Having paid nearly £9 for two pints earlier that day in the capital city it was with some relief to be back at home where my round of a pint of bitter (Ruddles) a large glass of rose wine and a packet of dry roasted peanuts cost just over a fiver. This saving gave me enough funds to treat my good lady to a visit to nearby fast food outlet Jobas. What an old romantic I am !!
UPDATE 14th February
To my shame I turned up slightly late to meet Shelley for our pre Valentine's Day meal II aperitifs at The Bolebridge, but being the kind considerate lady that she is she had already taken it upon herself to order me an Erdinger. What a girl my Valentine is!!
Being as it was the night for lovers the place was packed, and some fortunate females were being treated by their doting men to the two meals for £20 Valentine's Day promotion that Wetherspoons were staging. Who says that romance is dead?!!
UPDATE 15th February
The trauma of the rail replacement journey from Brum (the driver got us lost going and we had an hour waiting coming home ) coupled with witnessing Blues's worst performance of the season must have given me temporary memory loss as I have very little recollection of our visit to the Bolebridge during our mandatory one for the road following a train journey.
Photographic evidence shows that I had an Erdinger wheat beer..
...whilst Shelley had a large glass of wine...
I was last spotted wandering the streets of Tamworth in search of much needed pie and chips
UPDATE 27th February
As I've mentioned before on this blog Thursday is the unofficial start to the weekend so Shelley didn't need much arm twisting when I suggested a pint and a curry. As is the norm when we visit Tamworth town centre first stop was Wetherspoon's pub The Bolebridge.
Our visit was a fairly uneventful one as the pub was fairly quiet and most of the people that were in there were taking advantage of the Thursday night curry club.
I had a couple of pints of Ruddles bitter, and a Marston's Pedigree as an inbetweenie as I waited for an uncharacteristically slow Shelley to finish her glass of rose wine.
4 visits to the Bolebridge already this year and we're not even in March yet !! A fact made worse by the fact that I didn't drink for most of January !!
UPDATE 1st March
I honestly hadn't realised how much time we spent in this pub, yes it is visit number 5 this year to The Bolebridge. Please don't tell my Mum, or my doctor for that matter !!
I decided against capturing photographic evidence of this particular visit as there are only so many photos of me in The Bolebridge that folk can tolerate made worse by the fact that we generally sit/stand in the same part of the pub so even the decor remains pretty much unchanged.
For the record I went down the Erdinger Weissebeer route with Shelley choosing a large glass of bargain house rose.
UPDATE 7th March
Yes I know I did say that I'd try to go to better class venues on mine and Shelley's post work drink but after the impressive start (Moet and Chandon in a cocktail bar) the ending was disappointingly predictable, a couple (Erdinger Weissebeers) for the road in The Bolebridge.
I had a word with myself and, in an expression that I used to see on a regular basis on my school report, declared that I 'could do better' !!
UPDATE 14th March
Once again we stepped off the train at Tamworth and stepped into the Bolebridge for the almost compulsory one for the road.
Although we could have probably just about scraped enough together from our winnings at the Cheltenham Festival that day for a bottle of bubbly, we stuck to the tried and tested bottle of Erdinger Weissebeer for me and a large glass of rose wine for my significant other.
We didn't linger long, as the fact that we hadn't eaten since brunch meant that the 'fortunes' that we had accumulated at the races were going to be spent on a much needed curry and a cab home where the liquid lunch/tea that we'd both had meant that we'd have no trouble sleeping. Mind you the prospect of an all dayer in Brum the next day wasn't one I was savouring !!
UPDATE 15th March
I posed the question in my post from Wetherspoon's in Paradise Forum as to whether I would be able to resist the temptation of calling in for one for the road at The Bolebridge after our marathon session in Brum that day?.......Unsurprisingly the answer was no so we dropped in for a much needed extra drink.
When putting together information for my blog I send myself texts when I am out with various bits of information so I don't forget when I'm putting together my posts. I fear that drink had got the better of me that day as my text from The Bolebridge read as follows : Erdinger normal on Wethersfield back in Tanworth !!
