The Old Crown

Us football fans are a superstitious bunch so as I was eager to do my bit to reverse Blues's alarming home form, no league wins at home for around six months, I decided a change of pre match pub venue was called for before the must win game against Leeds United.

Just round the corner from my usual pre match pub The Wagon and Houses is The Old Crown, which apparently is the 'oldest extant secular building in Birmingham' dating back to 1368. The pub has retained its original black and white timber frame and it was with this is mind I attempted to capture a selfie incorporating part of the frame, the pub's name and the date, the actual result is somewhat unsuccessful..

The pub was very busy with Blues fans though surprisingly getting served wasn't an issue. There were three ales on offer and I opted for a pint of Marston's Pedigree served in an old skool glass tankard.

There was a strange feel around the city centre and Digbeth brought about by the fact that notorious troublemakers West Ham and Leeds were in town and this fact brought out the worst in some of Birmingham's supporters many of whom were congregated in the pub's doorway looking out for their prey. The local constabulary were alert to the fact and some paid a visit inside the pub for a look around.

Other activities and general apathy meant that I was flying solo both at the pub and the match which was fine as I was more than happy in the ancient pub mentally preparing for the game, enjoying my pint of Pedigree and listening to the excellent tunes on the jukebox which were all original ska songs, including classics like One Step Beyond the 1967 version by Prince Buster long before those nutty boys Madness got their hands on it.

My legendary weak bladder meant that I was content with a solitary pint in the historic Birmingham venue before making my way to the ground full of optimism knowing that I'd undoubtedly be depressed come five o'clock.

EDIT - I was, we lost 3 1 !!

UPDATE 25th October

I ended a historic day in a historic pub. I had just had the misfortune of witnessing Birmingham slump to their worst defeat in their 140 year history at the hands of Bournemouth and was out drowning my sorrows with fellow Blue noses Deb, Andy and Al..

We were all still in a state of complete numbness, the expression the worst ever gets banded about far too readily but it really was and statistics back this up. Absolutely shambolic !!

Not even a pint of one of my favourite beers Jennings Cumberland ale could lift me from my gloom. To quote The Smiths 'Heaven knows I'm miserable now' !!

Bizarrely there was something about the number eight that stayed with me all day, Blues lost 0-8, I had a drink after the match in Bar 8, I consumed 8 pints and got the 8 o'clock train home !!

There was nothing gr8 about the day !!

The Queslett

I woke up feeling surprisingly chipper following our pub crawl the previous night in Harborne, well I was certainly well and truly crawling by the end of it that's for sure!!

After paying an Easter visit to see Mr and Mrs L and sister Karen we made our way to my brother Dave's house. I had foolishly agreed to play cricket for Tamworth 4th XI the next day against Coseley and needed to borrow Dave's cricket kit. He had kindly offered to lend me his kit with the predictable comment that his cricket box would be too big for me !!

Dave and his family had literally just arrived back home from a week away and he must have either still been in the holiday spirit or had got a case of the holiday blues as he suggested a trip to the pub with The Queslett being his venue of choice.

Given the fact that I was making my cricketing debut for Tamworth the next day I should really have chosen an isotonic sports drink when I went up the bar in The Queslett but somewhat predictably I went down the real ale route with a pint of M & B Brew XI hoping that it would be an improvement on the last pint of Brew I'd had, the one in The Tavern in Tamworth town centre that resembled dishwater.

We (me, Shelley, Dave, sister in law Julie and youngest nephew Simon) sat outside in the warm spring sunshine. Admittedly the beer garden at The Queslett is in the pub's car park over looking a busy traffic roundabout but it does for Dave noting that I have always been the more sophisticated one of the two brothers !!

Shelley was driving so it was never our intention to stop long but there is no point in calling in a pub for a solitary pint so one pint of Brew XI soon became two pints of Brew XI and pretty nice they were too, restoring my faith in the local produce.

We were honestly thinking about leaving when were joined by some surprise guests, my eldest nephew Tom turned up with his young lady Kelly and family dog Archie. Well, it would have been rude to go without having another one with our new guests so it was time for me to pop back up the bar for my final pint of Brew XI and listen to the holiday stories from that week.

Archie was impeccably behaved and was no trouble as he sat on Simon's lap..

Tom and Simon were never that well behaved when Dave and I used to take them to the pub as youngsters !!

The Queslett is definitely the best pub in that area with a good selection of well kept ales and a mature clientele, and we could have easily made a day of it (so speaks the non driver) but we said our goodbyes and made our way home knowing it would be a very quick visit before popping out for a couple of pints at The Gate.

Does beer improve your game as a cricketer?!!

UPDATE 25th August

It was a wet, miserable August Bank Holiday Monday so we decided it was family visiting day so after popping to see my Mum, Dad and sister Karen we called in on my brother Dave, sister in law Julie and nephew Tom. Tom's girlfriend Kelly was there when we arrived, and it wasn't long before Dave suggested a couple of Bank Holiday beers at The Queslett.

Dave didn't even bothering asking, a freshly poured pint of M & B Brew XI was waiting for me on the bar when I walked in. Cheers, our kid !!

The dreadful weather had seemingly confined a lot of folk indoors as the pub was uncharacteristically quiet. I like The Queslett, there is always plenty of choice on the ale front and the punters are more mature, just like my good self !! As good as the pub is I was amazed to find that when I was tapping a few notes about the place into my phone the spellcheck functionality changed Queslett to eyesore !!

Tom was feeling a bit nervous, he had been nominated to do the ice bucket challenge in aid of charity and was required to do it that afternoon. Knowing him as I do I'm sure that there were plenty of willing volunteers eager to tip a bucket of iced water over his head !!

Dave was setting the pace drink wise due to the fact that he had just broken up on holiday so pint one soon became pint two, became pint three, became pint four before I sadly called it quits with my conscientious mind thinking about work the next day.

The Green Man

I will admit that things got a bit out of hand in what proved to be the final pub of our Harborne pub crawl, The Green Man.

Lisa, one of Shelley's best mates and work colleague of mine for almost twenty five years, was in there with her mate Michelle, someone else that we have both known for many years. We knew there and then that the night wasn't going to be a quiet one and in all honesty that The Green Man was likely to the last of our Harborne pubs which wasn't a bad thing as the pub was good and the girls are great company.

