Prince of Wales

It was time for a haircut and the fact that we were staying at Shelley's Mum's meant that I had to venture into untried territories and use a new stylist, thankfully the man at Amigos on Kings Heath High Street did a decent job. Trips to the barbers get increasingly depressing, more and more silver coloured hairs fall on the barber's shop floor, and the ultimate humiliation came on this occasion when I was asked if I wanted my eyebrows trimmed !! You know it's only a matter of time before a similar question is posed about my ear hairs !!

I had bought a Daysaver bus ticket so hopped onto the number 50 outside Amigos and hopped off at The Prince of Wales in Moseley for a quick pint on my way to St Andrews to see Blues play Bournemouth.

A Good Beer Guide regular, The Prince of Wales is a fabulous place, it is definitely one of my favourite Birmingham pub venues.

How could you not like a place with a bar that looks this appealing?...

It is a proper pub and you may just be able to make out the number of real ale pumps, yes there's nine to choose from with me choosing a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord...

It was almost November and there was certainly a chill in the air, that's not a problem in the Prince of Wales, a real fire was burning in the front bar to keep the cold at bay..

I will admit though, the women in the Prince of Wales aren't up to much, the one I spotted in the bar was a real moose..

There is something for everyone in this pub, from intimate snugs..

To a large heated outdoor area..

This place has got the lot and it is certainly no 'hideous carbuncle' to quote a phrase coined by the pub's name sake.

A group of blokes from the Black Country kept me entertained, they were doing a Moseley pub crawl and this was pub number one. They were surveying the pub's fine selection of whiskies. One of the gang with a thick accent said to the barman' Have you got any bourbons'? Now either it got lost in translation or the barman had a great sense of humour as his reply 'Sorry mate, we don't sell biscuits' brought the house down !!

A bloke walked in a v*lla hat, tracksuit top and jogging bottoms and asked me if I'd look after his shopping while he went to the loo. Now I'm bad but not that bad so I politely agreed to his request without even being the slightest bit tempted to tamper with his groceries !! He returned and thanked me informing me that he'd been drinking since 9am. I know four losses in a row isn't good but is it enough to drive a man to early morning drinking? Seemingly so !!

Next stop was Digbeth so I only stopped for one but I really can not recommend Moseley's Prince of Wales highly enough.

The Viaduct

I have known my mate Jonathan for a quarter of a century and I have revelled in football related banter with him as we are at opposite ends of Birmingham's football divide. Distance has meant that we only occasionally see each other these days but we both enjoy catching up over a few beers.

He had suggested that we meet up in a pub called The Viaduct, a venue literally across the road from the Old Bailey and what a fine establishment it was. On the site of a debtors jail The Viaduct is a former gin palace and still specialises in serving the drink that is often described as being mother's ruin. The pub still keeps many of the building's original features including the booth from where the landlady would exchange gin tokens for use at the bar..

I had picked up my beer tokens from the cashpoint round the corner and exchanged them for a fine pint of Butcombe Pale Ale but at £4.15 maybe the landlord should have been up in front of the judge at the adjacent courtroom !!

I sat down and tried to not make myself look too conspicuous in the venue that undoubtedly included lawyers, barristers and stock brokers. I looked round to see if I recognised anyone from Krackers bar in Brean Sands !!

Jonathan was as late as a Fabian Delph tackle so he got he beers in by way of an apology when he arrived. He's a bit greyer these days (then again aren't we all?!!) though I'm not sure whether this is due to him working in the city in a highly pressurised job or a result of his spending fruitless hours following his team round the country.

Come to think of it the cause of any recent greyness could be down to the fact that he is now the proud father of his first child, a six month old little girl, and quite surprisingly (as my memories of him revolve around drink, football and cricket) he is very much the doting Dad.

After the initial pleasantries it wasn't long before we got onto football though the banter is much more sedate these days than it ever used to be, maybe we've both mellowed !!

The pints were going down at a good midweek pace however I was conscious that I needed to leave the pub no later than 7.45 in order for me to make my 8.30 train. Working in the city for as long as he has must have given him some out of the box thinking powers as his suggestion of an extra pint and a cab (rather than two tubes) was a great one !!

Cheers Jon. Up The Blues !!