UPDATE 4th April
I can honestly not believe how many times I've been in The Bolebridge this year, this was visit number nine !! It is generally where we start and end a pub crawl, but this year to quote Barry White it has been my first, my last, my everything !!
This was another post work Friday drink that Shelley and I kicked off at The Bolebridge. Unfortunately I am rapidly running out of things to say about this place and the photos are getting a bit samey, not helped by the fact that we generally sit/stand in the same area of the pub so even the backgrounds are the same. I thought that I'd mix it up a bit this time with a view (admittedly a fairly unspectacular one) of the front of the pub. You can look forward to a view of me in the beer garden in a future update.
It was fairly early when we got in (it had been a long week at work) so rather than mixing with the kids, in there to fill up on cheap drinks before going clubbing, we were instead mixing with pensioners making the most of Wetherspoon's Fish Friday.
There was also an International Beer Festival taking place but rather disappointingly I decided to play it safe and go for my usual Erdinger Weissebeer (well in my defence Germany is abroad), Shelley had a pint of Stowford Press, all the way from Hereford !!
UPDATE 12th April
A rare Saturday afternoon with no plans and no match meant that a pub crawl of Tamworth was the order of the day and, following a meal at Frankie and Benny's (good but a bit overpriced) we started off in traditional manner with a visit to The Bolebridge, clocking up double figures for the number of times I've been in this pub in 2014.
I predicted in my previous Bolebridge update that a photo of me in the pub's fairly unimpressive beer garden (in all honesty it's a smoker's hang out round the back of the pub) was an inevitability I just didn't think it would happen quite so soon, i.e. just over a week later..
Although it was pretty warm for the middle of April I didn't think that it was quite Phil Collins (No Jacket Required) weather, this was also the case for Shelley who looking at the respective photos appears to have more of a seat in the sun that I did...
Drink wise we went down the standard route, Stowford Press cider for Shelley with me on the Erdinger Weissebeer though without a proper Erdinger glass due to some pesky blighter stealing them. Mind you I can't complain, I got form for this heinous act in the past.
Despite the weather it was only a short visit, we'd got some crawling to do....
UPDATE 24th April
This was a very spontaneous night, Shelley picked me up after work from the station and we were honestly going to stay in but the weather was nice and Shelley had just booked us a holiday (eight nights in Benalmadena) so we decided that a walk into town for a couple of beers and a curry was the order of the day.
We called in at The Bolebridge (I've stopped counting the number of times we have visited this pub this year) for our regulation starting drink. I usually drink Erdinger in The Bolebridge but opted for a pint of Ruddles Best Bitter and took full advantage of my CAMRA membership utilising a fifty pence off a pint of real ale coupon. The more you drink the more you save !! As it was a balmy Spring evening Shelley went for a sunshine drink, a bottle of Corona with its compulsory lime accompaniment.
We retired to the beer garden, okay it's a seated area at the back of the pub near the bins but it did a job that night. I'm not sure if it was because we were starving or because the smell of the Miah curry house literally next door to the pub was drifting into the beer garden, but we soon decided that the emphasis that night was on food rather than drink so we left after a swift one.
Please note the lack of photographic evidence to support this update. I had got my camera with me but Shelley's 'surely you don't want another photo in here'?! was a pertinent question !!
UPDATE 10th May
A three pint pit stop at The Gate meant that there was a spring in our step as we made our way into Tamworth town centre with pub number one being our customary starting venue, The Bolebridge.
I've previously stated that, so I don't forget incidents to include in this blog while we are out and about, I type little reminders into my mobile phone, however I think I meant to say that I had Ruddles rather than Riddles during this particular visit, mind you seeing as I was now on pint number four I'd probably started talking in riddles by this stage !!
We bumped into fellow Bluenose Neil (the one who refers to me as either Gaz or Malcolm) who was in the pub with two other Blues fans, his brother and their mate who was one of the most bizarrely attired individuals I've ever seen in Tamworth, he was sporting a hat and a cape !! We relived Blues's final day drama and then discussed who we'd want as Blues's new manager (noting that the current one is still in a job!!) with David Moyes being the unrealistic choice !!