First things first, the beer was excellent, I'm starting to really like Purity UBU so there was no hesitation from me selecting it from the pub's impressive selection of real ales. Unfortunately I have little recollection of what Shelley had (Aspall I think but unsurprisingly that night my memories are somewhat sketchy) but I know for a fact that both Lisa and Michelle were on wife beating Belgium lager Stella Artois, only halves though as they are both classy ladies !!

There was very nearly a knockout start to our trip to The Green Man, I came very close to pushing in front of a bloke at the bar, good job I didn't, the man in question was a professional boxer and was in training for a fight a few days later, he may have fancied using me as a sparring partner !!

The night was made complete with an appearance of our friend Andrea, again someone we have both known for a quarter of a century and who we have shared umpteen drunken nights with. I was certain at that point that I'd have very few further memories of the night that I'd be able to capture in this blog.

 

 

 

 I was right, pint after pint of UBU was consumed and, after declining their offer of a trip to Popworld on Broad Street, we said our goodbyes and managed somehow to make it back to our penthouse suite in a cab via the chippie where I shamefully ordered kebab meat and chips. Yes, I know it's bad for me, but it looks and tastes great after a few drinks doesn't it?!!!

......

The White Horse

I must confess to having a bit of a mammal mix up regarding this pub. After we left previous pub The Proverbial I said to Shelley that I fancied a drink in The White Lion, I'd have still been looking now for a pub in Harborne of that name, the pub in question is actually called The White Horse !! D'oh !!

This was our second CAMRA listed venue of the evening and this pub is a magnet for real ale connoisseurs with screens in the pub displaying the vast array of real ales on offer. I got served before I had chance to survey the list properly but I wasn't disappointed with my choice of Greene King Abbot Ale even though weighing in at an imposing 5% ABV it probably wasn't my cleverest move noting that I'd still got a long night ahead of me.

Matt, one of my colleagues from work, is a regular in The White Horse and, being a fan of standard cooking lager, he gets really irritated in this pub when the real ale brigade ask for samples before choosing their ale. He'd have been really irritated that night as there were quite a few archetypal real ale drinkers (sporting beards and wearing ill fitting jumpers naturally) congregated at the bar trying samples thus not only clogging up space at the bar but also delaying lager drinkers from getting served. The thing is Matt is a lippy v*lla fan so he gets what he deserves if you ask me !!

The décor of the pub is fairly traditional and pretty basic but it is a great venue and worthy of its inclusion in The Good Beer Guide.

There was no time to linger though as we'd got more Harborne pubs to explore, next stop The Green Man, I was fairly confident that I'd got the right mammal this time !!

The Proverbial

We made the short journey from The Junction (which was that good we were almost loathed to leave it) to our next Harborne pub The Proverbial.

I hadn't been in the pub for a while in fact it has undergone a name change since my last visit when it was known as The Varsity. In all honesty little seemed to have altered since the change of name, it is still a pub frequented mainly by Harborne's large student population but it is definitely a pub worthy of a pint during a visit to the suburb.

The selection of ales was certainly better than I remembered with Wye Valley HPA being my drink of choice and Shelley being slightly disappointed with her solitary option of just Strongbow cider. It's not that she doesn't like Strongbow it's just that Shelley (and many of her cider drinking chums) feel that there is better cider to be had these days with both Aspall and Stowford Press falling into that category.

It was still relatively early meaning the place was pretty dead so we found a pitch at the back of the pub next to the special needs lift. It seemed appropriate seeing as were staying in a special needs room in our hotel later that night !!

Being as Harborne is pretty near to my work base of Five Ways there was always a chance that we'd bump into someone we knew and that was indeed the case when we saw my work colleagues Lisa, Deelam and Denise out on a post work night out.

We only stopped for one in The Proverbial as we were keen to explore as many pubs on the Harborne strip as we could being as it had been a long time since either of us had last visited the area.

Next venue The White Horse...

The Junction

CAMRA listed venue The Junction was by far our favourite pub of our Harborne pub crawl, it had the lot. Firstly it is a fabulous building..

Secondly the clientele, in stark contrast to those in our previous pub the Harborne Stores, were quite upmarket so any riff raff was kept out, naturally Shelley and I being Tamworth's version of Posh and Becks fitted in well !! Thirdly the beer choice was outstanding which is no more than you'd expect from a place that regular features in The Good Beer Guide. After much deliberation I chose a pint of Wyve Valley Butty Bach though Shelley's Welsh sister in law Maria would probably have cringed at my pronunciation of the word Bach !!

As well as the fabulous ales on offer there was a vast array of world beers including fabulous German wheat beer Paulaner, what a great place this was !! Shelley enquired as to what ciders they had on draught and was told by the barmaid 'We have Aspall, it is nice' as if Shelley needed to be convinced of the fact !!!

The difference from the Harborne Stores was so marked that it was embarrassing, even the loos (I broke the seal way too early) were spotless. I guess the biggest compliment I can pay to the place is Shelley's observation at the time 'I wish we'd got this pub in Tamworth'.

If you are ever in Harborne be sure you go up The Junction !!

Harborne Stores

Historically I have had some great drinking sessions on previous Maundy Thursdays so with this in mind Shelley and I decided that we would embark on a trip to Harborne to start off 2014's Easter celebrations.

Getting home from Brum can be a bit of a nuisance at times so to save on hassle we booked a room in the Hampton by Hilton on Broad Street. We had stopped there before and, just like on one of our previous visits, we had been placed in room 1702, the special needs room on the seventh floor. I made a mental note to myself, whilst I was getting ready to go out, that the red cord in our room was an emergency cord and not a light switch.

We made the short journey to Harborne by bus and called in at the nearest pub to the bus stop, The Harborne Stores. The pub itself was okayish, it was a bit basic and although it wasn't a Wetherspoon's establishment it was probably as close as Harborne gets to such a venue. The emphasis was on value for money and I for one wasn't arguing especially when I purchased a rather nice pint of Greene King IPA for the princely sum of £1.75, a veritable bargain.

There was a distinct lack of women in the place and if I was to describe the venue as an old man's pub then I wouldn't be too wide of the mark. We made our way to the back of the pub out of harm's reach.

 

 

The fact that the televisions in the pub were tuned into the horse racing channel probably tells you all you need to know about the Harborne Stores. Food connoisseurs may be interested to know that £6.45 gets you two meals in this pub whilst wine experts may be more interested in the bottle of wine plus two meals offer for just £11.95 !!

We stopped for another as this was certainly one store that I enjoyed shopping in !!

Tamworth Sports & Rock Bar

What is there not to like about a venue calling itself the Tamworth Sports & Rock bar?!! Anywhere that serves beer, shows sport and has live rock music has just got to be good !!

