The sun never sets on the British Empire

[Alex]

Well regardless of the recession the smoking ban, tax rises on pub drinks combined with cheap supermarket booze and the general decline of the sense of community in this country have resulted in the British pub being in terminal decline for years and years now........ actually I have noticed a few tiny positive steps recently - the resurgence in real ales is one thing which seems to at least be getting a handful of people back to the pub.

Yeah, though the smoking ban happened AGES ago. And my old bosses said it surprisingly didn't effect business much (as it hasn't in most of the world).

The prices are astonishingly more expensive though. A cheap pint in London used to be £2, even less if it was bitter. Now they're £4 most places (this is just London I'm looking at).

 

[Alex]

Supermarket booze as a replacement for going out? The hell? Maybe it's just because I live in a VERY pub/bar centric area, but that seems crazy to me. We don't usually do all the eating and communing that you all do in pubs though, so perhaps you're merely coming down to Wisconsin levels, which is still ridiculous compared to the rest of the world.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the second point.

Pubs in the UK are just THE social place to be. After work, at lunch, etc. With the recession, they seem to have scaled that back a bit to use the pubs just for when they want a social drink. It's a big difference. They previously were THE place to be, during any free time. Now they're used as bars are every where else in the world.

 

[yoyo913]

Sir_Didier_Drogba, what is that sig you have about?

 

[King]

He is thinking when is going to get his life together....

 

[yoyo913]

It looks like a midwestern version of Cheers.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Sir_Didier_Drogba, what is that sig you have about?

It's an imaginary scene in a bar in Nashville with Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Waylon Jennings just chillin'

 

[Tom]

It's above the 300x100 size parameters, please remove it immediately.

 

[Sir Calumn]

You dont usually ask me to remove something just because it's too large, Tom

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Everything about this is funny

Prince William proved he was a true Englishman on Monday when he accepted the challenge of a penalty shoot-out against a 13-year-old goalkeeper and lost.

The Duke of Cambridge, who is president of the Football Association, joined in a game on the Solomon Islands after telling a group of youngsters they should support his team, Aston Villa.

He first watched as the children from the Go Play initiative, where sport is used to educate youngsters about issues like gender equality, were put through their paces.

He then stepped up to take three penalties as hundreds of locals looked on, warning: "This could go just about anywhere."

Prince William tucked his first penalty into the bottom-right corner but then quipped "here we go again" as two shots were saved by Philemon Fatai, 13, who said afterwards: "He's good – but not as good as me."

Prince William was handed a cap and a football by the Islands' academy football team. As he tried the cap on, he said: "First time a baseball cap and a suit. Excellent."

He told one young footballer he should support Aston Villa, before revealing that his wife Kate is "not so keen on the football".

 

[Keegan]

Don't forget these guys.

&

 

[yoyo913]

"He's good – but not as good as me."

 

[leungtl]

The Solomon Islands team is pretty good in World Cup Qualifiers too.

 

[newbie original]

And don't forget staging a fantastic olympic summer in diamond jubilee year!

It is fantastic, for now. But, in less than 12 years it will no longer be the best job of hosting an Olympics.

The same is true with a World Cup or European Championship. ex.Aus/Swiss 2008 > Netherlands 2000 > England '96.

EDIT:

You dont usually ask me to remove something just because it's too large, Tom

Are you going to remove it? Or re-size it?

There have been numerous occassions where I've posted sigs that have dimensions which meet the forum's requirements. On almost all ocassions, they have inexplicably been taken down.

 

[Sir Calumn]

It is fantastic, for now. But, in less than 12 years it will no longer be the best job of hosting an Olympics.

The same is true with a World Cup or European Championship. ex.Aus/Swiss 2008 > Netherlands 2000 > England '96.

Well yeah obviously every tournament seems like the best at the time it's happening (except South Africa 2010) because it is fresh and new. I would not say ours was the "best" olympics by any means and I have no doubt that Rio will be fantastic and will do many things better than we did, just as many things about Beijing were better than ours, but the main point is that ours was undeniably a colossal success and, trust me, for the last few years we Brits have been by no means confident that that would be the case.

IAre you going to remove it? Or re-size it?

No I'm not going to do either

 

[yoyo913]

Newbie original, I think Sir_Didier_Drogba believes because he's a mod and the forum hotshot he can choose to do as he pleases and bend the rules! Ridiculous. This forum is losing all the integrity it once had.

 

[kp41]

Rugby Union
Historic wins for England

England 38-21 New Zealand (World Champions)

Well done British Lions, well done

 

[Sir Calumn]

Yes! And on the back of a historic win against India in the second test. Our football clubs may be disgracing themselves in Europe but there are still some things to cheer!

EDIT: I went to the game against Aus a couple of weeks ago, in a corporate box, unfortunately that result was not so good!

 

[kp41]

The team is very young, I think we have a good chance to win the next World Cup. I can't wait to confront Kiwi guys tomorrow .

You are right, they didn't play well against Australia, but they played with passion and heart against South Africa (second half) and now New Zealand.

Wales was so close to defeat Australia but they scored a very late try.

Regarding cricket, did KP play?

 

[Sir Calumn]

Yeah, he did well, but the heroes were Cook and Panesar

 

[Alex]

The team is very young, I think we have a good chance to win the next World Cup. I can't wait to confront Kiwi guys tomorrow .

You are right, they didn't play well against Australia, but they played with passion and heart against South Africa (second half) and now New Zealand.

Wales was so close to defeat Australia but they scored a very late try.

Regarding cricket, did KP play?

Funny thing is, our side is terrible at the moment. Bottomed out really, especially for this tour, with a few key players out.

But we still beat you. You must have fluked your win against the All Blacks.