Pub food categories

[kake]

I've been discussing pub food categories on RGL via email with a friend, and I think it's time to reopen discussion here.

Ages ago we decided to use "Food Served Lunchtimes" and "Food Served Evenings" as categories for pub food, instead of the more intuitive "Pub Food". Part of the reason for this was that I thought it would make it easier to find pubs that do food at specific times.

However, I'm not sure our data is of high enough quality to justify this — for example, some of our pub food times were last checked five years ago. I think having old data for this is fine if there's a date in close proximity, but this isn't the case for categories.

Another thing: these categories were (by design) only ever applied to pubs, which is confusing and inconsistent. And yet another: even being in the "Food Served Lunchtimes" category can't guarantee that the pub will be serving food on the specific lunchtime of interest (perhaps the pub is closed for a private party, or never does food on Mondays, or whatever).

I therefore propose that we get rid of the Food Served Lunchtimes and Food Served Evenings categories, and put all places that used to be in these categories in the Pub Food category.

Thoughts?

Comments

[katstevens]

I agree, I think.

Would a GastroPub category be useful? The definition can be quite broad, but if I was searching for (e.g. somewhere to take my parents for lunch) then I'd immediately know whether I wanted to go one or not. I'd use the term to describe something that is still a pub (as opposed to a restaurant) but is food-orientated and will serve food when open.

[shuripentu]

Ooh yes, that would be helpful.

[ewan]

The only issue with gastropub is the definition, really. When I tried to write about it, the best I could get to was, "well you know one when you're in it". It does seem to me that some pubs have more pretensions when it comes to food, but it'll be a little subjective I imagine. Still, I do agree with the original post.

[kake]

Mm, yes, I remember when we tried to define The Gastropub! I do think it's something that different people will have different ideas about.

[shuripentu]

That seems very sensible to me, especially since if I was particularly concerned that a specific pub be able to provide food at a specific day and time, I'd ring them anyway to double-check.

[kake]

Yes, this was my thinking too!

[nanila]

That sounds sensible to me. If I wanted to be certain a pub was serving food at a specific time, I'd ring them first.

As an aside, I tend to categorise pubs that I'd never visit for the food OR that don't serve food as "boozers", while all the rest are "gastropubs".

[kake]

This prompted me to go and seek out my previous Pub Science post on gastropubs!