The place is a five minute walk from the town centre and I must admit initial impressions aren't great, the building is a bit of an eye sore from the outside..

..and things don't really improve when you walk in, firstly the place doesn't have any windows so it is ridiculously dark, and secondly the place (or should that be plaice?!!) stinks of chips !!

The pub is referred to by locals as the 'snooker club' as the venue's top floor possesses several full sized snooker tables. The main room is adorned by a huge array of sporting memorabilia, shirts, pendants, photos etc. I will admit there is a bit of a v*lla bias but look hard enough and will find Blues stuff, I spotted three Blues shirts and a photo of legendary Frenchman Christophe Dugarry.

It is a great place to watch sport, aided by the fact that it possesses the dodgy foreign channel which means it literally shows every game. Whilst the venue is a lucky one for my nephew Simon (he has seen his team West Brom win here away at Anfield and Old Trafford) it is less so for me, I've seen Blues lose in the play offs, I've seen Blues lose to Wolves, I've seen Blues lose 5 0 to Manchester United....should I go on?!!

The day we visited was to watch the Liverpool v Manchester City game, and what a cracker of a game it was, Liverpool romped to a early two nil lead only for City to peg it back to two two, then with ten minutes to go Liverpool grabbed the winner. Real drama especially for the couple sat next to us, she was decked out in a Liverpool shirt whilst he wore the light blue of Manchester City. Thankfully they were still speaking after the final whistle.

My visit that day was made complete when as we were leaving I noticed a poster advertising some forthcoming live entertainment, on May 4th AC/DC tribute act Hell's Bells are in town !! Expect an update from this venue on May 4 !!

UPDATE 27th April

For us to spend both Friday night and Saturday night at home is practically unheard of but that was indeed the case though it did not mean that we went drink free on either night with Shelley enjoying a bottle of red wine and me enjoying bottles of different types of real ale.

I woke up on Sunday morning with a clear head due in some part to the fact that my last bottle of ale was a bottle of Mann's Brown Ale weighing it at a pathetic 2.8% ABV.

After going out for a Sunday morning walk and breakfast we had a walk into Tamworth town centre to watch the final run in to the Premier League season with a pivotal match between Liverpool and Chelsea.

As always the lack of windows at the Tamworth Sports and Rock bar meant that walking into the place was like fumbling around in the dark but once my eyes got accustomed to the light I managed to order myself a pint of Carling and Shelley a pint of Hereford cider.

We selected a couple of seats in the far back corner of the bar and watched the tail end of the relegation battle between Sunderland and Cardiff.

I must have startled everyone when I took the following photo as the flash went off meaning that the place was subjected to a rare moment of light.

Though the real ray of light in the place was shining above the bar, the photo of legendary Blues striker Christophe Dugarry I talked of in my original post for this venue.

The main event was a good one, Stevie G made a costly mistake just before half time to hand Chelsea the lead. I too thought I may have made a mistake at half time, I noticed that Caffrey's was now available on draught so switched my drink choice from Carling to Caffrey's. Was this an error of judgement seeing that I was working the next day and Caffrey's used to be notorious for inducing some cracking hangovers back in the 1990's? Time would tell especially as I risked another pint in the second half.

Despite plenty of second half Liverpool pressure Chelsea scored a breakaway goal in injury time to come away victorious much to the dismay of the vast majority in the bar.

We made our way home (via The Gate) at full time though not before I had my first experience of the relatively new phenomenon of photobombing i.e. random strangers gate crashing photographs..

How very dare they?!!

UPDATE 4th May

Although we were both feeling the effects of a long weekend in Brean, May Day Bank Holiday Sunday saw us walk into town to the Tamworth Sports & Rock Bar. Well, there was no way that I could stay in when these boys are in town...

The venue was pleasingly full though one look round the room made me realise that Old Father Time hadn't been particularly kind to many members of Tamworth's heavy rock fraternity, with receding hairlines and expanding waistlines very common place and that was just the rock chicks.

Support for Hells Bells came in the form of a dj who played some rock classics from yesteryear, I sipped (rather than guzzled) my pint of Carling (it was maybe one pint too far following the previous days exertions on Survival Saturday) and listened to tracks from the likes of Sabbath, Scorpions and Motorhead.

The announcement was made by the dj that the band were ready to start so we all politely filed into the adjoining room. They were excellent, like every good tribute should be, they were true to both the look and sound of the band in question, with Brian Johnson look a like complete with trademark flat cap and waistcoat and Angus sporting regulation school uniform including satchel.

Their set list was a varied one with obligatory AC/DC standards mixed in with some lesser known modern material like Money Talks and Stiff Upper Lip. Angus performed his customary striptease before launching into song of the night TNT with the knowledgeable audience joining in with the chants of Oi, Oi without the need for a prompt.

Although we were both hanging at the end of the night due to us being totally exhausted I'm really glad we made the effort and will definitely catch them next time they are in these parts though maybe not after an all dayer next time !!

Hells Bells, we salute you !!

UPDATE 22nd November

The Tamworth Sports & Rock Bar is a place that shows Saturday afternoon Premier League matches via a foreign satellite channel. To do so breeches copyright laws so they were understandably cagey when I phoned to enquire as to whether they would be showing the Chelsea v West Bromwich Albion match. I was told that the only way my nephew Simon and I could watch the game was to obtain a membership card. We called in ahead of our visit to join up. How attractive I look in my mug shot..

Neighbour Alan was at a loose end so he joined us for an afternoon of watching sport in the relative darkness of what we refer to as the snooker club.

Women's football has really taken off in recent years with England internationals attracting crowds in excess of 50,000 and if the photo in the entrance of the bar is anything to go by then the reason for its popularity is understandable...

I've watched a few Albion games with my West Brom loving nephew in the snooker club in the past and the venue has proved to be a lucky one so much so that he was keen to sit in the same seat that he sat in to witness Albion's win last season away to Man Utd. Unfortunately the luck appeared to have run out, a ten man West Brom lost two nil. Maybe his luck had transferred to me, news came through that (much to Alan's disgust) Blues had won away at Rotherham and were out of the bottom three !! Time for another drink, okay it was only Carling but good value at £2.50 a pint.

It really is a sport lovers paradise in the Sports and Rock bar, you could settle down at lunchtime and watch sporting event after sporting event on the bar's multitude of tv screens until the place closed at midnight. I'm sure it must have been the cause of numerous domestic disagreements over the years !!

