"So it's no wonder that myriad other hospitality operators have cast an eye over their local neglected fleapit and thought: Let's buy some Mr Sheen, give that old hovel a polish and start serving duck a l'orange and flourless chocolate tart. It's all the rage! Gen Z loves it!"
"Whether Gen Z really does love anything about the pub experience as it was in the 20th century is debatable, however, because inside these poshed-up spit-and-sawdust boozers, all the phlegm and fag ash has gone as have the dartboards, pool tables, punch-ups, topless women on KP peanut pub cards and the ever-present bar-fly alcoholic drinking himself yellow while droning on about his marital problems."
Neglected local boozers are being restored into polished, modern hospitality spaces that trade rough edges for curated aesthetics and upscale menus. Iconic examples pair rock'n'roll art and craft beers with dishes like red mullet with squid ink rice, scallop-topped mash and fennel-and-escarole caponata with hazelnuts. The refitted pubs remove smoking, dartboards, pool tables, punch-ups and the habitual bar-fly presence, replacing them with sterile, Gen Z-friendly decor and novel beer names. Nostalgic features such as jukeboxes, snugs and shag tartan carpets are supplanted by a genteel version of pubgoing that sanitizes working-class social history.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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