The Old Bank of England

As you may know I don't do Twitter, Facebook or any of that nonsense so my Old Bank of England blog update is as near to a live internet posting as it comes as I am writing this on the train on the way home from London. So you can LOL if you wish or give it a LIKE rating if clicking on an icon of a thumb does it for you.

I had a work appointment in London so (as I had done in Sheffield the previous week) decided to combine work with pleasure and arranged to meet a mate once work commitments were satisfied. Unlike a few days before my meet up was not with a fellow 'nose, it was infact with someone who has an unfortunate claret and blue affliction, my mate of twenty five years (virtually to the day) Jonathan.

Jonathan didn't finish work until just before six so I had time to kill before I met him as I had finished early. My preparation wasn't great, I won't go into the gory details but daily ablutions came at a very inappropriate moment, namely just by St Paul's Cathedral, so, in the shadow of the venue for the nuptials of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer I had to do what I had to do in one of those tardis style street toilets !!

For the pricely sum of twenty pence I was using a very public convenienve which contained a notice informing me that I was on a strict fifteen minute time curfew, so, after fifteen minutes and one second the door would automatically open and the capital city would be subjected to the sight of me with my trousers round my ankles if I wasn't quick enough !! Thankfully in true SAS style I got the job done, left with minimum fuss and made my way to the pub.

I have just realised that I've written four paragraphs and I've not even mentioned anything about the pub yet, it's a good job I don't do social media or I would be in danger of reducing the speed of the world wide web !!

The Old Bank of England is an absolutely magnificent building brimming with history, it's a must visit pub in London. I was first made aware of the place during episode three of the last series of The Apprentice when the task for the budding entrepreneurs was announced in this fabulous venue...

Lord Sugar, flanked by helpers Karren Brady and Nick Hewer, told the young upstarts that they were required to brew their own beer whilst he was looking down at them from a position of authority on the pub's balcony..

Thankfully I did not need to convince the barmaid that I was totally committed, a good team player and highly motivated before ordering my pint of George Gale Sea Farers Ale.

I sat myself down and in business attire took a selfie, okay open neck shirts are acceptable these days but I'm old school. Note that old school is spelt correctly not skool, that's how traditional I am !!

As much as I enjoyed my visit to The Old Bank of England I couldn't help being distracted by what I can only describe as heavy petting by a middle aged couple sat by me. I turned a blind eye to the snogging, and the bum grabbing was somewhat embarrassing, but when he slipped his hand under her blouse at the back poised possibly for a clasp unfastening it was time to leave. In the words of Lord Sugar 'You're Fired' !!

How many LIKES have I got for this post?!!

The Graduate

Final pub of my Sheffield pub crawl was The Graduate..

Given the fact that my tour guide Jack is not long out of adolescence I kept my protective eyes peeled for any Cougaresque Mrs Robinson type characters on the hunt for a modern day Dustin Hoffman !!

The Graduate is situated in the centre of Sheffield and I didn't need a pair of Dennis Taylor glasses to notice the fact that the pub is very near to iconic Sheffield landmark The Crucible, the spiritual home of snooker.

As you would imagine The Graduate is very much aimed at the student market, and those whacky young folk can get their pints for just £1 in The Graduate if they turn up in a pair of pyjamas. Male students should naturally ensure that they avoid any wardrobe malfunction issues as a result of their pyjama flies gaping open when they are quaffing their cheap pints !!

The beer selection was better than I had anticipated and a pint of old favourite Marstons Pedigree was what this scholar ordered.

Our conversation got onto the subject of our recent visit to Lords for the final of the Royal London One Day Cup. The day itself was a boozy one and I confessed to Jack that I was still carrying the scars of a cut shin incident from the day which I have no memory of. How I laughed therefore when Jack also came clean that he had still got grazed knees from a man down incident on his way home that same night !!

We had just got enough time to have one for the road before I made my way home, the barman offered me a free discount card entitling me to money off drinks, when I told him that I was only stopping for the night he informed me that already I would have made a ten pence saving. There's a lot to be said about the merits of student life !!

Although Sheffield is home to some notable musical acts, Def Leppard, Pulp and Arctic Monkeys for example, the music that I heard on my night in Sheffield left a lot to be desired. Not only had I been subjected to Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl earlier that night, we left The Graduate, not to the sounds of Simon and Garfunkel, but instead to Save Your Love by Renee and Renato !! I worry about the musical future of this country !!

