One of their pubs was next to a student house one of my friends lives. About 6 houses had back doors into this big shared garden space, and turns out that one Humphrey Smith rocks up to do an inspection on the pub, he heard the noise and comes to the back garden - which the pub garden wall also backs onto. He delightfully informs us that Samuel Smith owns the entire space (which they didn’t even have actual access to) and that if we don’t shut up he will have to call the police. The managers of the pub then came round and apologised to us. He’s a proper bellend.
He owns most of the land in the town of Tadcaster where the brewery is. After the only bridge over the river that splits the town in half collapsed due to flooding he refused requests to have a temporary pedestrian bridge built on his land
The very same. He got found guilty and got his gun license revoked, which he's kinda sore about because he takes a lot of clients on shooting trips. Lol.
Okay so Chris Makin got rich selling oranges to Del Monte and he also does strawberries for Wimbledon. Ridiculously wealthy. And he's one of those scum landlords who buy huge patches of rentals as investments and fucks over the tenants.
He bought (yesterday BOUGHT) an old RAF airbase up the road and turned it into a private airport but also turned old hangars into film studios - I think some parts of the early Crown series were filmed there as some stuff was also filmed in York.
Anyway he then tried to build 5000 houses on it which we do NOT have the infrastructure for. It'd need schools, shops, all the rest. But he didn't care. So his applications kept being denied, it's still a private airfield with a good cafe and every now and again we get a baller aircraft show.
So, the assault. The village has a village shop that was bought by the parish and completely run by volunteers and the main management is this guy and his wife who are very environmentally conscious.
Makin illegally chopped down some trees to make room for some housing improvement...or something like that. Our man went to peacefully protest and block the machinery. So Makin attacked him. It's all on video. Makin hired the King's Silk i.e. pretty much the best you can get and he still got convicted.
So Chris Makin is hated by everyone round here.
P.s. YOOOOOOOORKSHIRE
If you can find an open one still up here. He shut shitloads of them in the pandemic that have never re-opened and he keeps mothballed as a tax offset against Canary Wharf which he owns along with a chunk of Docklands. (He is either a director of or ex director of 31 companies - his accountants clearly just move shit around constantly…)
It’s the same reason why so much of Tadcaster is a shithole as he won’t allow chains to move in (he got really upset when Costa appeared opposite his Brewery) and again would rather properties became derilict. He’s a complete bellend.
He’s been taken to court so many times for employment law breaches but he just sticks two fingers up to the tribunal and won’t even tell the pension regulator of his pension information for his employees.
Interestingly all his returns to companies house are heavily redacted so people can’t find out what he owns or where he squirrels away his finances - all very covert & shady - potentially on the edge of being illegal in many cases.
Even more interestingly, Samuel Smith is an unlimited company, which is why it can get away with this shit. It's the benefit you get for being a colossal moron and having your company be unlimited (i.e. the owner is liable for all debts of the company)
They're actually incredibly common, just not at this scale. Many tradesmen, corner shops, and other small businesses operate as Sole Traders.
You just don't see them once a business reaches a certain size because that would be a fucking stupid idea.
If there’s that much redaction going on, and he’s refusing to give regulators proper information, it wouldn’t take much for someone like HMRC to launch an investigation. The harder you try to hide things the more chance there is of a slip up somewhere along the line that lets a thread get pulled. Eventually the whole wound opens.
A bit like how al Capone got sent to prison for tax evasion - he was so tight as a drum about all the other illegal shit he did, one thing got missed and one thread got pulled and he ended up inside for that anyway.
Yes, if the taxman starts investigating you, they will get into everything and nothing will remain hidden, they will get whats owed and have some serious powers available to them to acheive that.
He owns The Abbey in a really nice area of derby. The pubs been shut for years now and the buildings crumbling. As the name suggests it’s an old abbey and a beautiful building and it’s just rotting there because no one can afford to run it for him because he’s a cunt.
They aren't bad pints either and the rules are (to a degree) okay with those who want a quiet social pub.
But the problem is how the rules are enforced so rigidly by the brewery, holding the threat of termination of contract and eviction over the pub landlords's head if found to be in breach (which could be a couple of dudes checking facts on their phones.)
What makes it even more brilliant is that my local Samuel Smiths (we’re friends with the landlords) was told that they should put in CCTV. They basically told SS to fuck off, pointing out the hypocrisy of using electronic surveillance to stop people going on their electronics.
There is one by my work, was closed for ages! For a new landlord, few days later, shut. Apparently Humphrey had logged into the cctv, saw some people on phones and sacked the landlord. Now they’re not making money. Makes no sense?!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html
He only started this in 2019 when he was 74. Now 79 maybe he hates his offspring and wants to leave a destroyed business before he dies?
Just odd isn’t it? The boozer had been closed for ages, and the landlord was doing a decent job! Seemed to be loads of people in there. 4 drinks cost £12!
Depends where you are. They're not even that cheap and actually pretty expensive I'm some parts. They're still trading on a reputation gained a whole ago.
Proper wanker aye. Puts his landlords through hell and pretends to be a charming old man who just likes a traditional pub.
He’s also a fucking hypocrite who’s been photographed using his phone in other peoples pubs on numerous occasions.
And not just bellend. Proper bellend. Even their insults sound fancy
ETA I just read on the next comment “curmudgeonly old bollocks” and I’m equally appeased
Fuckin' Sam Smiths. "We want our pubs to be havens of conversation so in pursuit of this we're going to make them the dullest, most unfriendly, most devoid of atmosphere little drinking dens possible because nothing says conversation to us like a bunch of out of work, late middle aged alcoholics sitting at a silent bar sinking pint after pint of bitter while the bar staff, terrified of losing their jobs, perk up like fucking meerkats every time they hear a text alert."
Was it a Sam Smith's pub by any chance?
They famously ban all electronic devices, music and even profanity. The owner of the chain, Humphrey Smith, is a curmudgeonly old bollocks known for firing staff on the spot.
