Samuel Smith's brewery is in Tadcaster, Yorkshire. As well as producing beers, the brewery runs some two hundred pubs - mostly but not exclusively in Yorkshire. The chairman of the brewery is an eccentric old man called Humphrey Smith and he tries run the pubs as if they were his own personal fiefdom - often disregarding current social mores and indeed employment legislation.
There's a Samuel Smith's pub in the centre of Sheffield. It is called "The Brown Bear" and last week I nipped into the entrance lobby to take these pictures of notices to customers:-
No swearing, no mobile phones or laptops, no vaping or e-cigarettes and in addition I should add that there's no music, no television sets blaring out sports programmes and the bar staff are not allowed to have visible tattoos or piercings.
What do you think?
I don't really care if staff have tattoos or piercings - but frankly - I consider the rest of the rules heaven on earth! I'd love it if there were a couple of pubs around here with the same rules!
ReplyDeleteI don't like to see tattoos and piercings so I am happy with that ruling too!
DeleteThis is interesting. I'd be quite happy there but it sounds more like a Cafe or even a church. I'm not sure people want that level of prescription in their pubs
ReplyDeleteWhen I stopped by at "The Brown Bear" last week, it was filled with early afternoon drinkers but the rules have caused a lot of controversy and Britain's tabloid press have sought to slate the company.
DeleteI like it! It would be a great place to meet with a friend or two for a quiet chat and a beer.
ReplyDeleteI'll have a pint of dark mild* Jennifer and no flirting with the barman this time please!
Delete*= a type of beer brewed by Sam Smith's Brewery.
I'll have the same, Neil. Cheers! 🍻
DeleteThis sounds like a recipe for disaster for this business.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy visiting Sam Smiths pubs Red.
DeleteI hate to see two or more people out together in a bar or restaurant spending all their time staring at their phone! I understand if one person is alone maybe but when with others it seems so rude. However all of those rules combined do make it sound rather church like!
ReplyDeleteHaving never owned a cellphone, I sometimes feel that I am surrounded by aliens who worship their electronic devices.
DeleteI’m sure that there are plenty of other pubs in the vicinity should people prefer them. (When I was a student in Nottingham we nearly always drank Sam Smiths).
ReplyDeleteI like the independence and stubbornness of Sam Smith's pubs as well as the very reasonable beer prices!
DeleteI often wonder why some restaurants seem to find it necessary to have 'background' music blaring so loudly that it makes people talk louder and louder to each other, until the level of noise becomes almost unbearable. It was so the other night when I met with a group of old school mates at a tex mex cantina. We hardly heard each other and had to shout our orders so that the waiter could understand them.
ReplyDeleteAs for the strict rules in that pub, I am sure people who are not happy about them can go elsewhere.
I much prefer quiet pubs and in many ways I applaud the stance of Samuel Smith pubs.
DeleteI am with Librarian on this one. The loud noise plays havoc with my hearing aids!
ReplyDeleteAlthough my hearing is okay, I dislike loud music in pubs. Often I switch off because I cannot hear what anybody is saying.
DeleteTheir pubs, their rules. You don't have to go there. Don't mind the tatts but agree about the too loud music.
ReplyDeletePlease don't misunderstand me Caz. I am not criticising the rules - just saying.
DeleteWould be improved by prohibiting unnecessary conversation as well.
ReplyDeleteBarring Londoners and Lancastrians would get my vote.
DeleteThey missed out the bit about No Dogs too!
ReplyDeleteSounds ideal to me, a hark back to the 50's!
I will meet you in "The Brown Bear" CG - assuming that women are allowed in of course. I will buy you a small dry sherry.
DeleteWell, they're his pubs. No music or blaring TVs sounds nice too. We can live without electronics, despite what people seem to believe but no swearing? I have to draw the line there:)
ReplyDeleteAnd there was me thinking that you were a cultured young lady of good breeding.
