I believe it's traditional to round up the year in a blog...but I really can't be arsed, on the beer front.
Other than to say it's a year where beer was drunk periodically.
For the record, the last "2013 work's outing" for a certain Hitchin-based small company was a trip to the Nightingale where a quantity of Colchester AK Pale, and Brewsters Molly Pitcher was consumed.
All the assembled company agreed that the Molly Pitcher was the far superior brew.
Other people do a beer round up so much better than I ever could...and this guy captures the spirit perfectly...go, read.
And if you're not a beer drinker...why not give it a whirl in 2014.
I'm off to enjoy some wine now.
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Monday, 30 December 2013
It's Grim up t'north
Actually it isn't...I love the North.
S & I decided to do our "urgh, Christmas" running away in Yorkshire this year.
We have an MO for this week which has taken roughly the same form for all four years we've been doing it.
Sleep late, go out for a walk (duration determined by weather, usually), go to the pub. Repeat.
We (well, S) drive to the place but we've never yet taken the car out during the week, since we prefer the freedom of walking and experiencing the area in that slow, detailed way you never can if you drive to a place, park and then amble about a bit before getting back in the car to go somewhere else.
So - we drove to Robin Hood' Bay at the edge of the North York Moors and stayed in a cottage in the lower village.
The GBG promised two pub with good beer and this was heartening.
In fact there were five good places to drink directly in the village with another in the next village about half a mile away.
On the good side - we didn't have a single bad pint all week.
On the less good...there wasn't a great deal of variety or change we ended up drinking the same things each day. So for a sake of a list, and starting at the top of the village:
The Grosvenor: Felt like a locals pub (although it's a hotel) but, as visitors, we weren't too much of a spectacle. Had Thwaites Wainwright, Timothy Taylor Landlord (my favourite pint of the week, in fact) and Tetleys Cask (which I wanted to at least try, but never quite got round to it).
In here S also had a conversation about tight-head sparklers and persuaded the barman to take the sparkler off for one of the pints of Timmy. It made the beer different, in terms of a flavour and texture but with or without a sparkler, it's a classy pint.
The Victoria Hotel: Another hotel (the name's kind of a giveaway) but in the GBG. Serving Cameron's Strongarm, Springhead Robin Hood Bitter, Bradfield Farmers Blonde, Theakston's Lightfoot.
Over the course of the week we went in here several times - sometimes wet, sometimes muddy, always looking a bit windswept and we were greeted in a cheery fashion and engaged in conversation by bar staff. All in all a pleasant place.
All the beer was very well kept but either they don't turn some of it around quickly, or they just have the same beers each time...so we were a little bit disappointed that the offering never changed.
None of the beers set our beery world alight but it was a good steady place to be.
The Laurel: A small pub and the nearest to our cottage, so the one we tried first.
One main, tiny, room with a open fire but with an overflow room below, I'm told.
Very cute place, friendly service (in spite of what the beerintheevening review says) and decent beers: Theakstons Old Peculier and Best and Adnams Southwold bitter.
Perfectly good beers, but again, no stunners or surprises.
Nevertheless, we went back on our final "let's pub crawl down the village" having been blown about on a hillside walk day. And it was as nice a place to be the second time as the first.
The Dolphin: The second pub in the GBG and just around the corner from the cottage. We ate in here on the first evening because the specials board looked tasty!
Beer was Theakstons Best, Deuchars IPA and something seasonal from somewhere else.
I'm ambivalent about this pub. The service wasn't unpleasant...but I didn't get the feeling they gave a damn about whether we were there or not. Maybe it's because we were obviously tourists or maybe it was something else, I don't know.
The beer was well kept and everything but the seasonal pint was forgettable as was the food, I'm afraid. Such a shame because it could be a lovely place.
We went back on the pub crawl...but the same atmosphere persisted.
The Bay Hotel: Yep, another hotel. But right down on the sea front.