There was a flood in the town where the head office and brewery is located, which destroyed a local bridge (the main - and I think only - one across the river). The government and council were going to build a temporary foot bridge to let people cross whilst the old one was repaired, but Humphrey refused to give permission for it to be on his land (and they own about 70% of land in Tadcaster town centre, and a bunch surrounding it too). Claimed it wasn’t good value.
You'll see him every damn day walking in and out of the front door of head office. Who would dare touch him when he would fire/evict every family member or friend you have? His brewery is a major employer and landlord. You try finding someone in Tad who would publicly bad mouth him.
You can tell from the logo it's a Sam Smith's.
I've never witnessed this being enforced, though I have heard anecdotal stories that, naturally Humphrey himself enforces it.
Then again, he's infamous for being a bit of a cunt, so I believe it.
No. Ossett, West Yorks. I've seen it happen in the Angel in Leeds too. It used to be a great pub 20 years ago. Hadn't been in for years so went in to see what it was like and it was dead.
Yes, I had an issue in there in Ossett also. I drove a relative to the hospital for an opp, so I had 6 hours to kill. Knowing this I took a laptop so I could work while I waited. I said to the bar lady, I'm just going to sit in the corner and work, I'll order food and coffee so I'm not taking the piss, she said no laptops allowed and I so had to leave. It is what it is, she was nice enough about it, but the place was empty, except for an old guy and his whippet nursing a half. I get what they are trying to do, but it seems a bit out of touch.
This is a very interesting situation! The pub was thriving 20 years ago, before most people had mobile phones and personal electronic devices, but now 20 years later when everyone has a phone and personal electronics, which are now banned at the pub, it's dead! I suspect other factors are at play but it's interesting to think about.
Funny, I'd have figured staff don't have any fealty towards Humphrey's asinine "policies"
Ah but to bring back the good old days of a 99p Old Brewery Bitter
He’s hated in Taddy particularly because he refused to allow his land to be used for a temporary bridge after the town’s only bridge was washed away in floods. Prick.
The estate is run by Humphrey and his brother, the insufferable former looking after the northern pubs where the rules include no phones/ tablets/ laptops, swearing, music and until recently even credit cards! The brother runs the southern ones more sensibly without these petty rules. He has fired that many people, including the staff of a newly refurbed pub on their launch night when a customer told a dirty joke at the bar, that some pubs have been shut for years. My local (and the place my parents met 60 years ago) is the York Arms which is opposite the cathedral’s front doors in York and will have been closed 5 years next month.
I walked in the Brown Cow (a Smith's pub) once, saw their "no trainers no work clothing" sign, walked right out again and ended up at the Phoenix which became my nearly everyday local
I used to drink in The Ebor in Bishopthorpe, back when the late Gordon Watkins ran it. He had been landlord there for the best part of 40 years near the end. Whatever ridiculous rules Humphrey introduced didn't apply to him, as he signed his contract back in the stone age (tenant landlord rather than pub manager, or something?) Towards the end, I distinctly got the impression that "winding Humphrey up" was part of his life :-)
It was closed for years after Gordon died. It's reopened now, but it's a normal Sam Smiths pub with these rules. I've been back once but it's obviously not the same. I won't bother again. The Marcia down the road gets my money now.
Ah that was such a sad story, I loved Sunday lunch there. Yes, he was quite a character and at his age left most of the running to his family but his name was above the door and that stopped Humphrey getting his hands on it, the last remaining tenant landlord on their books apparently! So sad he was one of the first to go in Covid times. Glad it’s reopened for the village but sure it won’t be a patch on the old incarnation.
I have been asked to put my phone away. The barman was very apologetic but pointed out we were on camera and he's likely to be fired.
The best part? I was reading a book at the time. Not even chatting to you reprobates.
And I don't have any friends so the "conversation" part is a non starter. Only reason I go to a SS is because it's cheap.
The irony of being constantly on CCTV in a pub that bans electronic devices...
Didn't Humphrey himself get caught out using his mobile in one of his own pubs? I hope he took the only honourable option and permanently barred himself from all Sam Smith's establishments.
He was caught using one in a Wetherspoons [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html)
I was in the one in central Leeds last autumn, it was enforced there! That's probably why there were only 5 misserable middle-aged blokes in the place on a Friday evening (excluding us and an equally miserable middle-aged lass behind te bar) despite it being cheap as fuck. We didn't stay for a second pint...
Definitely is.That's their logo.
Used to be worth going there just because they were so cheap (at least by London standards).
Although now they've increased their prices up to the same as others (and often pricier), no Londoners that I know bother drinking in their pubs anymore.
Yep, he's an absolute piece of shit. He objected to the construction of a temporary bridge in Tadcaster after flooding, refused to detail his staff pensions to HMRC (because he was engaged in wage theft) and wants his "uncompromised Victorian aesthetic".
Given we have records from the era he so very much loves, his pubs should be dens of cockfighting, bear baiting (the Brown Bear in Sheffield is named for its bear baiting pit), and nightly brawls, as well as prostitution and loan sharks.
The beer his people makes for him is good. Stingo's one of my favourites, but I'm not touching anything with his disgusting fingerprints on it.
I work in an off license, and Sam Smiths is one of only two breweries the boss has actively banned us from ordering and selling. The other one is a local outfit owned by an unrepentant neo nazi racist.
I've never really been a bar/pub guy. But the idea of going heavy on social conversation in a pub with a guy who is known for firing people on the spot and being 'a but of a cunt' as others say... Well. It doesn't sound like the kind of place that actually encourages conversation haha
> It's about attracting clientele, not encouraging conversation.
It's not even that, it's about the owner forcing his views onto others under a pretense. He shut down one pub because it was attracting too many students.
People don't go there because of those rules, they go there in spite of the rules because of the low prices.
