly “good pub.”
The range of ales that the Duck and Drake offer is wide (up to 16 cask ales) and they are kept by a cellarman who is passionate about the ales he keeps. The pub’s website quotes him as referring to the casks as his ‘babies’, and it tells in the quality of the ales they serve. There are always local ales on tap. I’ve never had a bad pint in this pub, and I’ve had a lot. There is often live music in the D&D and it makes for an excellent intimate venue for jazz, folk and blues. The pub is always busy and it deserves its popularity.
A pub is a “good pub” when it is passionate about the ales that it serves. A good pub does not have to be located in idyllic countryside to be good. Serve excellent ale and be knowledgeable about what you serve, and you have a “good pub”.
4: Young blood
Horsforth, a suburb of Leeds, has seen several new bars open lately. Often soulless, ‘trendy’ dens of Becks, Stella and Guiness, these places often act as a place where people can show off their latest designer labels while sipping lifeless drinks and generally looking good. The Severed Head is refreshingly different.
The Severed Head is still a new bar, it’s only been open a few months, but they have got everything right, it’s turning out to be a “good pub”. They have interesting decor, sumptuous wallpapers, not-quite-matching tables, a grand fire place, their own-branded tankard-shaped pint glasses. There’s not a single bit of open-plan polished chrome in sight! It’s a bar that according to their website was inspired by the traditional English country pub, and what inspiration! More importantly, they have not neglected the lover of ales in their quest for suburban popularity. Here is a ‘trendy bar’ with three cask hand pumps. A ‘trendy bar’ that stocks a wide selection of bottled beers, including St Peter’s from Suffolk.
You don’t have to be established to be a good pub. You don’t need centuries of history or a firmly-established set of regulars to be a good pub. A bar that is fewer than six months old can still be a “good pub” if it does it right - be a down-to-earth, friendly, interesting place and most importantly serve good quality cask ales and you’ll be a “good pub” in no time.
5: Location, history, character, and a beautiful fiancée
The Red Lion in the Yorkshire Dales village of Burnsall is a truly “good pub”. Its cellars have been around since the 12th Century. The pub itself is an old ferryman’s inn dating from the 16th Century. It’s walls are wonky, its interior higgledy piggledy. The pub’s location is stunning.
The Yorkshire Dales is one of the country’s most beautiful areas of countryside. The Red Lion is down on the banks of the River Wharfe, next to the bridge which was built in 1612. An outdoor terrace allows you the pleasure of drinking one of the pub’s three cask ale offerings while watching the waters flow by. The pub serves excellent food and is popular with walkers.
To further enhance this pub’s “good pub” credentials, it also is a historic hotel that offers wonky rooms in its wonky upstairs. The pub holds a civil wedding licence and just so happens to be the place where Hannah and I will be getting married in 2008. Now there we go - the final component of a “good pub” - history, character and the happiest day of your life! 
About this post
This post was inspired by ProBlogger’s latest group writing project, Top 5, which encouraged entrants to write a “Top 5″ post on their blog. This was my entry.
A comment by Timen
May 7th, 2007, 6.10pm
Nice twist to the Top 5. I do wonder, though, whether point two is really a pub-thing, or just what you make of it. I have “fond memories” of going out to night clubs that I never went back to. To be honest, few pubs actually evoke those memories. People do. Because you experiences the same great time out. You can relate.
A comment by Ali
May 7th, 2007, 7.14pm
good luck for the competition. check out my blog as well for my post entry.
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A comment by Turtle King
May 8th, 2007, 12.43pm
You are right on with #3. How many pubs are all fancied up, but have not character, solid variety, and excellent Ale. Some of the best pubs I’ve been in weren’t much on looks, but were great on character and ale. When I go on business trips I always look for the “dive” over the fancier setting. The people are more friendly and there are always good stories to hear and tell. Thanks for your post.
Turtle King
http://turtlesatwork.blogspot.com
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A comment by Roberta
May 8th, 2007, 1.46pm
Great list! Here in the states what makes a good pub (bar) is pretty much the same, we have our local bars and my Local is the one at the end of my street. The people are nice and it has a wide selection of drinks.
Good post, I like reading about European culture
I participated too, check out my post for a few goood laughs
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May 8th, 2007, 2.10pm
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A comment by tanya
May 8th, 2007, 4.22pm
Love your list - though I am not a pub goer, it made me think of while I like my favorite coffee shop (should coffee and pub be mentioned in the same sentence)?