Serving Thwaites Wainwright, Theakston's Lightfoot and Theakston's Old Peculier.
This is the place we returned to several times. We even attempted a visit on Christmas day but by the time we'd finished our walk, there wasn't seat to be had in the place.
It had a great view out to sea from the main bar, a nice open fire and a family room which meant the main bar tended to be kiddie-free. This is something S&I greatly appreciate.
The food was good, if not particularly exciting, the beer was well kept and the staff were incredibly friendly, making you feel like they really enjoyed you being there.
Probably our favourite venue of the holiday.
As is our wont, one day of the holiday we did a little bit more than just amble around at the village edge and we did a more serious walk out along the coastal path, returning along the cycle track. Probably 8 miles or so...and some of it seriously steep and/or muddy.
Exhilarating and tiring in roughly equal measures, meaning the pint at the end feels hard-earned.
So we dropped into the Fylingdales Inn, in the next village - a short distance from the cycle track and only a ten minute walk back into RHB.
Again, it was a Theakston's house - I had Best and S had XB...good, well-kept pints but didn't encourage us to stay for more than one. Food looked like it might be nice but we weren't in the market for meals at the time.
I think I was a tiny bit disappointed that there wasn't more variety of beer in the village but it was a whole lot better than our trip to Brixham a couple of years ago in terms of beer/pub quality.
Still, we're glad we went.
Is it really bad that the beer in Hitchin on Sunday seemed just that little bit extra-special?
S & I decided to do our "urgh, Christmas" running away in Yorkshire this year.
We have an MO for this week which has taken roughly the same form for all four years we've been doing it.
Sleep late, go out for a walk (duration determined by weather, usually), go to the pub. Repeat.
We (well, S) drive to the place but we've never yet taken the car out during the week, since we prefer the freedom of walking and experiencing the area in that slow, detailed way you never can if you drive to a place, park and then amble about a bit before getting back in the car to go somewhere else.
So - we drove to Robin Hood' Bay at the edge of the North York Moors and stayed in a cottage in the lower village.
The GBG promised two pub with good beer and this was heartening.
In fact there were five good places to drink directly in the village with another in the next village about half a mile away.
On the good side - we didn't have a single bad pint all week.
On the less good...there wasn't a great deal of variety or change we ended up drinking the same things each day. So for a sake of a list, and starting at the top of the village:
The Grosvenor: Felt like a locals pub (although it's a hotel) but, as visitors, we weren't too much of a spectacle. Had Thwaites Wainwright, Timothy Taylor Landlord (my favourite pint of the week, in fact) and Tetleys Cask (which I wanted to at least try, but never quite got round to it).
In here S also had a conversation about tight-head sparklers and persuaded the barman to take the sparkler off for one of the pints of Timmy. It made the beer different, in terms of a flavour and texture but with or without a sparkler, it's a classy pint.
The Victoria Hotel: Another hotel (the name's kind of a giveaway) but in the GBG. Serving Cameron's Strongarm, Springhead Robin Hood Bitter, Bradfield Farmers Blonde, Theakston's Lightfoot.
Over the course of the week we went in here several times - sometimes wet, sometimes muddy, always looking a bit windswept and we were greeted in a cheery fashion and engaged in conversation by bar staff. All in all a pleasant place.
All the beer was very well kept but either they don't turn some of it around quickly, or they just have the same beers each time...so we were a little bit disappointed that the offering never changed.
None of the beers set our beery world alight but it was a good steady place to be.
The Laurel: A small pub and the nearest to our cottage, so the one we tried first.
One main, tiny, room with a open fire but with an overflow room below, I'm told.
Very cute place, friendly service (in spite of what the beerintheevening review says) and decent beers: Theakstons Old Peculier and Best and Adnams Southwold bitter.
Perfectly good beers, but again, no stunners or surprises.
Nevertheless, we went back on our final "let's pub crawl down the village" having been blown about on a hillside walk day. And it was as nice a place to be the second time as the first.
