Apologies for changing the subject particularly as this thought struck me whilst visiting Headington’s Mirabai Tandoori, not in fact a pub, but some guidelines should surely be adopted by pub owners on the display of old awards.
Let me explain: the Mirabai boasts not one, not two, not three awards for hygeine, given by some nebulous cleanliness quango no doubt. All well and good – the catch? They are dated 1988, 1989 and 1990. Now my first thought on seeing this is not, oh, how clean the place must be but rather, goodness me, it must be really filthy by now.
Similarly with pubs, which will be in the habit of leaving two-star Good Pub Guide rankings from 1982 up on the door or some Egon Ronay food mention from the mid-70s (“Great chicken and an exquisite basket. Serves Double Diamond.”). I would propose a regulation imposing a five-year limit on the public display of these trophies: it’s for the pubs’ own good, you know.