Price up to a point isn’t my biggest concern when choosing a pub. Its rare for me to have more than a couple of pints in a pub, (last time I drank more than three in a pub was over the Christmas period where I met up,with a couple of friends I hadn’t seen since well the previous Christmas period). Meaning even with stupidly high Oxford prices I‘m still going to be below £20, it’s rare for me to go to a pub ,more than two times in a week. If I was drinking five pints a day in the pub, then my views might be different.
The atmosphere in Wetherspoons is rarely that great, yes in a rural pub you will pay £4 a pint, in a central Oxford pub you might pay £4.5-£5 a pint. Heck in my local pub up the road from me you will pay £3.80 for some beers, you will also have open fires in winter, comfortable seats, and a generally pleasant atmosphere. The problem Is that a lot of these pubs especially in city centres are small really small in terms of floor space, and I really doubt they will be viable if social distancing needs to be maintained. It is a real worry that at the end of this we will left with Wetherspoons and similar corporate pubs, and all the free houses, and for that matter pubs that while tied to a brewery or pub Co have decent landlords committed to decent beer and service. While some pubs that serve food also have excellent beer, I fear that wet led pubs will be particularly badly affected.