The Dolphin: The second pub in the GBG and just around the corner from the cottage. We ate in here on the first evening because the specials board looked tasty!
Beer was Theakstons Best, Deuchars IPA and something seasonal from somewhere else.
I'm ambivalent about this pub. The service wasn't unpleasant...but I didn't get the feeling they gave a damn about whether we were there or not. Maybe it's because we were obviously tourists or maybe it was something else, I don't know.
The beer was well kept and everything but the seasonal pint was forgettable as was the food, I'm afraid. Such a shame because it could be a lovely place.
We went back on the pub crawl...but the same atmosphere persisted.
The Bay Hotel: Yep, another hotel. But right down on the sea front.
Serving Thwaites Wainwright, Theakston's Lightfoot and Theakston's Old Peculier.
This is the place we returned to several times. We even attempted a visit on Christmas day but by the time we'd finished our walk, there wasn't seat to be had in the place.
It had a great view out to sea from the main bar, a nice open fire and a family room which meant the main bar tended to be kiddie-free. This is something S&I greatly appreciate.
The food was good, if not particularly exciting, the beer was well kept and the staff were incredibly friendly, making you feel like they really enjoyed you being there.
Probably our favourite venue of the holiday.
As is our wont, one day of the holiday we did a little bit more than just amble around at the village edge and we did a more serious walk out along the coastal path, returning along the cycle track. Probably 8 miles or so...and some of it seriously steep and/or muddy.
Exhilarating and tiring in roughly equal measures, meaning the pint at the end feels hard-earned.
So we dropped into the Fylingdales Inn, in the next village - a short distance from the cycle track and only a ten minute walk back into RHB.
Again, it was a Theakston's house - I had Best and S had XB...good, well-kept pints but didn't encourage us to stay for more than one. Food looked like it might be nice but we weren't in the market for meals at the time.
I think I was a tiny bit disappointed that there wasn't more variety of beer in the village but it was a whole lot better than our trip to Brixham a couple of years ago in terms of beer/pub quality.
Still, we're glad we went.
Is it really bad that the beer in Hitchin on Sunday seemed just that little bit extra-special?
Friday, 20 December 2013
'tis the season
Staying at S's place in Hitchin at the moment means I'm a lot closer to my sister's house than usual. My mum who's getting a little frailer is staying with my sister and her family for three weeks over the Christmas period.
So it made sense to pop up the tracks to see her before we go off up north on Saturday.
Sister lives in a village just south of Cambridge which is served by a Parkway station - it seems the rough translation of Parkway station is "just far enough from the centre of town to be annoying to get to"...or something.
So when I suggest a pub lunch for the three of us, Sis says "well, as you're coming by train, why not try the pub next to the station". Seemed like a sensible suggestion and the website made it look jolly nice. It's called "The Red Lion" so it sounds suitably properly pubby.
When I arrived there, I was a little bit surprised because although I knew it was a hotel/pub the beautiful historic building was wholly swamped by the modern bits, the car park, the station and some industrial units so it didn't feel like a destination pub at all.
We got inside and whilst mum and sis found a nice table, I went to the bar (I'm more qualified than either sister or mother in this respect...although my mother had her moments back in 70's when Friday lunchtime was a trip to the pub with her mate).
I was very heartened to see four (count 'em) handpumps all with clips facing the right way. There was Adnams bitter and Adnams Shingle Shells, Growler Red Santa, and a seasonal brew from Woodfordes.
I asked for a pint of Shingle Shells since it was the weakest of the beers and I hadn't it before. Adnams make a decent pint so it seemed like a good choice. The young lady behind the bar pulled the pump a couple of times and said "Oh, I think it's off". She turned to another member of staff and said "Is is off? Only nothing's coming out of the pump". Second member of staff says "Don't think so, the Woodfordes is off, I think...but not that one". They looked at each other for a couple of seconds...then a third lady passed through and said "Oh - has the gas run out?".