We decided to stay and watch another game, Arsenal v Man Utd, well the beer was flowing, we were settled and you never know there might have been a game of women's football being shown featuring the girls from the poster in which case we would have to stop to the end of the game to watch the teams exchange shirts !!

The Arsenal v Man Utd game was a good one, a fast flowing encounter with Utd snatching a fairly fortunate victory. There was a night of boxing starting just after the final whistle however there's only so much sport that you can watch so Simon and I left Alan to it and made our way to meet Shelley in the curry house..

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The Tavern Inn

We rarely visit The Tavern but being as it was next to our previous venue Bonds and there was a queue to get into The Silk Kite it seemed like a good idea at the time....it wasn't !!

The Tavern (or The Tavern in the Town to give it its full name) is a former bikers pub, it is popular at weekends firstly as it is a feeder pub for The Silk Kite, which is literally over the road, and secondly because there are live bands on a Saturday night.

I would describe it as a bit grubby, it probably hasn't had a refurbishment since decimalisation and it shows. I foolishly risked a pint of real ale (an M & B Brew XI) and was subjected to my worst pint of 2014 by some distance. It was bloomin' awful.

While the situation on the beer front was gross, the situation on the music front was arguably worse. Noting the fact that this was a former bikers pub, who in there right mind would choose line dancing favourite 5-6-7-8 by Steps as a selection on the pub's jukebox?!!

The dire situation was compounded when I caught a glimpse of the pub's television, it was showing Britain's Got Talent !! Had I just walked into hell?!!

The only saving grace was the fact that we were stood by the window and I must say the moonlit view of the Assembly Rooms (a venue frequented by both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones just over fifty years ago) and 14th century church St Editha's were something to behold though not enough for us to even contemplate another pint.

Bonds

Being a town without a university Tamworth doesn't really have a large student population, however those that attend the college seem to congregate in Bonds in the town centre so this is probably as close as it gets to a Tamworth student bar.

There weren't many students in Bonds when we popped in part way through our Tamworth pub crawl, in fact there weren't that many people in there at all. From memory I can't recall any ale of any sort on my last visit so I was very surprised to see a couple of ales on offer with me opting for a fairly uninspiring pint of Gone For a Burton by the Tower Brewery.

We made our way to the back of the pub, and I attempted to sit in what looked like a comfy armchair, it nearly swallowed me up..

Maybe it's just me or does my seat need reupholstering?!!

I swapped seats to one by the tv screen as we were just in time to witness what turned out to be a fairly boring penalty shoot out in the Wigan v Arsenal FA Cup semi final with Arsenal emerging as the eventual victors.

We were sat by an elderly gentleman who appeared to know most of the people in the pub, I had my suspicions that he was the pub's drug dealer when he was approached by people who he proceeded to give small bags to. We eventually found out that the bags contained nothing more harmful than sweets, and it wasn't long before he offered me a mintoe !! The gentleman in question was called Michael and he had quite an eye for the ladies, demonstrated by the fact that he told Shelley that she'd got 'come to bed eyes' when I foolishly visited the loo and left her alone with the predator !!

Michael was knocking back a bottle of wine and it must have put him in the mood for a dance as he told us that he was going night clubbing later that night !! How we laughed when we left, Shelley gave him a hug and a peck on the cheek and he got that excited that his hat fell off !!!!

Wherever

Shelley often says, with some justification, that Tamworth doesn't possess any decent upmarket bars, I think Wherever is the only possible exception. Tucked behind the council's uninspiring concrete headquarters Wherever is a bit off the beaten track but worth the effort.

We used to go to the pub when it was SoBar but that didn't really take off, in my view, due to it having a bit of a bar/restaurant identity crisis. Wherever seems to concentrate more on drinking with live entertainment provided once a month in the form of a band.

The pub itself is fairly small and is on two levels with the well stocked bar being on the top level. Unsurprisingly there wasn't a real ale in sight but I was delighted to see the availability of Belgium rocket fuel Leffe on draught. The last time I had a session on Leffe, and Shelley will confirm this story, was on my birthday in Geneva in 2011 during our travels. I did warn Shelley that day that it would undoubtedly end in tears, it did, I fell over a stool on my way out when trying to say my goodbyes in pigeon French to the barmaid !!

I decided my best option in Wherever would be to go for a half of the 6.6% fire liquid knowing that if I struggled then I'd get by with a little help from my friends...

The pub is geared towards a mature sophisticated crowd so Shelley and I felt at home as we made ourselves comfortable in a window seat and watched the world go by. I was consciously sipping rather than gulping my Leffe as I didn't want to run the risk of another man down incident.

Mercifully I survived tumble free and left with the standard 'Ta ra bit' rather than risk another French speaking departure. !!

UPDATE May 31st

'Let's get ready to rumble' was the phrase that we'd come into Tamworth to hear. It wasn't an appearance by Geordie duo PJ and Duncan at the Tamworth Assembly Rooms, it was infact the night of the Carl Froch v George Groves fight and both Shelley and I were keen to watch it as were our drinking buddies neighbours Gill and Alan and Shelley's brother Craig and sister in law Maria.

The intention was to watch the fight in the Tamworth Rock and Sports bar though we decided that we would skip support bouts and have a drink somewhere else first. My suggestion of Wetherspoons was unanimously dismissed so we opted for the more upmarket Wherever bar.

It was the first time that the six of us had got together since new years eve 2012, come to think of it our attire on that occasion was somewhat different, we looked resplendent dressed as a schoolgirl, Oliver Hardy, a gladiator, a pirate and morris dancers !!

I decided that as it was likely to be a long night I'd best steer well clear of Leffee, the beer that makes me fall over, and joined the boys on the Peroni. Although we were out to watch the boxing I didn't want to be the one suffering an early knock out !!

I've stated before that Wherever is probably the most upmarket pub in Tamworth town centre and the pub started to fill up with large numbers of the pub's patrons being young ladies in short, tight dresses. It was awful !!

Unfortunately the night was rudely interrupted by the appearance of a dj. Well, when I say dj it was a bloke with a laptop. I feared the worst and was certain he wouldn't crack his face if I asked him if he'd got anything by Iron Maiden !!

The double whammy of the dj and a £23 round meant that we didn't stop longer than two pints and decided to move to The White Lion.

The White Lion

I was somewhat dubious about pub number four of our Saturday pub crawl of Tamworth as I was worried that the sign outside the pub was a description of the place with the capital S missing..