A comment by Rod
May 8th, 2007, 4.23pm
An excellent post. Someday when I get to the UK I’ll be able to experience some “good pubs”, as there really isn’t anything like what you describe here in Canada.
Feel free to have a look at my post in this contest if you’d like.
www.rodtempleton.net/2007/ 05/07/my-top-5-required-feeds/
Cheers.
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May 8th, 2007, 6.02pm
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A comment by Stockton
May 8th, 2007, 6.04pm
great post- i particulary agree with the ‘young blood’ part - although any beer fan worth thier salt loves the classic and traditional, tried and tested brews etc, some pubs are made great when they start to expand, usually due to younger thinking - take The Adelphi in Leeds for example; john smiths nestling up side by side with leffe and sleemans’ honey brown beer, to name but two. It has a new refurb, but is still in the classic, wonderful victorian style. its the mix of old and new that makes this a great drinker.
A comment by Ashish Mohta
May 8th, 2007, 6.16pm
A true insight of what you feel. Good to know the new terms.
Nice one I really Enjoyed it, Good to find another great blog
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A comment by Mike
May 8th, 2007, 7.45pm
Timen, I did think a bit about the “Fond Memories”. Yes, a lot of what I remember about the place is the people and the experiences I’ve shared there, but whenever I think about the pub itself, I do think of it as a “good pub”. I agree that one night’s good memories of a nightclub doesn’t make it a “good club”, but multiple nights, building up lots of experiences, all of them good, will soon see your perceptions change. Perhaps there’s more to it … I only went there multiple times to build up the multiple memories because it was a good pub in the first place!? It’s a chicken and egg scenario!
A comment by Mike
May 8th, 2007, 7.46pm
Turtle King - thanks for the comment. It’s good to see a fellow ‘dive-seeker’. I often use the Good Beer Guide to help me in my pub choices when on unfamiliar surroundings, it generally has good results!
A comment by Mike
May 8th, 2007, 7.52pm
Stockton - thanks for the comment. Would you believe that I’ve not visited The Adelphi in ages? It must be about 5 years. My friend Julian and I were in there, discussing this little pub-related website we were thinking of doing when some guy poked his head in and spat something along the lines of “fu**in students” at us (we were not students as it happened) and walked back out again. I guess it’s put me off the place a bit and that’s a bad thing because it’s an excellent pub and an important one for Leeds too. Interesting that it’s had a makeover, I may pop in there for a pint next time I’m in town.
A lot is made by some that any kind of pub makeover is a bad thing, but I disagree strongly. Pubs need to react to changing times, but as long as things are done tastefully and respectfully, often the outcome is good.
A comment by Ian Eltringham
May 8th, 2007, 8.50pm
I really loved reading this. I love your blog and bookmarked it. I am a local boozer myself. You can’t get better than a cold pint in your working mans pub.
Ian
Check out My Top 5 Inspirational Quotes
A comment by Tyler Ingram
May 8th, 2007, 11.54pm
Wow good top 5, definitely wasn’t expecting talk about pubs!
Now you have made me really want to fly over the pond and hit some real pubs. Over here where I live in Vancouver none of our pubs are like yours. None! A couple come close but none of the history or the feel like the pubs over there would have.
I’m jealous!
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A comment by Carleenp
May 9th, 2007, 2.57am
It is always nice to come across a beer blog!
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A comment by Jennifer
May 9th, 2007, 2.51pm
I have never been to a pub, but now I know what a good one has. Great post…
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A comment by Stockton
May 9th, 2007, 5.49pm
mike - check it out - you’ll be surprised. its a great boozer, i promise! but yeah, until it got re’furbed i gave it a wide berth. let me know what you think!
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A comment by Milly
May 10th, 2007, 5.59pm
Hi Mike
I’ve said it here before and I’ll say it again, the Sun Inn, Alnmouth is a lovely little pub, I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact Alnmouth is a lovely little village - one of my favourite sights in the world is the view of Alnmouth as you arrive at the station on the train from London.
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A comment by gl hoffman
May 14th, 2007, 3.19pm
Missed one. I think a good pub has great, relevant and insightful articles.
oh, you meant ‘pub’ and not publication….
GL HOFFMAN, JOBDIG, Minneapolis, MN
http://blogs.jobdig.com/wwds
(what would dad day)
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A comment by Jack
August 3rd, 2007, 4.43pm
I enjoy your pub blog. It’s always good to hear from someone who has an interest in pub culture.
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