It’s bad enough working under the sizzling hot sun all day, but surely don’t builders working on construction sites in the City deserve at least a cold, decently priced pint?
I have always had a bit of inverted snobbery against the pinstriped City boys, but it’s never been a genuine loathing. I have also always been uneasy with the genuine contempt some people seem to have for something that is largely, after all, just a cultural way of dressing and behaving.
However, I feel some sympathy with the site workers on the big projects in the City who are clearly mocking and criticising the City types that wander past them on their way to work, the gym, or £5-a-pint bar.
The reason is that the workers are treated like second-class citizens in one key way: despite spending 12 hour shifts this summer in the boiling heat on the many City construction sites, they struggle to be able to get a refreshing pint or even soft drink with their colleagues afterwards.
Nearly every pub - and I’m talking traditional boozers here, rather than yuppie bars - has a sign saying something like “no workers in site clothes allowed”. This alienates the very people who create the space for the giant financial and legal corporations that drive the UK economy. They deserve better than this, and even if the workers save their sneers for the wrong people, their irritation is understandable.
