teetotal Discussion thread

[Blue Hills]

I've never been a great drinker, two glasses of wine make me sleepy, the third makes me ill!
When I was younger I used to drink softs, tell my pals it was whisky and coke.
Since I've been cycling everywhere, I have the perfect excuse to stick to fresh orange
I don't go out very often anyway, pub conversations bore me.
I work in catering, don't want to see another catering establishment in my time off.

Italians very moderate drinkers in my experience.
All that wine wasted on them.

 

[Blue Hills]

I used to over do it when in my late teens - early twenties with my so called friends. Spent many a night blasting round Bolton in my mates Escort while all of us were drunk as skunks. It's a miracle we didn't kill anyone.
I've never really been a 'drinker' as such and so whilst the other people at the pub/party etc were knocking back pint after pint, I was pi55ed as a parrot by my 5th Guinness.
Made a right arse of myself at my grandads funeral. As if my granny wasn't in enough pain
I still have the odd pint when my dad offers when I visit and had a few when Pam and I last went camping (it's the rules) but there's been 5 Guinness's in the fridge since last summer. Might open one for Christmas.
I don't remember ever having a hangover though...its never affected me that way

well drinking and driving a complete no no. Can't argue with that.

 

[Blue Hills]

Steady tiger...

The thread title tells you what the subject is, it isn't part of an unrelated thread that has been hijacked by non drinkers. If you're bored reading it then you must have opened it because you wanted to be bored.

it's a thread about drink. Seems to me folk can comment either side of the fence. While leaving folk to their own decided choices.

 

[Salty seadog]

And that's why it is potentially dangerous to try and force alcohol on people. You can have no idea why someone has refused, it may well be because they are struggling with an addiction and are only one drink away from falling off the wagon.

One's too many ten's not enough.

 

[raleighnut]

Yet for me it's the other way round. Since the smoking ban I go to pubs more often. The smoke & vile stench used to make me feel physically sick after a night out. It's far more enjoyable now to have a drink in pubs then it ever was.

Is that why pubs are closing at an alarming rate, or do those non smokers drink more.

Here's another thing, we smokers are banished outside to a 'designated smoking area' but as soon as the sun comes out it's full of families (with kids) who move the ashtrays and tut if someone lights up.

 

[EltonFrog]

I’m not tea total but my alcohol intake is about one unit a month, tends to go up on holiday, one unit per day max and not every day, but then I go weeks without.

About ten years ago we had people round for dinner, there was champagne, wine and port throughout the evening. I didn’t feel drunk or any other effects.

In the early hours I got up to go to the loo, feinted while sitting on the pan, fell off and hit my head on the radiator valve and knocked myself out. Ended up in A&E via ambulance and on a drip for eight hours lying in my own crap. A very unpleasant experience for everyone about me.

I’m never doing that again.

Alcohol is a poison, consume with extreme caution.

 

[JhnBssll]

[QUOTE 5466620, member: 9609"]One idiot even said to her, "they say once you've had a problem you can never have another" and nodded knowingly. I could of wrung her neck. (the wifey that said it not me wife)[/QUOTE]

I get that quite a lot. It's compounded by the fact that if you Google the illness I had that stopped me drinking, the biggest cause is alcohol abuse. The fact that mine was caused by something else entirely is apparently irrelevant I play along with it now, there's really very little point correcting most people - especially if they're halfway pissed as they likely won't remember anyway and I'd only have to explain it again and again, and again...

 

[ianrauk]

Is that why pubs are closing at an alarming rate, or do those non smokers drink more.

Here's another thing, we smokers are banished outside to a 'designated smoking area' but as soon as the sun comes out it's full of families (with kids) who move the ashtrays and tut if someone lights up.

I think it is more to do with the price of drink being charged in the pubs compared to supermarket beer rather then the smoking ban. Good pubs which have diversified into other areas rather then just being a smokey old drink hole will not disappear. Those that make them more customer & family friendly will survive and prosper. Look at Wetherspoons for example.

 

[Blue Hills]

I think it is more to do with the price of drink being charged in the pubs compared to supermarket beer rather then the smoking ban. Good pubs which have diversified into other areas rather then just being a smokey old drink hole will disappear. Those that make them more customer & family friendly will survive and prosper. Look at Wetherspoons for example.

Good post. Know what you mean but I think you need to check the second sentence. A slip I assume?

 

[raleighnut]

I think it is more to do with the price of drink being charged in the pubs compared to supermarket beer rather then the smoking ban. Good pubs which have diversified into other areas rather then just being a smokey old drink hole will disappear. Those that make them more customer & family friendly will survive and prosper. Look at Wetherspoons for example.

Pubs have had to put up their prices because of the reduced volume of sales post-ban, I wish the UK had adopted the same rules as Germany where small bars are allowed to declare themselves as an over 18 only smoking venue (2 bonuses for the price of one.)

As for looking at Weatherspoons, I'd just as soon not.

 

[Slick]

Pubs have had to put up their prices because of the reduced volume of sales post-ban, I wish the UK had adopted the same rules as Germany where small bars are allowed to declare themselves as an over 18 only smoking venue (2 bonuses for the price of one.)

As for looking at Weatherspoons, I'd just as soon not.

It's maybe a regional thing, but I have to agree on the Wetherspoon issue, I'd sooner not.

 

[ianrauk]

Good post. Know what you mean but I think you need to check the second sentence. A slip I assume?

Yep, but you get my meaning.

 

[ianrauk]

Pubs have had to put up their prices because of the reduced volume of sales post-ban, I wish the UK had adopted the same rules as Germany where small bars are allowed to declare themselves as an over 18 only smoking venue (2 bonuses for the price of one.)

As for looking at Weatherspoons, I'd just as soon not.

It's maybe a regional thing, but I have to agree on the Wetherspoon issue, I'd sooner not.

I'm not the biggest fan of Wetherspoons pubs either. They can be rather hit and miss. My closest in Orpington is pretty rubbish, second closest in Petts Wood is great. A few others off the top of my head, The Peter Cushing in Whitstable is just fabulous as are 2 Wetherspoons in Brighton, The Bright Helm and The West Quay. You would be very silly to tar them all with the same brush.

 

[raleighnut]

This pub 'The Criterion' in Leicester might not look much from outside but there is generally at least 10 real ales on and 'Budvar' imported lager on tap.

 

[nickyboy]

Pubs that stay stuck in the past, being largely masculine drinking holes with poor beer choices, limited or no food, deserve to disappear and be converted into houses

Smart publicans who have developed pubs into all sorts of different directions; foodie places, craft beer places, kid friendly places, ladies who lunch prosecco places, breakfast/brunch places.....these will do just fine. Pubs are like any other business. They face challenges (smoking bans, cheap supermarket alcohol etc) but by evolving into something other than the traditional boozer they will do just fine