‘Don’t use “the weak word”’: Women brewers, identities and gendered territories of embodied work

Focusing on an unresearched group of women brewers, and drawing conceptually on embodiment and identity work, this article explores worker corporealities within the gendered landscape of microbreweries and deepens understanding of the body/work/gender nexus in the context of brewer’s work. In doing so, it challenges the marginalisation of female worker bodies in scholarly work on male-dominated occupations. Drawing on interview and observation data collected in the UK in 2015, verbal narratives of women brewers’ experiences of their working lives are utilised to provide insights into how their gendered bodily practices constitute resources for constructing a distinctive ‘brewster’ identity. Women brewers engage in identity work, on both individual and collective levels, through the material and symbolic framing of their embodied and gendered working selves; navigating their physical working environments; downplaying gender to emphasise physical competence; and foregrounding gender in relation to non-physical aspects to accentuate difference and collective contribution

The Artful Science of Crafting Ale: Discussing the Finer Nuances of Making and Selling Beer

Researching Craft Beer offers insights for aspiring and present owners of breweries, those looking to open a craft beer bar as well as other beer researchers the volume offers a prescient assessment of historic, present, and likely future developments within the sector

Lincoln’s West End Pubs in the first years after World War II

Covering over 200 years of history, this work examines the development of Lincoln’s distinctive West End neighbourhood. Chapters plot its growth as an important residential district. The West End’s history as a workplace is emphasised with chapters examining businesses based there, including waterproof fabric makers, timber manufacturers, gasworks, brickyards and a chemical works. The West End pubs, used by many of these workers, are also placed under the spotlight. The significance of the Fossdyke which runs along the southern border of the district is considered. The work also pays attention to the City and County Councils’ presence in the district, as well as the Corporation’s stables. Educational and medical provision is explored. Several chapters focus upon the West Common during pandemics, wars and, in more peaceful times, as a site for fairs, sport and leisure

Complete Membership Ethnography: Negotiating relationships and co-creating interpretations in my parent’s pub

A pub is place where its customers feel at home. It is place of regulars, good humoured banter, and restoration. Customer often feel a profound sense of belonging and ownership over their ‘local’. However, the pub landlord influences customer experiences as they assume a role that is one of participation and integration in addition to that of a commercial manager. By situating the researcher backstage, this research explored the pub through the lens of management to unpack the complexities and difficulties of managing a pub and the extent a landlord can create a space where customers become so attached. This case study reflects on the 16-month complete membership ethnography undertaken in the researcher’s parent’s pub based in a rural market town in the UK. It reflects on finding a methodology that addressed her epistemological closeness to the subject and then how she negotiated her researcher identity as she moved back in with her parents in her late twenties. It considers the ethical dilemmas she faced when in the field and how she co-created the interpretations to ensure an accurate representation of events. It finishes by reflecting on the way she triumphantly presented the final story to the pub managers only to find, to her horror, that it made the landlady visibly upset. While it was agreed the story was an accurate representation of their day to day working lives, the documented reality of their experiences was difficult to digest

A novel study to determine fake news quotient: Perceptions based on business Undergraduate Students in India & UK

Fake news is when misleading information is deliberately presented as authentic news. Sometimes fake news is also called 'alternative facts' and 'junk' or 'hoax' news. The prevalence of fake news has increased with the advent of social media as it is used as a means to increase advertising revenue. Fake news is therefore purposely designed to have popular appeal to attract maximum attention and consumption of the article, many going viral. Stories are often written about politics, stock values, nutrition and more recently, vaccination. Fake news is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate from authentic news as it is so prevalent that most social media users will see at least one fake news story on their feed daily. It is also up to three times more likely to be shared with fellow social media users making the dissemination of the stories wide reaching. The damaging impact of fake news is well understood. It can degrade trust in mainstream media, incite political unrest, hate and violence, promote dangerous health decisions, and lay unfounded accusations at individuals leading to undue media attention, litigation, and negative emotional and physical wellbeing. It is thus important that we understand how fake news is interpreted on social media and what factors influence that interpretation. This research is a comparative study of undergraduate students studying a business related programme in India and UK. Undergraduate students undertaking a business related programme have been selected as they are typically high users of social media and are have a heightened awareness of the business macro environment. The study seeks to understand how country of study impacts how fake news on social media is interpreted

The ordinary UK musician: Introducing the Craft Work/Play model.