I needn't have worried The White Lion is quite a decent pub with a choice of a couple of ales, I seem to remember having a fairly ropey pint of Banks's bitter in The White Lion on a previous visit so I declined that in favour of a pint of Sharp's Doombar.

Tamworth has a bit of a reputation of being a v*lla stronghold though, while many residents share that unfortunate affliction, there is a certainly a Blues presence, I was particularly pleased to see the iconic club crest behind the bar at The White Lion.

The pub regularly has live bands on a Saturday night many of whom are pretty good. We saw a fabulous punk covers band in The White Lion a couple of years ago. The band had obviously got a very loyal following with right wing tendencies who travelled in numbers on that night. I am not exaggerating when I say that when I walked in that night I thought we were at an EDL rally !!

There was a poster on the wall in the pub telling of forthcoming events at the venue, as well as the usual sporting events and live bands I noticed that there was mention of a psychic night on the 15th of May with Dawn Lorose, I'd have never predicted that !!

There is plenty of history to the pub and it always features in old photos of Tamworth town centre from bygone eras. The late American actor Mickey Rooney was a regular in The White Lion during the war when he was stationed at nearby Whittington Barracks.

We left after a quick pint though not before we witnessed two blokes pay a visit to gents together to seemingly take the term powder your nose a bit too literally.

Time for a quick photo..

...before a stroll to the next venue Wherever.


UPDATE 31st May

After a quick pint in Wherever, The White Lion was originally intended to be our final stop off point for the six of us (me, Shelley, Gill, Alan, Craig and Maria) while on route to the Tamworth Rock and Sports bar to watch the Carl Froch v George Groves fight.

When we got in there we discovered that the boxing was being shown on six HD screens throughout the pub. We quickly decided against a move to the dark, chip smelling rock bar and decided that The White Lion was now our chosen venue in which to watch the boxing.

Although they do sell real ale at The White Lion it can be a bit iffy. Out of loyalty I went down the ale route and went for a pint of Adnams Ghost Ship, it was okay but certainly wouldn't appear in any Good Beer Guide.

We found a good pitch, not too far from the door but with a really good view of the pub's largest screen. They were showing the supporting bouts but I missed James DeGale knock out his opponent due to my financial embarrassment, I had to pop to the cashpoint as I had literally no money.

The pub had really filled up by the time the main event started with the split in the pub between men and women being roughly 50/50. Both genders were offering well meant advice to the boxers with 'Hit him' being the most commonly used.

Carl Froch obviously heard the advice that was being given from The White Lion and caught Groves with a peach of a right hook in the eighth round. Game over. It was also night over for us, well kind of, we drunk up and decided on more beer and a chilli back at ours.

UPDATE 6th June

Right, that's it, I'm never drinking real ale in The White Lion again, the pint of Banks's bitter I had on our post work pub crawl was dreadful but it wasn't a one off I've seldom if ever had a decent pint of beer in this pub so that's it, it's fizzy tasteless lager for me from now on.

We called in for a quick pint on the way to the curry house, it wasn't a planned visit it was just that previous pub The Globe was so quiet it felt like we were having a pint in our front room.

There was a bit more life in The White Lion which was just starting to fill up with the pre night club crowd loading up on drinks that end with the word bomb.

Very little of note occurred during our visit, I must admit the music was pretty good with Creep by Radiohead and I Wanna Be Adored by The Stone Roses being the pick of the tracks.

I did look jealously over at Shelley's pint of Th*tchers and shook my head knowing I'd made a bad choice. It won't happen again let me tell you !!

According to folklore the streets of London are paved with gold, well something similar occurred in Tamworth as we left, I dropped a fiver on the pavement, thankfully Shelley was on hand to sweep up the dosh !!

The Phoenix

Following our mandatory start at The Bolebridge our second pub of the day was The Phoenix, our first visit to this establishment this year, though in all honesty my only other visit was with our neighbour Alan towards the end of an all dayer that followed a British Lions game so my recollection of the place is understandably hazy !!

In an era when pubs are closing at an alarming rate The Phoenix (situated on George Street in the centre of Tamworth) seems to survive because it is cheap and cheerful. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that the pub was offering 10% off a pint of real ale to CAMRA members though I must admit I felt a bit embarrassed taking them up on their generous offer seeing as my Greene King IPA was only £1.79 a pint.

At night time I'm certain that The Phoenix must do a roaring trade with the pre night club crowd and posters around the place do their best to encourage that target market, two bottles of WKD for a fiver, four bombs for £9 etc. There are also offers on the food, desserts two for one, two meals and a bottle of wine for £13.95. It was the pub equivalent of Lidl and it seemed to appeal to the bargain hunters of Tamworth as the place was full with most folks eating.

There were quite a few families in there, infact the place appeared to the very family friendly backed up by the fact that there was a machine selling One Direction dog tags by the bar. I will confess I had to ask Shelley what on earth they were !!

I learned of pleasing (though hardly unexpected) news in the pub, v*lla had suffered yet another embarrassing defeat, this time at the hands of Crystal Palace whilst my beloved Birmingham City were unbeaten that day, admittedly they didn't play but that's beside the point, I'll take any positives I can at that the moment.

Even the music in The Phoenix was pretty good, two in a row from The Small Faces being one of the highlights. Don't be fooled though, it has the potential to all go horribly wrong on a Saturday night with an appearance of what is billed as a live dj a phrase that is a fine example of an oxymoron.

Sometimes cheap and cheerful pubs attract a certain type of person, and there must have been one such individual in The Phoenix that day as the disabled toilet was out of order due to the fact that someone had attempted to flush away a nappy !! Charming !!

Whilst probably not to everyone's taste I must admit quite liking The Phoenix and I would advise anyone who is in Tamworth town centre to give the place a go particularly on market day when the place is very busy though if you do visit please take your dirty nappies home with you !!

UPDATE 10th May

The Phoenix is only a short distance from previous pub The Bolebridge which is a good job as our impromptu Saturday afternoon pub crawl with Gate regulars Keith and Tracy was now in full swing.

Naturally I produced my CAMRA membership card when I was up the bar to get a whole seventeen pence off the pint of my Greene King IPA which was only £1.79 to start with !! Spot the bloke with Yorkshire parents !!

Whilst I do like The Phoenix I got the impression that it could get a bit lively in there at weekends, this was evidenced by the fact that despite the pub's small size there was a need for three bouncers on the door.

