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 !!







Monday, 21 April 2014

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 !!

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