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, 17 December 2014

The Windsor

I may have mentioned this before (okay I have definitely said this on many occasions !!) but I am not a big fan of drinking in pubs in the run up to Christmas, and my night in the Pure Bar and Kitchen illustrated why the experience is so ho-ho-horrid.

Not only did I have to queue to get into the pub, I then had to negotiate my way through the Christmas crowd control system at Birmingham's New St station only to find that my train had been delayed by fifty (yes five zero) minutes !! I half wished that Chris Rea was driving me home !!

I had little alternative than to go for another pint however finding a pub that I could get anywhere near was an issue. The Sun on the Hill...full, The Briar Rose...full, Colmore's Bar...full, I then had a brainwave....The Windsor !!

Now The Windsor is a pub that I used to frequent over twenty five years ago during my time at H Samuel's. It is situated on the road (Canon St) that runs at the back of the shop. The jewellers is long since gone but the metal shutters remain...



I looked back with some fondness (?!!) as I passed them remembering that I regularly used to have to clear up piles of vomit from the bottom of them before I opened up. Revellers from nearby pubs Le Pub and Cagneys used to empty their stomachs of Tenants Extra and Pernod and black as they passed the back of the shop !!

The pub has changed considerably since those days, it's a bit cheap and not very cheerful but definitely a step up from The Windsor of the 1980's when it used to be frequented by old men and Irish construction workers.

Surprisingly it stocks a decent array of different ales with Timothy Taylor Landlord being my drink of choice..



Like pretty much all city centre pubs during the festive/Frankfurt Christmas market season the pub was very full and there were some real seasonal sights, made worse by the fact that it was Christmas jumper day so the pub was made more colourful by knitwear depicting Christmas puds, snowmen reindeers etc !!

Shelley was out with the girls in Tamworth town centre and I received a call inviting me to join them. The fact that I had now consumed half a dozen pints meant that it probably wasn't such a good idea however I didn't want to be lonely this Christmas so I drank up and caught my heavily delayed train.

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