Improving the drinking environment for women

The Times recently ran an article around women and beer, “Why don’t women drink beer?” which provoked an interesting discussion over at the BitterSweet Partnership website. In the article, Janet Street-Porter- never one to shy away from giving an opinion - talks about why she hates everything about beer culture, stating “I hate all the crap that goes with beer… one in four pubs is closing and they deserve to close because they are bloody crap!”

Pretty strong stuff, hey?

Whether you agree or disagree wholeheartedly, in our research around women and beer for BitterSweet Partnership we’ve found that it’s true that women often don’t like pubs. Around a quarter of women said they never know which type of beer to buy or order, and there’s often an imbalance between the information available about wine and the information available about beer.

As someone who has spent many years behind the bar, I think there are a few small, easy changes that can be made in order to make drinking beer in pubs a more appealing choice for women:

· Create a sense of theatre - just as you wouldn’t serve champagne in a mug, don’t dismiss the value of a beautiful beer glass. Research shows that almost a third of women (30%) go for something that is served well and looks good.

· Tell a story - interesting details, such as the age of the beer, why it’s different and what its qualities are all help to sell. This can show that beer can be as richly diverse as wine, with equal history, tradition and variety of products available to the drinker.

· Table service where possible - Continental drinking environments can feel much more civilised for everyone.

However, these are just my thoughts – what do you think? Would you never change the more traditional pub or do you think it’s about time drinking establishments made changes to improve the drinking environment for both men and women?