Northampton has a long tradition of beer making and beer drinking. Sadly the location for what was once one of the top ten ale producers in the country, has since been built upon with the massive Carlsberg factory, or megakeggery as I like to describe it. We also have the traditional Frog Island Brewery.
Now of course there are many reasons why I would rather work for Frog Island than Carlsberg; the take home perks must be far better for one thing. Additionally the one rule which Frog Island I'm sure do not share with their huge neighbours is their dry policy. Yes, dear reader, Carlsberg have recently banned all their staff from drinking alcohol during the working day. It's a new initiative, and not having an inside source, I'm not sure of the thinking, but it sure seems folly to disallow their staff from sensible drinking with their lunch. It's certainly affected trade over the road at The Malt Shovel at lunchtime, although they'll survive no doubt.
It always amazes me when an employer brings in new rules which can only lessen the morale of their staff. They'll probably blame it on Health & Safety - that's always a good cop out.
So not only has the volume of good beer being brewed diminished, but now thanks to the bosses, the amount of good beer being drank has reduced. Fools.
4 comments:
Probably done out of spite because the workers were spending their wages on good beer in the Malt Shovel and not on yucky Carlsberg.
My employer considers it 'gross misconduct' to be 'under the influence of alcohol' at work, with no further clarification than that. A lot of my colleagues take this to mean no beer at all at lunchtime. I don't. And I don't consider one pint of ale with lunch to put me under the influence.
This sort of ban really is worrying. Lunchtime drinking is a tradition that needs to be defended, not discouraged. In fact, it should be compulsory!
A certain Mr. Trasler whom I know is a retired member of Carlsberg staff and used to work at the brewery in Northampton. Years ago, he says, they used to have several bars around the place where workers could relax and have half a pint instead of tea at break-time. Everyone got beer tokens which were spent at these bars - all in the days when "The Danes" still ran the brewery.
Later, I was told, the bars were closed and the "beer allowance" was a few tins of fizzy stuff to take home in the boot of the car on Friday night. You can bet they've probably put a stop to that as well now.
As an aside, I was doing some shunting at my local Railway today and noticed one of the gauges in the locomotive cab (a combined oil level / temperature gauge for those who care) was stamped with the Carlsberg logo - probably rescued from the skip by the erstwhile Mr. Trasler?
Holy freakin sheet! This is madness!
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