Guest Al, would I be correct to guess you are under 30, The very things you suggest customers want are the things some of us try to avoid like the plague, when I go for a pint (which I do very frequently) I like a decent beer or stout or cider and good company and good conversation.

I do not need plasma screens, sport, juke boxes of any description, sky TV or any TV come to that (if I want to watch TV I'll stay home or tape it and watch it when I get home) If I want a big screen I'll go to the cinema. Modern interiors are fine in modern pubs, personally I like old, well worn, lived-in interiors where you can feel the presence of all the clients of the pub over the years and as for outside seating with heating ........... Australia come to mind.

These are the very things that have ruined pubs, pubs should the heart of a community where people can meet and talk and laugh and cry, share problems, discuss issues,as Hilaire Belloc wrote "when you have lost your pubs, you may drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the heart of England" I couldn't have put it better myself