Historic England - Letter

@HistoricEngland

Dear Historic London

I’ve been in the licensed trade for over 30 years.  I have successfully operated restaurant, bar, nightclub and pub groups.  I’m a founder member of the Fair Pint Campaign, a founder Member of the Independent Pub Confederation, a member of the Fair Deal for Your Local Campaign and a current member of the recently launched British Pub Confederation.

I’m concerned at the position that you and the have chosen to adopt in relation to community pubs and the pub sector in general and perhaps some of the naivety you have shown in your online document The Public House in England. You can find the document here:

(https://historicengland.org.uk/research/current-research/assessing-significance/urban-public-realm/the-english-pub/)

The BBPA does not champion pubs or publicans as you suggest.  It is paid for by property companies - such as Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns - and the major brewers.  Sadly, the pub sector is dominated by large companies and trade representatives like the BBPA, behaving as a cartel and suppressing real information about the real problems faced by publicans. The BBPA falsely claim to represent publicans but clients of that organisation have penetrated, with ample financial lubrication, every area of influence that was needed to promote and perpetuate a very damaging ‘tied public house’ business model

In the section of your document “Why are pubs closing?” You list five reasons why this may be the case but fail to highlight the fundamental reason we have lost and are still losing so many pubs. To consider that the beer supply tie and the activities of the ‘pubcos,’ are not principle reasons for pub failures is to be so far from the truth as to identify those promoting such a notion as inexpert in relation to the sector. 

There are many real publicans who are seeking to draw attention to the structural failings in the pub sector caused by rapacious property companies and I’m happy to report that Government have recognised this point and are soon to introduce much needed legislation. That said, it does not help with the real issues, and nor does it confer credit on Historic England, when you seem so ready to be part of the smokescreen being thrown up by the BBPA and the large pub companies who, by exploiting the beer tie, have heaped so much damage on part of Britain’s cultural heritage.

On the upside it is a very welcome development that more people are starting to take an interest in our sector.

Best Regards

Steve Corbett

The Fair Pint Campaign

The Class Gap

We will all have faced the class divide at some stage in our lives but I wonder if the gap is getting bigger? 

I’ve never been to the ballet or opera and I’ve never had afternoon tea at the Ritz. I read constantly but I’m bored to tears by the theatre. Some of my family are lawyers and the like, others are on benefits. I went to a state school in Newcastle, started full time work at 16 and I’ve never signed on. My father worked for the post office, my mother kept house. I’m better off than my parents I suppose, buy we were perfectly comfortable when I was growing up. We didn’t have much but we wanted for nothing. 

And then there’s golf. An elitist sport? I’ve seen it with my own eyes – the class divide is exemplified beautifully in golf. It’s true, golf is perceived as expensive and middle class. A set of clubs and assorted attachments can set you back a tidy sum, and a round of golf at a municipal course might cost over £20. But in many areas, the nearest course would be a private club which would cost an awful lot more. 

Some say it isn’t class that divides golf, it’s just that the history, etiquette and proud traditions of the great game must be maintained. I can see their point if I’m honest but if that’s truly the case why does ‘Artisan Golf’ – a system that gives the ordinary working man the chance to play golf affordably – promote, in some cases, separate changing rooms, limited tee times and certainly more modest club house facilities? If golf has ambitions that transcend above the class divide then surely we can all drink at the same bar!

 

As with other leisure fields, sport and its participation is intertwined with social class. In a world where political tolerance and inclusivity are championed and the notion of equality, a thing of the past. Why did it take over 250 years to allow female members into the Royal and Ancient HQ? As of February this year, a historical moment in the history of the game unfolded with the inclusion of women into the fellowship of St Andrews Golf Club. This has been treated, and rightly so, as a major breakthrough in opening the game to females and executing any notion of inequality. But, whilst breaking down one much needed barrier they have essentially reinforced a much greater one, one of social class. Take a look at the first female member of the club, The Princess Royal!

Is this a clear message as to the orientations of the game as we move further into the 21^stcentury – the fact that a member of the aristocracy is the first women patron of this much loved course? We can all welcome the inclusion of women by the R&A and in time it should open up the game to more female participation. My fear however, is that it will just reinforce the growing class inequalities already present in the game and strengthen the unease at what appears to be institutional inequality. As we move towards greater levels of clarity in the game, it is difficult to envisage a future whereby golf can truly free itself of elitism.

Steve - August 2015 

TIME TO ENJOY THE SUMMER..

TIME TO ENJOY THE SUMMER..

The banners have been raised, the greens have been ironed, weather booked and now, the West Essex Festival of Golf is almost upon us. 

With less than 24 hours left until the festival, here are 10 reasons why you should be ‘freaking out’ in anticipation of the 2015 Golf Festival.

1 - The smell of crispy bacon rolls

2 - The course is filled with natural beauty

3 - Somewhere in the world a cat is wearing a ‘Pom Pom’ hat.

5 - Because Chas Stavri still isn’t smoking

6 - Laura and her hut

7 - Because the bar is open

8 - Friends, family and laughter

9 – And the little girl who reminds us how wonderful rain is.

10 – And lastly, because life is beautiful. Remember that!

THE WEST ESSEX 2015 FESTIVAL OF GOLF – IS THERE A BETTER PLACE TO BE?

Monday 3^rd – 7^th August 2015