Tuesday 3 December 2019

Stags, Hens and Christmas

Quite a few years ago when I was a regional union rep, I sometimes attended meetings in Leeds. 
After one meeting, I saw in the office a large group of women, reps and union staff, all dressed up in St Trinian's-style outfits. Curious, I asked what was going on and was told it was a hen night. I congratulated the bride-to-be who – to my surprise - asked me if I'd like to join them. I did and it was certainly a lively night, but thankfully I didn't have to adopt the dress code!

While some stags and hens like to jet off to foreign parts, partying at home is still a popular way of celebrating the end of single status; indeed the economic downturn has meant a drop in stags and hens celebrating abroad. Four of the top ten favourite locations for stag and hen parties are in the UK: London (11%); Brighton (6%); Liverpool (5%); and Edinburgh (4%). Such events do sometimes get a bad press, but most are usually well-behaved and can provide a welcome boost to a pub's business.

Christmas is also often an occasion for pub crawls. While most drinkers have their own favourite drinking haunts, it can be very agreeable to try a few different places with a group of like-minded friends. For beer drinkers in particular, this may provide an opportunity to try brews they don't normally come across.

Probably the worst way to organise a crawl is to meet with no plan; this can cause arguments about where to go next. It's much better to decide in advance where you're going. If your group is large, it helps to choose places where you can all get in without filling up the place. Packing out a small pub can annoy the regulars, and on one crawl in Liverpool I happened to be last and simply couldn't get in. I don't think it was planned that way!

For real ale drinkers, planning a crawl is easy nowadays with CAMRA's What Pub website. Simply type in a place name or postcode and it will tell you all the real ale pubs in the area.

► This is one of a series of articles that I write for the CAMRA column in our local papers, the Southport Visiter and Ormskirk Advertiser. Older articles on local pubs are here.

Sunday 1 December 2019

Local acoustic events in Southport, December

All in the evening except §

• Sun 1st: Saskia Griffiths-Moore - Bothy Folk Club, Park Road West.

• Mon 2nd: Singaround - Guest House, Union Street.

§ Tue 10th: Lion Singaround - Tap & Bottles, Cambridge Walks, 1.30pm.

• Wed 11th: Singaround - Grasshopper, Sandon Road, Hillside.

§ Sun 15th: Carol singing, Fishermen's Rest, Weld Rd - 1.00 p.m.

• Mon 16th: Music session - Guest House, Union Street.

• Sun 15th: Lucy Ward - Bothy Folk Club, Park Road West.

• Sun 22nd: Bothy Xmas Party, Park Road West.

§ Thu 26th: Southport Swords Day of Dance afternoon - Hesketh, Churchtown, then Guest House.