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 !!







Saturday, 4 October 2014

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 !!
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