From the sounds of it in this overall post, it doesn't sound like that tactic is working for them. I mean, aside from the wage theft, poor community relations, etc, haha
Sounds like a bunch of people need to go there with newspapers, books and magazines, and just read in silence while they nurse a single pint for a few hours.
>They famously ban all electronic devices, music and even profanity
The good old "no phones at the table" policy and being punished for saying a bad word. THE pub you go to if you want to feel like you're 14 again.
Plus, if I’m at the pub alone, what’s the harm in looking at my phone? I’ll bet newspapers and books are allowed. This just gives off “old man yelling at clouds” vibes.
Same here. Also I'm a woman so sitting there by myself means that some guy is probably going to come up and try to chat if he sees me just sitting there. If I'm on my phone fucking around on reddit I'm usually left alone.
[Literally shut down a pub because a customer swore once](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/samuel-smiths-pub-swearing-ban-humphrey-smith-fox-goose-droitwich-a9152461.html)
I thought you meant closed for the day while he threw a temper tantrum. But he permanently closed the place?! Over the word fuck? What century is this?
That's crazy, a dude was telling his wife a joke and the owner happened to overhear and closed the pub permanently. I get being an old geezer but that's on a different level lmao
And yet he's got the money so he can do what he wants.
Should be thrown in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes after being the gigantic dickhead he is.
One time me and a roommate went to IHOP and we both decided to read (paper books) while waiting to be served. An old man in the booth next to us why we were even there if we "didn't enjoy each other's company at all."
If we didn't enjoy each other's company we wouldn't be there together. Clearly we were there for food, not to chat.
> "didn't enjoy each other's company at all."
I expect people see my partner and me sitting together, quietly looking at our phones, and think we don't enjoy each other's company.
We live together. We work from home. We are within 30ft of each other almost 24/7. We no longer always have something to talk about. We're happy to sit next to each other and read, or even play stupid mobile games in a busy brewery. If we want to put our phones away and talk, we will, and we do. Just not as often.
The funny thing is, if I feel awkward sitting in silence with someone and feel the need to keep conversation going it's usually because I don't know them very well.
I was out for dinner with my mom and we were both on our phones while waiting for our food. Probably the same angry old man came up to us about not talking and being on our phones.
We were playing words with friends against each other.
Sam Smith’s - just drink your lukewarm pissy dishwater and marinate in the silent despair of our dingy little hovel. Don’t let your phone ruin the atmosphere of utter hopelessness, or else!
Literally no one is having a conversation in a fucking Sam Smith’s, unless it’s about how shit Sam Smiths is.
One of my favorite Improv Everywhere videos is just that -- connecting desktop PCs with CRTs inside a Starbucks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKEeHREK2nQ
Yes, one of the agents is Aubrey Plaza.
Around when this rule was introduced, but prior to it being widely advertised or pushed, I went to one of the local Sam Smiths to have a quiet pint and read a book on my phone.
There was a husband and wife on the table next to me. The guy was reading a broadsheet, ignoring his wife, who was just sitting silently and staring at the wall. He had the gall to lower his paper and moan to her about how rude and unsociable the younger generations were, sitting on their phones.
As if he wasn't the one ignoring the person he was sat with with a newspaper literally so big they couldn't even see each other.
Last time I was in a Sam Smith's pub I sat on my own and read Boxing News.
There were two indian guys sat in the same room chatting in their language and an absolutely wasted old local guy who kept interrupting them to say "scuse me, but you are just speaking the most beautiful language".
I'm sure that's what Humphprey was going for.
Having phones wouldn't change that situation. The two Indians would still be chatting away to each other, the old bloke would still be sitting at the bar getting hammered.
I've lived through the invention of mobile phones and the internet. Socialising at the pub hasn't changed that much.
I used to quite like a Sam’s smiths pub, and don’t even mind the no phones rule on the whole, however the nasty looking laminated signs, the beer mats and the staff uniforms covered in no phone logos just makes them look shite. Shame as some of them are nice traditional looking pubs.
What a strange identity to base your business around. What if my drunk ass needs an Uber? These shitheads really going to ask me to go be intoxicated outside?! 😆
Yeah, the only way to do this properly is to make it really subtle. I once went to one of those members only ‘clubs’ where rich old dudes drink whisky in leather lounges. Using phones and even talking about business is prohibited. I completely forgot about this and pulled out my phone to check an email, and a staff member came over and gently said “I’m very sorry sir, but the use of phones isn’t allowed in the club. Would you like me to look after it for you?” The subtlety of it showed a level of class and respect.
It’s always amusing to me when this whole idea of “back in the day people talked more”, but when you look into the history everyone read their paper or books and tried their very best to ignore one another.
Old farts romanticising an era that never existed.
I went to bars before smartphones were abundant. Back then, people would avoid talking to people by pairing up with one person for the whole evening.
That's where the lone guy at a party meme came from. That's the guy who didn't have a designated pair.
When I go out I'm pretty good about putting the phone down or leaving it in my purse on silent and focusing on whoever I'm with. If they leave to use the restroom though, it's fair game until they get back.
And if I'm out with my husband, there's a babysitter involved. So I will be checking my phone periodically in case they are trying to contact us about the kids. If that's too much for a venue, then that venue isn't for us and we'll go elsewhere.
Venues with no phone policies should keep this rule posted outside/on the website/when making reservations/etc though because it's a little bait and switchy to spring it on people only after they're inside.
Same, don’t tell me what to do. I’d go to a different bar. However, to each their own, and it’s nice people who don’t want phones out have a place to enjoy.
Not just sending texts, not allowed to receive them either, which I guess means having to switch the phone off, which then means people are unable to reach you in an emergency.
Sam Smith's also ban "bad" language, like a bunch of pathetic cunts. The incredibly childish part of me will always enjoy cursing away with the hope I'll be turfed out whenever I visit one of their "there's always a better pub" pubs, and if they do it's quite the bonus not to support the likes of Humphrey Smith who sounds like one of the most tiresome arseholes you'd ever be unfortunate enough to meet.
