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 !!







Sunday, 7 September 2014

The Bulls Head

This blog is now moving into it's ninth month, so it's not a bad time to reflect on what has happened so far. Firstly I hadn't realised what a mammoth task this would be, there have been times where I have fallen badly behind (generally after a weekend away) with the worst time being when I'd got twenty five pub visits to write up. Thankfully I am currently pretty much up to date but its taken a fair bit of time and effort.

The reason it is such a mammoth project is due in no small part to the number of times I have visited the public house. The figure currently stands at 192 different pubs with this pub (The Bulls Head in Polesworth being number 193) it should also be noted that in addition to this figure there are a number of pubs that I have visited on numerous occasions, The Gate (26 visits) and The Bolebridge (18 visits) to name but two.

Right, let's crack on.....Shelley and I are keen walkers so as it was a nice early September evening we had an hours stroll along the Coventry canal into Polesworth and what can be better when you are halfway through a walk than a nice pint? The Bulls Head is situated next to the canal bridge in Polesworth so we called in.

The Bulls Head is listed in The Good Beer Guide so I knew that I'd get a decent pint however, initial impressions of the place weren't great, it is definitely a local pub for local people, and we got a 'You're not from round here are you' stare from the regulars as we walked in. The pub was surprisingly full for a Wednesday night though we soon realised that Wednesday night is dominoes night and The Bulls Head had got a home fixture.

We ordered our beers (Sharps Doombar for me and Strongbow for Shelley) and took our seats. The seats we chose had got a prime view of the tv, it was a hardly a surprise that they were empty, the friendly between England and Norway was just about to start. Obviously another English World Cup failure was still fresh in people's memories.



I will admit that despite the fairly frosty reception that we received the beer was fabulous, I would go as far as to say that my pint of Sharps Doombar was probably the finest pint of Doombar I have ever tasted. I was conscious of the fact that our visit to the pub was only due to be a brief one so I necked my first pint to guarantee I'd have another while Shelley was working her way down her pint of Strongbow.

Another thing I didn't like about the pub was that it was full of v*lla fans. V*lla's home win against Hull City had seemingly excited them all, and they spoke optimistically about how they were now going to do this, that and the other. One old boy, dressed very attractively in a sock/sandal combo was particularly bullish stating (as if it was something to be proud of) 'I'm v*lla through and through'. I've never been a fan of the government's Care in the Community policy !!

One great thing about our seats was that they were positioned against the bar, so when Shelley agreed to my request for a third pint I literally didn't have to move out of my seat to order it !!

Unsurprisingly the quality of the England game didn't match the quality of the beer so we made our way back after a dreary goalless first half just before the domino match started. The fact that we'd stayed longer than anticipated meant that we needed head torches for our walk home !!
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