Stafford shops closing - Turning into a ghost town?

[Lucy]

The last time I day drank, was the one and only time in the 90s that I had secured a babysitter for new years eve (single parent at the time).....finished work at 12 midday, went for a few drinks with work (compulsory), home to change and meet friends in Stone for new years eve......only guess who fell asleep....4am I wake up..whole night missed.......NEVER DAY DRINK

Oh I day drink, just not whilst I'm working. I am currently sitting on the sofa with a hangover...

 

[gilesjuk]

I think in factories etc it's been a thing for a lot longer to not drink, health and safety, insurance etc. But if you work in IT it was definitely a friday lunchtime thing. That's why if you put Software Developer etc down on your car insurance the premium is higher.

We used to go to the Morris Man and Metro to play pool and have a drink in the mid to late 2000s, but people move on and then I got dogs to go home and check up on. When I working in Birmingham even though there was a similar clause in the contract we would have the occasional pub trip, even with management present. Just part of working in a city.

 

[proactive]

Clearly my boss is going to have to sack me. Multiple times.

 

[Gramaisc]

When I had a 'proper job', GEC still had a bar in the canteen.

As I was an 'office bod', I started my lunchtime five minutes before the factory lads.

It became my duty on a Friday morning to go round and get a list of the pre-weekend drinks, so that they could be lined up on the bar when the "weekend millionaires" descended in.

I would get there, often with an order for thirty or forty pints, with just enough leeway to have them ready for imbibing.

 

[gilesjuk]

When I had a 'proper job', GEC still had a bar in the canteen.

As I was an 'office bod', I started my lunchtime five minutes before the factory lads.

It became my duty on a Friday morning to go round and get a list of the pre-weekend drinks, so that they could be lined up on the bar when the "weekend millionaires" descended in.

I would get there, often with an order for thirty or forty pints, with just enough leeway to have them ready for imbibing.

Mild was very popular in the midlands, these days it seems to be pretty much extinct.

 

[Gramaisc]

Mild was very popular in the midlands, these days it seems to be pretty much extinct.

I don't think I ever ordered a mild, it was mostly various bitter-type stuff, lagers and Guinness.

Mild seemed to be an old man's drink, even by the 70s, in my circles.

Another thing that I haven't even heard of this century is barley wine.

 

[gilesjuk]

I don't think I ever ordered a mild, it was mostly various bitter-type stuff, lagers and Guinness.

Mild seemed to be an old man's drink, even by the 70s, in my circles.

Another thing that I haven't even heard of this century is barley wine.

The father of my first girlfriend drank Banks's Mild all the time (early 1990s). I even had a few myself. I did a mild beer kit a few years ago. It's for when you want a nice quick drink as the less bitter flavour makes it faster to drink. It's not going to really be popular in these hop forward times.

I've heard of barley wine, never had it.

 

[Mudgie]

I would end up losing my job if I drank in the day time. Get a decimal point in the wrong place and our budget is screwed.

But when I started work it was accepted that nothing was likely to get "screwed" after a pint, or maybe two, on a Friday lunchtime.

 

[Mudgie]

I don't think I ever ordered a mild, it was mostly various bitter-type stuff, lagers and Guinness.

Mild seemed to be an old man's drink, even by the 70s, in my circles.

I remember a few Banks's pubs in the 1970s that still had Mild as the only draught beer.

 

[Cue]

In the tech sector, a beer fridge in the office is more common than you’d expect. The main thing is just to be responsible with it

 

[proactive]

But when I started work it was accepted that nothing was likely to get "screwed" after a pint, or maybe two, on a Friday lunchtime.

Times change. Not always for the best, mind you.

 

[Mudgie]

Times change. Not always for the best, mind you.

Indeed.
When I worked in a brewery during 1974 everyone had an "allowance" of two pints a day.

 

[Wormella]

In the tech sector, a beer fridge in the office is more common than you’d expect. The main thing is just to be responsible with it

Our studio certainly has a fridge with some beers in, but I think they are only cracked open for all hands updates once a month (The Friday after payday)

 

[BobClay]

At sea the bar was always available 24 hours a day which if you consider you are never 'off' the job aboard ship (you actually live inside your job) might seem a bit dodgy.

Personal responsibility was the name of the game.

If you transgressed then at the next port you would be aboard the paraffin parrot flying home, and that career was done.

 

[Mudgie]

At sea the bar was always available 24 hours a day which if you consider you are never 'off' the job aboard ship (you actually live inside your job) might seem a bit dodgy.

Personal responsibility was the name of the game.

If you transgressed then at the next port you would be aboard the paraffin parrot flying home, and that career was done.

Bob,
Knowing someone who worked there I think Fleet Street's workforce enjoyed unusually high alcohol consumption.
When management tried to clamp down on this they'd walk about with a can of Coke which was regularly but discreetly topped up with rum.

 

[gilesjuk]

In the tech sector, a beer fridge in the office is more common than you’d expect. The main thing is just to be responsible with it

In my experience, companies that try to have all these gimmicks are often bad places to work. Trying too hard to be like a startup company but in reality just a normal company with the same deadlines and responsibilities.

 

[Cue]

In my experience, companies that try to have all these gimmicks are often bad places to work. Trying too hard to be like a startup company but in reality just a normal company with the same deadlines and responsibilities.

Depends on how much they shout about it

The ones that constantly market themselves at hip and cool places to work are usually horrendous.

 

[The Notorious A.N.T.]

Times definitely change, when I started in the industry I work in it was fairly accepted that you could have a few drinks on a Friday lunchtime & return to the office in the afternoon (especially if there was a special occasion like someone's birthday). Fast forward 20 years, I can be drug & alcohol tested anytime the company sees fit & you can pretty much guarantee the testing company will be in during the run up to Christmas. The level of alcohol we can have in our system is half the drink drive limit. I could legally drive my car to work but be tested when I get there & fired!.

 

[Gramaisc]

Times definitely change, when I started in the industry I work in it was fairly accepted that you could have a few drinks on a Friday lunchtime & return to the office in the afternoon (especially if there was a special occasion like someone's birthday). Fast forward 20 years, I can be drug & alcohol tested anytime the company sees fit & you can pretty much guarantee the testing company will be in during the run up to Christmas. The level of alcohol we can have in our system is half the drink drive limit. I could legally drive my car to work but be tested when I get there & fired!.

England, Wales and NI have what is quite a high limit for driving these days.

That would be 80mg per 100ml of blood - most places run at 50 now, in general, some with lower limits for learners and new drivers, and for those driving as part of an occupation - in Ireland, those categories would be subject to a limit of 20mg/ml.

The map has a problem with where Northern Ireland is and seems to have left that out, but coloured in the part of Ulster that isn't in it...

I think Malta has the same 80mg/ml limit, but is too small to show up on the map.

 

[GNM67]

The old Edinburgh wool store seems to have been used as a grow farm. Note in the window saying the landlord had suspicions but the police wouldn't do anything. When he checked the building the occupants were just doing a runner.
Police apologies for bad response