Cafe culture – how pubs met a fresh foe

Twenty years ago, that would have inevitably meant a visit to the pub, and even today, there is no shortage of choice. From the Bear at North Gate, to The Black Boy in Cartway, the only problem you are going to have organising a pub crawl in Bridgnorth is finding the stamina to finish.

Indeed, the latest edition of the Campaign for Real Ale’s Good Beer Guide lists no fewer than six pubs in Bridgnorth, so it is clearly punching above its weight for a relatively small market town.

But these days it is not only pubs which are vying for our custom. Just a quick stroll through Bridgnorth High Street will tell you that. Costa, D’Arcy’s, Bakehouse Cafe, Tea and Roses, every few yards there are cafes, tea shops and coffee bars. Just as milk bars were all the rage in the days of teddy boys, mods and rockers, reports suggest that a growing number of young people are shunning alcohol and instead meeting in cafes for a skinny latte and a slice of cake.

There are figures to back this up. Between 2011 and 2016, approximately 6,000 pubs, bars and nightclubs across the UK closed their doors. Over the same period, the number of coffee shops grew by 2,000, an increase of nearly a third. There has also been a 51 per cent increase in the number of cake makers, and the number of juice bars has grown by 46 per cent.

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• Changes brewing in our towns

A walk through Bridgnorth’s High Town reveals that the number of pubs and cafes is pretty evenly matched. A handful of them are difficult to quantify, with a foot in both camps: Bailey Bistro, for example, offers coffees and cakes, but is probably more of a pub or bar, serving beer, wine and dinners as well. Next door, The Brasserie is probably more of a cafe, although it does serve beer and wine. The Merckx Belgian Bar also straddles both camps.

Taking these anomalies out of the equation, we reckon there are 13 pubs or bars in and around the main streets of Bridgnorth High Street, and a dozen cafes, tea rooms or coffee shops.

Jon Brown, who keeps The Golden Lion, in Bridgnorth, says it is increasingly important that pubs stay ahead of the game. He says the pub was in a ‘tired’ state before it was taken over by Dudley-based brewery Holden’s last year, and benefited from an extensive refurbishment.

“You have got to give people a reason to come into the pub, you have got to offer something that is better than it is at home,” he says.

Jon says people are also increasingly discerning about what they drink.

“There used to be one basic level drink, and one premium one,” says Jon.

“Now there’s a super-premium as well.”

He says the most popular choice is Holden’s Golden Glow, which comfortably outsells the other beers.

With its classic black-and-white frontage, and distinctive leaded front window, The Harp a few doors along the High Street, is very much the traditional community pub.

Run by another young manager, 25-year-old George Jones is unsure whether the cafe culture has had much of an impact on the pub trade.

He believes the smoking ban has had far more of an impact.

“Ever since the smoking ban, pubs have had to become more family friendly,” he says.

“Ten or 15 years ago, pubs were full of smoke, but now it’s a lot different, pubs are more family orientated.

“It’s a hard trade, but you have to offer something different.

“You have to give people a reason to come through the door.

“That can be teams or live entertainment, it’s not as easy as just opening your doors like it used to be.

“Live music is always massive, people will always come in to hear music live.

“We have a lot of teams, football teams, darts teams and dominoes, that brings a lot of people in.”

George is not entirely convinced that young people are eschewing alcohol for coffee bars, but has noticed they drink less of it in the pubs.

“Young people drink a lot at home,” he says. “They don’t come out until later on, and they have already had a few drinks before they come out,” he says.

“When we put music on, it’s for the over-40s, they support it more.”

A little further along the road, Samantha Birnie, manager of the Express Cafe, has noticed a significant increase in groups of young people coming into the cafe for a speciality coffee and a slice of cake.

David Cole, who keeps the nearby Castle Tea Rooms, says it is a trend he has also noticed, although he says young people are more likely to head to the Costa across the road than his traditional tea shop.

While Bridgnorth seems to have avoided the worst of the decline in the pub trade over the past decade, other areas have not been so fortunate.

Turnover

Dudley, Wolverhampton and Walsall have lost approximately a third of their pubs over the past 10 years, while Telford and Sandwell have done even worse with a near 40 per cent closure rate. The rest of Shropshire has seen the closure of approximately one in five pubs, while South Staffordshire has lost about a quarter.

The ONS’s “Economics of Ale” report shows that there are 11,000 fewer pubs and bars nationwide than before the 2008 recession.

It’s not all bad news though. While the falling number of pubs in the West Midlands reflects a national trend, turnover in the pub industry has remained fairly constant. What has happened is that big chains – such as the J D Wetherspoon Jewel of the Severn, nestled between The Golden Lion and The Harp – have focused on bigger bars, this has come at the expense of the traditional smaller pubs.

And the number of people working in the pub trade has actually grown. The Office of National Statistics’ Economies of Ale report suggests that this is down to surviving pubs expanding their range of services, focusing more labour intensive areas such as food or accommodation.

Time for flat whites or frothy pints?

Landlord: Jon Brown

Jon Brown, manager of The Golden Lion Inn, says there are still plenty of people who want to come in pubs, but the days of people turning up out of habit are over.

“The hardest thing is keeping up with the trends,” says the 26-year-old, who took over the pub last year.

“I don’t think the pub trade is dying, but it is changing. Gin is very big at the moment for example, and you need to know what people want.

“Your wine needs to be good, your beer needs to be good. One of the things that is quite difficult is bringing in women. That means the place needs to be spic and span, the toilets need to be immaculate.”

Event

Jon, who has been working in pubs for 10 years, says one of the notable changes is that the habitual regulars of yesteryear have been replaced by groups who will come for a one-off or occasional visit.

“Instead of regulars coming in every day, perhaps after work, it is now much more of an event, and they will bring their friends. It is much more about groups at weekends.”

He says being a young man himself helps when it come to attracting young customers, but is not entirely convinced by reports that his generation are shunning pubs for cafes.

“I think it depends what you want, if you want a coffee, you will go for a coffee, if you want to go for a pint or a gin or whatever, you will go to a pub.”

Cafe manager: Samantha Birnie

Samantha Birnie, of Cafe Express, believes there is a growing coffee culture among young people.

Samantha has been running the cafe, in Bridgnorth High Street, for three years.

She says that over that time there has been a steady growth in the number of people coming through its doors.

“It’s progressively got better,” she says.

“We get people coming in on a Saturday who would have been in the pub in days gone by.

“We have got more and more younger people coming into the cafe over the last year.

Flavoured

“They are not really coming in and asking for just a coffee, they want a latte or a Cappuccino, the flat whites are a really big thing at the moment.

“Young people tend to want the flavoured shots with the marshmallows.”

Samantha, who used to work in the pub trade, says she does not expect this trend to end any time soon.

“I think it will get even bigger,” she adds. More and more 20-year-olds don’t drink, I don’t think there is the alcohol culture there used to be.”

Samantha says trade is very seasonal, depending on the tourist trade, and there is usually a lull in the weeks up until Christmas.

“The shoppers tend to go to Telford or Merry Hill this time of year,” she says.