It didn't get off to a particularly auspicious start, we arrived to find that a burst water main had meant that there was no water in the surrounding area. Shelley was already showered and changed however I wasn't so it meant that I had no option other than to get washed using the very limited supply of bottled water that we had brought with us, I felt like I was a festival goer at Glastonbury !!
The first pub we stumbled upon was a featureless bar called Krackers, from the outside the pub resembled a large conservatory, and, even though the pub had got a bouncer on the door, I was fairly confident that my lack of a shower wouldn't prevent me from gaining entry.
Despite a long bar and a multitude of beer taps it wasn't exactly a surprise to discover that there was no real ale on draught but seeing as we'd only planned to stop for one I joined Shelley in a pint of Weston's Stowford Press cider in the hope that the next venue had got ale on.
All the talk in the bar was of the lack of water and there seemed to be a sense of inevitability they'd got none whilst their noisy neighbours Weston had. It was very much a case of the haves and have nots in Somerset that night.
Bar the fact that I probably smelt a bit, I didn't really think the lack of water would have any major implications until I heard folk talking in the bar, the water supply was unlikely to be restored until the next day meaning that all the pubs and restaurants in the area had shut due to hygiene considerations. Disaster !!
Mercifully Krackers stayed open (to be honest it wasn't the classiest of establishments so it was hardly a surprise) though this had some implications, firstly I swapped my drink choice from cider to Guinness..
I hadn't really had a session on cider for a while so I was unsure of my capacity/level of tolerance, secondly due to lack of washing capabilities glasses needed to be taken back to the bar and refilled and thirdly there was the toilets, where do I start?!!
The staff had made an emergency trip to the local supermarket for bottled water so hand washing facilities in the loos were as follows..
Eagle eyed readers will notice that there is no plug in the sink so to try and dispense soap, pour water and wash hands at the same time was a physical impossibility.
And as far as the toilet business went the less said the better, the longer the night went on the more unpleasant things got, eventually Shelley returned from a trip to toilet and said 'It's disgusting, the smell in the toilet is that bad that the door is propped open by a stool' I wasn't sure whether she was referring to a small wooden seat or something far more sinister !!
We didn't stay any longer...
UPDATE May 2nd
Thankfully with the water restored we were able to establish a more realistic picture of a night in Krackers Bar during our return visit. It was certainly a memorable night !!
Once again lack of ale meant that it was a night on the black stuff for me, so we took our seats and waited for the nights inevitable drama to unfold.
Friday night in Krackers is karaoke night and the bar was set predictably low with the nights first number, two young girls singing Olly Murs. Admittedly we did have a brief what on earth are we doing here moment but we decided to grin and bear it, to be honest it was certainly lively and erm, interesting.
One early singer was a confident fellow in his twenties, to cut a long story short his version of Spandau Ballet's Gold was that bad it was good. He unashamedly milked the applause from the appreciative (aka inebriated) audience who loved the cheeky chappy. A little later I realised the reason behind his confidence, he was very very drunk, so much so that I had a feeling that it was all going to end in tears....it did, he got thrown out by the bouncer !!
I mentioned in one of my other Brean posts that the place is very family friendly and one table by ours were taking full advantage of this fact, what a touching sight it was to see the young mum putting down her pint of Stella to pick up a bottle to feed her baby who was dressed in just its' nappy. Another mother in the same group, left with baby and grandma in tow for an early night, well, it was nearly eleven o'clock. Poor grandma couldn't make it home without a cigarette so mum and baby waited for grannie to have a fag in the pub's smoking shelter !!
We left at around 11.30 just in time to see another mum enter the pub pushing a pushchair. Aaaah, bless.
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