w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

The uncontrollable music volume at Friday’s blogmeet venue made me think about the future of The Pub as a place for social discourse.

My Dad worked for a major brewer, which believed that if you gave your employees free drink, they wouldn’t steal the stuff. But as Dad always preferred (and still does) to drink in the pub, there was always a beer lake in our house, only ever reduced by the occasional party rather than dedicated binges.

And when Mrs.D. and I were courting (always felt that was such a quaint term?) we would ‘escape’ to the pub, because there was an adult feeling about being in one (as well as the ability to be out from under the eyes of our parents, of course). Yet now, it’s a very rare event that we go into one – it’s more than likely that we’ll use a restaurant for that kind of entertainment.

When Witchy was trying to put the frighteners on the pub manager (to get him to turn the sound down a bit) by demanding to see his work permit, all he could reply with was “It’s Friday and every other pub around here will have music on”.

But when you’re trying to listen to people you’re meeting for the first time and there’s an inescapable speaker in every corner, playing someone else’s choice of music, out of an amp which has bu99er all means of controlling the balance of sound, it doesn’t make it a particularly social place to be.

I don’t think this constitutes a rant – but do you have an opinion about it.