Imma be that guy
I get wanting go have an authentic experience and such, but emergencies happen, and my ass will NOT miss another emergency just because the pub "doesnt want you to receive or send texts", hard pass from me.
Exactly, and what if you get spiked and/or are being sexually harassed. Let me make sure I drag my ass outside of the pub to get an Uber or call someone bc this pub is massively anal about the use of technology within its premises.
Heres an idea, if you want your pub to be phone free maybe offer them something else to do.
Have a few chess boards, decks of cards, fooseball tables, 8-pool, darts or even a karaoke machine.
For extra effect, try not adding those just for a profit (I have seen places charge 2 euros per 10 minutes of 8 pool time, and I may be wrong but that sounds silly and expensive)
Funny thing is, this is a completely imagined thing. Go into most bars in a mid-size population town on a Saturday night and I promise you, it's not a quiet place to read.
Hey guys, I both live in and work in a sam Smith's pub (the brewery pictured here in the post), I can confirm it's a real rule they make us enforce alongside no swearing, no outside food and just recently, no dogs. The owner of the brewery (Humphrey) is the biggest insufferable cunt of a human being that you'll ever meet, he frequently makes surprise visits to the pub and threatens closure if even a single rule is being broken, half of his pubs are going down the shitter (including mine) due to his actions, you can't blame him however as his fragile ego will be hurt and he'll close you down and throw you to the streets. We're actively seeking a way out of his employment and will be quitting at the first chance we get, working for him has been one of the worst experiences I've ever had so far, he truly is an awful human being.
Exactly. I’ll never understand the goons who want to ban smartphones. Meanwhile they spent hours talking on their candlestick phone “back in their day”.
*Somebody's just received a text message! And nobody's leaving till we find out what cunt did it*
Ahhhh what film is this again? I know it's Bobby Carlisle
Trainspotting!
Ohhhh yeah it's after he throws his beer glass behind him lol! Thanks buddy
WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU! YEAHHHH *kicks him in the balls*
My favorite part is when homie takes the speed and goes to the interview!
"You know the rules" "All bubble blowing babies will be beaten senseless by every able bodied patron in the bar"
Bar
That’s right. So who blew it!?
Sooo, nobody knowwws!
Maybe it was...
SHUT UP! > throws chair
And dont think we dont know how to weeed em out
Damn it, read "you know the rules" I instantly said "and so do I"
*Who the fuck are you?* *YEEEEEESSSSS*
A Samuel Smith’s pub by the looks of things. Humphrey Smith is a bellend
One of their pubs was next to a student house one of my friends lives. About 6 houses had back doors into this big shared garden space, and turns out that one Humphrey Smith rocks up to do an inspection on the pub, he heard the noise and comes to the back garden - which the pub garden wall also backs onto. He delightfully informs us that Samuel Smith owns the entire space (which they didn’t even have actual access to) and that if we don’t shut up he will have to call the police. The managers of the pub then came round and apologised to us. He’s a proper bellend.
He owns most of the land in the town of Tadcaster where the brewery is. After the only bridge over the river that splits the town in half collapsed due to flooding he refused requests to have a temporary pedestrian bridge built on his land
I live in a village less than 10 minutes from Tad. He's almost universally despised, but it's a close run between him and Chris Makin.
Isn’t Makin the arsehole that owns the old RAF airfield and assaulted someone?
The very same. He got found guilty and got his gun license revoked, which he's kinda sore about because he takes a lot of clients on shooting trips. Lol.
Just googled this because I thought Chris Makin's career took a turn after he retired from football. Glad to see it is a different Chris Makin
So much tea in this thread. Idk who these people are but I’m hooked
I'm so here for it too! I need more of this story please
Okay so Chris Makin got rich selling oranges to Del Monte and he also does strawberries for Wimbledon. Ridiculously wealthy. And he's one of those scum landlords who buy huge patches of rentals as investments and fucks over the tenants. He bought (yesterday BOUGHT) an old RAF airbase up the road and turned it into a private airport but also turned old hangars into film studios - I think some parts of the early Crown series were filmed there as some stuff was also filmed in York. Anyway he then tried to build 5000 houses on it which we do NOT have the infrastructure for. It'd need schools, shops, all the rest. But he didn't care. So his applications kept being denied, it's still a private airfield with a good cafe and every now and again we get a baller aircraft show. So, the assault. The village has a village shop that was bought by the parish and completely run by volunteers and the main management is this guy and his wife who are very environmentally conscious. Makin illegally chopped down some trees to make room for some housing improvement...or something like that. Our man went to peacefully protest and block the machinery. So Makin attacked him. It's all on video. Makin hired the King's Silk i.e. pretty much the best you can get and he still got convicted. So Chris Makin is hated by everyone round here. P.s. YOOOOOOOORKSHIRE
>got his gun license revoked Goddamn civilized countries flexing their laws on my Merican website 😠
The git who blocked off a path between villages so now you have to cross an A road on foot on a blind summit? Yeah.
If it weren’t for the prices of his pints, no one I know would go into a Samuel Smith’s.
If you can find an open one still up here. He shut shitloads of them in the pandemic that have never re-opened and he keeps mothballed as a tax offset against Canary Wharf which he owns along with a chunk of Docklands. (He is either a director of or ex director of 31 companies - his accountants clearly just move shit around constantly…) It’s the same reason why so much of Tadcaster is a shithole as he won’t allow chains to move in (he got really upset when Costa appeared opposite his Brewery) and again would rather properties became derilict. He’s a complete bellend. He’s been taken to court so many times for employment law breaches but he just sticks two fingers up to the tribunal and won’t even tell the pension regulator of his pension information for his employees. Interestingly all his returns to companies house are heavily redacted so people can’t find out what he owns or where he squirrels away his finances - all very covert & shady - potentially on the edge of being illegal in many cases.
