Tapas Bars

When is a Tapas Bar not a Tapas Bar? When it's in England. How has every 'Tapas Bar' in this country missed the point of Tapas? They've done to Tapas what Centre Parcs has done to the Great Outdoors; taken something that should be enjoyed for it's very simplicity; for the free licence it gives to tuck in, get messy and have fun and has spent millions cleaning, sterilising and re-packaging it. It's just another safe and shiny ride in the slowly evolving theme park of modern life - another Accessory Experience to add to the generic calender of 'Great Family Days Out'.

Food is such a major commodity in bars and pubs now that it can't be simple, simple is their secret weapon, their 'buzz word', it's what Gastro Pubs thrive on, less is more. Everyone wants to see simple meals on the chalk boards; Pies, Liver & Bacon, Ploughman's Lunches... but there is the small print; the Pies are made with the most expensive 'Normandy Butter and Flour milled by Fairies and baked in an original 18th Century Baker's Oven', the Liver is from farmed Unicorn and the ploughman's lunch has 'Handcrafted' bread. Why can't we have a Tapas Bar that sells snacks; just small morsels of food, of bread, sliced sausage, potato croquettes, olives, ham, meatballs, anchovies? Just small dishes of food, plain and cheap but very tasty and easy to eat with a drink in one hand, not a thesaurus.