We swapped stories with our new drinking chums Keith and Tracy. Lorry driver Keith was unwinding following the previous days trip to Middlesborough and back, I saw seven pints of Stella get consumed by him, I wonder what he's like after a trip to northern Scotland?!!

Mercifully Keith's friend Simon turned up to give them a lift before things got too out of hand so we saw that as our prompt to move on.

Next venue Rock It....

UPDATE 28th August

We called in to The Phoenix on our way from The Bolebridge to the curry house for no other reason than I fancied a change from the usual venues of the Sir Robert Peel or The Market Vaults. I've mentioned before that the pub is cheap and cheerful and looks after its real ale drinkers.

I bought a pint of Greene King IPA for my good self and a glass of house rose for my good lady..

In all honesty I should have taken my pint back, it was cloudy and had the feel of a beer that was near the bottom of the barrel but seeing as it was £1.89 before my 10% CAMRA discount I felt almost embarrassed. Hopefully there'd be no lasting damage caused by me drinking it.

Unsurprisingly the barrel ran out when I was next up the bar so my fears were confirmed so I was treated to waitress service as the barmaid brought my beer to our table once the drinks were poured.

The pub was thinly populated which was surprising for a Thursday night though this is probably more of a Saturday night venue when Tamworth's yoof get loaded up on shots, alcopops and bombs.

The music was certainly eclectic, Groove is in the Heart by Deee Lite (with apologies for the spelling), Like a Rolling Stone (by The Rolling Stones not Bob Dylan) and a Scottish World Cup song that I have honestly never heard before. How bizarre !! Maybe Alex Salmond had called in for a wee dram !!

I visited the loo and ducked for cover, I thought I was under attack from a sniper !! I soon realised the rat-a-tat-tat machine gun style noise was coming from trap one, I do hope that his flatulence was caused by the bottom of the barrel beer !!

UPDATE 4th October

Transportation issues meant that my session in Derby with my mate Matt finished earlier than I had anticipated so I arranged to meet Shelley in Tamworth town centre as she was on an afternoon out with the girls in Brum. The problem was that she wasn't due back for a couple of hours so I decided to call into a couple of pubs before meeting her.

Venue number one was the cheap and cheerful Phoenix. There are always a couple of ales to choose from however I was delighted to see an award winner namely Timothy Taylor Boltmaker which holds the prestigious title of being Gold Champion in the Champion Beer of Britain awards 2014. Wow, a prize winning beer at The Phoenix, I was that excited I forgot to ask for my CAMRA discount..

Besides its' prize winning ale, one of the reasons I chose The Phoenix was I wanted to avoid pubs showing the football, v*lla were playing Manchester City at the time so I was keen to steer clear of venues that contained their irritating fans.

The tv viewing at The Phoenix was arguably more entertaining than the match, it was first eviction week in Strictly Come Dancing, the volume was off so I was following via subtitles. Now I may be mistaken but I'm sure I read Len Goodman accuse the bloke from boy band Blue of having a 'queer left elbow'. Is he allowed to say such a thing these days?!!

I spotted our window cleaner, out with a bunch of mates, in fine voice to some old tunes. He was belting out the lyrics to such classics as 'We've Gotta Get Outta This Place', 'The Last Waltz' and 'Apache'. Okay he wasn't actually singing to Apache but he was playing a mean air guitar in a Hank Marvin style !! Please note I have avoided any obvious corny George Formby jokes !!

I was panicking slightly as a few glances at my phone showed a lack of Man City goals however I needn't have worried, a couple of late strikes made my day so I headed to Tamworth rock bar Rock It to celebrate.

The Old Liberal House

I'm not sure which is the nearest pub to our house, it is either our favourite The Gate or the seldom used Old Liberal House.

It is not a bad pub it's just a bit rough and ready though in its defence it has got Sky Sports so as I fancied watching West Ham against Liverpool it was either a trip into Tamworth town centre or a visit to The Old Liberal House so we chose the latter.

I must admit though the sign outside the pub telling of that nights entertainment intrigued us..

I am fairly certain that they never had ales on when I've visited this pub before so I was pleasantly surprised with their choice of two, I chose a pint of Brains Reverend James and was delighted with my choice, it was a perfect Sunday afternoon supping beer.

The pub is deceptively large, there is a back room with a pool table, the main room features settees and a pull down projector screen, there is a big function room and an upstairs room which is the venue for the weekly ladies aerobic class. Given the fact that two years ago Tamworth was named as the UK's fattest town makes me hope that the ceilings in the pub are reinforced !!

The main room is a real home from home, as I said earlier it features settees, it is fully carpeted (never a great idea in a pub) and bizarrely it has a set of flashing Christmas style lights above the bar. Very classy !!

The clientele are an interesting bunch, Shelley remarked that it's the sort of pub where you could get anything and she is spot on, it is one of those sort of places. If I didn't know better I'd swear (pardon the pun) that the bloke sat by me had a severe case of tourettes, he effed and jeffed his way through recounting to his mate how he had put up a garden shed. It wasn't just a shed it was an effin 6 x 4 shed, with an effin apex roof, 'cos he was sick of his effin missus going on at him about his effin tools !!

The game was no great shakes so we prepared ourselves for the main event...the auction !!

I have seldom seen so much tat under one roof !! It was like an indoor car boot sale without the cars !! I am not lying when I tell you that lot 126 was three mop buckets !! I took a photo in an attempt to capture the event in all its glory..

Unfortunately the auctioneer caught me and asked me to explain the purpose of the photo. I must admit I did struggle as my that stage I'd consumed five pints of Rev James !!

We made our excuses and left

The Wharf 10 Bar

In my prologue to this blog I stated that I am concentrating solely on venues that are pubs however I hadn't realised how many grey areas there would be, and how many places would miss out on an inclusion, step forward : Harrods (Shelley took me there for a champagne tea at the start of February), The Boldmere Tennis Club (me and my mate Paul popped in for a couple of pints as he lives around the corner from it), the KC stadium (I had a couple of pre match pints there when I joined my brother Dave and nephews Tom and Simon for the Hull v West Bromwich Albion match) and the Premier Inn, Hull (I had a few with Shelley, Dave and his family following the match and a visit to my Aunt and Uncle in Hull).

One other event/place that has also missed out is the 33rd Walsall beer festival held at Walsall's magnificent Town Hall, an evening that had extra significance due to it being the first beer festival attended by my youngest nephew Simon. My brother Dave is obviously bringing him up the right way though it is seemingly still work in progress as when I asked him to name his favourite beer he answered Fosters !!

