Группа Learning English. Продолжение транскрипта здесь: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/webcast/scripts/private_lives/private_lives_9.pdf
Richard Harvey, a pub landlord
Sue: In Private lives today we meet Richard Harvey. Richard is 37 years old, and he was born and brought up in Birmingham - a large city in the middle of England. Richard is a publican - he owns and runs a pub. A pub is a building where people can buy drinks, especially alcoholic drinks like beer, and then sit or stand to talk to friends. In Britain today, the pub is the most popular place of entertainment outside the home. And during the programme, we visit Richard’s pub, and hear about the customers who socialise there. Richard explains which are the most popular drinks served in pubs today, and the kinds of entertainment that his pub offers. Richard also talks about what he thinks it takes to be a good publican, and he introduces us to his girlfriend. But first, Richard recalls his earliest memories of spending an evening in a pub-like environment. When he was a boy, the whole family would go to the localWorking Men’s Club where women and child were welcome on a Friday evening. Clip Richard Harvey My father was a member of our local club - in a small area called Bartley Green in Birmingham - called the Bartley Green Working Men’s Club. And my father spent most of his life there! So myself, my brother, and my sister, as children we’d sort of traipse down the road with mum and dad on a Friday night and spend the evening in the local social club, which was a very sort of pleasant evening really - we used to stuff ourselves with crisps and orange squash, and my recollection of coming home at 11 o’clock, was that I’d got smoke in my eyes, felt very tired and I’d got a very orange tongue! Sue: Richard spent many years of his adult life working as a salesman and then a manager for a brewery - a company which makes beer. A couple of years ago, he decided to set up on his own. Together with a friend, Martyn Jones, he created a company which will own and run a small number of pubs. All the pubs will have the same name, the same interior decoration, and the same range of services for customers. Richard introduces us to his new company. Clip Richard Harvey I called it the Distinctive Pub Company Ltd and the reason why it’s called the Distinctive Pub Company is because the pubs will actually be very distinctive. What makes them distinctive is firstly the name, which is Ducks Don’t Float - yes, that is Ducks Don’t Float - and the interior and all the sort of services that the pubs offer. Sue: Richard and Martyn have recently opened their first Ducks Don’t Float. The pub is situated in the old market place of a small town called Evesham. Evesham is not far from Birmingham, where Richard and Martyn grew up, and it’s surrounded by beautiful countryside. In the summer months, Evesham is very popular with tourists, who come by car, coach and caravan. Ducks Don’t Float catches a lot of what Richard calls “the passing tourist trade”, and of course, it’s frequented by “locals” - the local people - some of whom live in Evesham but commute to work in Birmingham. The first things you notice when you walk in to Richard’s pub are the unusual layout and the brightly painted walls! Most pubs are decorated to look rather like a cosy living room in someone’s house, but Ducks Don’t Float looks more like a large, open-plan cafe or bar, with bright red and yellow walls. And unlike traditional pubs, Ducks Don’t Float offers a wide range of organised entertainment - such as “giant games nights”, where customers play giant versions of family board games. Richard also organises “disco nights”, when a local DJ will get everyone dancing to classic hit records, and, because there are a large number of bedrooms above the pub, Ducks Don’t Float offers “B and B”. ...