What Makes A Good Pub?

The Three Legs, The Headrow, Leeds

I was phoned up by Radio Leeds the other day (I was sat in a garden in Spain at the time, but that is another story). They wanted to know what made for a good pub. As far as I remember, this is, more or less, what I said.

A good pub is a bit like a good Yorkshire pudding : it is not just the ingredients, it is the way they are mixed together. As for the necessary ingredients, there needs to be an interesting building, a decent selection of beers, and an accommodating host. You can find such ingredients listed in any recipe book, but there are also a number of more indefinite requirements. The TV show Cheers used to have a theme song which sang the praises of a bar "where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came". A good pub is a bit like that. A great pub is one where you can feel such sentiments even if it is the first time you have ever walked through the doors.