I had planned my journey back from the Walsall beer festival with military position, leave at 21.00 hrs, get the 21.15 train from Walsall back to Birmingham New Street, then get the 22.03 back from Birmingham New Street to Tamworth. Simples...One problem.....

Yep, the 21.15 train was cancelled and the next train was at 21.40, this caused me a major issue due to the fact that the train arrived back in Brum at 22.10 meaning that I would be left with an hour wait on my own in Birmingham city centre until the last train back to Tamworth at 23.10. Normally a couple of pints would fill this gap but the fact that it was a school night and noting that I'd had several strong ales at the beer festival meant that this really wouldn't have been a good option.

Thankfully Shelley kindly offered to pick me up from Brum at 22.15 meaning that I was left with around 20 minutes to kill in Walsall on a wet Thursday night. Now although Mr and Mrs L have lived in Walsall for several years I have no idea where to go drinking in Walsall town centre, a fact highlighted by my choice of pub, The Wharf 10 bar.

I would imagine that this is a pub for Walsall's young folk and any thoughts I had that I'd still pass as a youngster were dashed when the barmaid blew my cover, 'Been to the beer festival'? she asked as I ordered my pint of Worthington's smooth flow. I begrudgingly nodded my head in admittance of the fact that I must look like a middle aged real ale drinker.

In all honesty my choice of pub could have been worse, the pub was absolutely dead so much so that barmaid Kelis was that bored that she struck up a conversation with me about the merits of real ale and I soon discovered that she lived near where I used to live in Erdington. As it was a new pub, and Kelis and I had established a rapport, I cheekily asked her if she'd take my photo, well I can't clog this blog up with numerous selfies !! She happily obliged..

I said my farewells and lied that I'd pop in there again if I was ever in Walsall.

The Lyric

The Lyric was the final destination of our weekend in London for Shelley's sister in law Maria's birthday and it was a fabulous place to finish off a great couple of days.

Situated in Soho, the view from the pub's door conforms to every stereotype you may have about this once seedy area. Carlsberg don't do 'exciting men's clubs' but if they did this place would be....

This is a proper local's pub probably because it is tucked away down a side street away from all the tourist attractions nearby.

It is a Victorian building and the pub has kept a lot of its original features including the frontage that is almost as impressive as that of Kelly Brook !!

Inside the pub is like a pub from a bygone era with wooden floors, benches and stools set up around beer barrels that are used as tables.

 

 

 

Although one review of this place said it was a 'predominantly gay' crowd in The Lyric I didn't see any obvious evidence to support this as it was a mixture of all type of folks so there was no need for me and Craig to stick on false handlebar moustaches !!

 

The selection of beers in The Lyric had to be seen to be believed, there were 20 beer taps serving both craft and keg beer. We were encouraged to try before you buy and I eventually opted for a pint of Duchess by the Cottage brewery. The girls went for Orchard Pig cider which got a massive thumbs up from them both, infact Shelley said it was better than Aspall which believe me is praise indeed.

 

Being red bloodied males, Craig and I couldn't fail to notice the barmaid's low cut top and there was very nearly a wardrobe malfunction as she almost spilled out of her blouse when we were at the bar and she had to reach for a glass from a high shelf. We didn't know where to look !! Actually that is a bit of a lie, we knew exactly where to look we just didn't want to get caught !!

 

The wooden stools at the bar weren't very forgiving as one gentleman sat at the bar tried to subtly break wind and was caught out by Shelley who laughingly rebuked him by telling him 'Oi, I heard that' !!

 

We stopped for more beers we should have and ended up missing the train that we had originally intended to catch back to Tamworth. It didn't matter though as the pub was that good it was a minor inconvenience.

 

UPDATE 26th July

 

Having enjoyed a trip around the Queen's house in the morning, we (Shelley, my brother Dave, sister in law Julie and myself) decided we needed a house of the public variety on a sweltering London afternoon. Seeing as we had ended up at Piccadilly Circus which was as busy as erm, Piccadilly Circus we sought sanctuary in our old favourite The Lyric just on the edge of Soho.

 

It was as good as I remembered it from our previous visit earlier in the year though unfortunately this time there was a lack of barmaid in a low cut top action !!

 

As before there was a whole multitude of ales of both the real and the craft variety with Dave and I going for pints of Golden Looking Ale (I've forgotten who brewed it) and both Shelley and Julie choosing the very impressive Orchard Pig cider. I fetched the ciders to our table from the bar which meant that I was literally bringing home the bacon !!

 

 

 

Poor planning from my brother meant that he had miscalculated the number of tee shirts that he needed for the weekend (bearing in mind it was only day two !!) so following a trip to a designer shop (yeah right!!) in Piccadilly Circus to pick up some new tee shirts he was required to change like a comic book hero in the pub. His transformation from Clark Kent to..........Clark Kent was anything but super !!

 

There was definitely a mid afternoon lull as we were polishing off pint number two, with our guests stifling yawns due, I believe, to the warm weather and lack of food, rather than a reflection of our stunning company, and a round of crisps didn't ease the situation. We needed food, fast !! So, when in need of cheap fast food with an alcoholic beverage accompaniment there's nowhere better than your old mate JD Wetherspoons, we headed to The Moon Under Water in Leicester Square......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

St James Tavern

I wasn't feeling too chipper when I woke up on day two of our weekend in London as Saturday's all dayer had taken its toll on me. However a decent breakfast and a lengthy stroll in the capital seemed to sort me out and our walk in the spring sunshine had given me a bit of a thirst so a beer or two in the St James Tavern was just what the doctor ordered. The question was though would it be kill or cure?!

The pub was situated pretty much on Piccadilly Circus and was very much aimed at tourists and theatre goers. The pub was fairly full given the fact that it was Sunday lunchtime and many of the tourists were tucking into our traditional British dish, no not Chicken Tikka Masalla, I'm referring of course to fish and chips.

There were a couple of ales on offer so I chose a Shepherd Neame Spitfire, Craig was on Heineken and both Shelley and Maria were on pints of Strongbow. Such is the price of beer in London that we barely flinched when we were asked to part with sixteen pounds and ninety five English pennies. Kitty's don't last long in London !!

By the time I was on pint two my hangover was a distant memory and I was debating with spelling and punctuation stickler Maria whether there should be an apostrophe or an extra s in the pub's name.

Confidence in my recovery however was misplaced and I hit what marathon runners would describe as 'the wall' two thirds of my way down pint number two. Mercifully we were sat near the door so I took a seat and embarrassingly excused myself from round number three.