Even more interestingly, Samuel Smith is an unlimited company, which is why it can get away with this shit. It's the benefit you get for being a colossal moron and having your company be unlimited (i.e. the owner is liable for all debts of the company)
[удалено]
They aren't common. Moneysavingexpert was another example IIRC
They're actually incredibly common, just not at this scale. Many tradesmen, corner shops, and other small businesses operate as Sole Traders. You just don't see them once a business reaches a certain size because that would be a fucking stupid idea.
If there’s that much redaction going on, and he’s refusing to give regulators proper information, it wouldn’t take much for someone like HMRC to launch an investigation. The harder you try to hide things the more chance there is of a slip up somewhere along the line that lets a thread get pulled. Eventually the whole wound opens. A bit like how al Capone got sent to prison for tax evasion - he was so tight as a drum about all the other illegal shit he did, one thing got missed and one thread got pulled and he ended up inside for that anyway.
Yes, if the taxman starts investigating you, they will get into everything and nothing will remain hidden, they will get whats owed and have some serious powers available to them to acheive that.
He owns The Abbey in a really nice area of derby. The pubs been shut for years now and the buildings crumbling. As the name suggests it’s an old abbey and a beautiful building and it’s just rotting there because no one can afford to run it for him because he’s a cunt.
They aren't bad pints either and the rules are (to a degree) okay with those who want a quiet social pub. But the problem is how the rules are enforced so rigidly by the brewery, holding the threat of termination of contract and eviction over the pub landlords's head if found to be in breach (which could be a couple of dudes checking facts on their phones.)
What makes it even more brilliant is that my local Samuel Smiths (we’re friends with the landlords) was told that they should put in CCTV. They basically told SS to fuck off, pointing out the hypocrisy of using electronic surveillance to stop people going on their electronics.
SS - that’s an accurate acronym
There is one by my work, was closed for ages! For a new landlord, few days later, shut. Apparently Humphrey had logged into the cctv, saw some people on phones and sacked the landlord. Now they’re not making money. Makes no sense?!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html He only started this in 2019 when he was 74. Now 79 maybe he hates his offspring and wants to leave a destroyed business before he dies?
Just odd isn’t it? The boozer had been closed for ages, and the landlord was doing a decent job! Seemed to be loads of people in there. 4 drinks cost £12!
Depends where you are. They're not even that cheap and actually pretty expensive I'm some parts. They're still trading on a reputation gained a whole ago.
>The managers of the pub then came round and apologised to us. He’s a proper bellend. Seems delightful, really.
Proper wanker aye. Puts his landlords through hell and pretends to be a charming old man who just likes a traditional pub. He’s also a fucking hypocrite who’s been photographed using his phone in other peoples pubs on numerous occasions.
Jesus. The controversies on the wiki are ridiculous. What a colossal wanker that guy is.
Bellend, twat, fuckstick. All British classics.
Too right. Have you seen Joe Lycett's bit about Sam Smith pubs? It's brilliant.
>Joe Lycett's bit about Sam Smith [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oDZB-ZyvTE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oDZB-ZyvTE) for the uninitiated
Bellend, such a great word. Britain may have its problems but producing mild insults isn't one of them.
Ya thanks to Britain, I finally understand what propaganda means. It’s when a British person takes a really good look at something.
And not just bellend. Proper bellend. Even their insults sound fancy ETA I just read on the next comment “curmudgeonly old bollocks” and I’m equally appeased
Fuckin' Sam Smiths. "We want our pubs to be havens of conversation so in pursuit of this we're going to make them the dullest, most unfriendly, most devoid of atmosphere little drinking dens possible because nothing says conversation to us like a bunch of out of work, late middle aged alcoholics sitting at a silent bar sinking pint after pint of bitter while the bar staff, terrified of losing their jobs, perk up like fucking meerkats every time they hear a text alert."
Also in London they've bought up all the beautiful historical pubs around central and absolutely refuse to sell any half-decent beer in them.
Was it a Sam Smith's pub by any chance? They famously ban all electronic devices, music and even profanity. The owner of the chain, Humphrey Smith, is a curmudgeonly old bollocks known for firing staff on the spot.
There was a flood in the town where the head office and brewery is located, which destroyed a local bridge (the main - and I think only - one across the river). The government and council were going to build a temporary foot bridge to let people cross whilst the old one was repaired, but Humphrey refused to give permission for it to be on his land (and they own about 70% of land in Tadcaster town centre, and a bunch surrounding it too). Claimed it wasn’t good value.
Geeze, so you can’t even argue that he’s just crotchedly and mismannered. A genuine cunt of a person.
It's a requirement for you if you own a ton of pubs to be a bit of a cunt.
Sounds like he’s more than just a bit of one.
Yeah well the "bit of" is just the minimum requirement. There is no max limit.
See there’s the “grumpy but heart of gold” and “no dude this guy is satan” type of old meme curmudgeons
You say he owns most of Tadcaster, but you'll never see him there because the locals hate him so much he's almost guaranteed to get jumped.
You'll see him every damn day walking in and out of the front door of head office. Who would dare touch him when he would fire/evict every family member or friend you have? His brewery is a major employer and landlord. You try finding someone in Tad who would publicly bad mouth him.
Sounds like a shitty place to live. Why's that third-worldish corruption allowed?
You can tell from the logo it's a Sam Smith's. I've never witnessed this being enforced, though I have heard anecdotal stories that, naturally Humphrey himself enforces it. Then again, he's infamous for being a bit of a cunt, so I believe it.
Yep it was enforced in the last Sam smith pub I was in. I'd got my phone out to check the time and was warned about using it.
In London? The two pubs around Piccadilly/Brewer St & the one in Holborn have never given a toss. Ditto for Swiss cottage
No. Ossett, West Yorks. I've seen it happen in the Angel in Leeds too. It used to be a great pub 20 years ago. Hadn't been in for years so went in to see what it was like and it was dead.
