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 !!







Saturday, 15 February 2014

The Silk Kite

After our lengthy bus journey from Sutton Coldfield we were in need of further refreshment so how fortunate for us that the terminus of the 110 route is virtually outside Tamworth's Lloyds bar The Silk Kite.

This bar opened in 2009 replacing popular night spot The Chicago Rock Café, amazingly Wetherspoons spent £500,000 on the refurbishment and in all honesty it is difficult to where the money went as the place has hardly changed.

Being a Wetherspoons the value for money is ideal for us cost conscious travellers (well we had just gone from Sutton to Tamworth) so I 'went large' with Shelley's wine and chose a pint of Abbot Ale from their impressive selection.

 
 
 

The place is always popular, pensioners use it as a stop off point for a cuppa (Mr and Mrs L are big fans), locals use it as a place to get a cheap meal and drink, and on a Friday and Saturday there is live dj playing the latest sounds from the hit parade. I have actually thrown a few shapes on the dance floor at the Silk Kite as we chose it as one of the venues for our leaving drink before our travels.

While we were in there I spotted fellow Blues fan and local character Neil who has called me Gaz for that long that I now haven't got the heart to correct him. How we laughed when he referred to me as Malcolm and told me he was taking 'his missus' (who was with him at the time) to Blackpool the following weekend to see Blues play, informing us that the lucky lady was being treated to 'sex and football' !!

UPDATE 1st March

Being in need of a snack and having turned our noses up at the menu in previous pub The Ladybridge we headed into Tamworth town centre and called in at the ever popular Silk Kite. We could hardly believe our eyes when we arrived, there was a very formal queue (or as they say in The United States a line) at the bar. It was like I was waiting in a doctor's surgery, eventually I got my prescription of a pint of Welsh beer Brain's SA (named after Samuel Arthur Brain rather than any type of tribute to Mr Mandela) which was quite appropriate given that it was St David's Day.



We took our seats on the dance floor, unfortunately in my direction line of vision was a large lady in a top that was about two sizes too small for her exposing one of the worst cases of a muffin top ever experienced in Staffordshire.

Being a Lloyd's bar rather than a standard Wetherspoons there is usually music playing in The Silk Kite but the chorus of Panic by The Smiths sprung to mind that day as the choice of dance music gave me a desire to 'Hang the dj'. Infact the only rap I got was of the dance variety given the fact that they had run out of my ordered (w)rap of the chicken variety.

We stopped for another (mercifully the queue had disappeared) and made our way through the throng of Saturday shoppers to the next pub.

UPDATE 28th June

Our shopping expedition into Tamworth town centre finished much sooner than anticipated meaning that our first drink of the day was just before 1pm, not strictly speaking contravening our self imposed 12 o'clock rule but still early nevertheless.

In all honesty our trip to The Silk Kite was more about grabbing a sandwich/burger but it was quite clear that we were out for the day !!

Surprisingly we struggled to find a seat in what is a very big pub as the pub was full of shoppers, all day drinkers and people taking advantage of Wetherspoon's low priced menu. We probably fell into all of those categories !!

We eventually grabbed at the last available table and enjoyed our first drink of the day, me a pint of Sharps Doombar and a pint of Stowford Press cider for my good lady..



I am always intrigued by the daytime bar etiquette at this particular pub. Why a formal queue? It just seems so very British. Whatever next?!! A ticketing system?!! I can just see me waiting patiently waiting for an automated voice to pipe up 'Barmaid number two please' !!

I'm not exactly sure whether the staff at The Silk Kite had done their World Cup homework if so there'd be a lot of red ink in their school books. The pub was decorated in flags from some of the nations competing in the competition including the colourful flag of South Africa. What part of did not qualify did they not understand?!!

Pint numbers two and three were of the Ruddles Best Bitter variety, I'm not sure if they were responsible but it was soon apparent that a 'proper' toilet visit was an absolute necessity !! It wasn't exactly like the loo in the famous scene from Trainspotting but no seat, no paper and my overwhelming need to go meant that I had to abort my mission returning back to the bar and instructing Shelley 'We need to go........now'!!









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