So one of them said they'd go and change it.
The girl serving me then said "we're changing the gas...I've got Boddington's instead" and pointed to a chilled keg dispenser.
Sigh.
I said I'd wait until they'd sorted out the cask beer, got the drinks for the others and returned to the table.
After 10 mins I went back to the bar and asked whether the cask ale was back working...she'd remembered what I wanted and said she'd bring it to the table.
The beer was fine. No more, but certainly nothing less. My guess is they don't sell a huge amount of cask, even with their four pumps. As a result the beer was a bit lack lustre and I would doubt that was Adnams fault. Maybe the barrel wasn't in its first flush, maybe a cleansing pull through the lines before starting my pint hadn't happened...so the beer just taste a bit blah.
The food was good - both sister and parent declaring the battered haddock delicious, my corned beef hash was pleasant and not too filling and the service was gracious and pleasant.
I know it's a hotel, but the interior of the part we were sitting in was very much pubby and I could imagine it being a nice enough place to sit inside in winter with beer and good company...until we got the bill.
£4.20 a pint for the beer is simply taking the piss. I do expect a bit of a premium in hotel bars - but this styles itself as pub too.
If I'm paying that much for beer, I'd generally expect it to be in tip-top condition, the staff to be knowledgeable and not have wait whilst they faff around with changing the gas on their pumps.
Sorry Red Lion, I'll not be returning any time soon I'm afraid.
So it made sense to pop up the tracks to see her before we go off up north on Saturday.
Sister lives in a village just south of Cambridge which is served by a Parkway station - it seems the rough translation of Parkway station is "just far enough from the centre of town to be annoying to get to"...or something.
So when I suggest a pub lunch for the three of us, Sis says "well, as you're coming by train, why not try the pub next to the station". Seemed like a sensible suggestion and the website made it look jolly nice. It's called "The Red Lion" so it sounds suitably properly pubby.
When I arrived there, I was a little bit surprised because although I knew it was a hotel/pub the beautiful historic building was wholly swamped by the modern bits, the car park, the station and some industrial units so it didn't feel like a destination pub at all.
We got inside and whilst mum and sis found a nice table, I went to the bar (I'm more qualified than either sister or mother in this respect...although my mother had her moments back in 70's when Friday lunchtime was a trip to the pub with her mate).
I was very heartened to see four (count 'em) handpumps all with clips facing the right way. There was Adnams bitter and Adnams Shingle Shells, Growler Red Santa, and a seasonal brew from Woodfordes.
I asked for a pint of Shingle Shells since it was the weakest of the beers and I hadn't it before. Adnams make a decent pint so it seemed like a good choice. The young lady behind the bar pulled the pump a couple of times and said "Oh, I think it's off". She turned to another member of staff and said "Is is off? Only nothing's coming out of the pump". Second member of staff says "Don't think so, the Woodfordes is off, I think...but not that one". They looked at each other for a couple of seconds...then a third lady passed through and said "Oh - has the gas run out?".
So one of them said they'd go and change it.
The girl serving me then said "we're changing the gas...I've got Boddington's instead" and pointed to a chilled keg dispenser.
Sigh.
I said I'd wait until they'd sorted out the cask beer, got the drinks for the others and returned to the table.
After 10 mins I went back to the bar and asked whether the cask ale was back working...she'd remembered what I wanted and said she'd bring it to the table.
The beer was fine. No more, but certainly nothing less. My guess is they don't sell a huge amount of cask, even with their four pumps. As a result the beer was a bit lack lustre and I would doubt that was Adnams fault. Maybe the barrel wasn't in its first flush, maybe a cleansing pull through the lines before starting my pint hadn't happened...so the beer just taste a bit blah.
The food was good - both sister and parent declaring the battered haddock delicious, my corned beef hash was pleasant and not too filling and the service was gracious and pleasant.
