Time gentlemen, please

By Paul Fulford on April 16, 2008 6:32 PM | Permalink

Those who are old enough will remember those glorious days when long and sometimes very boozy lunches were frequent.

My mind races back to sessions when five pints of Directors at the Wellington in Bennetts Hill were followed by a few drinks and a game of poker at the Gazette Club in Corporation Street.

Of course workloads are now heavier, drinking in work time is frowned upon and we're all more health conscious. So lunches that stretch from midday to tea-time are about as rare as politicians who say: "Don't worry - I'll pay for that nice London flat out of my own pocket."

Good to hear, then, that moves are afoot to convince people to take the occasional long break.

I learned of this during long and very excellent at Purnell's today with the team behind the Taste of Birmingham food festival at Cannon Hill in July.

They're out to convince business people to take advantage of their day-time hospitality packages so they can chat, relax, eat good food, have a glass or two of wine and, in the process, recharge their batteries and boost their productivity.

I agree with the concept. Too many people mistake time slumped at their computer screens with hard work. Stepping back occasionally can work wonders.

Though I doubt whether five pints of Directors these days would do anything other than send me to sleep.