Shelley and I made our excuses to the football obsessed trio and found a seat, well, I can only talk about the early season centre half pairing of Burn and Bartley for so long !!
We were just finishing our drink and were ready to leave when we were unexpectedly joined by our drinking partners of a few minutes earlier in The Gate Keith and Tracy. We'd mentioned that we were heading into town and they thought that it would be a good idea to join us. I went and got another round in knowing that the day would not be a short one !!......
UPDATE 6th June
It was nearly a week since our last visit to the pub which wasn't necessarily a bad thing as I took the time to update this blog which is rapidly turning into a full time task, the fact that we visited twenty three different bars during our time in Benalmadena didn't help matters.
It was Shelley's first week of her new job so a post work Friday night drink was a must, and as we fancied a trip into Tamworth town centre The Bolebridge was the customary starting point.
Shelley had agreed to meet me in the pub and I didn't spot her on my way in (maybe she should have been sporting a red carnation in her lapel) so I got myself a bottle of Erdinger Weissebeer and waited indoors for her arrival so I was somewhat surprised when she called to tell me that she was in the beer garden and had got me a beer in. What a girl !!
We love unwinding after the working week and a bit of sun made things even better. I soon polished off my unintentional double round and went inside to get round number three.
Wetherspoons always seems to attract a real mixture of people, in the pub that night (apart from the usual mixture of alkies and old men) were several folks with special needs ; a man in a wheelchair, a table of deaf people and a bloke in a v*lla shirt !!
We saw off the last of our drinks and the last of the sun (it disappeared behind the Miah curry house) and made our way to the next pub The Sir Robert Peel...
UPDATE 27th June
A last minute decision saw us make a late Friday night visit to our regular haunt The Bolebridge, and, although it was around 9.45pm, the place what surprisingly quiet, which seems to back up the theory we hear regularly from taxi drivers in Tamworth that nowadays it is only really busy on Saturday nights in the town centre.
The good thing about a quiet pub is the fact that getting served was a breeze, a pint of Ruddles Best Bitter for myself and a large glass of house rose for my good lady. For completeness maybe I should begin to mention what particular vintage Shelley is drinking and discuss the wine's aroma and bouquet?!! Maybe not eh?!!
We found a pew near to a tv that proved to be a bit of a distraction. Firstly we noticed it was showing quiz show QI featuring, as a panellist, the bloke from The Communards (no, not Jimmy Sommerville, the other one) who now unbelievably is a reverend, and then we saw footage from Glastonbury, the festival that had started that day. Arcade Fire were headlining (no, I've never heard of them either !!) but they were showing Lily Allen's set. Lily was wearing a strange outfit which looked like she'd forgotten to put her skirt on as her drawers were clearly visible !! Champagne moment though was from a young lady in the crowd perched on top of her boyfriend's shoulders. She must have been gyrating a bit too vigorously to Lily's tunes meaning that her left breast was exposed to the millions watching on the BBC !!
We had a couple more and trod the well worn path to the curry house.
UPDATE 28th June
Okay, I admit it, our visit to The Bolebridge was little more than a toilet stop off for me due to the lack of suitable facilities at previous pub The Silk Kite. Call me fussy but aren't a seat and loo roll pre requisites?!
I was keen not to contravene the 'These Toilets Are For Patrons Only' sign so Shelley kindly got the round in whilst I was otherwise occupied.
I returned to the bar with a mission accomplished look on my face. I was immediately hit with a feeling of deja vu seeing as we'd been in the pub literally hours earlier.
Shelley had got me a pint of Ruddles Best Bitter in and we commented on our surprise at the fact that there were more people in the pub at 2.30pm on Saturday afternoon then there were at 10pm on Friday night !!
A man and woman were having a bit of a domestic near the bar when I went to get pint number two with her instructing him 'I want to go home to bed now' !! Either she was confused (aka drunk), lacking in subtlety in the art of seduction or she wasn't much of a night owl.....it wasn't even 3pm !!
The availability of a beer called Stairway to Heaven was too good to turn down though I couldn't help wondering whether the fatigued woman had partaken of too many Led before bed !!
Two pints in The Bolebridge did us nicely and we moved on to pastures new...
