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.
No comments:
Post a Comment