I said goodbye to Jack and made my way back to the station after a brief but enjoyable pub crawl around Sheffield.

Ah'll si thee...

The Roebuck

Pubs were now coming thick and fast on my Sheffield pub crawl, we moved from The Rutland Arms to The Roebuck...

The pub was a traditional one with a bar and a Rovers Return style snug, though modern features included a free to use X Box for those who feel the need to go to the pub to get their FIFA 15 fix.

It was a good pub selection from Jack who was ensuring that he was taking on board plenty of fluids due to the fact that he was suffering from a nasty bout of fresher's flu, an illness I must admit I'd only recently heard of though I resisted the urge to purchase a Michael Jackson style mask !!

I need to ensure that in the future any handwritten notes I make about pub visits are more legible, I have had a real job deciphering what I had to drink at The Roebuck, after much head scratching and some internet research I have realised that it was WSB (Wood Street Brewery) Golden Larch which was fine but very cloudy, I can only assume that it was nearing the bottom of the barrel, it had the appearance of an early morning in Beijing !!

Several coffee breaks at my work's annual conference, coupled with a few post conference pints meant that my bladder seal had now well and truly gone. My concern for my train journey home was not whether the buffet car was adequately stocked with cold cans of wife beater, it was infact the worry that the train's lavatory was not working. If it wasn't I'd got fifty two minutes of leg crossing ahead of me !!

Jack is a well adjusted individual, I quickly discovered not only does he have a clear career path mapped out once he finishes his studies, his two years in Sheffield have not diluted his love for Birmingham City or his hatred of ast*n v*lla. Dad Dave is seemingly a positive role model !!

Time was ticking on so there was just time for one more pub before I caught my train home though to be honest we'd probably got longer had I not firstly got the need for another toilet visit, and secondly gone the wrong way on my way out ending up in the pub's beer garden !! D'oh !!

Rutland Arms

The Rutland Arms was a recommendation from someone I'd met earlier that day at my work's annual conference in Sheffield. I had originally planned to meet my mate Jack at The Howard but we changed plans and I headed to The Rutland Arms after popping into to The Howard for swift solo pint.

The distance from The Howard to The Rutland Arms was a short one which included me passing gentleman's lap dancing club Spearmint Rhino. It was a Tuesday night so it was 'Animal Student Night' which meant that dances were £10 all night, and here was me thinking that they spent their grant money on text books !!

The pub was a fine recommendation, a proper pub with a great selection of ales and good tiling. I've suddenly started looking at pub tiles. Is this weird?!!

I chose a pint of local beer Blue Bee Bees Knees Bitter brewed in Sheffield and it was a lovely drink. I'd begun to wish that I was stopping up in Sheffield for the night rather than catching the 20.57 back to Tamworth.

One thing was certain, this was a pub with a sense of humour, a sign by the jukebox gave a list of recommended artists which included The Ramones. In brackets it stated 'Yes, they are a band' a clear reference to the fact that Ramones tee shirts are a popular fashion accessory with students many of whom have undoubtedly never heard of them.

The menu was quirky, soup of the day was Thai coconut vegan stuff and ting, and snacks included a Bhajji butty, I can only imagine the mess I'd make trying to eat one of those !!

Jack eventually turned up and it was great to see him, like a lot of youngsters he is a lager drinker so I begrudgingly agreed to his request for a pint of Becks. He brought me up to speed on his progress so far in what is his third and final year at university, however it wasn't long before we got onto the subject of the sorry state of affairs at Birmingham City.

The pub, next to Sheffield Universities Hallam Halls, was naturally very popular with students so I was feeling a bit conspicuous in my shirt and tie, maybe the youngsters thought I was a lecturer !! Mind you, I think I'd rather have worn a shirt and tie than wear what one girl was wearing, a Southend United scarf !! She did amuse/depress me though when she walked over to the jukebox and said, disappointingly, 'Oh, it's a jukebox, I was hoping that it was a games machine' !!

Jack had promised to take me to a couple of pubs so we drank up and he granted my request of a photo outside the pub...

.

The Howard

The instructions from my mate Jack for locating our meeting point of The Howard were most helpful and very accurate 'The pub is opposite the train station, walk past the water wall, cross over the road and you'll find the old looking pub'. This was the view looking out from the front of the station...

Who says education standards are slipping?!!

