Word: pubbing
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...years ago, James Herring was the barman at the Flag and Firkin, an imposing Georgian pub a stone's throw from Watford Junction, a half-hour train ride from central London. "We were the flagship pub for Firkin [Britain's largest brewer]. We had loads of funding for staff and promotions and Firkin kept the place looking nice. In those days, we were packed." The Flag, as has been known since the Firkin Brewery went out of business in 2001, is owned by Mitchell and Butler, the leading operator of pubs and pub restaurants in the U.K. Before Christmas, Mitchell...
...customers through a variety of marketing tactics appear to give the Flag something of an identity crisis: Slot machines glow in one corner; another looks like a homely living room; garish posters advertise budget meals; flat screens hang ready for televised sports; a bar runs the length of the pub to a small stage that showcases local rock bands. But, the vast pub is empty. Says Herring, "They know we are closing so they won't even renew Sky Sports [the subscription TV channel that carries Premier League soccer...
...Sinclair greeted me on my first morning. Unable to speak coherently on account of a recent tracheotomy, he made the gesture of raising a drinking vessel to his mouth. I assumed this was an instruction to bring him coffee. In fact, he was proposing that we go to the pub, and by 11 a.m. we were at the Smuggler's Inn in the seaside town of Stanley. As word got around of Sinclair's whereabouts, uproarious characters - friends or contacts - began to stream in and a party ensued. Toward sunset, having drank steadily for the entire day and consumed...
Even with his big face and chiseled jaw, Heath Ledger was one of those guys who blended in easily. In November 2005, waiting for me outside a pub, as he would have called it, he looked like any other scruffy Brooklyn local. He was then a little bleary-eyed from being a new father, but also a little wary of the press from being a heartthrob. We were meeting to discuss what would be his Oscar-nominated performance in Brokeback Mountain. We went to a local cafe. He didn...
...element of his entourage that was far less conspicuous: his security detail. It was well known that two plainclothes police officers followed William everywhere, but their ability to blend in led to a joke among students that the only way to distinguish which of the punters in the pub worked for Scotland Yard was to make a violent, kamikaze run at the Prince. Whoever emerged to halt your advance would be the security...