I know it's a hotel, but the interior of the part we were sitting in was very much pubby and I could imagine it being a nice enough place to sit inside in winter with beer and good company...until we got the bill.
£4.20 a pint for the beer is simply taking the piss. I do expect a bit of a premium in hotel bars - but this styles itself as pub too.
If I'm paying that much for beer, I'd generally expect it to be in tip-top condition, the staff to be knowledgeable and not have wait whilst they faff around with changing the gas on their pumps.
Sorry Red Lion, I'll not be returning any time soon I'm afraid.
Tuesday, 17 December 2013
First World Problem
Beef and beer casserole is delicious. Since I'm staying in Hitchin for a few more days in a week than usual, we've been cooking more at home. So, when planning some shopping I suggested I make a casserole that can hubble gently in the oven as I work and be ready pretty much any time which means we don't have to have a particular eating timetable. We're no souffle household, that's for sure.
So we ordered some lovely shin beef from Ocado and what you need for the casserole is a dark, reasonably strongly flavoured but sweetish beer. So we added a bottle of Fullers London Porter to the basket.
Neither of us drink much bottled beer these days, much preferring draught, but we figured that this beer should be just the thing (I'm quite partial to Old Peculier in a casserole too).
I was both sad, and narked, therefore when the beer was substituted. Sad because the Porter wasn't available and narked that the substitute they offered was nothing like it. They had brought a bottle of London Pride with them - that's no use in a casserole whatsoever!
I guess it's probably asking too much for them to substitute the style of the beer - although I can't shake the feeling the shopper might have subbed a different Cabernet Sauvignon...and surely this isn't that much different.
It's OK, I realise this is a very minor problem on the global scale...it's not even the biggest problem I've had in the last couple of hours...it's just that in all the increasing popularity in beer and people's improving familiarity with our national drink I guess I was just hoping for better.
Still, it gives us a good excuse to go to the Half Moon to get some dark draught beer on take-out...and that'll please Howard.
So we ordered some lovely shin beef from Ocado and what you need for the casserole is a dark, reasonably strongly flavoured but sweetish beer. So we added a bottle of Fullers London Porter to the basket.
Neither of us drink much bottled beer these days, much preferring draught, but we figured that this beer should be just the thing (I'm quite partial to Old Peculier in a casserole too).
I was both sad, and narked, therefore when the beer was substituted. Sad because the Porter wasn't available and narked that the substitute they offered was nothing like it. They had brought a bottle of London Pride with them - that's no use in a casserole whatsoever!
I guess it's probably asking too much for them to substitute the style of the beer - although I can't shake the feeling the shopper might have subbed a different Cabernet Sauvignon...and surely this isn't that much different.
It's OK, I realise this is a very minor problem on the global scale...it's not even the biggest problem I've had in the last couple of hours...it's just that in all the increasing popularity in beer and people's improving familiarity with our national drink I guess I was just hoping for better.
Still, it gives us a good excuse to go to the Half Moon to get some dark draught beer on take-out...and that'll please Howard.
Sunday, 15 December 2013
Sunday beer
Yesterday we did our weekend walk - the weather promised to be better than today so we thought we'd make the most of it.
We've done this walk a few times and it's a pleasant seven miles or so to Henlow. It was a bit tough going in places, yesterday, since the paths had been maintained by tractor and if you've got size six feet (which I do) then balancing on the tread marks takes concentration...anyhow...it was pleasant but let's say we were ready for a drink by the time we arrived at the Engineer's Arms.
This is a good pub with different areas depending on what suits your mood. We were able to keep half an eye on football scores without getting too embroiled whilst sitting in the comfy bar.
Beers are always well kept and decent at this pub but so far they've never knocked my socks off. There was a Christmas theme going on which is fine, but it lead to a lack of variation in style and strength. We had Santa's Tipple, Plum Stout, Bad Santa, Holly Days, Santa's Stumped, Snowflake and a cider from Hogans - Panking Pole.