The pub was okay, definitely in need of a lick of paint, but ideal as a meeting point. I kept my part of the arrangements and was at the pub for 6pm, unfortunately Jack was running late and was at home getting changed before meeting me. A student getting changed?!! I thought that they were the great unwashed?!!

The beer selection at The Howard was pretty good with me going for the special prize of a pint of Jennings Bulls Eye. I found a seat by the window and watched our future physicists, politicians and doctors walk past on their way to and from the university.

I had been chatting to a local at my work's annual conference who advised me that as an ale fan I needed to visit The Rutland Arms as it is famous for the quality of its real ale. Given that it was only around five hundred yards from The Howard I hastily rearranged my meeting point with Jack. Seeing as this was another solo pub visit a selfie was required...

A much better selfie than the normal offering of nostrils and chins !!

The music selection coming from the pub's jukebox was varied to say the least, American hip hop group Cypress Hill were followed bizarrely by a Wet Wet Wet ballad, mind you once Peter Andre's Mysterious Girl started I knew I was in trouble, if I didn't leave the pub before the chorus I knew I'd have the song going round in my head all night. I wasn't quick enough.......Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, Mysterious Girl, I wanna get close to you.....

Sheffield Tap

It was work annual conference time, this year's event was being held in Sheffield so I decided to combine the conference with a pub crawl of the steel city. I had arranged a tour guide, my 'football friend' Jack who I have known since he was a youngster. He is studying politics at the university and is into his third year so I was grateful that he could spare me the time, especially as he has six hours of lectures a week !! Please note that he has to prepare for these lectures in what is a very dry subject before you all suddenly start signing up for a politics degree !!

I was dropped off at the train station after the conference so where could be a better place to start than the station's pub? Now I've had bad experiences of station pubs, The Bridge, a pub that has thankfully bitten the dust as part of the Birmingham New Street development, is a prime example. Cramped, dingy, expensive, no toilets and, amusingly, it had an all day menu that consisted of one item, a hot dog !!

The Sheffield Tap on the other hand was how a station pub should be so there's very little wonder why it was included in this year's Good Beer Guide. The pub is literally situated on platform 1b, this is the view out of the pub window..

If this pub was on platform 9a at Birmingham New Street I'd be forever missing the 17.49.....and the 18.03....and the 18.19......and the 18.49....

It is a fabulous place, it describes itself as a 'World Beer Free House' and has world beers dispensed from eleven traditional cask hand pulls and twelve continental style swing handle taps. Not only that, the pub also stocks over two hundred bottled beers !! Wow !! Mind you, I'm not sure whether or not they sell hot dogs !!

After much deliberation I eventually settled for a local ale, Magic Rock Breweries Rapture Red Hop Ale, all the way from Huddersfield, and at £3.20 a pint puts the £3.80 for Fosters charged at The Bridge over two years ago into perspective. This place should be moved brick by brick to form the centre piece of the new New St station...

The pub contained various rooms so I settled down in one of them and reflected on the day's key messages (no, really I did !!) while enjoying what was a really nice pint in a great venue. Please note the brewing equipment in the background..

For those of you who like going down the foreign beer route you may want to book yourself a sleeper from platform 1b, a bottle of Trappista Rochfort is a snore inducing 10% ABV !!

Although I was in corporate business attire rather than an anorak I could quite easily have lived a train spotter's life and passed away a few hours looking at trains from my fabulous vantage point but I'd arranged to meet Jack so my pint was a solitary one.

The Brunswick Inn

I had not seen my mate Matt for over seven years since he moved to Derbyshire with his wife Mandy and three daughters, so a catch up over a few beers was long overdue. I suggested The Brunswick Inn near Derby train station (a venue I know well from visits to nearby Pride Park watching Blues away games) as it was convenient for us both and their selection of real ales is outstanding.

The journey from Tamworth to Derby is around thirty minutes however I resisted the temptation of a beer from the at seat buffet service, £3.60 for a can of Carling meant that it was hardly a tricky decision !!

The Brunswick is truly an excellent pub, one of my favourites, and after reacquainting myself with Matt, we were very soon deciding what to drink, with sixteen hand pulled cask ales and eight real ciders we had a huge range to choose from with us both selecting Everards Tiger Bitter.

I hadn't done my research very well about the date of our visit to this popular match day pub, not only were Derby County at home I had failed to realise their opponents that day, Millwall. I was quite relieved to see a 'Home Fans Only' notice on the pub's door.

