Armadillo saved. I have to say after my post – which was fuelled much by noticing this obvious corrolary of the 1963 Weights & Measures Act – I may have gone too far. And Tim holds the secret of the Armadillo (in a sort of Tony The Tiger guarding the Frosties secret formula way) so I bow to his superior knowledge. Just banning the Lager Top has made my year. All that said I don’t think we are going to have roaming Trading Standards Officers closing down all the pubs in Essex.
Tom was right when he suggested that serving a drink where it is impossible to work out the abv – ie the proportion of alcohol in a drink – is illegal (though only with certain drinks. Indeed the only metered drinks are draught lager, cider, perry, stout and porter plus the four key spirits: vodka, gin, whiskey and rum. Anything else can be served in whatever measure they like. Oddly this rarely seems to happen.
I am with Tim on the campaign to save the light and bitter. A hoary old mans drink that it is, it does start the day off nicely. I fear it lacks converts in the younger generation due to its complexity. How much do you tip in at any one time. Is the aim to have a consistent head, or merely to traverse the taste spectrum from mainly bitter to mainly light ale. About ninety percent of central London bar staff would have no idea what one was if you asked for one these days.
Finally more ideas what to do on your own in a pub. Has nobody mentioned the jukebox? You can waste hours on that. I grant that it would not have helped Emma in Cargo – but this is a publog.