Oisin Rogers

Joe, it's great to be here.

Thank you so much.

Bars are places that people go to drink.

You know, they're places for that occasion to just go and drink.

But pubs are much more sort of connected into the fabric of British and Irish society.

I think, honestly, they only really work well on these islands.

I think what you said is right about the US.

Yes, you do have pubs, but they're not the same.

I think pubs have a timelessness.

A lot of the ones that are really great have been around for a very long time.

And they have a function for people to meet in a neutral space where you can actually have drinks, have a chat, end up meeting people you wouldn't normally hang out with.

And they're also a place of chaos and wonder and beauty and a bit of art.

And it's somewhere you can actually kick your shoes off and really enjoy and not know what's going to happen next.

And they're a place for great stories.

So pubs go back at least a thousand years, probably a lot longer than that, where people opened their houses and made ale or sold ale and let people come and kick back and enjoy themselves.

I think during the 18th and 19th centuries, mostly, the brewers started becoming more powerful.

So there was lots of regional brewers in all around and there still are.

And some of them are still amazing.

And they tended to try and buy pubs up.

so that they could sell their wares through those businesses.