Sherry hunt

SIR – I, too, am bemused by the difficulty of buying a glass of sherry when out (Letters, December 1).

I recently asked for one in a popular pub, and the young barman had clearly never heard of it. He had to ask a colleague and was told that, if they had it, it would be with the port. After searching, he came up with a bottle of cherry brandy.

What is the world coming to?

John Pigott

Lewes, East Sussex

SIR – When visiting the Scottish town of Ardrossan in the 1980s, I asked for a gin and tonic in a pub – only to be told in no uncertain terms: “That’s a lassie’s drink.”

I had a pint of special instead. Stephen Woodbridge-smith Tavistock, Devon

SIR – My father decided to monitor the quantity of whisky he and my mother drank every night, so bought a proper measure.

The first time he poured my mother a single she handed the glass back, saying that it wasn’t a drink, just a dirty glass.

He never used the measure again. Mandy Lovick

Chudleigh, Devon