Snifter: pub legend, price of beer, huge pub crawl and costume ban

Still occupying the crease

It was with great delight that Snifter learnt that one of the pub industry greatest and best has received outside recognition at last. Sadly it’s got bugger all to do with the pub trade.

Phil Dixon, one of the giants of the industry for many years now, has been named an “Unsung Sporting Hero” by his local paper, the Express and Star, for his dedication to Cookley Cricket Club.

Now, not to put too fine a point on it, Snifter isn’t so sure about the “unsung” part. As far as he’s aware, Mr D rarely misses an opportunity to drop into conversation the fact he’s the “oldest player at his club to score a century in 147 years”! However, having witnessed his recent foray into quiz mastering at a recent BII forum, we’re hoping he’s going to stick to the cricket from now on, unsung or not!

The price of sovereignty

Snifter recently took time off from being the pub trade’s resident wit – it’s tiring work, really.

However, after spending a week in Berlin, a city renowned for its beer culture, he came away slightly miffed. Sure, quaffing litre upon litre of heavy German pilsner and living on a diet of kebabs with a higher fat content than a McDonald’s grease trap sounds great in theory.

But thanks to the UK’s dear Brexiteers, our now-pathetic currency meant drinking was barely cheaper than in parts of the UK. If that’s the price of independence, then count him out!

A labour of pub love

When Snifter was at school, maths problems usually involved how many apples Tommy could fit down his trousers, or maybe that was just Snifter’s school…

Anyway, a group of mathematicians have sat down and decided to plot the route between 25,000 pubs in the shortest possible journey.

According to The Guardian​, this was a two year project for the “dedicated” team from Canada, but it remains unclear whether the route was calculated virtually, or in person.

Either way, this is a troop of maths gee… experts to be applauded, as they have laid down a serious gauntlet to the dedicated pub crawler.

On your marks, get set…. But do drink responsibly!

No time for a witching hour

With pubs up and down the country capitalising on the growing Halloween trend, Snifter would like to applaud one operator who is taking a stand against this cultural invasion from the US.

Adam Brooks, of The Three Colts, in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, has banned costumes from his pub, pronouncing it a “Halloween-free zone”, adding that the event is just for kids, not “grown ups”.

A witching season equivalent of the “bah humbug”! Not sure what his plans are for Christmas yet, but Snifter will be watching closely.