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 !!