The only beer I could pick out of a line up is the Snowflake...mind you, at 8.00% it's pretty memorable. The Plum Stout was exactly as you'd expect with a strong pruney smell emanating from it but was pretty good all told.
None of the others stood out but they were certainly decent.
Today, having done Christmas obligations (cards and so forth) we decided a breath of fresh air would be a good idea...yeah yeah...this usually means "let's go to the pub"...but we walk there so it's also exercise, right?
On our walk, which took a slightly off-piste route to the Half-Moon, we mused on whether the Engineer's Arms is really a three-pint-plus pub, or whether having walked quite a way to get to it, we're just unwilling to leave it too quickly.
The jury's out. It's so nearly a great place, with its variety of places to sit...and we can get a bus almost all the way home...if only the beer was just a fraction more interesting it would be there.
It made us appreciate, again, the Half-Moon's apparently effortless provision of a near-perfect selection of beers, ciders and perries.
On arrival I was denied Golden Jackal as it had run out, but before long Colchester Metropolis was on to replace it. Meawhile there was Bishop's Farewell, Midshipman Mild and Brewsters IPA to contend with. What's not to love?
The mild was probably the weakest in the lineup...lacking the delicacy that a good mild should have...but it certainly wasn't bad.
We came home after three (well, two and a half for me) because Sunday dinner beckoned...we could have stayed for more. Easily.
We've done this walk a few times and it's a pleasant seven miles or so to Henlow. It was a bit tough going in places, yesterday, since the paths had been maintained by tractor and if you've got size six feet (which I do) then balancing on the tread marks takes concentration...anyhow...it was pleasant but let's say we were ready for a drink by the time we arrived at the Engineer's Arms.
This is a good pub with different areas depending on what suits your mood. We were able to keep half an eye on football scores without getting too embroiled whilst sitting in the comfy bar.
Beers are always well kept and decent at this pub but so far they've never knocked my socks off. There was a Christmas theme going on which is fine, but it lead to a lack of variation in style and strength. We had Santa's Tipple, Plum Stout, Bad Santa, Holly Days, Santa's Stumped, Snowflake and a cider from Hogans - Panking Pole.
The only beer I could pick out of a line up is the Snowflake...mind you, at 8.00% it's pretty memorable. The Plum Stout was exactly as you'd expect with a strong pruney smell emanating from it but was pretty good all told.
None of the others stood out but they were certainly decent.
Today, having done Christmas obligations (cards and so forth) we decided a breath of fresh air would be a good idea...yeah yeah...this usually means "let's go to the pub"...but we walk there so it's also exercise, right?
On our walk, which took a slightly off-piste route to the Half-Moon, we mused on whether the Engineer's Arms is really a three-pint-plus pub, or whether having walked quite a way to get to it, we're just unwilling to leave it too quickly.
The jury's out. It's so nearly a great place, with its variety of places to sit...and we can get a bus almost all the way home...if only the beer was just a fraction more interesting it would be there.
It made us appreciate, again, the Half-Moon's apparently effortless provision of a near-perfect selection of beers, ciders and perries.
On arrival I was denied Golden Jackal as it had run out, but before long Colchester Metropolis was on to replace it. Meawhile there was Bishop's Farewell, Midshipman Mild and Brewsters IPA to contend with. What's not to love?
The mild was probably the weakest in the lineup...lacking the delicacy that a good mild should have...but it certainly wasn't bad.
We came home after three (well, two and a half for me) because Sunday dinner beckoned...we could have stayed for more. Easily.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Play Fair
There's a special circle of hell reserved for PubCos and the supermarkets they collude with.
Yes -I'm that angry that I can leave a sentence ending with a preposition and not go and fix it.
Pubs are special places. They're a place where people can get together in public for no particular reason. Yes, village halls, community centres and sports clubs have their places but you have to have a reason to go to them. You don't just hang out there on your own or with a friend or two in the vain hope there might be someone with whom to have a casual encounter or conversation (yep, caught the pesky preposition that time).