We had a fairly ambitious October alfresco pint then moved indoors to do seven years worth of catching up..

There is not one negative thing that I could say about The Brunswick Inn (apart from the fact that it is in Derby and not Tamworth) it is everything that is good about the British pub. To emphasise the point, not only were there sixteen real ales to choose from there was a beer festival being held in an adjacent room so the choice was increased further. We moved onto Stancill Best Bitter from the beer festival selection once the bar filled up with post match drinkers, thankfully all home fans !!

Our session ended disappointingly early due to logistical difficulties, Matt's trains were every two hours, but we vowed to not leave it seven years until our next catch up.

The Brunswick Inn, near Derby train station, is a First Class venue.

The Winning Post

According to Wikipedia Amington possesses four pubs, The Gate (thirty one visits so far this year would suggest that we are regulars), The Old Liberal House (does a job if there's sport on but no great shakes), The Amington (fine, but a bit food orientated these days) and The Winning Post. As I hadn't visited the pub this year, and I was passing, I thought I'd call in for blog completeness.

Situated in a residential area The Winning Post has the appearance of an estate pub. It has an old school bar/lounge format with me opting for the bar mainly due to the fact that there was a sum total of two people in the lounge. In all honesty it was hardly standing room only in the bar, I was patron number eight when I walked in.

The clientele weren't necessarily the sort that you'd invite round to your house for tea, the bloke at the bar mentioned very matter of factly to the person that he was talking to that he'd been to prison for eight months for fighting in a pub in Tamworth town centre. I made a mental note to myself not to push in front of him when getting served !!

Marston's Pedigree was the only real ale and, once they'd changed the barrel, I was presented with a pint that was okay but way too cold, almost lageresque in temperature.

The pub is fairly non descript and completely lacking in character, not great when you are struggling for information to put in a blog !!

The numbers in the lounge swelled when three young blokes called in straight from work for a game of pool and a pint. Admittedly the pub was a bit dark and dingy but the fact that all three of them kept their high visibility jackets on to play pool was maybe just a little bit over the top !!

I couldn't stop long as I'd got a train to catch but I will admit to knocking back the final third of my pint in one, I had good reason, someone had selected a Jamiroquai song on the pub's jukebox !!

UPDATE 19th December

Our neighbour Alan and myself were out on our Christmas do and we moved from previous pub The Dolphin to The Winning Post..

As is always the case in The Winning Post there was nobody in the lounge so we went into the bar and were greeted by the sight of the cheapest set of Christmas decorations you will ever see, rather than brightening the place up they were that dreary and depressing that it actually had the opposite effect !!

Unlike in previous pub The Dolphin there was an ale available in The Winning Post and although it certainly wasn't the greatest pint of Marston's Pedigree I've ever had it was a big improvement on the Carling I'd just been subjected to.

I couldn't help notice a new addition since my last visit, food is now available !! Now, don't expect a menu with a huge variety of dishes, your choice at best is limited to four delicacies, chicken and mushroom, steak and kidney, beef and onion or steak and ale. Yes, you've guessed it, there's a Pukka pie cabinet situated at the end of the bar !! When we'd arrived they'd either had a rush on or they couldn't be bothered to fill it up as it was completely empty. I could hardly believe my mince pies !!

The bar area is dominated by a large tv screen which for some unfathomable reason was showing the Text Santa charity event, however there seemed to be a problem with the TV's subtitle functionality as it was stuck on the following subtitle 'Why can't Shazia get the room ready'?....I never did find out the reason for Shazia's domestic failing !!

Just like we had in The Dolphin, we stayed in The Winning Post longer than expected but it was eventually time to make our way to our final destination our local The Gate.

The Encore

During our travels back in 2011 we used to amuse ourselves smiling at Japanese tourists who would, almost without exception, give Winston Churchill style V for Victory salutes whenever a camera was pointed in their direction. Quite often I do this when being photographed after I've had a few too many. This is me arriving at our eighth and final pub of our day in Stratford The Encore....

We had been to this pub before, it was one of the places we drank in during a weekend away early on in our courtship and Shelley remembered that it served her beloved Aspall cider. Imagine her disappointment therefore when we arrived and found that no longer to be the case, she had to settle for the previously untried Mortimer's cider.