The fruit of interdisciplinary collaboration between business and music studies, this paper introduces the working musician conceptualised through the intersection of the craftworker and the craftplayer. Drawing on business and (ethno)musicological and sociological studies, the authors use the notions of craft (Sennett 2008), work vs. play/professional vs. amateur (Tsioulakis 2020, Finnegan 2008) and entrepreneurship to propose a theoretical frame that understands the musician as a craftsperson with an immaterial output. The Craft Work Play model introduces two different conceptualisations of the musical craftsperson, which operate on a continuum, oscillating between the craftworker and the craftplayer. These categories are identified through differing motivations ranging from the extrinsic (motivated by remuneration) and intrinsic (motivated by the activity itself) (Juniu et al. 1996). These, in turn, are carried out within community and cultural frames, and will be influenced by the individual’s own projection of the output. As such, the musician can become a craftworker or a craftplayer depending on their personal goals. Supported by interdisciplinary literature, this paper will first outline the theoretical concepts at play, before introducing the theoretical model and detailing its different components. It will conclude with an opening on how this initial research may be continued

Work from pub: The potential for co-working spaces in rural English pubs to improve business and community resilience

Between 2000 and 2017 the number of pubs in the UK declined by 26% and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, with six pubs demolished or converted each week. For rural areas the loss of pubs has been felt particularly strongly given the important role they play in rural hospitality and gastronomy, community cohesion and wellbeing. At the same time the pandemic has prompted a shift towards home and remote-working and the demand for co-working spaces has increased. Offering co-working spaces in rural pubs may help to reduce their vulnerability and strengthen community-orientated networks and the sense of identity within rural communities. This research uses face-to-face visits to pubs to better understand the barriers and enablers of providing co-working spaces to remote and home-workers. By talking to pub landlords, co-workers and the wider community is explores the validity of co-working as an opportunity to help rural pubs innovate and diversify their income and considers the implications for rural community resilience and meeting the needs of post-pandemic ways of working. The project focuses on the potential of pub co-working from a managerial, as well as a customer and community perspective to assess how pub ownership models (managed, tenanted, freehold and community owned) influence the motivation of managers to innovate and introduce new initiatives such as co-working space. The findings and lessons learned are distilled into a ‘Rural Co-working Pub Toolkit‘ which provides practical guidance to the pub industry, rural pub managers and those working in rural community development

Work from the Pub: The potential for pubs to offer workspaces for teleworkers in rural areas

Between 2000 and 2022 the number of pubs in the UK declined by 25% and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this, with six pubs demolished or converted each week. For rural areas the loss of pubs has been felt particularly strongly given the important role they play in community cohesion and wellbeing. At the same time the pandemic has prompted a shift towards home working and the demand for remote workspaces has increased. Offering workspaces in rural pubs may help provide teleworkers with additional opportunities for co-working within their community and help reduce the sense of isolation associated with working from home as well as reducing the vulnerability of the pub. This research uses both qualitative and quantitative analysis to better understand the barriers and enablers of providing workspaces for teleworkers within pubs. By talking to pub landlords, trade associations and those working from home it explores the validity of offering a range of workspace options, including pub desks, work from pub packages, meeting spaces and conference facilities. Such provision is often limited in rural areas and offering these spaces may be an opportunity to help rural pubs innovate and diversify their income whilst also meeting the needs of post-pandemic ways of working. It is anticipated that findings and lessons will be distilled into a ‘Rural Co-working Pub Toolkit‘ to provide practical guidance to the pub industry, rural pub managers and those working in rural community development