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 !!







Tuesday, 8 April 2014

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.

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