I was pleased to find several real ales on offer, I use the term offer very loosely, Purity UBU was £3.60, okay fair enough we were in an historic tourist friendly pub in Stratford but £4.55 for a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord?!! I wasn't sure if I'd got enough for the round and was tempted to ask Shelley for the difference then I remembered William's wise words, 'Neither a borrower nor a lender be, for loan oft loses both itself and friend, and borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry' (Hamlet Act I, Scene III). I went for the UBU !!!

The pub is a really good one, every bit as good as it was during our previous visit, and the refit it got it 2012 has improved it though I did notice that it is now child friendly with a children's food menu. Grrrr.

Talking of food it was now long overdue so our visit top The Encore was a brief one. Our pub crawl of Stratford was fabulous, eight pubs and not a bad one amongst them. Time for food, I'd best not suggest kebab and chips !!

The Garrick Inn

Having already called into The Windmill Inn, a pub which says it is the oldest in Stratford, we also dropped by at The Garrick Inn a venue that also claims to hold the same accolade. Evidence would seem to indicate that The Garrick Inn is the oldest with part of the building reputedly dating back to the fourteenth century..

There is an olde worlde feel to the place with the pub keeping many of the original beams and wood features.

Given the fact that this was pub number seven of the day then my recollection of the place is understandably sketchy. I have no trouble remembering what I was drinking, it was a beer from the Oakham brewery called JHB.

The beer is named after Jeffrey Hudson who was an interesting character to say the least. He was born in Oakham in 1619 (hey, don't stop reading at this point !! It gets better) and he was considered to be one of the 'wonders of the age' due to his 'extreme and well proportioned smallness.' I think that these days we may refer to him as a dwarf. Actually these days there is probably a more politically correct term but you get my point.

On his seventh birthday Jeffrey was presented to the Duchess of Buckingham as a 'rarity of nature' and she invited him to join her household. A few months later the Duchess entertained King Charles and Queen Henrietta Maria, the climax of the visit was a lavish banquet when Jeffrey was presented to the Queen served in a large pie. When the pie was presented to the Queen, Jeffrey emerged from the crust eighteen inches tall dressed in a suit armour !! What a brilliant story !! I can only assume the pastry was short crust !!

Right, enough of the history lesson back to the pub. The pub had a series of alcoves and nooks and crannies for drinkers to enjoy a quiet, private pint. We chose instead to perch ourselves at the bar in the room at the front of the pub though in my eagerness to sit down I very nearly trod on a dog that I didn't see. Actually maybe I should also have kept my eye out for Jeffrey Hudson !!

We hadn't eaten since my food ordering disaster earlier at The Bear so something to eat was definitely a requirement sooner rather than later but not until we called into the eighth and final pub of the day appropriately called The Encore...

The Falcon Hotel

It is said that folks can always remember where they were when Kennedy was assassinated, I think (to a much lesser extent obviously) that The Falcon Hotel is my Kennedy pub as this was the pub where a crowd of us witnessed that unforgettable forty four minutes during Super Saturday at the London 2012 Olympic Games when Jessica Ennis, Greg Rutherford and Mo Farah all won Olympic gold for Great Britain.

The pub was also the scene that night of an alleged man down incident by our mate Gray an accusation which he vehemently denies to this day.

We didn't intend to deliberately return to the pub we just stumbled (no offence Gray) upon it down a side street near the town centre..

We both remembered the pub to be bigger than it was when we arrived, like most of the pubs in Stratford's town centre it has retained a lot of its original features with oak beams being a particularly impressive highlight of the place.

The bar was small but well stocked with us going down the well trodden path of a pint of Purity UBU for my good self and a half of Stowford Press for my good lady.

The sport being shown on the pub's large screen was much less impressive than during our last visit, a fairly uninspiring North London derby between Arsenal and Spurs. The noise when Spurs took the lead was like a pin dropping compared to our roars of encouragement on that magical night two years ago as Mo went round the final bend.

As the name suggests people stop at The Falcon Hotel and one such bunch came quietly down the stairs during our stay, a small hen party. I have never witnessed such a civilised pre wedding celebration, no suggestive tee shirts, no sex toys, no inflatables, nothing, just a simple tasteful sash to indicative who the blushing bride to be was. I can only assume that they weren't on their way to Birmingham's infamous den of iniquity, and frequent host of such celebrations, The Tower Ballroom.