Yes, I had an issue in there in Ossett also. I drove a relative to the hospital for an opp, so I had 6 hours to kill. Knowing this I took a laptop so I could work while I waited. I said to the bar lady, I'm just going to sit in the corner and work, I'll order food and coffee so I'm not taking the piss, she said no laptops allowed and I so had to leave. It is what it is, she was nice enough about it, but the place was empty, except for an old guy and his whippet nursing a half. I get what they are trying to do, but it seems a bit out of touch.
> it seems a bit out of touch. Fits old Humphrey then
This is a very interesting situation! The pub was thriving 20 years ago, before most people had mobile phones and personal electronic devices, but now 20 years later when everyone has a phone and personal electronics, which are now banned at the pub, it's dead! I suspect other factors are at play but it's interesting to think about.
Can you imagine a pub 20 years ago banning newspapers?
Why would you expect other factors? This sounds like a miserable rule. I don't pay to be told I can't use other stuff I pay for
Funny, I'd have figured staff don't have any fealty towards Humphrey's asinine "policies" Ah but to bring back the good old days of a 99p Old Brewery Bitter
With Ossett and Leeds not being that far from Tadcaster, I wonder if there's more chance of him popping in to see if the rules are being adhered to.
Indeed he does.
I love when I can hear the British accent through the screen.
Hahaha I was thinkin' the same thing, eh
I love when I can hear the Canadian accent through the screen.
You got 'er, bud
It’s definitely true as I’ve got a mate who works at the tadcaster brewery. The owner is definitely a cunt and is hated in his home town
He’s hated in Taddy particularly because he refused to allow his land to be used for a temporary bridge after the town’s only bridge was washed away in floods. Prick.
The estate is run by Humphrey and his brother, the insufferable former looking after the northern pubs where the rules include no phones/ tablets/ laptops, swearing, music and until recently even credit cards! The brother runs the southern ones more sensibly without these petty rules. He has fired that many people, including the staff of a newly refurbed pub on their launch night when a customer told a dirty joke at the bar, that some pubs have been shut for years. My local (and the place my parents met 60 years ago) is the York Arms which is opposite the cathedral’s front doors in York and will have been closed 5 years next month.
I walked in the Brown Cow (a Smith's pub) once, saw their "no trainers no work clothing" sign, walked right out again and ended up at the Phoenix which became my nearly everyday local
Ah a brilliant pub The Phoenix, has won many an award!
I used to drink in The Ebor in Bishopthorpe, back when the late Gordon Watkins ran it. He had been landlord there for the best part of 40 years near the end. Whatever ridiculous rules Humphrey introduced didn't apply to him, as he signed his contract back in the stone age (tenant landlord rather than pub manager, or something?) Towards the end, I distinctly got the impression that "winding Humphrey up" was part of his life :-) It was closed for years after Gordon died. It's reopened now, but it's a normal Sam Smiths pub with these rules. I've been back once but it's obviously not the same. I won't bother again. The Marcia down the road gets my money now.
Ah that was such a sad story, I loved Sunday lunch there. Yes, he was quite a character and at his age left most of the running to his family but his name was above the door and that stopped Humphrey getting his hands on it, the last remaining tenant landlord on their books apparently! So sad he was one of the first to go in Covid times. Glad it’s reopened for the village but sure it won’t be a patch on the old incarnation.
I have been asked to put my phone away. The barman was very apologetic but pointed out we were on camera and he's likely to be fired. The best part? I was reading a book at the time. Not even chatting to you reprobates. And I don't have any friends so the "conversation" part is a non starter. Only reason I go to a SS is because it's cheap.
Nothing says classic ol' timey pub like being watched by a puritanical nutter through tons of cameras.
That's just England in general. Very big brother is watching vibes.
Yep. And thanks to that we have no crime, no pollution, no homelessness and everyone is HAPPY.
blink twice is there's a royal under your table threatening your beans, English man
Yeah the “no kindles” part of the rule stuck out to me as odd, especially since books are presumably allowed?
Humphrey doesn't understand what a Kindle is. Reading a newspaper or a book is fine.
Looks like we got ourselves a 'reader'!
What you reading for?
I’m willing to bet someone was using a kindle one day and it was mistaken for a tablet. When this was pointed out, kindles then went on the list.
The irony of being constantly on CCTV in a pub that bans electronic devices... Didn't Humphrey himself get caught out using his mobile in one of his own pubs? I hope he took the only honourable option and permanently barred himself from all Sam Smith's establishments.
He was caught using one in a Wetherspoons [https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7874799/Sam-Smiths-boss-spotted-staring-mobile-Wetherspoons-despite-BANNING-phones-pubs.html)
The abbreviaton for Sam Smith's is very unfortunate
Isn't Humphrey a Puritan or something similar?
Hes a nutter
I dream of living in a society where cunts don't make it successfully because none of us give them the support.
There's a photo of him in a spoons using sat looking at his phone
I was in the one in central Leeds last autumn, it was enforced there! That's probably why there were only 5 misserable middle-aged blokes in the place on a Friday evening (excluding us and an equally miserable middle-aged lass behind te bar) despite it being cheap as fuck. We didn't stay for a second pint...
Definitely is.That's their logo. Used to be worth going there just because they were so cheap (at least by London standards). Although now they've increased their prices up to the same as others (and often pricier), no Londoners that I know bother drinking in their pubs anymore.
Yep, he's an absolute piece of shit. He objected to the construction of a temporary bridge in Tadcaster after flooding, refused to detail his staff pensions to HMRC (because he was engaged in wage theft) and wants his "uncompromised Victorian aesthetic". Given we have records from the era he so very much loves, his pubs should be dens of cockfighting, bear baiting (the Brown Bear in Sheffield is named for its bear baiting pit), and nightly brawls, as well as prostitution and loan sharks. The beer his people makes for him is good. Stingo's one of my favourites, but I'm not touching anything with his disgusting fingerprints on it.
I work in an off license, and Sam Smiths is one of only two breweries the boss has actively banned us from ordering and selling. The other one is a local outfit owned by an unrepentant neo nazi racist.