I bravely battled my way to the bottom of my second pint and made the tactical decision that a change of drink was what was required and joined Craig on the Heineken. Hopefully this fact will not result in my membership of CAMRA being rescinded !!

I declared that I was back in the game when I polished off my pint relatively quickly and went back to enjoying myself in a venue that was good but not great.

The Harp

Denise bravely took the decision that she would decide on the final destination of that day's London pub crawl. She used her local knowledge and took us to what I believe was pub of the day, The Harp in Chandos Place. The pub is that near to Trafalgar Square that Admiral Horatio Nelson can see it from his elevated position in the square.

The Harp is a dream for real ale drinkers like myself and finally puts to rest the myth that you can't get a decent pint in London. The pub was awarded the title CAMRA National Pub of the Year in 2010 and 2011, the first time that a London pub had ever won the honour. Justification for the award was evidenced by the fact that there was an eye watering ten real ales available when we arrived. Great choice Denise !!

We received a very warm welcome and the staff behind the bar were more than happy to give us samples of the beer so we could decide what we wanted. After much deliberation I chose a Twickenham Redhead ( a beer rather than a female England rugby fan) and didn't regret my decision.

The pub was busy but we were fortunate enough to secure the one remaining free table towards the back of the pub.

'Nice bangers' is an expression often uttered in The Harp which, rather than being an admiration of the female form in a phrase favoured by Gok Wan, is in actual fact an appreciation for the sausages that the pub is famous for with flavours as diverse as Guinness and Horseradish and Moroccan Lamb.

All in all The Harp is an outstanding pub which we will undoubtedly visit again this year.

Time for a curry............

The Bear and Staff

Literally over the road from previous pub The Bewmaster was the next venue on our London pub crawl The Bear and Staff. There is a bit of history about this place, firstly it has stood on this site since 1714 and secondly it was once frequented by Charlie Chaplin, and the pub's restaurant is named in his honour.

The pub proudly boasts that it has been visited by celebrities and villains, I did have a quick look round when we are arrived just to make sure that the villains they were referring to weren't aston v*lla supporters. Thankfully they weren't, the only obvious football fan in there was a Chelsea fan at the bar drowning his sorrows after Chelsea's defeat earlier that day by Crystal Palace, he used very colourful language when he was describing his thoughts on club captain John Terry to us.

Once again there was a fairly decent selection of ales, and my pint of Nicholson's pale ale was a lovely drop of beer.

I did state in my introduction to this blog that there would be instances, due to the effect of alcohol, when the accuracy of the information could not be relied upon. The review of The Bear and Staff isn't quite one of those instances, it is more the fact that a few too many beers have given me a bit of memory loss about this place. It was a fairly standard pub, the beer was good, there was a bit of music, well it wasn't heavy metal so it wasn't proper music, and all in all it was quite a decent venue.

I mentioned in an earlier post that when Shelley and I go drinking with Craig, Maria, Denise and Harry there is always a wide range of conversations. Thankfully we moved on from the unblocking of toilets in previous pub the Brewmaster to wine recommendations. Now while I like to think I know a thing or two about beer I am absolutely clueless when it comes to wine, particularly about how fast to drink it. 'Stop drinking it like a pint of beer' is an instruction that is normally given to me by Shelley on the rare occasions that I have a glass of the stuff. So I could neither agree nor disagree when wine connoisseur Denise recommended Argentinian red Malbec as a particularly decent drop.

Right, time for one more pub.........

The Brewmaster

We made the short journey along London's gold paved streets from previous pub The Prince of Wales to The Brewmaster near Leicester Square tube station. I'd just received confirmation that Blues had suffered yet another defeat so the pub crawl had taken on a sorrow drowning nature for me. In all honesty even though it was late afternoon I knew I'd had a drink, and I must confess I was still feeling the effect of three Bishop Fingers earlier !! Ouch !!

The Brewmaster is a pub Shelley and I regularly visit during our frequent trips to the capital given its convenient location. There is a fairly standard choice of beers but I was pleasantly surprised to see an ale on offer so I opted for the Greene King IPA which wasn't too bad.

We were blessed with some lovely weather so we did our first bit of alfresco drinking that day. Admittedly it was down an alleyway at the back of the pub so it wasn't exactly a room with a view but it did for us that night.

Be warned the loos are up a huge flight of stairs so asthma sufferers may want to cross their legs and wait for the next pub if they are on a pub crawl.

I returned breathless after my hike to the restroom (I think I must have been mixing with too many American tourists !!) only to find Craig mid-story recounting in gory details how he recently unblocked the sewage pipe in his garden...

Time to go...........

The Nags Head

There is always something exciting about a trip to London, so I'd been eagerly anticipating our second visit to the capital in 2014 for some time. The main purpose of our visit was to surprise Shelley's Welsh sister in law Maria, who had been taken there for a few days by husband Craig to celebrate her birthday on the Thursday.

I hadn't seen Maria since England's six nations victory against the Welsh but, as it was her birthday celebration, I told myself that it would be inappropriate to give her too much stick, however I was fairly confident that my resolve would soon go after a few drinks.

Craig sent us a text informing us that The Nags Head, opposite Covent Garden tube station, was to be our starting point. What could be more appropriate for a trip to London than a visit to a pub that shares its name with the boozer in Only Fools and Horses? I made a mental note to be on the look out for falling chandeliers as we walked in !!

Maria was delighted to see us when we arrived, and, unless she had demonstrated the best acting from somebody from Wales since Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs, our appearance was a genuine surprise so the weekend had got off to the best possible start.

The pub itself was a traditional Victorian building and, given the fact that it a Saturday afternoon, was bustling with a mixture of locals and tourists.

Historically pubs in London were always renowned for the poor selection and quality of their beers, particularly their ales. Thankfully a vast improvement in recent years has meant that this is no longer the case. I opted for a pint of McMullen Country Bitter from the fine selection of ales on offer.

As well as Maria and Craig we were also joined by their friends Harry and Denise who had travelled in that day from Horley in Surrey. It was obviously a popular time of the year for birthdays as it was Denise's that day. We hadn't seen Harry and Denise for some time so it was great to catch up with them. Infact Shelley had to reluctantly hand over conch holding duty for a while as they recounted tales from their trip to Australia at the tail end of last year. Tail end being the appropriate expression seeing as they took in a few days of Ashes cricket. The least said about that the better !!

We stopped for just the one pint as we decided it was time for a pub crawl...