PowerSwitch

Just returned from a quick lunchtime drink in a nearby pub having decided not to go furthur affield in case it snowed again.

Very cold in the pub, central heating clearly not working. Two very meagre open fires helping very slightly.
On enquiry it would seem that the gas supply has been cut off either for non payment, or according to some regulars for tampering with the gas meter and thereby stealing the gas.

I am stout and was dressed for the weather, but it still felt very cold for indoors. Some customers left in disgust.
I enquired if a little more fuel could be put on the fires but was advised that only half a very small bag was available to last the day.
I organised a whip round to buy a bag of coal ! and we then sent a child to fetch the coal, all very Dickensian, esp in the snow.

Like many older pubs, the premises are not easy to heat due to numerous single glazed windows, ill fitting doors and windows and lack of insulation. Such pubs are normaly run on a very short term basis and consider low energy lamps to be too expensive, let alone draughtstripping or insulation.

A lamented pub round here (closed for years now due to drink driving laws) was cold all year round; it meant there was no refrigeration necessary, thus the excellent Guinness.

the premises are not easy to heat due to numerous single glazed windows, ill fitting doors and windows and lack of insulation

Sounds familiar. This is why we in the UK face such a massive retrofitting task...

I drink in an old pub, it's got a big fireplace in the tap room. Everyone sits in there even in summer when the fire's not lit. Nobody goes in the "posh side". I wonder if it's cold in there??

adam2 wrote:Just returned from a quick lunchtime drink in a nearby pub having decided not to go furthur affield in case it snowed again.

Very cold in the pub, central heating clearly not working. Two very meagre open fires helping very slightly.
On enquiry it would seem that the gas supply has been cut off either for non payment, or according to some regulars for tampering with the gas meter and thereby stealing the gas.

I am stout and was dressed for the weather, but it still felt very cold for indoors. Some customers left in disgust.
I enquired if a little more fuel could be put on the fires but was advised that only half a very small bag was available to last the day.
I organised a whip round to buy a bag of coal ! and we then sent a child to fetch the coal, all very Dickensian, esp in the snow.

Like many older pubs, the premises are not easy to heat due to numerous single glazed windows, ill fitting doors and windows and lack of insulation. Such pubs are normaly run on a very short term basis and consider low energy lamps to be too expensive, let alone draughtstripping or insulation.

As with everything else, the insanely inflated exchange value of real estate and the concomitant debt overhang that pub landlords must service, in turn requiring higher prices than people are willing to pay, is killing the pub trade.

Oh, and the smoking ban didn't help.

Surely Public Houses don't actually require any heating?

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/soci ... 2121253071

Recent gas and electricity price rises have led millions to explore beer, wine and spirit consumption as an economical alternative to conventional heating.

Father-of-two Stephen Malley said: “I can’t afford to heat the house, but this bottle of Scotch gives me a warm inner glow".

The drinking of alcohol though it causes one to feel warmer and more cheereful does in fact reduce body temperature.
There is no harm in modest drinking in moderatly cold conditions, but to drink alchohol if very cold is most unwise as it may hasten the onset of hypothermia, and certainly impairs judgement.

A busy Public House needs little or no heating on account of the body heat of the numerous customers. It is when less busy, or shortly before opening time that the most heating is needed.
A great many foolish publicans dont understand this and consider that it is not worth heating the premises when not busy. "I am not spending £2 an hour on fuel for 4 customers" They then turn the heating on when it gets busy, and the premises become uncomfortably warm with the result that the staff and customers open the doors and windows.

It would make sense to use the heating when NOT busy, the small number of customers would hopefully be more comfortable, happier, liable to stay longer, and recomend the place to others.

Kenneal once did an excellent talk about a 19th-century theatre on the Isle of Man, which had the bar on the lower floor. Working blokes came in for a swift pint on their way home from tough physical jobs and started to warm the place up before the theatre crowd came in for their pre-show drinks and finished the job. When cooling was needed, a vent was openned in the highest part of the ceiling and a gaslamp lit just beneath it, forcing the hot air up-and-out, to be replaced by cooler air from below.

But people had better clothes for keeping warm in those days.