Archive for the ‘beer’ tag
Beer
Benjamin Franklin said: “Beer is living proof that God exists, and that he wants us to be happy.”
In and around the coastal towns of West Wales this week, I think that the happiest people in the UK must live here. I haven’t seen one chain pub, but instead of these soulless behemoths, there are literally dozens of independent pubs lining the streets, all presumably making enough to keep going.
It may be that the culture of these towns is centred around the pub, so they keep them afloat, or it may be that the pubs themselves keep the towns together, acting as the hub for all the gossip and socialising. Every so often a politician or other bleats about the demise of the Post Office, and I seem to remember it was Prince Charles who said something about the demise of the country pub.
Now, flower-talking notwithstanding, I think he had a point. It makes for a nicer visit, and if I was a local, given the choice of either 5 smaller pubs with different beers, characters and banter, or one giant brewery with euro-lagers and big TVs – I’d go for a mini-crawl every time.