We drank up and went the short distance (about the length of Greg Rutherford's long jump) to the next pub The Garrick Inn...

The Windmill Inn

Maybe it was a result of me not being impressed at just hearing news of another league defeat for my beloved Birmingham City but for some inexplicable reason I made virtually no notes about our visit to The Windmill Inn in Stratford Upon Avon. I can't even blame it on drinking copious amounts of alcohol, okay I'd had five pints by this stage but (unless my Mum or my doctor are reading) I wouldn't necessarily call that excessive by any means !!

The pub is a sixteenth century building a short distance from the main tourist centre and claims to be the oldest pub in Stratford..

The pub has actually got its own Facebook page for those of you who may be impressed by such things, and if I was a user of that particular social media source I'd certainly give a Like thumbs up to the place for the benefit of all my Facebook friends.

First things first, the beer is really good, there were a couple of real ales with me selecting Skinners Cornish Knocker, and what a fine choice it was, I couldn't knock it !!

We wandered outside to an area that looked like it used to be a courtyard with stables and sat at the last free table. Other than that I have very little recollection of our visit to the fabulous old pub apart from the bloke who was sat with his back to us on the next table. He was wearing a pair of jeans that were cut that low that they would not have looked out of place on an American gangsta rappa. So why oh why then did he decide to wear a pair of grey polka dot underpants as an undergarment?!! Quick, call the fashion police !!

The New Bulls Head

This was the second of the two pubs that I had identified as being worthy of a visit during our time in Stratford Upon Avon due, in no small part, to their inclusion in this year's Good Beer Guide. I will admit that The New Bulls Head is not the easiest of pubs to find, it is tucked away down a side street around a ten minute walk from the town centre, but it is worth the effort.

It prides itself on being a 'community pub' with some justification as it contains a small convenience store just inside the pub's entrance, I kid you not !! All of a sudden the prospect of doing the shopping sounds a lot more appealing !! I may write to my local MP requesting a few community pubs in Tamworth !!

Despite being listed in the Good Beer Guide the pub was disappointingly empty when we called in. I have no idea why, it was a real find, five real ales to chose from (Timothy Taylor Landlord being my selection), a live Saturday match being shown via a foreign satellite channel and a welcoming outdoor patio. What more could you want?!! There's even a shop for the ladies.....only kidding girls !!

Lack of a mobile signal meant that I had no idea of any football scores so once the live game (Man Utd v West Ham) had finished, the landlord turned onto Final Score. It was a classic case of first the good news, v*lla had lost three nil, then the bad news, Blues had lost two one !!

Given yet another Blues defeat I stopped to question my wisdom for my allegiance to Birmingham City then thought of Shakespeare's words 'The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool' (As You Like It Act V Scene I). Well that clears that up then doesn't it?!!

Dirty Duck

Pub number three in Stratford was the Dirty Duck, a building that dates back to the fifteenth century. The pub is literally one hundred yards away from the famous Royal Shakespeare Theatre so the pub's walls are littered with autographed photographs of RSC luminaries going back decades. There is actually a photograph of Dame Judi Dench in front of you as you open the pub's main door, I'm sure I heard the James Bond star say I've been expecting you as we walked in !!

Shelley and I have been in the pub a couple of times before during our courtship. The most recent of which was back in 2012 when we had our photograph taken in the pub with the Olympic torch. Who needs David Beckham or Sir Steve Redgrave?!

The pub itself is very traditional as you would expect and the choice of ales didn't disappoint either, I ordered a pint of Morland Old Speckled Hen before we retired to the beer garden which (hallelujah) was a proper garden complete with shrubs and bushes and tress and, best of all...no children !!

It was Saturday afternoon and Blues were playing which could mean only one thing, they were losing !! One major plus point with the beer garden in the Dirty Duck was that I was unable to get a phone/3G signal so I was blissfully unaware of my undoubted impending misery !!

As you would imagine Stratford is full of tourists from all over the world however I had little trouble locating the accent of a biker who was in the beer garden with his girlfriend, especially when he uttered expressions like 'I cor get a signal' and 'They ay got no scampi', yes it was a bostin' day out from the Black Country for the biking duo. I don't wish to poke fun at those less fortunate but you can (Quarry) Bonk on the fact that they weren't in Stratford to see that evening's performance of Love's Labour's Lost directed by Christopher Luscombe at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre !!