The hot takes and unpopular opinions
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@Catogrande said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
That upsets me
You could call it an unpopular opinion
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@Kruse said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
In the UK - you get the corporate bland shit like Wetherspoons, Slug/Lettuce, All-Bar-One, etc. Even, to a lesser extent, the 'chain country pubs' - Harvesters was one, I think? "Hungry Horse"? Some others... those places in the countryside - that are big bland chain attempts at replicating the "good". And then the good - the classic village pubs, hitting your head on crossbeams every time you go for a piss. Sometimes a beer-garden on a canal.
We have quite a few decent pubs in our area - my Local is a community Pub in the village community centre which does a good range of beer and wine. Loads of Gastropubs down our way. Some have managed to combine the "local" feel with decent food, other's haven't and it's just a restaurant with a pub theme, sadly.
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@Bones said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
I fucken love Hungry Horse.
I remember a Burger shop in Welly and/or Lower Hutt called the Hungry Horse. It was great.
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I feel quite lucky. My local is a converted villa free house with a constantly changing ten taps. They don't allow smoking anywhere on site, have no pokies. They have about 40 different whisky's and a similarly broad range of the other mains spirits a small but decent range of wines.
I'm not a dog person at all but they are 'dog friendly' which is unusual in NZ. They even take a snap shot of all the pooches and have a gallery of dog mug shots on either side of their take out fridge.
Owner is a decent guy, works hard, knowledgeable, not averse to locking you in if its a good night - makes sure he chats to everyone and looks after his locals. I enjoy a reasonable discount. All the staff are friendly and know the beer on offer. Good mix of locals and walk ups. Locals acknowledge you and will have a chat if you want or leave me alone (my preference usually). Plus a really good kitchen that isn't just your normal deep fried shit run by a group of Koreans who manage to produce a lot of food from a kitchen smaller than my one at home.
The only downside is - as I've said before - you pay for the privilege. Mine host would get $20K a year off me.
Overall there's still too many bland chain type pubs around. 100 metres from my local is a Good Home. But they serve a need. Lots of people want bland. I usually manage to find a decent place serving good beer with a reasonable atmosphere without much difficulty when I travel. Or a dossers pub which would be my second choice.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
@Bones said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
I fucken love Hungry Horse.
I remember a Burger shop in Welly and/or Lower Hutt called the Hungry Horse. It was great.
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Craft beer pubs - I just hate them. The beer is simply more expensive than a "normal" pub and for some reason because they're a "craft beer" place the food is overpriced as well.
You get charged restaurant prices for beer which is slightly better than normal and restaurant prices for what is little more than pub quality food...
I could literally pay a few bucks more and go to a nice restaurant where there's quality food and a good selection of alcohol or if I want a pub meal just go to a normal pub where I get much better value for money.
So that's what I do, I either go to a restaurant or a pub and craft beer places can kiss my *ss.
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@Windows97 said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
Craft beer pubs - I just hate them. The beer is simply more expensive than a "normal" pub and for some reason because they're a "craft beer" place the food is overpriced as well.
You get charged restaurant prices for beer which is slightly better than normal and restaurant prices for what is little more than pub quality food...
I could literally pay a few bucks more and go to a nice restaurant where there's quality food and a good selection of alcohol or if I want a pub meal just go to a normal pub where I get much better value for money.
So that's what I do, I either go to a restaurant or a pub and craft beer places can kiss my *ss.
Just grab a gorilla burger and fries ( those vans are everywhere and the food is delicious and filling ) to go with your Pumpkin IPA and quit your moaning.
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@Kruse said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
UK vs NZ vs Aus pubs... I've come to the conclusion that there's shit ones, and good ones (with character) - in each country... but in each country, the "flavour" of the good/shit is slightly different.
In the UK - you get the corporate bland shit like Wetherspoons, Slug/Lettuce, All-Bar-One, etc. Even, to a lesser extent, the 'chain country pubs' - Harvesters was one, I think? "Hungry Horse"? Some others... those places in the countryside - that are big bland chain attempts at replicating the "good". And then the good - the classic village pubs, hitting your head on crossbeams every time you go for a piss. Sometimes a beer-garden on a canal.
NZ - it's nearly the reverse, in the North Island at least. Just off the top of my head - really shitty bland country pubs, with some farming tools on the wall in an attempt to be "character" - but really... shit beers on tap, and just... country-bogan. And a very few decent bars in some of the cities. Although I'm probably prejudiced, as most of the bars I frequent - in my 2 years back in-country, I'm already known to the staff, and typically get staff/hospo discount.
South Island - might be reversed again? Some classic country pubs - my recollection of Chch bars (admittedly-pre-earthquake) - was decidedly Slug/Lettuce/All-Bar-One-esqueAus - I don't have a wide experience... but my feel was more of a UK pattern.... plenty of shit "glossy/corporate bars" in towns, with some fucking cracker country pubs... and in Melbourne at least, some quirky fucking-random country-type-pubs in the middle of the city.
have to say, i cant think of too many chains or corporate pubs in Aus, all seem independent (around me anyway), so they either are or they're putting in some effort to hide the fact they are part of a chain
and i love a craft beer pub, will often have a different schooner with each round...when i just want to drink the same beer all night i'll buy a slab and drink at home
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@dogmeat said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
I'm not a dog person at all but they are 'dog friendly' which is unusual in NZ.
Ugh, I hate dog friendly pubs and cafes, and all of them in Sydney basically are. Nothing worse when you you're having a quiet beer or eating brunch and some dog comes over and starts licking you or two little dogs decide to have a fight right next to you.
Again this is another dog owners thing as opposed to the dogs themselves.
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@dogmeat said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
@Nepia Totally agree. My local makes sure the dogs are under control. They are expected to sit quietly under the table or leave. The one time I've seen two dogs snap at each other the owners were asked to leave and not bring their dogs back.
Give it time. NZ has been dog unfriendly for so long that well socialised dogs aren't the norm and even as numbers increase there is a period while you have to socialise them and they will get triggered.
Dog friendly pubs in the UK are a great sign of the place being human friendly as well. Our local was often more dogs than people on some week nights and if a dog showed any sign of being on edge they soon got the side eye from the regulars and settled down.
I don't take my lab to the pub often now as for some reason he will randomly decide to announce himself to other dogs approaching. He is very well socialised and has no problem with other dogs, is part of a 'wolf pack' thing and a big softy. I just don't want to have to put him in a situation where he feels a need to react. No idea what started him thinking that way as it is the only situation he feels unsure in.
Owners just need to understand if there dog fits into the environment. -
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@dogmeat said in The hot takes and unpopular opinions:
@Nepia Totally agree. My local makes sure the dogs are under control. They are expected to sit quietly under the table or leave. The one time I've seen two dogs snap at each other the owners were asked to leave and not bring their dogs back.
Good. Annoying dogs are complete dickheads.
Even the âfriendlyâ ones.
No, strangely enough I donât want your big dog jumping up, smashing me in the nuts and licking my face just cos he wants to be friends.
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New Zealand has some really obnoxious dog owners who seem to have got themselves a dog because they want to make some kind of statement rather than a companion. I recently saw a tradie looking bloke calling out a patched Mob guy because he didnât pick up his dogâs shit - he ran up and handed him a bag and told him if he was too embarrassing to clean up after his dog he was missing the point of having one and was a useless human being. It looked like it was all on for a bit because the sparky wasnât backing down. Balls of steel.
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@JC yeah nothing worse than people who get a pet (dog or cat) and then do jack shit to look after them...not desexing them, not giving proper shelter and giving them exercise...those numpties are the ones that let thier dogs bark in the backyard chained to thier house and shout at them to shut up when they bark, or are untrained or socialised and roam the streets not able to deal with walkers/runners or other dogs
Apparently there is a fair bit of gang activity on the dog baiting side of things going on in NZ presently, which is just horrific really.
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https://www.facebook.com/hungryhorse.co.nz
