The British Pub

Carmen talks about the history and continuing popularity of the great British pub.

Do the Preparation task first. Then watch the video. Next go to Task and do the activity. If you need help, you can read the Transcript at any time.

Preparation

Before you watch

Think about the following questions:

  • Do you know your neighbours and the people who live in your local area?
  • Where do people in your community go to meet up?
  • Do you have a place you can go to socialise, play games, eat and drink?

Now, watch the video to find out more about British pubs.

Transcript

Transcript

Carmen: The British pub is said to be “the heart of England”. There are around fifty thousand public houses, or pubs, in the UK.

This is the Crown, a pub in the village of Charlton on Otmore in Oxfordshire.

Pub names like “The Crown” and “The Prince of Wales” are very popular and celebrate the royal family.

The pub is a place to meet friends. But they are very different from a café as pubs serve alcohol.

At one point everyone drank beer. The water wasn’t very good so it was safer to drink beer than water. People often called this “small beer”.

Barmaid: Can I get you anything?

Carmen: No small, or large beer for me thanks.

In the past, the local pub was the centre of the community. Gossip and business deals happened right here in the pub.

The Crown is more than a hundred years old. The landlord, Mark Franklin, grew up in the village.

Carmen: Can I give you a hand with the polishing?

Mark: Yes you can.

Carmen: So Mark tell me how important is the pub for the community?

Mark: The pub is very important to the community because it’s the main meeting point for the village.

Carmen: So who comes here?

Mark: People come here from all walks of life, old and young. They meet here for darts nights and quiz nights.

Carmen: Great, so how has the pub changed over the years?

Mark: The pub has changed in the way we do food here now and we show satellite TV.

Carmen: Well many pubs like this in rural areas have closed. Do you think the Crown will stay open?

Mark: I hope the pub will stay open because I feel it’s the heart of the village. Would you like a drink?

Carmen: Oh yes please. This is thirsty work.

......

But there’s is a big difference between the rural village pub and pubs in towns and cities. There are many different types of pubs.

There are traditional pubs, famous for games like darts. And gastro pubs. These are pubs that serve expensive food.

There are also pubs that are owned by large companies. These pubs, wherever you are in the UK, all look very similar.

And then there are bars that look a bit like pubs. Like this one.

They seem to be having a good time. But drinking too much has become a problem in the UK.

When people drink a lot and get very drunk very quickly, this is called binge drinking. Binge drinking is increasing in young people.

......

There are several organisations that try to help young people with their drink problems. Glenda Lee works for Turning Point.

Carmen: So Glenda, tell me, do you see many young people with alcohol problems?

Glenda: We do, Carmen, we see more young people coming to us for help.

Carmen: So what kind of problems does drinking too much alcohol create?

Glenda: Drinking too much alcohol can lead to violence, accidents, to unprotected sex, to addiction and the possibility of death.

Carmen: Is it getting worse?

Glenda: Yes, the problem is getting worse. We’ve seen an increase in the past four years of young people and young adult drinking and especially binge drinking.

Carmen: So what are you doing about it?

Glenda: One thing that Turning Point is doing about it is a product called a binge pack. Inside is information about drinking, about how much is too much. We have a condom to encourage safe sex – and that’s a binge pack.

Carmen: Going to the pub is an important part of British culture.  And drinking too much has become a problem. But going to the pub doesn’t mean you have to drink alcohol… I’m going to have a nice cup of tea!

Task 1

Task 2

Language level

Average: 5 (1 vote)
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Submitted by sponge on Thu, 23/04/2020 - 12:38

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Pubs sound interesting but i can't afford to go there because I'm afraid of developing a drinking problem. Here in Austria there are a lot of Pubs. I usually go there with my friends to get a soft drink. It's quiet similar in the UK, that's why I'm surprised that people in the UK also have a lot of Pubs. I don't think that the drinking problems here in Austria is as dramatic as in the UK but I know for sure that many people have it. I even know people at my age that already binge drink. I can imagine that it is fun go on a Nightout in a Pub.

Submitted by fidaasiddig on Mon, 23/09/2019 - 22:33

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Hello can you please help me with this I spoke to someone and I said (didn't you hear me?) They replay:No you haven't answered Why it is haven't answered and didn't answer Other thing , I want to know when to use preposition after verb example :meat up with someone or meat someone

Hello fidaasiddig,

Normally, we would say 'You haven't answered' with an implied '...yet'. However, in this interaction I would say that 'You didn't answer' is more natural because there is already a past time context (Didn't you hear me?') and we would maintain the consistency of the other person's time frame here.

'Meet someone' can describe the first time you meet someone or a meeting with someone you already know. It can be used for social or more formal (business) occasions.

'Meet with someone' and 'meet up with someone' are not used for first meetings. These phrases have very similar meanings, though 'meet up with' is generally used more for social than business occasions.

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

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Submitted by S_Elena on Mon, 09/07/2018 - 10:46

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Thank you very much! I enjoy the video!