Raising a glass to the return of the dimpled jug

Feature on the re-emergence of dimpled pint glasses in pubs, out of favour since the 1970s but enjoying a new popularity with drinkers. Landlord of the Taps in Lytham Steve Norris with two examples of the dimpled glass. PIC BY ROB LOCK 1-5-2014

Once the staple drinking glass for the likes of Jack Duckworth in Coronation Street and Seth Armstrong in Emmerdale, a surge in popularity has seen the glass make a return to UK bars.

Whether it be The Rovers Return or The Woolpack, or even The Taps in Henry Street, Lytham, the glass tankard, the symbol of the British pub, is back.

Taps landlord Steve Norris said: “I think the glass had a bad reputation – people percieved it as a less quality glass of beer, even more so when it went out of fashion in the old working men’s clubs. It didn’t help they often served terrible beer in them.

Feature on the re-emergence of dimpled pint glasses in pubs, out of favour since the 1970s but enjoying a new popularity with drinkers.
Customers at the Taps in Lytham with dimpled glasses Mal Bradshaw (left) and Bob Jackson. PIC BY ROB LOCK
1-5-2014 — Feature on the re-emergence of dimpled pint glasses in pubs, out of favour since the 1970s but enjoying a new popularity with drinkers. Customers at the Taps in Lytham with dimpled glasses Mal Bradshaw (left) and Bob Jackson. PIC BY ROB LOCK 1-5-2014

“But in recent months, it has started to make a comeback. People ask for a beer in them at the Taps, and others are making a statement in places like London, where they want to go back to the  traditional values to make it appealing again.”

Part of British pubs since the 1920s, the glass was the UK’s equivalent of the German beer stein or the stemmed glass in Belgium, but as lager began to take over from bitter in the 1970s and 1980s, drinking in a straight glass became more accepted.

Steve said landlords felt the straight glasses were easier to produce and easier to store, but believed part of the revival has been inspired by new special ales, with breweries producing all manner of different flavours to satisfy the tastes of punters.

Steve added: “We now have more than 1,000 micro breweries in the UK, all serving a variety of ales – the two growing markets are wine and ales. It is also the perception. The dimpled glass has that feeling of tradition. In our job it can go full circle – what is better than a good old pint of English ale in a traditional glass?”

Customer Chris Taylor added: “It’s strange to hear they are making a comeback – but it is a welcome return for me in an age where many pubs want to break with tradition.”