DeleteI'm a nurse. I swear like a sailor:)
Delete"Ship a ****ing hoy!"
DeleteI think they're mostly silly rules in this day and age. I'm not crazy about people talking on cell phones over my shoulder, but who cares if they're on a laptop? Are you FORCED to have a conversation with someone else in a Sam Smith's pub? Seems like that may be next.
ReplyDeleteI can agree with no vaping, because that intrudes upon the health of my lungs. But I don't care at all whether someone has tattoos or piercings.
It seems to me that Mr. Smith is guaranteeing that many younger people will feel unwelcome in his establishments. Maybe he doesn't care, but that's not good for the future of pubs, is it?
Humphrey Smith is a law unto himself. When an old stone bridge in Tadcaster was destroyed by flooding, he refused access to the brewery land in order to construct a temporary replacement bridge. As you will appreciate, that decision did not go down well with other townspeople.
DeleteWell, not having sports programs blaring would make me happy. That's a personal peeve of mine. To be honest, those ubiquitous sports on TV seem inherently sexist to me and I hate them. No swearing and no tattoos or piercings on employees seems ridiculous. Also, what if someone just wants to go have a pint by themselves and catch up on something on their phone? Perhaps read a long article from a news outlet? No vaping makes sense, sure. But I agree with Steve about the laptop- plenty of people do work-related things on their laptops. Not everyone goes to a pub for conversation. Not really mine to decide though, is it? I don't even live in that country, I don't go out to bars for the most part, and I certainly don't own a pub. But my personal slant here is that the owner is trying to play the role of Big Daddy and as such, people who like that sort of thing are welcome to go and drink his beer and those who aren't, can choose to go somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteWith the "No Swearing" rule, I imagine that you would be marched out after five minutes Ms Moon! Regarding the laptops, I think that Humphrey Smith would say that a pub is a sociable place - not an office in which you blank out other pub goers. I have frequented several Sam Smith pubs and I like them. It helps of course that I have never sworn in my life...hey, why is my nose growing longer?
DeleteYou f*cking liar, you! But seriously, I would get kicked out. I have a feeling that my swearing far exceeds yours. I love to swear. It is one of the great pleasures of my life.
Delete^^^^ you Ms Moon! I'm a ^^^^ing better curser than you are you ****ing Florida ^^^^er!
DeleteHaha! There would only be one way to prove it, you mother******! And that would be a cuss-off in public!
DeleteI use my mobile phone to tell the time (I don't wear a watch, to make notes, and to notify my drinking friends that I will be in the Greystones tonight! I agree about vaping (who knows what they're inhaling?), tatoos, piercings, and the Oxford comma.
ReplyDeleteI have just one thing to say to you Steve: BERT!
DeleteTimes. they are a-changin'...and not in every aspect for the better!
ReplyDeleteSeeing and hearing people on their mobile phones when out and about really raises my ire. I'm not interested in their one-sided phone conversations. If you want to talk on the phone...remain at home!
I have never understood, and I never will understand, why people get tattoos. I hate the sight of tattoos. There is nothing attractive about them to my eyes. They turn my stomach! I will never understand the mindset of those who willing disfigure their bodies.
And take me to court if you so desire...but when hiring staff, anyone with tattoos would be below the last on my list of successful applicants. During my staff-hiring days/years, I, personally, never hired anyone with tattoos.
I curse, of course...but I am particular about the company in which I find myself when I use a descriptive adjective to enhance the subject of conversation, or of a particular tale. It is not my intention to offend the better-bred, more sensitive souls...unless they deserve it, or the moment in question - and those with stiff upper lips and broomsticks up where they shouldn't be - need livening up! :)
Good manners might be old-fashioned to some, but not to me.
I think that you would get on famously with Humphrey Smith. Mind you, I am also pretty much in agreement with everything you said.
DeleteThe rest is fine but I think the no tattoos or piercings is a bit overboard.
ReplyDeleteDo you have tattoos and piercings then Chain Stitch?
Delete