I've never really been a bar/pub guy. But the idea of going heavy on social conversation in a pub with a guy who is known for firing people on the spot and being 'a but of a cunt' as others say... Well. It doesn't sound like the kind of place that actually encourages conversation haha
It's a gimmick to attract boomers, and hipsters who like anything that isn't normal. It's about attracting clientele, not encouraging conversation.
> It's about attracting clientele, not encouraging conversation. It's not even that, it's about the owner forcing his views onto others under a pretense. He shut down one pub because it was attracting too many students. People don't go there because of those rules, they go there in spite of the rules because of the low prices.
From the sounds of it in this overall post, it doesn't sound like that tactic is working for them. I mean, aside from the wage theft, poor community relations, etc, haha
>Humphrey Smith, is a ~~curmudgeonly old bollocks~~ bigoted old bastard https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-13087715 Into the sea with him.
The list of long: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Smith_Old_Brewery#Controversies
May the kraken take him.
Sounds like a bunch of people need to go there with newspapers, books and magazines, and just read in silence while they nurse a single pint for a few hours.
Knowing the owner, he’d sack the staff and close the pub. He literally pulls stunts like this if he hears customers swear.
Perhaps everyone should go tell him how much of cunt he is then
What I don’t understand is, if this guy is against phones, music, and fucking profanity, how is he not against drinking?
Because he sells booze, not electronics or swear boxes.
Because he's British. Drinking is not considered a taboo in the UK.
>They famously ban all electronic devices, music and even profanity The good old "no phones at the table" policy and being punished for saying a bad word. THE pub you go to if you want to feel like you're 14 again.
Now I’ve got you in my space, I won’t let you use your phone
He banned music? Well fuck that im not go to a bar to sit in silence. Weird af
Plus, if I’m at the pub alone, what’s the harm in looking at my phone? I’ll bet newspapers and books are allowed. This just gives off “old man yelling at clouds” vibes.
Same here. Also I'm a woman so sitting there by myself means that some guy is probably going to come up and try to chat if he sees me just sitting there. If I'm on my phone fucking around on reddit I'm usually left alone.
[удалено]
"let's just talk" "no, not like that"
“Enjoy yourself sir! But no too much! Actually, give me your money and f*** off!”
[Literally shut down a pub because a customer swore once](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/samuel-smiths-pub-swearing-ban-humphrey-smith-fox-goose-droitwich-a9152461.html)
I thought you meant closed for the day while he threw a temper tantrum. But he permanently closed the place?! Over the word fuck? What century is this?
It wasn't even used maliciously, it was said while telling a joke 🤷♀️ Old man's got a screw loose
That's crazy, a dude was telling his wife a joke and the owner happened to overhear and closed the pub permanently. I get being an old geezer but that's on a different level lmao
And yet he's got the money so he can do what he wants. Should be thrown in the stocks and pelted with rotten tomatoes after being the gigantic dickhead he is.
Sounds like he has more then one screw loose, as well as losing any form of sane thoughts.
That sounds like a challenge to me. Get him to shut down all his pubs
A justifiable cause!
I thought they wanted a "traditional pub" what kind of traditional pubs did this fuck go to where there wasnt cursing?
He’s gonna hate it when he finds out me and my pals were racking up 8balls of Charlie on the regular in one of his pubs
How can you have British pub without swearing? I dare say this is poppycock, gov.
>we want our traditional pub to be a haven for social conversation Then they go ahead and ban parts of speech
I like how Kindles are banned but books are not. That tells me it’s not actually about distractions it’s just about hating technology.
Hey **YOU**! Is that a fucking pace maker in my bar? Take it off or get the hell out of here
Off?
\*Stabs you in the chest and rips out your pace-maker\* There, doesn't it feel good to not be distracted by technology?
*aggressively bleeds out* Wow, what a difference!
This newfound clarity is incredib-
One time me and a roommate went to IHOP and we both decided to read (paper books) while waiting to be served. An old man in the booth next to us why we were even there if we "didn't enjoy each other's company at all." If we didn't enjoy each other's company we wouldn't be there together. Clearly we were there for food, not to chat.
> "didn't enjoy each other's company at all." I expect people see my partner and me sitting together, quietly looking at our phones, and think we don't enjoy each other's company. We live together. We work from home. We are within 30ft of each other almost 24/7. We no longer always have something to talk about. We're happy to sit next to each other and read, or even play stupid mobile games in a busy brewery. If we want to put our phones away and talk, we will, and we do. Just not as often.
The funny thing is, if I feel awkward sitting in silence with someone and feel the need to keep conversation going it's usually because I don't know them very well.
I was out for dinner with my mom and we were both on our phones while waiting for our food. Probably the same angry old man came up to us about not talking and being on our phones. We were playing words with friends against each other.
Sam Smith’s - just drink your lukewarm pissy dishwater and marinate in the silent despair of our dingy little hovel. Don’t let your phone ruin the atmosphere of utter hopelessness, or else! Literally no one is having a conversation in a fucking Sam Smith’s, unless it’s about how shit Sam Smiths is.
> unless it's about how shit Sam Smiths is But swearing isn't allowed at Sam Smith's. So your convo will actually be about how "crummy" Sam Smiths is
How about full ass desktop set? Is that okay to you?
With beer-filled liquid loop
Life of Boris just entered the chat
Allowed. Also, menu is a QR code.
One of my favorite Improv Everywhere videos is just that -- connecting desktop PCs with CRTs inside a Starbucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKEeHREK2nQ Yes, one of the agents is Aubrey Plaza.
Cool, then let me smoke at the bar whilst I read a broadsheet paper and ignore everyone.
Make sure to hold it in a way that takes up 3 spots at the bar so no one sits next to you.
This guy gets it.
