49.
The previous day's warm up was not a good
idea because I felt awful in Dave's car as we sped up the M40 to
Our first Wetherspoons
of the day, the Figure of Eight, was our next stop. I'm not going to write much
about this one because everyone knows what a Wetherspoons
is like inside, though this one was a little darker than normal and there were
lots of old people in there for some reason. The beer selection was Eagle IPA, Arkells 3B, Shropshire Gold, Daleside Bitter, Abbot and Dogs Bollocks. We had the
The Brasshouse
is located back on Broad Street, near to a shopping centre and is a big pub in
a new building with not much beer (Bass, Tetley, Hen), but it does have comfy
seats. It is also quite expensive. Nothing more really to say about it - oh no,
tell a lie, it has some very fancy lights on the bar and a collection of
builders' helmets too... Rose Winterton had
recommended the James Brindley which overlooks the
canal on the other side, so we had to go and have a look. I thought that there
was an attractive woman cleaning the window with her back to us, but in fact
she was 'old woman's face, young woman's hair', whoops! This is another pub
that probably fills with shits later on in the evening, but was empty when we
went in. There was only Bass coming out of the taps, so I instead elected to
have Brew XI on pissflow which was crap and very
lively. The toilets were also super hot and smelt of swimming pools, so we left
quickly.
Going right into the centre,
After a very poor dose of crap food at
McDonalds where they buggered up Ed's order and change (twice), we wound up at
a shit Wetherspoons. The Square Peg is a long thin
pub with no nice corners and too much bar. Something was wrong with the toilets
- I assume they were flooded with piss. Most of the drinkers were carrying
shopping and doing general scurrying, so it was also unpleasant for this
reason. In a rather unlike Wetherspoons way, the beer
range wasn't that good - Badger Best, Daleside,
Smiles, Abbot, London Pride and a very earthy Brains Dark Mild. Another one to leave quickly. The Old Royal was not much of
an improvement and it took a while to get served in there even though we were
the only ones waiting. When we did, we sat in some very nice chairs and admired
a very ordinary pub. London Pride and Hen were the beers, the Pride was
expensive and tasted like it was nearing the end of its life. Not one to return
to in a hurry.
The Hogshead was quite a strange pub.
Tucked away down a back street, it was fairly quite and had some very, very
comfortable chairs which allowed us to have a well earned rest. Beer was
excellent - Brakspear, Pedigree, Boddingtons, Adnams and a splendid one called Enville
White; I think it tasted a little like a wheat beer perhaps, but was certainly
very refreshing. The interior was just a little too light and pine, but was
acceptable. Funniest pub of the day was the Litten
Tree. Beer was on offer here, a pound a pint or 90p for a half, the lady told
us so we had pints. Ed and I selected Courage (Pedigree was off), and Dave had
an interestingly branded Litten Tree Best Bitter.
Best it certainly was not, more like beer-flavoured
water, it tasted absolutely appalling, even though it wasn't off, and Dave had
to go to the gents' to tip it away, as we divvied up the remaining Courage.
This for some reason left us in stitches of laughter. One
In complete contrast the Old Joint Stock
was a magnificent pub, probably the best in
Yet another Wetherspoons
beckoned, the Briar House which was very lively and we couldn't find any seats.
There were some reasonable bar staff. The beer selection was Abbot, Smiles Goldenbrew, Theakston's Best,
Golden Hill Exmoor, Caledonian 80/-, Bass, Highgate Breacals and Equinox. I
recall that the Breacals was superb as were the other
things we tried! By this time we were traipsing around and being a bit choosy.
But we did eventually find a pub doing real beer, albeit with some mad Mackams (natives of
Our sensible evening was completed with a
trip to Bread and Roses next door which was an odd canteen/ hygena
kitchen type affair with a barmaid serving St Austell Tribute and Greene King
IPA at very good prices. The place was however dire with a couple of pissed
women dancing to the DJ being the only other people in there. Smiley commented
that was 'awful' and 'should never be visited by choice', which I agree with.
Anyway, this had used up all the available time and we retreated home to be
sensible, past the now heaving Broad Street complete with the forms of life
that we had predicted earlier. Or would have done, except that Smiley cracked
open the single malts on arrival back at the flat which assured that I was very
grumpy on Sunday.
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
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