The Troc was the venue for mine and Shelley's second date on my recommendation, so it was somewhat embarrassing that day when she spotted a mouse scurrying underneath an adjacent table !!
I went there on a solo mission after the match as I was meeting Shelley and her mate Lisa a bit later in The Mailbox. When I arrived the place was packed which is often the case with The Troc is it is popular with shoppers and sports fans. I had originally planned to watch the Manchester City v Chelsea FA Cup tie but there was a free table and whilst it was out of view of the tv's it was next to the fire, so I settled down with my hitherto untried pint of Adnams Explorer, and enjoyed the warmth. However this was very shortlived as the miserable git behind the bar came over and turned the fire off !!
Naturally as I was on my own getting the obligatory photo in the pub was going to be a bit of a problem so I ended up taking three selfies and choosing the one that looked like I'd got the least amount of double chins... If you think that one is bad you should have seen the other two !!
UPDATE 9th April
My second trip of the year to The Troc was to meet my old flat mate Neil for a post work beverage. When it comes to drinking Neil has got a fairly standard approach in a pub, he never strays away from pints of Carling so I feared the worst when I arrived and saw that he'd got 'em in, yep, you've guessed it, the barmaid came back with two pints of Carling !!
The Troc is a Birmingham institution, it has been there for years, has hardly changed in all that time and is busy whenever you go in. Thankfully that night we were lucky enough to get the last remaining seats in the place and had a good old catch up as we hadn't seen each other for a couple of months with one of the main topics of conversation being us both coming out of cricketing retirement on May 5th in a memorial game for the 'Bearwood legends' !!
I rectified the drink situation when I went up the bar for our refills, naturally I got Neil a pint of Carling and I chose a pint of Greene King IPA for myself. It disproved the theory that you get what you pay for, the tasteless gassy liquid was £3.06 whereas my crisp, smooth vision of coppery brown loveliness with hints of caramel mixed in with its general hopiness was a steal at £1.73.
Whilst the main feature of this blog is the beer Neil took this is to the extreme when he took the following photo, the photo of my pint is great the photo of me less so. Infact it is the worst case of a decapitation since that of Anne Boleyn !!
Being the disciplined professionals that we are we had one eye on work the next day so called it a night after a pitiful four pints. I must get my work / drink balance more in proportion !!
UPDATE 16th June
I hadn't seen former flatmate Neil for a few weeks so we decided to combine a few beers with a World Cup game and Germany v Portugal looked the most attractive of the forthcoming 5pm fixtures.
Poor planning on my part (I'd agreed to attend a meeting between 4pm and 5pm) meant that I didn't get the 5.01pm departure that I was hoping for. Not that it mattered as virtually every bar was showing the match on Broad St so I was kept informed of progress as I walked into town, stopping of a Velvet Music Bar to see Germany score their opener from the penalty spot.
Calling at the Velvet Music Bar wasn't my only stop off point on my way into the city centre. I found a fiver on the floor outside Gatecrasher night club and promptly said out loud 'finders keepers'.
I arrived at The Troc at just before 5.25pm and got the round in, a pint of Carling for Neil and a Greene King IPA for yours truly. Monday Club at The Troc meant that Carling was £1.90 a pint which is still expensive if you ask real ale loving me !!
Neil arrived on the stroke of half time and by that stage it was already game over, the efficient Germans were three nil up and Portugal were down to ten men. There was no shirt removing antics from Portuguese winker Cristiano Ronaldo on this occasion.
We had prime seats under the tv and watched as Germany scored a fourth. I was going pint for goal with the Germans and actually took a five four lead, well to be honest pint number five was well after the final whistle but I'm claiming the victory !!
Work life balance issues meant that pint number five was where I called it a night and made my way for the 20.03 back to Tamworth five pints to the good.
It's a good job the World Cup is only once every four years !!
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