Binging in the UK: Part of culture or culture itself?

by Iva Skoch on

Last week in London, I noticed pubs still closed at 11, despite having had the option of applying for a 24-hour drinking license for almost three years now. It just so happens, that the UK released a report last week claiming that the prolonged opening hours didn’t really help curb the “binge-drinking problem” in Britain.

In her column, Sorry I binge responsibly, The Guardian’s Zoe Williams writes about the complicated British culture of binge-drinking, asking herself whether to blame the 60s for destroying a shared understanding of morality, or the 80s for creating the financial disparities that make society functionally meaningless to people anywhere near the bottom, or–her best bet–she offers leftist fiscal explanations.

Whatever causes the Britons to binge-drink, one thing is clear. Liberal licensing laws have not helped much. The average pub in the UK stays open only 21 minutes longer than before (pubs are not interested to apply for licenses). Although crime has gone down slightly, alcohol-related crime, in city centers, has gone up, especially after midnight. Williams writes: “If the relaxation of licensing laws has had any beneficial impact on crime, then perhaps it is to keep burglars in the pub, giving them less time to burgle.”

To summarize getting to and from London…

by Iva Skoch on

…I would default to the much overused Mastercard lingo:

Airticket from London to Prague: $100

Taxi to the airport: $250

Leaving for the airport early enough to take the train next time: priceless. (Well, not completely priceless, but about $230 cheaper than taking a cab.)

The good part is that I actually made the flight with two minutes to spare. The bad part is that it would have been cheaper to just miss the flight and buy an new air ticket.

Can you believe it actually costs twice as much to fly internationally as it does to take a cab from the center of London to Stansted airport?

Love from London: $200 million penthouse, anyone?

by Iva Skoch on

Don’t worry, I am not going to turn this into a real estate blog. I realize I recently blogged about the real estate prices in London, but I just couldn’t NOT tell you that in London, somebody actually bought a new development condo for £100 million ($200 million), which is incidentally the most expensive apartment ever sold, anywhere. That is the kind of town London is these days.

The development, One Hyde Park, is located–you guessed it–right by Hyde Park in Knightsbridge opposite the Mandarin Oriental hotel and not far from the department store Harrods.

According to SkyscraperNews, the somebody was Sheikh Hamad, the foreign minister of Qatar and the owner of Al Jazeera, whose £100 million offer last year exceeded the £82 million the flat was originally said to be on sale for suggesting that a bidding war went on between potential purchasers eager to snap it up. The facilities apparently include everything a billionaire could ask for: a private lift, bullet proof glass windows, and an underground passage linking it into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel to save him ever having to walk down the street with the great unwashed.

By the way, the great unwashed would be us, folks.

Love from London: The best pub in Britain

by Iva Skoch on

As you well know, the Brits take their pubs very seriously, so nobody should be surprised that they actually vote for the best pub in the country every year. The judges say the competition “analyzes all the criteria that makes a good pub – including the quality of the beer, atmosphere, décor, customer service, clientele mix and value for money.”

According to the Times Online, the The Old Spot Inn in Dursley, Gloucestershire, a 100-year-old inn has won the 2008 Pub of the Year award from the Campaign for Real Ale, “despite having no juke box, pool table, fruit machine or theme.” Fruit machine or theme, I love that.

You can actually watch the video to get a feel for the atmosphere here, but I’ll tell you – when it comes to pub crawling, virtual reality doesn’t really come close to the real thing. We’ll have to wait for some sort of “Third Life” before we can actually enjoy a virtual beer.

Love from London: It’s a great city, if you can afford it

by Iva Skoch on

I just made it to London and will be spending a week here. Lucky me! London is one of my favorite cities in the world. To use an overused cliche, London combines the best of Europe with the best of the US. Some people, I am sure, would argue against this statement, but I think it sums up London pretty well.

The biggest problem I have with London is how crazy expensive it is. Just to illustrate my point, one single fare tube ticket is 4GBP. That is about 850 dollars. Just kidding. It is about $8, but still. It is not cheap. The public transportation trick is to purchase an Oyster card, which allows you to add rides for only 1.50GBP.

London is also a very walkable city, which is what I plan on doing. How else am I going to report back on all the great pubs I frequented?