Last orders at the Sutton Arms ;-)
The headline might seem click-bait-y but how could I avoid it when talking about a pub shutting early on a Saturday?
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I am a journalist who writes for BBC Culture, Pellicle and Vittles. I was named Beer Writer of the Year in 2023 by the British Guild of Beer Writers.
This post is considerably shorter than normal but the idea is to give you details of a pub I visited while I’m working on longer stuff. 500 to 1,000 words that transport you to the City for free, what a great deal. Enjoy!
“When something's one thing, it's not another.” Graham Swift, Last Orders
In the early 1990s when I first started visiting pubs, drinking on a Sunday was a truncated affair. The law ultimately changed in 1995, but pubs, like shops, were restricted to a few hours of trading in the day.
This meant that it was common for last orders to be called sometime around 2-3pm with the doors swinging opening again in evenings for another shortened session. The bronze bell was punctuation during the Sabbath.
This often led to a huge rush at the bar and an over-ordering of drinks when people used the often-generous drinking-up time as a swill-out bonanza. “Can I have some nuts? And while you there slip in a whiskey, mate.”
This will be a bit familiar to anyone who visits pubs, forgets the time and then suddenly rushes to the bar for the first bell. Aside from the pressure this puts on bar staff - especially at places, such as BrewDog Waterloo, where workers are encouraged to sell beer towers during last orders - it isn’t a responsible way of drinking. No health specialist says “speed up your drinking and quantity towards the end of the night”.
But it was at times exciting - jostling with people to get your order in before time, a massive dopamine rush when you did get served with the Pavlovian bell making you think you could drink four pints in 20 minutes. The buzz kill of the music being turned off and tables being cleaned.
And it’s a feeling I often miss having to go to pubs earlier in the day due to family life. I couldn’t remember the last time I had even heard someone call ‘last orders’ until last Saturday when I visited the Sutton Arms, on Great Sutton Street at five-ish before I went to the theatre.
I can’t stress this enough but this isn’t the nearby Fuller’s pub with the same name but the independent pub.
It all started in the first lockdown when publican Jack Duignan was about to go on holiday, found himself - like everyone else - grounded and opened on a Saturday. “We had a lot of stock,” Jack says.
The takeouts proved so successful he was calling the likes of Anspach & Hobday for cask deliveries. “We were flying through it,” says Jack. “It was successful and I found it quite enjoyable.”
Many years ago, when Mick, Jack’s dad, ran the pub, it would do a roaring trade on Saturdays with a nearby Reuters’ building providing thirsty hacks and support staff. But the weekends - until the Pandemic - starting to become a washout and the pub would be mothballed on Saturdays and Sundays.
When normality returned Jack now thought he’d give Saturdays a try especially because the Sutton gained customers in the area who had come for takeouts. “They didn’t necessarily know about us and thought we were just a City pub with macro beers,” says Jack.
Like any business wanting more trade they pushed it till 8pm or 9pm but they found at this time they would be dead because people used the pub as a stop off being going to the theatre or a nearby restaurant, like St John.
“We could be quite quiet and all of a sudden it hits half four,” says Jack, “and it could get quite manic but still enjoyable. There’s a lot of people who know we’re closing at 7pm and they just want to get that last beer in before they go elsewhere.”
At the time of my visit I had two great Elusive Brewing beers on cask, a ruby red Mild, Fall, and West Coast Indian Pale Ale, Pioneer. And some Lambic and Budvar on keg.
The clientele was very mixed - regulars, craft geeks and tourists - with the pub almost full. At the bar, I could chat with Mick about Arsenal, who was helping out as the pub unexpectedly - for some - closed soon. (The older hand mucking in is another thrill of the bell.)
When it was drawing towards the close the drinkers were told “just to let you know we are closing soon” and this is when the atmosphere changed and the bar got busy. It was lovely to have that frisson of excitement and felt like I was cheating the day.
It was worth visiting just to see the bemusement on the faces of an American couple - yes this is the England of yore. I half expected them to return to a hotel run by Mel Smith.
“We’re quite strict with it,” says Jack, adding that staff finish promptly at 7.30pm after they’ve cleaned up.
I once interviewed a brewer who spent an evening drinking non-alcoholic beer and he felt a huge buzz when he got into his car and drove home. Because it’s possible to get your kicks without being drunk especially when last orders are called and you’ve got time on your side.
The play I went to was OK but then I had already had plenty of theatre.
“There’s something magical about it,” concludes Jack, “because it’s very rare that you find a pub at the weekend that shuts at 7pm.”
Looks like I jinxed the weather by talking about swimming in mild conditions last week!