Pubs of 2014

Right, here we go...... The purpose of this blog is to log all the pubs that I have visited and consumed an alcoholic beverage in during 2014. The rules are quite simple, the establishment needs to be a public house, it sounds straightforward but it may get complicated for example things that wouldn't count are a visit to the bar at the cricket, a pre gig drink in a concert venue, a drink at the Birmingham German market etc. As judge and jury my decision is final, and if I'm in any doubt I won't count it.



My prediction as at the start of the year is that the final number will be somewhere around the 200 mark though I won't go to pubs just to get the numbers up, it will be a true reflection of my pub visting year.



My posts will include information about the pub, the ambience of the surroundings, the choice and quality of the beer, any interesting or amusing anecdotes about my visit and, where possible, photographic evidence.



I will try and keep the information as accurate as possible noting that alcohol consumption means that at times this may prove difficult !!



The format of the posts is simple, the first visit to the pub will be the blog entry and that post will be updated for any subsequent visit.



Hope you enjoy it...



Cheers

UPDATE January 2015

Right, that's it, it's finally finished, some 259 pubs later !! It's been hard work but it's nice being able to look back and relive the drinking experiences of 2014.

I am pleased with the final result and whilst I've been reviewing it, I have actually laughed a few times at my own jokes !!

A word of warning, it does start off a bit slow (some of my posts from Bath are a bit dull) but stick with it. In hindsight the format of posting repeat visits to a pub on the original post at times doesn't work very well when reading the blog in its' entirety but on the whole I'm pleased with it and I hope that you enjoy it.

I have stated this in the blog but I will say it again, thanks to anyone that I have had a beer with in 2014 and special thanks to Shelley for her patience !!







Tuesday, 4 February 2014

The Prince of Wales

Just over the road from The Freemason's Arms was a welcoming looking pub called The Prince of Wales though, given the relatively young age of the punters, I can't imagine the 65 year old heir to the throne has ever set foot in the place that proudly carries his name.

The one thing that immediately struck us about this pub was the smell of stale sweat, caused presumably by the heaving mass of male bodies that had just exited the venue after witnessing England's narrow loss to France in the rugby.

The pub itself was fairly non descript, the music was modern (aka rubbish) and it was frequented by young trendy Covent Garden folk. I was quite surprised therefore to see that there was quite an extensive selection of beers on draught, Shelley was happy due to her spotting Aspall and I opted for the previously untried Adnam's Ghost Ship which I had no trouble sinking !!



UPDATE 29th March

Seeing as it was Maria's birthday it was written in the script, given her Welsh roots, that we should visit The Prince of Wales (a pub literally across the street from previous venue The Freemasons Arms) during our London pub crawl.

Non football fan Denise raised her eyes skywards as we walked in due to the fact that the pub was packed with people watching the Arsenal v Manchester City game.

I have mentioned before when I am gathering material to put in this blog I send myself texts when I'm out and about reminding me of bits of information however I sometimes have trouble with both the effect of drink and also that the predictive text functionality on my phone changes words for me. How I laughed therefore in this pub when I went to type in Arsenal and it changed the word to arseholes !!

Once again there was a pleasing selection of ales, I had plenty of time to study them given the length of time Harry and I were stood at the bar. I eventually settled for a pint of Wells Bombardier.

The football proved to be a bit of a non event so the conversation went round to people we fancy, Kelly Brook got the vote for Craig and myself, Harry, being the sophisticated chap that he is, opted for Susanna Reid, Becks (the footballer not the German beer) was the choice of both Shelley and Maria (is Shelley allowed to fancy anyone but me?!!) and Denise surprisingly went for a bit of rough, Australian actor Russell Crowe.



Talk of Russell Crowe got the conversation onto films and their seemed genuine surprise from everyone when I admitted that not only had I not seen Scent of a Woman, I'd never even heard of it !! Given the fact that I was on pint number five of real ale meant that Shelley would be treated to the sequel Scent of a Man later that night !!




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