USA TODAY International Edition
British pubs try to go beyond darts and pints
Establishments focus on entertainment to draw customers
LONDON British writer George Orwell described the perfect pub in 1946: “Uncompromisingly Victorian . ... In winter there is generally a good fire burning . ... Always quiet enough to talk . ... The barmaids know most of their customers by name.”
Yet many of today’s patrons seem to think that’s not exciting enough. So to stay in business, pub owners are offering new attractions and games — everything from ping-pong to ax-throwing competitions — to draw customers.
“It used to be that a pub was a smoky, pokey little room or venue,” said Thomas Rose, an expert on the leisure and restaurant trade at Cushman & Wakefield, a real estate consulting firm. “Now we have all these different genres of pub.”
Britain had 69,000 pubs in 1980, and is now down to 50,000, according to the British Beer and Pub Association. It says the industry employs 1 million people nationwide and contributes $28 billion annually to the economy.
And pubs are closing at a rate of 21 per week, according to the Campaign for Real Ale, a volunteer group that lobbies for the old-school pub.
This declining trend stems from several factors. Britons are shunning expensive pints at the pub — $5 on average — for cheaper alcohol bought at a supermarket. A 2007 ban on smoking, less disposable income, a high tax on beer and a move toward healthier lifestyles also have contributed to the pub’s slow demise.
“There are long-term changes in the way Britons conduct their social lives,” said Neil Williams, spokesman for the beer and pub association. “Our homes have become entertainment zones in their own right. That wasn’t the case 40 or 50 years ago.”
To get people out of their homes and back into the pubs, a new generation of zany, entertainment-focused bars have sprung up in Britain over the past few years.
At Bounce, beer meets pingpong in a hipster setting in a basement on the edge of London’s financial district. Paddle-related art decorates the walls, and mood lighting fills the room.
“There’s never going to be anything that replaces the pub in British people’s hearts. It’s always been the seat of community activity, and where you go as a family on a Sunday or to meet your friends,” said Oliver Raison, a Bounce marketing executive.
“But younger generations prefer to spend money on doing things, on experiences,” he said.
Bounce opened its first U.S. venue last year in Chicago and wants to expand to China and the Middle East. In Britain, it will soon open “an enhanced” golf pub, adding to the nation’s growing taste for a round of drinks along with a round of mini-golf.
Swingers, a 16,000-square-foot “social experience” bar with acres of artificial foliage and a gin terrace, opened near London’s Gherkin skyscraper in May 2016 for mini-golf enthusiasts. Similarly, JunkYard Golf Clubs in Manchester, London and Oxford have offered food and booze for more than a year.
Whistle Punks, in Birmingham and London, allows you to throw an ax toward a target down an enclosed lane. You can have a drink as well — after your final throw.
“We’re trying to stand out from the crowd,” said Mike Televantou, a spokesman for Sink Pong in London’s trendy East End. Beer drinkers can reserve a table for up to 30 people, complete with what the venue calls “classic red American party cups.”
Sink Pong is where a new breed of pub devotees go to play the U.S. college game beer pong. Yet the old ways also matter. “Pubs are much more than places where people gather to drink,” said Tim Page, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale, the volunteer group. “In many communities, rural and urban, they are cornerstones, a fundamental part of the glue that holds people together.”