The votes are counted and the Pub Diaries Returning Officer (me) can reveal how polling panned out on the North of the River v. South of the River v. Beer Without Boundaries question.
Tied with 5 votes a piece (yes, voter turnout mirrored actual electoral apathy) were North of the River and South of the River. Beer Without Boundaries, the middle of the road compromise pulled in just short of 3 way split of the votes with 4 votes. So those results in full:
North of the River 35.71%
South of the River 35.71%
Beer Without Boundaries 28.57%
What does this result tell us? Debatably not much with about 75% of people abstaining to cast a vote (perhaps polls are not for Punks). Jeff at the Gunmakers did point out that it’s a flawed split with most of Central London being on the North side of the river. I agree, but splitting along grid references doesn’t have the same ring to it, unless I was to redraw the boundary and reframe this as an East v. West debate, but to be honest, as much as i’d like to paint a picture of a Beer Cold War, I think the comrades in the East would have it hands down. What it does perhaps show is that in the Capital, being Central doesn’t necessarily equate to having the greatest pubs. Lots of pubs yes. Lots of pubs like the Southampton Arms (as billed as LamBert Hymnal’s sanctuary) probably not. So plucky old South London was able to hold its own against the North.
Will this unresolved question be keeping me up at night? Probably not. I’m in the Beer Without Boundaries camp. And that doesn’t just go for which side of the river is best to drink. It goes for which side of the Watford Gap, which side of the Pennines, which side of the Atlantic. Good beer is good beer and a good pub is a good pub, no matter where it is and where it’s from.
