February Newsletter
Going back as far as pagan times, the heart of the village pub revolved around community events. The pub singalong, created to boost both spirits and spirit sales, became popular around the time of the Norman conquests circa 1066.
By Shakespeare’s day, favored pub activities included Bear Baiting and Dwile Flonking.... throwing beer-soaked cloths at a target over the bar, trying to avoid hitting the publican himself. A game called Aunt Sally gained momentum around the time Charles the First was beheaded. This involved throwing sticks at a wooden replica of the King’s head to try and break a clay pipe in the monarch’s mouth. Hence the cry “Off with his pipe.” Still a popular tradition at Scottish stag nights, the cry is often followed by the forcible lowering of the groom’s trousers. Variations on darts, skittles, cribbage, and dominoes have all been enjoyed for over a thousand years. The first pub quiz was recorded sometime in the seventeenth century.
The fundamental difference between a restaurant and a pub was that a pub was the place where we considered ourselves to be at our most entertaining, unencumbered by sobriety or pressing domestic worries. Restaurants were where we considered ourselves to be on our best behavior. In my youth, a restaurant was where your parents took you wearing a tie. Today, the lines are more blurred. Pubs, by necessity, have had to up their game and become eateries.
Pubs and restaurants fall into two categories. Either the original concept is set in stone, or it evolves gradually into what its clientele really wants it to become. For example, Olive Gardens are unlikely to change at all from day 1 to day 1001, whereas other eateries grow organically. Ask anyone in the restaurant business what the formula for success is, and they will tell you there is not one. Unless, of course, they are trying to get you to invest. The formula for failure is easier to define... trying to please everyone.
Mad Dogs was born in 1991 as an expatriate bar and morphed into a Fawlty Towers type joint. Thanks to our partnership with Oxford Commons, we now have the most beautiful pub in Florida. Laura Taylor, the splendid head of their programming department, brought in the kind of fun games the original one never had room for: everything from Musical Bingo and Trivia to Christmas Caroling and Gerry does Guinness.
UK pubs have undergone complete makeovers in this century. The best of them have transformed themselves into really cool sanctuaries complete with award-winning chefs and interesting art. Yet they still retain their warmth. You cannot be your most amusing self if you are not totally relaxed.
The new Mad Dogs has now been open at 4914 South MacDill for exactly a year. It is very heartening to see new regulars joining us all the time. No one knows the exact formula for success of any pub or restaurant. All you can do is keep working on the recipe and discourage anybody from throwing beer-soaked cloths too close to the bartenders.
As for evolution on a grand scale, have you tried the new Predalina? Recently, transformed by our partners into the most beautiful hybrid restaurant/nightclub you can imagine, I can only describe it as stepping into a Fellini movie starring Dua Lipa. Even the food is sexy.
