The last 60 years or so has seen the gradual decline in the traditional British corner pub.
The 1950′ saw the rise of dance halls, the 60′s the explosion in television ownership, the 70′s the gastro pub, the 80′s theme pubs and the 90′s the all night town centre clubbing pub. The last decade which has seen the growth of the internet where people chat to their friends online in the comfort of their own home rather than in their local has seen record numbers of pub closures.
The one bright spot has been the continued growth in the number of breweries offering real ale and in particular the growth of micro breweries.
Not only have the last few decades seen a change in where people drink, there has also been a change in what they drink. The 60′s and 70′s saw the massive explosion in central and northern European style lagers such as Heinekin and Carlsberg. This was followed in the 80′s and 90′s by American beers such as Budweiser. These beers have largely overtaken mild, pale ale, stout and porter as popular beers.
Throughout this time British beer afficianados have continued to champion the cause of real ale.. Some of the larger breweries have continued to brew “real ales” such as Courage Directors, some of the smaller breweries such as Youngs have continued to brew their “ordinary” and “Special” at the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth until 2004 and in association with Wells since then. Fullers in Chiswisk also continued to serve the real ale market with their beers, most notably Fullers ESB.
If Real Ale is defined as cask-conditioned beer (as opposed to keg beer) then can a bottled beer be described as “Real Ale”? Even the supermarkets supply a range of bottled beers including Old Speckled Hen, Bomardier, Spitfire and Bishops Finger.