Touchdown and the Queens too.

Maybe that sort of pub has just well and truly had its day. I personally prefer places like Vibes, North Star, White House and Tall Ships. They tend to be cleaner and there is less riff raff......

Ah, the Catcote was a dump though. Shame about the Brus mind - passed that today, I've never seen a patch of land look emptier in Hartlepool for a long time - you just get so used to it.

Next up are most of the working men's clubs I reckon

still bad news

When you say dust you mean DUST, don't you!

it seems to be every pub i played footy for bites the dust, the brus now the shakey!

but god bless the brus and all that sailed in her!

I go away for a week and they knock another pub down.

Good riddance cos there all dumps!

Hepple can you go and play for the king oswy pub next so they knock that awful place down!

It might well have become a dump recently...but it had great days. Especially when local bands used to play there. Sad to see it go

Did you bring any rock back?

My theory is taxi firms are buying all these pubs up and closing/knocking them down. Shrewd move.

Aye, I've enjoyed many a good gig in there. We used to sit near a window and clamber out if the bobbies came in. We also used to pass beer out to those who daren't come in. Happy days.

There was nothing like that in my day. You must have been moving in the wrong circles

Probably..................beer induced circles!!!!

Anyone remember the time when no pubs ever shut down?

Well, except for the likes of the Gardeners' Arms which didn't have any choice in the matter.
And maybe one or two others where they demolished the whole neighbourhood/closed down all the neigbouring factories making the closure kind of understandable.

cheap alcohol in supermarkets and all those people who sit in all night and watch telly.
Why go out and meet people when you can get cheap beer and wine, sit down and watch brainless shite?
Barbecues as well. I blame them too.
Thatcher, for destroying communities
There you go, thats a definitive list of who's to blame:
Supermarkets, Telly, Barbecues and Thatcher

Nowt to do with the extortianate amounts of tax that this Government puts on everything including alcohol?

Labour have taxed the country to fk so people can't necessarily afford to go to the local for a few pints in the same way that they used to.

New Labour? Bolox. Same old tax and grab bastads from the 70s.

I remember when they were demolishing street after street down in the area between Whitby Street and Mainsforth terrace. They used to leave the pub standing all on it's own. I think the Sun Inn was a perfect example of that. The people got moved up to Owton manor etc and then used to get the bus down to town to keep frequenting their favourite pubs. Me dad was one of them. He wouldn't go in the likes of the Rossmere, Red Admiral etc. Not proper pubs he would say.His two pubs were the Volunteer Arms in Church Street and the Princess Helena in Whitby Street. Both those have changed I believe. That's they key...........change.

Okay
Supermarkets
Telly
Barbecues
Thatcher
The government

The Labour Party would tax pissing and shitting if they could work out how to monitor it.

Do you take your 18 cans to the pub with you like?
I pay £2-£2.50 a pint and find that reasonable considering the added value I get from the pub.
There again I was used to paying twice that where I lived. *Gallic shrug*

Whereas tax on alcohol plays a big part, the brewers etc also play their part.
They charge extortionate rents to their tenants and then, on top of that, sell booze to Supermarkets cheaper than they do to the pubs.
My local pub is a tenanted pub and the rent is £49,000 per anum. On top of that the guy pays business rates, upkeep and staff wages. The first fifteen hundred quid PROFIT or more is spoken for every week. He has to sell a lot of beer to make that up.
Around here a pint of John Smiths is £2.40, that is £19.20 a gallon. You think petrol is dear at a fiver a gallon, which it is, but the price of a gallon of draught beer makes it pale into insignificance. Then you get on to guinness and guest ales and lager and you are paying up to £30 per gallon.
Tax is a problem, of that there is no doubt. How much tax is on soft drinks? The eyeballs are still in the firing line when it comes to them.
Depending on who you support politically will depend on who you favour from a tax point of view, but let me say this. I have watched the performance of quite a few governments over the years and I have come to the conclusion that, give or take an inch or two, they are all the same.
Just remember when you get rid of a politician.............you put another in his place.
If anybody thinks that the next lot will be any different, whoever they are, then you are more deluded than the average Darlo fan.

Good point.

Than the average Darlo fan perhaps, but not very much!

I don't get it. Why would people need taxis if there were no pubs?

thatchers britain, need i say more!

i know mutley think am getting a name for me self but if i went their and they bit the dust who else would we have to laugh at?

i think the mighty jax fc are me next time on the agenda...so say bye bye to that pub aswell

Just corrected that for you dear.

You can be very cutting sometimes, Richard

Couldn't agree more Mr Mut.

If they had to have a smoking "law" then they should have made every pub have at least 1 no-smoking room, but where pubs had 2 seperate rooms (e.g. The Woodcutter) they should have been allowed to designate a smoking room which people could choose whether or not to go in.

And before anybody bleats about the staff having to go in, they could choose whether or not they wanted to by choosing whether or not they wanted to work there.

Fkin Labour dognoncers messing everything up AGAIN.

Do you think people did stop going out because of the ban, though? I don't smoke any more but even when I did, I wouldn't have given up pubs so as to have a fag at home on me own. Even if you drink at home with friends, it's not the same.

Most definitely.

[quote="MutleyRules"
Yes loads and loads of people have stopped going out because of the smoking ban!!!!

The ones I feel sorry the most for are the OAP's whose only company they got was down the club for a pint and a fag and now they can't even do that and are stuck in the house on there own!!!!

The only good thing about the Ban is I've packed in....I was sick of missing Bands when I was outside having a Tab....well that and other reasons!!!! [/quote]

I agree there seems to be no reason why pubs and clubs can't have just one smoking room if they want one. But to give up going out rather than cutting fags out for a couple of hours doesn't seem to make sense

But it's no fun. You can't put a price on fun

Yes but that llama did and your case comes up next week.....the pair of youse, filthy trollopes....

Anyway, you've got a company car so you don't pay for petrol, you champaign fascist....

I turned down the company car and fuel card.

The tax is ludicrous unless you do a shed load of miles, so I hope you've done your sums.

8 quid, about 10 miles right?? At Gordons exorbitant but quintessentially Guardian reader approved taxes??

You should walk, you fat bastad ((c) You) it's not like you don't need the exercise is it??

When I used my own car the company paid a whopping 14p per mile and that is to cover wear and tear road tax etc.

I now have the company car and fuel card. I might have to pay a bit more in tax ( of course) but its worth it.

Especially as I go via Blyth to get to Greatham from foggy furze.
Just blame the sat nav

They do, They do. Have a look at your bill for water rates. You get charged for doing it (sewage) and for flushing it (water).

Yes but even wellie boots deserve some sympathy

So this was free under the Tories, must of missed that one!

Werent most of these pubs shite holes though??

No matter what anyone thinks of pubs like the Travs, Greenies, The White House, The Lodge, they must be doing something right!

Aye, but its the people who frequent it, the kind of folk who wear suites for a night out on the lash....!

PS

Form 1/5, I never would of imagined back in 1981 there would of been a johnny machine where my desk was