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Irish Times
06-07-2025
- General
- Irish Times
In a Word...Queue
Civilisation, as we knew it, is done. Finished. Kaput. I was in a pub recently (it happens!) that was full of young people. Unusual these days, as young people are more absent from pubs. The young people outside the counter were queuing. The young people inside the counter insisted that the young people outside the counter queue. And if anyone skipped the queue, or tried to, they were ordered to the back. Whoever heard the like? Clearly, the young people inside the counter are so used to queuing in all situations that they have now transposed this to the pub. READ MORE So shocked was I, I felt the need for a stiff drink. It was out of the question. I was at the end of the queue. Purgatory. Waiting. As it turned out, Godot would probably have arrived sooner. I grew up in a pub and worked in bars during the more valuable years of my youth (there's no university as good an educator in the ways of humanity as is working behind a pub counter), so I was deeply disturbed at this wanton disruption of the natural order of things. Who is to be master, that is the question? Bar staff or the thirsty? S/he who pays or s/he who dispenses? In my day people lined a counter to give their drinks order to a bar staff who came to them willingly, glad (mostly) to be of help. Now the customer must line up as though in a soup kitchen, like an unctuous supplicant awaiting the leisurely attention of his/her would-be divine superior inside the counter. Truly, the world is on its head. Add in mad prices and the abandonment of pubs by younger generations and you have today's reality – the wholesale disappearance of bars and public houses in Ireland. Is it any wonder that, as figures last month disclosed, alcohol consumption in Ireland is now at average European levels with consumption here behind France, Spain and Austria. Another myth – that of the drinking Irish – bites the dust! Year-on-year the decline in Irish drinking was of almost 5 per cent in 2024 alone, with a drop of 34.3 per cent since 2001. What has become of us at all? I blame the queuing. Queue, from French queue , for 'a tail'. inaword@
Daily Mail
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Shocking moment mass brawl breaks out at nightspot on Greek holiday island of Zante
This the shocking moment a swarm of holidaymakers brawl at a beach club in Zakynthos. A pair of topless young men in white shorts appear to be fighting with several older men, also all dressed in white, while a huge mob encircle them. One of the older men then kicks another as it seems 'they don't even know which one to fight' and grabs their shirt aggressively as carnage breaks at a nightspot on the Greek island. At one point what seems to be a member of bar staff chucks a bucket of ice water over the crowd to try and disperse the violent mob. But their best efforts have little effect as seconds later the group are hurling each other around and throwing fists. In the footage shared on social media, one of the young men can be seen swinging a savage punch at an older man's face in what was ironically dubbed a 'wholesome moment at the white party'. Shocked members of the crowd can be seen pointing and laughing at the shameless fighters. One person commented that the fight started when they were 'trying to take a picture and asked them for some space' although this was unclear as to who was being referenced. One shocked user wrote: 'Absolute sausages, may as well just stay at home.' Another joked: 'Great to see Brits abroad enjoying themselves! Enjoy your holidays boys.' 'I was trying to keep track and just gave up, JUST throwing hands for fun…' another added. Police in Zante have been contacted for comment as well as organisers of The White Party. This last month has seen a string of savage fights of tourists while on their holidays. A chaotic poolside brawl broke out at a hotel in Ibiza last week leaving one woman unconscious after she was hit in the head with a chair. Raging tourists holidaying at the Marco Polo hotel in San Antonio started aggressively yelling at each other when one women then suddenly dropped to the floor after being walloped by a plastic chair. Despite her collapse the fight continued while she lay on the ground unmoving. Harratt, 23, has since accused another man of starting the brawl by punching his friend, dubbing him a 6'6 bully During the fall, she collided with one of the instigators, who subsequently fell in the pool. MailOnline later revealed that the man at the centre of a shameful Ibiza swimming pool brawl was professional footballer Kian Harratt, according to one holidaymaker - the Oldham Athletic striker, 23, has since claimed the fight was started by a '6'6 bully' who punched his friend. In another incident, a British tourist was violently sucker-punched by a Spanish local after getting caught up in a brawl with Benidorm bouncers. Footage taken by a fellow bar-goer shows the unnamed Brit being slammed onto the floor by another man in the Spanish resort. According to an eyewitness, the man and his group were asked to leave the unknown bar by another reveller before a bouncer intervened and things got 'heated.' The Brit, who is dressed in white, can be seen being shoved by a group of men, while his friend steps in. As the exchange escalates, video shows the man being brutally punched in the face and falling on the floor, as his leg bends backwards towards his hip. A woman wearing a pink cowboy hat rushes to his aid and crouches over him, as a group of men continue to scuffle with the bouncers. An onlooker said: 'It's always the d***head Brits - it makes you ashamed to be a Brit sometimes. 'We'd been in there for two hours or so - it seemed a nice bar and all of a sudden we heard a bit of a commotion. 'There was a smaller guy who we think was a local and he looked like a bouncer but looked a bit too small to be one. 'He was asking them to leave, and then the larger bouncer came over and things got a bit heated. 'It looks like the smaller guy then knocks him out. 'He was out cold, and his leg looked dislocated.' The condition of the Brit who was floored in the Benidorm bar fight is not known.
Times
14-05-2025
- General
- Times
Michel Roux's five favourite London pubs — and what to order
I do love a good pub, and you know one the moment you walk in. It will have that lovely warmth and sociable feel to it, which comes not just from the owners and bar staff but the other customers too. You immediately feel at ease with yourself and with the world. I look out for a good local beer, from an independent brewery if possible, and a menu of good comforting food — pub grub for want of a better word. It doesn't have to be Michelin-starred — although there are now a few very good ones — but it does have to take pride and care in what it serves. Here are my favourites in London. One of the originals. Beautifully positioned on
