BEERWOLF - Wolverhampton Campaign for Real Ale

Dear Editor,
Short measures!
In last year’s Issue no. 20 you published
a letter about miserable and unfriendly
bar staff serving customers out of turn. I
completely agree. Even worse is when they
can’t be bothered to give a full measure then
immediately wander off so you have to wait
to catch their attention for a top-up, and that
can often still need a further top-up. You can
then get “punished” for having such cheek
by being ignored for a further drink with
somebody else being served out of turn before
you. I will not leave the bar with over an inch
of head on my beer – if I call for a pint I don’t
want seven eighths of a pint. This is sharp
practice! Use lined glasses! Customers won’t
return when they feel they’re being ripped off.
No wonder a lot of pubs are losing money and
having to close. Some would shift a lot more
beer if they’d fill the bloody glass up!
Stuart Simpson, Wolverhampton CAMRA
member.
Dear Editor,
Am I a snob?
I had occasion to visit a local hostelry which
will remain nameless. In fairness it’s not a pub
that I would choose to go out of my way to
visit as there is no cask ale, but I had a reason
for going there on this particular evening.
Nothing stood out as being particularly good
or bad about the place. A half decent looking
20
Letters to the editor
estate pub in a not particularly deprived area,
customers a varied mix, nothing to make me
either sing its praises or run for my life!
However, on approaching the bar and perusing
the choice and coming to the conclusion that
I didn’t fancy either of the lagers, the cider
or the smoothpour bitter that were on offer, I
decided on a bottle of Newcastle Brown. Can’t
go wrong with a bottle of dog, I thought.
After being completely ignored for what
seemed like an age the landlord eventually
looked up from his paper and said “what yer
want mate?”
I asked for the aforementioned bottle of beer
and he headed for the fridge. Nothing wrong
with that – some people like it cold – but I
happen to like it off the shelf and it would
have been nice to have been asked. I managed
to stop him and obtain one from the shelf,
which was then opened and plonked down in
front of me, my money taken and my change
given. At this point the landlord walked away,
under the assumption that I wanted to swig it
from the bottle.
Somewhat non plussed I called after him to
ask for a glass. Rather than return he called to
the barmaid “Oi…..can you get this bloke ‘ere
a glass?”
The barmaid appeared with a pint sized
Carling glass. Of course I asked her for a half
pint glass and she returned with a half pint
Carling glass. Again I looked at the glass with
some confusion and, after much too ing and
fro ing, I eventually managed to obtain a half
pint tulip glass.
This sorry tale has prompted me to ask a
couple of questions. Firstly, am I a snob? Am
I a snob to want a glass in the first place? Am
I even more of a snob to want the correct type
of glass? Am I a snob to expect a pub landlord
to refer to me as sir instead of mate and a