Decennial Census

Back in 1981 a small group decided to visit every pub in Aldershot.

Visiting during Saturday lunch time opening hours, and covering four or five pubs each week, the survey occupied the first few months of the year.

The survey was repeated in 1991 (dates, map) , but other than noting the pubs and the date of visit, no records were kept.

This time we decided to take a more objective view and record our impressions of the pubs, marking them in a number of categories. As in the previous surveys the visits took place on Saturday afternoons, but this time there was no need to start early as all the pubs stayed open all day on a Saturday. However, this does mean the survey is a snapshot of the pubs on one day during the year, and marks as in atmosphere and how busy the pub was may not reflect the popularity of a pub at other times of the week.

In each category the mark was between 1 & 5, with 1 being the best for 1991 and with 5 being the best for 2011 and beyond.

The categories are:

1) Atmosphere: did we feel welcome or given the ‘evil eye’

2) Decor: comfortable or in need of a facelift

3) Busy: or dead

4) Beer availability: different ‘Reals’ from different breweries, or desert No real account was taken of quality as one man’s top beer is another man’s slops

5) Price: a pint of bitter @ £2.10 would receive a ‘2’

2011 - who walked the dark streets of Aldershot?
Name Trips
RO 7
PV 3
KO 7
RN 4
PC 6
TM 6
MG 7
JG 2
FN 1

2021 census has been delayed to to Covid but one hope to get a survey done in 2022 without full PPE being worn.