I was in the Mount Pleasant in Southport with some friends last night watching local rock band Fag Ash Lil put on a great show as usual. The pub was quite busy, probably not as busy as it would have been had the Southport Musical Fireworks Championships not been on.At some time during the evening, a group of young lads walked out of the pub, leaving four pints of lager and cider on the table: one untouched, two with no more than one sip taken, and one more than half full. At closing time a couple of hours later, the bar staff removed them and poured them away. I estimated that about £12's worth of drink went down the drain.
I've periodically noticed this kind of behaviour before: certain groups of people, usually young, will suddenly decide to go and, instead of drinking up, just walk away. In the Sir Henry Segrave a couple of months ago, there was a large group consisting of a couple of dozen males, mostly young, who did exactly the same thing, except on that occasion there were probably about 18-20 abandoned drinks.
Leaving beer is not something I've ever been in the habit of doing, nor people I know. I can only assume they've got more money than sense.
Baffles me, too. Sometimes you see a member of a lunchtime group leave a couple of the inches in the bottom of a pint glass, which is maybe understandable if time is pressing.
ReplyDeleteBut, even on strict route-march pub crawls, I've always seen it as the norm to sup up before moving on.
My daughter always leaves an inch of her drink, even if she is having another one! I can assure all readers this has not been inherited from me.
ReplyDeleteI'm in one of the Preston Spoons at the moment, and one of the staff has just removed four plates of half eaten food from a nearby table. Needless to say, it was recently vacated by a load of muppetty student types. Didn't their mummies and daddies tell them they'll never grow up to be big and strong if they don't clear their plates?
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm preuming it's because they're so young. Everything in their lives so far has been paid for by somebody else, so they don't realise the value of stuff, or care if it gets wasted.
Never mind, they'll learn soon enough.
You're turning into a proper grumpy old man, Matthew ;-)
Delete"Young folks today, they don't know they're born, get everything on a plate!"
Leaving food is rather different from leaving beer, as
1. You don't know whether you'll like a pub's interpretation of a particular dish
2. You may like particular parts of a dish, but not others
3. Many pub meals are too much for smaller appetites
It does seem wasteful money wise...yet I'd rather they left the booze, than downing it in one go before they move on to the next venue. Too easy to end up the worse for wear if the ethos is that a pint must be finished at all costs.
ReplyDeleteYou didn't fancy a spot of minesweeping then?
ReplyDeleteNot lager, no!
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