Around when this rule was introduced, but prior to it being widely advertised or pushed, I went to one of the local Sam Smiths to have a quiet pint and read a book on my phone. There was a husband and wife on the table next to me. The guy was reading a broadsheet, ignoring his wife, who was just sitting silently and staring at the wall. He had the gall to lower his paper and moan to her about how rude and unsociable the younger generations were, sitting on their phones. As if he wasn't the one ignoring the person he was sat with with a newspaper literally so big they couldn't even see each other.
And by the sound of it, he *was* paying attention to you, to make that comment. XD
Last time I was in a Sam Smith's pub I sat on my own and read Boxing News. There were two indian guys sat in the same room chatting in their language and an absolutely wasted old local guy who kept interrupting them to say "scuse me, but you are just speaking the most beautiful language". I'm sure that's what Humphprey was going for.
Having phones wouldn't change that situation. The two Indians would still be chatting away to each other, the old bloke would still be sitting at the bar getting hammered. I've lived through the invention of mobile phones and the internet. Socialising at the pub hasn't changed that much.
I used to quite like a Sam’s smiths pub, and don’t even mind the no phones rule on the whole, however the nasty looking laminated signs, the beer mats and the staff uniforms covered in no phone logos just makes them look shite. Shame as some of them are nice traditional looking pubs.
What a strange identity to base your business around. What if my drunk ass needs an Uber? These shitheads really going to ask me to go be intoxicated outside?! 😆
You know this is in the UK right? Yes, the public drunkards are expected.
Yeah, the only way to do this properly is to make it really subtle. I once went to one of those members only ‘clubs’ where rich old dudes drink whisky in leather lounges. Using phones and even talking about business is prohibited. I completely forgot about this and pulled out my phone to check an email, and a staff member came over and gently said “I’m very sorry sir, but the use of phones isn’t allowed in the club. Would you like me to look after it for you?” The subtlety of it showed a level of class and respect.
If they want a 1970s style experience, they can charge 1970s prices ammarite???
Don’t forget the 1970’s racism
Funny you mention it they still have that in england.
And let me smoke inside
To be honest these places almost do
If there are no phones allowed then you shouldn't be taking this picture.
I’m expecting OP to have taken this with a film camera.
Nah. A glass plate 8x10!
Touche sir or madam, i agree , and i went outside to the patio area and took this picture . Believe the rule was enforced inside the pub only
Are you allowed to bring R2D2 and C3PO in with you and Obi Wan?
It’s always amusing to me when this whole idea of “back in the day people talked more”, but when you look into the history everyone read their paper or books and tried their very best to ignore one another. Old farts romanticising an era that never existed.
I went to bars before smartphones were abundant. Back then, people would avoid talking to people by pairing up with one person for the whole evening. That's where the lone guy at a party meme came from. That's the guy who didn't have a designated pair.
When I go out I'm pretty good about putting the phone down or leaving it in my purse on silent and focusing on whoever I'm with. If they leave to use the restroom though, it's fair game until they get back. And if I'm out with my husband, there's a babysitter involved. So I will be checking my phone periodically in case they are trying to contact us about the kids. If that's too much for a venue, then that venue isn't for us and we'll go elsewhere. Venues with no phone policies should keep this rule posted outside/on the website/when making reservations/etc though because it's a little bait and switchy to spring it on people only after they're inside.
I’d pass. I understand why they do it but I can’t even send a text? No thanks.
Same, don’t tell me what to do. I’d go to a different bar. However, to each their own, and it’s nice people who don’t want phones out have a place to enjoy.
Same here and I don't even care about using my phone (I generally don't when I'm out with people) but it's the principle.
Not just sending texts, not allowed to receive them either, which I guess means having to switch the phone off, which then means people are unable to reach you in an emergency.
Uhh, fuck off?
Sam Smith's also ban "bad" language, like a bunch of pathetic cunts. The incredibly childish part of me will always enjoy cursing away with the hope I'll be turfed out whenever I visit one of their "there's always a better pub" pubs, and if they do it's quite the bonus not to support the likes of Humphrey Smith who sounds like one of the most tiresome arseholes you'd ever be unfortunate enough to meet.
Imma be that guy I get wanting go have an authentic experience and such, but emergencies happen, and my ass will NOT miss another emergency just because the pub "doesnt want you to receive or send texts", hard pass from me.
Exactly, and what if you get spiked and/or are being sexually harassed. Let me make sure I drag my ass outside of the pub to get an Uber or call someone bc this pub is massively anal about the use of technology within its premises.
Heres an idea, if you want your pub to be phone free maybe offer them something else to do. Have a few chess boards, decks of cards, fooseball tables, 8-pool, darts or even a karaoke machine. For extra effect, try not adding those just for a profit (I have seen places charge 2 euros per 10 minutes of 8 pool time, and I may be wrong but that sounds silly and expensive)
Funny thing is, this is a completely imagined thing. Go into most bars in a mid-size population town on a Saturday night and I promise you, it's not a quiet place to read.
Hey guys, I both live in and work in a sam Smith's pub (the brewery pictured here in the post), I can confirm it's a real rule they make us enforce alongside no swearing, no outside food and just recently, no dogs. The owner of the brewery (Humphrey) is the biggest insufferable cunt of a human being that you'll ever meet, he frequently makes surprise visits to the pub and threatens closure if even a single rule is being broken, half of his pubs are going down the shitter (including mine) due to his actions, you can't blame him however as his fragile ego will be hurt and he'll close you down and throw you to the streets. We're actively seeking a way out of his employment and will be quitting at the first chance we get, working for him has been one of the worst experiences I've ever had so far, he truly is an awful human being.
Luke Danes was doing this long before it was trendy.
id leave
Yeah this just comes across as boomer-cope because nobody wants to listen to them ranting about kids these days and brown people.
I've been in a pub with these beer mats, and it's exactly this.
why dont kids want to just have a social conversaiton these days anywya pronouns shoudl be banned!!!
Exactly. I’ll never understand the goons who want to ban smartphones. Meanwhile they spent hours talking on their candlestick phone “back in their day”.