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 !!







Wednesday, 11 June 2014

The Gatehouse

Lichfield is blessed with two Wetherspoons venues so we moved from previous Wetherspoons pub The Acorn Inn to the next pub from that chain namely The Gatehouse. Of the two this is the one I prefer, it has a lot more character about it.

The drinks round was pretty much the same as in The Acorn Inn, I stuck to Abbot Ale, and the girls were on Stowford Press cider. I can't for the life of me remember whether or not Craig joined me on the ale or went down the lager route.

Drink had been flowing by this stage so we found great amusement when we discovered song lyrics that the ladies in our party get wrong. Shelley has always thought that the line in Club Tropicana is 'but don't worry, you can sunbathe' and Layla by Derek and the Dominoes contains the line, according to Maria 'Layla, you've got me on my feet' !!

Although I stated otherwise I quite fancied watching England's final home friendly before the World Cup against Peru. It started literally as we walked in the Gatehouse, so, as the pub was television free, I suggested that we only stopped for one. We supped up our beer and headed for the nearby Horse and Jockey, a pub with a telly.

Maria, who proudly hails from Wales, is a rugby football rather than an association football fan, so I came out in sympathy with her when she pulled a face...



UPDATE 30th August

I moved on from previous pub The Kings Head to The Gatehouse to meet Shelley and her Mum during our Saturday sojourn in Lichfield. They had been very cultural, they had visited the food and drink festival followed by a trip round the cathedral whilst I'd been to two pubs. I'm so unsophisticated !!

I got there ahead of them and confidently ordered their drinks in their absence. Who says blokes don't know what women want?!! So it was a pint of Abbot Ale for me, a pint of Stowford Press cider for Shelley and half a lager dash for Jan.

We grabbed some seats which unfortunately were right underneath a large air conditioning unit so whilst it was quite a pleasant day outside it was bloomin' freezing where we were sat in The Gatehouse...



The day went from bad to worse for my team, Blues were already three down when I got to the pub but Wigan added a fourth just before the end to compound my misery.

Some confusion with the bus times (okay, my fault!!) meant that we reluctantly ( I didn't have to do much arm twisting) stopped for another before heading back to Tamworth on the bus.





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