Shrinkage

 So, we're back in town.

I was working on Wednesday so the boy came and met me.  We decided, as we are wont to do, to head to the Belgian Bar.

Turns out they're on holiday, himself indicated that, for some reason he really wanted a pint of something (rather that our usual 2/3rd which we've had a lot of, of late).  So we headed to the Eagle.  It's never got an amazing array of beer we want to drink but there's usually something worth trying.

As we walked in, there was only Harveys on the bar but the super-cheery barman had already excitedly headed our way so we ordered a couple of pints of it and chatted to him.

Turns out a new bar manager has reduced the volume of cask they're willing to put on because it doesn't sell very well and so most of the time they'll only have Harveys on. So that's another pub we're highly unlkely to return to any time soon.

Options aren't numerous nearby so after supping what we'd bought we headed around the corner to the Dewdrop.  It's always been more hit an miss since it's a GK pub so guests are often a GK "Craft" special which often aren't clearly shown as GK.  

What we had was a decent enough 1066 IPA so nothing else we'd want to drink so after that we headed for Chinese food instead.

On Saturday evening we went to The Crown where there was a lovely pint of Kent Prohibition and a couple of friends who we sat and nattered the time away with.  He's also a keen beer drinker and also expressed disappointment with the Eagle - to which he added the Dolphin (we've not ventured there for a while) and was non-committal about Bibendum (likewise).  That writes off the whole of "Little Chelsea" as the area is known as not worth going to for pub purposes.

The Rainbow was added to the list as too foodie and too expensive for Beavertown keg beer.  We already avoid all GK pubs if humanly possible so that leaves two Harveys pubs (Lamb and Hurst) and two craft beer places (Ninkasi and Beerarama).

It's a pretty dire situation.

So I've been reading about lots of pubs closing down because they're not financially viable and, on the basis of our visits and the follow up conversation with A, that would be entirely unsurprising.  Also, all the pubs (with the exception of the Crown) were cold and the lack of people in them emphasised that. 

It seems like there's an element of self-fulfilling decline going on.  Not committing to more beer, not putting the heating on, etc - all in a bid to save money.  But the money will only come from customers really wanting to come to your pub and finding it somewhere they'd like to spend some time.  And it won't happen that way.