I’ll keep the next place anonymous, I don’t like being the whining old bloke. But the calling of Last Orders in my target pub as I arrived at 9:41 pm did put a slight damper on my evening out after leaving a sodden and seatless local beer festival.
Actually, I’ve no idea when last orders were called, as Facebook says open till 10 and the nice chap said “Sorry. I’ve already called last orders and turned the gas off“. By 9.41pm in the busiest week of the social calendar so far.
“That’s alright mate” I say, heading off to a pub that will be open.
But I was a bit disappointed, as this is a place that has evaded my attempts to visit with restricted opening days till now.
I know pubs can open when they want and these days will adjust hours when trade tails off, but I always imagined you’d get in if you tipped up more than 15 minutes before advertised closing.
“Have a good rest of the evening” calls the young man.
Awww. I did.
retiredmartin 
Similar story in Bristol on Wednesday night. Pub near city centre advertised on Whatpub and on window display as closing at 11pm was in darkness and closed at 10.30pm.
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I think Boak and Bailey have mentioned this tendency to earlier closing in Bristol as well. Not something I really notice as I’m rarely out that late but I guess there’s a demographic who used to go out late who haven’t returned post COVID.
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I don’t mind some pubs closing earlier than they used to. As you say the demographic has changed and the “older” drinkers (including me) probably tend to go out earlier than they used to. Many micropubs seemed to have cottoned on to this, although I think many would benefit from opening earlier in the day.
What I don’t like is pubs deciding to close before their advertised closing time. Luckily I know where to go for a guaranteed late drink if on the odd occasion I am out late.
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If Stafford Paul goes to pubs any earlier he’ll be going out the previous night !
Agree on all your points. My particularly bug bear has been the micropubs that open at 4 and are shut by 8 or so, making a visit near impossible if you’re travelling from afar.
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Never noticed such a trend in Bristol but:
(a) I haven’t lived there for a few years now
(b) I didn’t drink in the city centre much on a night, preferred to stay local in my leafy suburb, where the pubs were reliable.
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It’s perceived to be a post-COVID trend in big cities, and probably a bigger feature in modern beer bars than the old school boozers like the Myrtle Tree.
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Actually the Myrtle Tree is probably not the best example. It was closed when I walked past on Thursday night at about 9.45 the week before last. Nearby Three Tuns were stacking chairs. Lime Kiln open until 11pm as normal though.
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Well there you go, only been in the Myrtle once but would have assumed it’s your classic open all hours Brizzle boozer. Just shows where things are heading.
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King Street is the place to go though for a late night drink. Assuming you go after the hens and stags have moved on to the clubs!
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Marting, I think I remember that’s how King Street was forty years ago, though fewer hens and stags back then.
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40 years ago a Stag do involved a few pints in the Seven Stars and a late curry, now it’s a weekend away in Barcelona.
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Thirty-two years ago it could involve just the Stafford Arms, Bird in Hand, Sun and no curry. And I wasn’t padlocked to a lamppost.
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And didn’t end up in a police cell in Amsterdam the next morning ?
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Indeed. in my own bed next morning.
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My upcoming stag do will be in Brizzle. No need to travel further. And if the classic pubs weren’t so spread out, then the classic pubs of the Black Country would have been the choice.
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This is where Spoons cleans up. They open when they say they’re going to open and close when they say they’re going to close. You know where you stand with a Spoons.
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Exactly, Bill. Got a pizza in a Spoons at 10.15pm last night, too.
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“Sorry. I’ve already ……. turned the gas off“. “Right, I’ll have one straight from the cask then” might have worked.
Eight evenings ago I was locked in a Liverpool pub without realising it. But on setting off the alarm on opening the front door the landlady cheerily let me out. That was about 9.10pm, several hours earlier than the proper lock ins I knew when I were a lad.
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Why did they need a lock in !
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In 1994 I was locked in a pub near the Liverpool football ground as it was Sunday afternoon and they turned the lights off. I literally wasn’t allowed to leave !
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It wasn’t really a lock in. I assumed they didn’t want someone wandering in and buying a half intent on it lasting for over two hours until 11.20pm.
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The Mug House, Claines, Worcester, called last orders at 10:20 last night. Their advertised closing time is 11 on a normal Monday so wouldn’t expect earlier on a Bank Holiday. We didn’t leave until 11 though.
I think there has also been a chance in that pubs now treat their closing time as their closing time, not the time when they stop serving and not even the time the last customer leaves. Us oldies still remember if the closing time was 11 then last orders was called at 10:50 with drinking up time until 11:20. If the pub was lucky they’d kick out the last customers by 11:30 and leave themselves rarely before midnight.
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