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    croatia-english-uk-culture-articles-04-pub-culture croatia-english-uk-culture-articles-04-pub-culture Document Transcript

    • The end of British pub culture?by A. J. Dalton Activity 1: Multiple choice Choose the correct answer for each question.British beer and pubs are famous around 1 Why are British pubs often so old?the world. Things are changing, however. a Because the British want to attract tourists.Is this the end of a great British tradition? b Because they follow in the tradition of British kingsFor thousands of years, the most important two buildings in and queens.any British village have been the church and the pub. In fact, c Because there has alwaysuntil a place has a church and a pub, it is not really considered been a need for thema community worthy of a name. Traditionally, the church and in Britain.the pub are at the heart of any village or town, since it is where 2 British people that go to pubsthe people gather to socialise and exchange news. They are a Can be from any partinstitutions at the heart of British society. After all, the word of society.‘pub’ is actually short for ‘public house’. b Are mainly men. c Are often royalty.As a result of this sort of history, British pubs are often old and 3 Why are so many pubs goingwell preserved. Many of them have become historic sites that out of business?tourists visit. The most famous example is the pub in the city of a Because of the credit crunch.Nottingham called ‘Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem’, which dates back b Because they’re notto the year 1189 AD and is probably the oldest pub in England. changing fast enough.It was the same year in which King Richard the First (the c Because they are too‘Lionheart’) came to the throne, and it was he who led the traditional.First Crusade into the Holy Land, towards Jerusalem. television commercials to warn people of the problems of 4 Why did the UK government drinking too much. allow pubs to stay open afterHowever, British pubs are not just for kings and queens,even though they often have old names referring to monarchs. In order to save their businesses, pubs are trying to change with 11p.m.? the market. Now, there are a number of different types of pubs: a To encourage binge drinking.They welcome people from all classes and parts of society. b To save British businesses.On a cold night, the pub’s landlord or landlady can always find I a ‘traditional pub’ is usually more than a hundred years old, c So that people would nota warm place for you by the fire. There is always honest and often has a ceiling made of oak beams and often has have to drink so quickly.hearty food and plenty of drink available at an affordable price. a large, open fireThat’s how it used to be, but things are beginning to change. I a ‘gastro pub’ serves higher-quality food than is traditional; Activity 2: VocabularyIt is said that the credit crunch is causing 39 British pubs a week they are a bit more expensive than a traditional pub, Choose the correct words toto go out of business. People do not have a lot of spare money but often have received an award for excellent cooking complete the sentences. I a ‘microbrewery’ is a pub that brews and serves its own beerto spend on beer. Recently, the UK government banned smoking Recentlyin all pubs, and that may also have affected the number of Traditionallycustomers going to pubs. on the premises; it often has fresher beer than other types of pub Freely I a ‘wine bar’ tends to be a place where fashionable (‘trendy’)This decline is happening despite the fact that in 2005 the UK Traditionalgovernment started to allow pubs to stay open after 11p.m. young people go to meet new people, often with romance HistoricPreviously, with 11p.m. as closing time, customers would have todrink quite quickly, meaning they sometimes got more drunk than in mind. Trendythey would if allowed to drink slowly. The British habit of drinking As you can see, British pubs now offer something for everyone. 1 Have you been to that new bar?a lot very quickly is known as ‘binge drinking’, and it causes long- A lot of pubs used to be ‘working men’s clubs’, meaning that It’s very ________.term health problems for individuals and problems with violent women could not usually enter. Today, however, women can 2 ________, there were certaincrime for communities. The UK government is changing the law freely enter 99 per cent of pubs without experiencing any drinking clubs in Britain thatto discourage binge drinking, and regularly spends money on problems. Perhaps things are changing for the better after all. women could not enter. 3 Tourists like to visit ________ sites. 4 In British pubs today, people can Fun corner Word of the day 5 come and go ________. ________, the UK government has banned smoking in pubs. ‘Binge drinking’ is the term we use to describe 1 Change one letter in the word ‘dine’, to find an alcoholic 6 Many people visits British pubs drink. _________ drinking too much too quickly. It is a social problem. for the ________ fare (food and drink). 2 Change one letter in the word ‘pub’, to find a baby bear. _________ 3 Change one letter in the word ‘bear’, to find an alcoholic RAPIDO AND ZEN food 6 traditional recently 6 5 drink. _________ WHAT DID THE GRAPE SAY WHEN wealth 5 freely 4 THE ELEPHANT STEPPED ON IT? fire 4 historic 3 4 Change one letter in the word ‘fine’, to make yourself hot. beer 3 traditionally 2 _________ cub 2 trendy 1 wine 1 NOTHING. IT J UST LET Activity 2 5 Change one letter in the word ‘health’, to make yourself OUT A LITTLE WINE. Fun corner rich. _________ c 4 same way as ‘wine’. a 3 6 Change one letter in the word ‘good’ if you’re hungry. Z EN pronounced in the a 2 _________ The word ‘whine’ is c 1 Joke Activity 1 AnswersFor more UK culture teaching material visit:www.teachingenglish.org.uk/uk-languages © British Council 2009