It's Not for Locals Anymore

I do TripAdvisor reports for most hotels and restaurants I visit, but I get annoyed at some of the reports I read for pubs where locals complain that it has been taken over by new management and is no longer a local pub.

The point of owning a pub/hotel is to make money, not just cater for the odd local who sits in a corner nursing his pint for several hours. One place in the North Yorkshire Dales comes particularly to mind. It was losing money hand-over-fist under the previous owners, who sold up precisely because it was what the locals wanted - swirly carpets and bad beer. The new owner spent a fortune refurbishing the whole place (some 11 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar) and has turned it onto a boutique hotel attracting people from all over the country. It's pricey, but it has to be to pay for the renovations and a top class chef, but it brings wealthy people into the village who spend money locally when there.

It will doubtless be a while before it's profitable and the owner has recouped his costs, but we make a beeline for the place every time we go oop north for a weekend of walking. Were it not there, we probably wouldn't have ever gone to Clapham.

If locals want a local pub, they should get together and create their own - and learn what it's like to lose money with a business.