UPDATE 31st July
My hurry to get out meant that, although I was fully prepared on the camera front, I left home without either my phone or a note book so I have absolutely no recollection of what happened during our visit on the last day of July to either The Bolebridge or The Market Vaults. You'd think after seven months of doing this I'd be better prepared !!
Even the photographs give few clues as to what I was drinking though I'm 99% certain it was Erdinger weisse beer, Shelley, as you can see, was on the Th*tcher's Gold cider..
I've had a word with myself and this type of blog misdemeanor won't happen again !!
UPDATE 8th August
I've said before that there is nothing quite like the post work Friday drink, and it's even better when the sun is shining. We'd got an early start (we were in The Bolebridge at around 5.45pm) so I grabbed myself a pint of Loddon Bamboozle, Shelley a pint of Th*tcher's cider and we made our way to the beer garden...
My first pint barely touched the sides and I asked Shelley if we were staying long (the curry house was our ultimate destination) when she confirmed that we were I set myself a challenge, to work my way down all the real ale taps..
I felt a sense of pride when I achieved it. For the record it was, Loddon Bamboozle, Brains SA, Vale Brewery VPA, Abbot Ale and Ruddles Best Bitter.
Mission accomplished !!
UPDATE 28th August
One thing that has really surprised me whilst doing this blog is the number of times we visit The Bolebridge, this was visit number eighteen in 2014 and once again we were calling in on route to the curry house. Well, why change a winning formula?!!
Shelley got the round in, and I opted for a pint of Abbot, we weren't stopping long so there wasn't enough time for a repeat of my previous feat of drinking all the real ales that were on offer !!
As well as getting the round in, Shelley chose our seats, a decision I think she instantly regretted, we were sat next to a table that consisted of two Japanese women and five children. The children were a nightmare, they were wandering around the pub, there was chicken nuggets on the floor, colouring pencils on the floor, it was like feeding time at the zoo. Now, I know there have been times when I've been guilty of a minor food spillage during a late night visit to an Indian restaurant but this took things to a whole new level.
Unsurprisingly visit number eighteen to The Bolebridge was a brief one. We will choose our seats a bit more carefully on visit nineteen !!
UPDATE 4th October
I hadn't originally planned to meet up with Shelley, however my drink in Derby with my mate Matt ended earlier than I thought it would so it made sense, seeing as Shelley was on her way back from a ladies that lunch session in Brum, for us to meet up in Tamworth on our respective journeys home. I'd have dressed more appropriately if I realised that we'd be having a Wetherspoons rendezvous !!
Not to worry, the fact that there was a large glass of rose wine waiting for her when she walked in may have compensated for what she undoubtedly viewed as a fashion faux pas !!
I was on the Ruddles Best Bitter, and the pub, unsurprisingly as it was around 9.15 on a Saturday night, was full of the usual pre night club crowd. Unfortunately numbers were also swelled by v*lla fans out celebrating their two nil home loss to Manchester City.
One particularly annoying specimen decided to whip off his top and parade round the pub dressed in just a pair of jeans and multi colured wellies singing 'We're ast*n v*lla, we'll do what we want'. Unfortunately the lyrics to his song proved to be factually incorrect when he was kicked out by the pub's manager. The manager actually stopped off at our table to apologise, I am unsure as to whether he was apologising for the customer's antics or the fact that the customer was a v*lla fan !!
My 2.30pm start with no food, bar breakfast, meant that sustenance was now a necessity, so as Shelley had already eaten, I had the pick of Tamworth's Saturday night dining offerings......Yep, pie and chips it was !! Taxi for two please.
UPDATE 8th November
I have mentioned before that The Bolebridge, one of Tamworth's two Wetherspoon's pubs, is the place where we often either start or finish a night. On this occasion it was the place where the night well and truly finished !!
I was most certainly feeling the effects of our all dayer in Lichfield with friends Gray, Jule, Val and Paul. The lengthy bus journey back from Lichfield to Tamworth left us both needing a pit stop and I foolishly thought that one for the road (it must have been the A1 that day !!) would be a good idea.
Our silly grinning faces suggests that it wasn't !!
Taxi !!
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