There's no compulsion involved, we go to pubs because we like pubs. We like drinking in pubs...and let's face it, even the drinking isn't compulsory.
Even the government have recognised that pubs are important in the community - they allowed pubs to be registered as assets of community value (ACV) under the Localism Bill.
So why in the name of all that is logical is it so easy to turn a pub into a non pub? Even when that pub is the only one for miles around?
When the law was changed to reduce the grip that the major brewers had on the range of beers available, an evil twin was spawned: the PubCo. Thus is the way of unintended consequences.
PubCos don't even brew beer any more, for the most part, they're just property barons.
The PubCos appear to be all lovely and cosy in their makng available of licensed premises for people who dream of running their own pub. However, they typically promise much but many (most?) deliver little. Worse than not supporting their licensees, it seems in some cases that they actively look to undermine the business just so they can churn a couple of new people through the pub, perpetuate the lack of success and then claim that this pub is "unviable" so they can sell it to developers.
Like most uber companies, PubCos know their onions when it comes to the law...and how to exploit the letter of it to circumvent the spirit.
So they regularly sell on their premises to supermarkets who can change the pub into a shop without having to ask permission for a change of use.
We can register these pubs if we get wind of the change of hands going on, we can even register them prior to any sale being contemplated, but it seems that the slippery evil twin, and his cohort the supermarket will still do everything in their power to stop communities stepping in...how?
Punch Taverns wish to offload one of the pubs they own to address the deficits in their balance sheet. The financial issues they have are a matter of public record - and everyone knows they are taking their marginal pubs and getting rid of them. Pretty much everyone knows that they have a basket of tactics they use to do this since pub premises with no other development potential are not fetching the best price at the moment.
So, they're looking to sell this big pub to Co-Op. There's already been a bit of a planning tussle in the past leading to a referral to the planning inspectorate to overturn the decision made by the local authority.
The pub in question is the only one within about 1km walking distance for thousands of households. It was built to serve the estate it sits within.
It's not everyone's cup of tea, nor does that matter. It has a loyal band of regulars who have repeatedly offered help and advice to Punch to make it more financially successful. All this fell on deaf ears.
These guys know that they have no "right" to have a pub and that if they want one, they have to support it. So when they learned it was possible to exercise the right to bid for a pub being sold they set to, and got it on the Asset Register and started planning how they would raise the money, as a community to buy it, fix it up (it's been neglected by Punch for several years) and then run it. This is when I met them.
Punch have not yet notified the local authority they are still planning a "relevant" disposal.
Instead, they've stripped out the fittings in the place and are now, from what we're being told, planning to demolish the building.
They're legally entitled to do this without planning consent since they still own it, provded of course they do the various legal bits and pieces required of them. There is little, it seems, we can do to stop it.
I'm sure, if challenged about what a low act this is, they'll give a well-practiced footballer's studs-up tackle shrug of feigned innocence whilst calculating how difficult it'll be for both local authority and community group to salvage anything from the wreckage.
Presumably they think that if the singed earth policy doesn't put us off still wanting a pub in the place then the planning regs when they apply to build something new will fall in their favour since they have more bottomless pockets than either communities or councils.
What I can't get over is how spiteful this all sounds.
I can't believe Punch are expending time, effort and money just to make us feel bad - I would imagine they've got more important things to do. But I do wonder if it's to help them make stronger cases for lack of viability in future?
After all, they've closed the pub and they say it's unviable - if the community make a go of it then the unviability statement was wrong and perhaps they won't get believed in future when they want to do other changes of use.
We might be down...but we're not out.
I, for one, will continue to expend a considerable amount of time and effort in trying to bring back this pub.
I'm also now even more interested in the low-life, underhanded tactics employed by PubCos.
Oh - and Co-op...if you are colluding with this I'm not sure how you can claim to be an ethical business. In my books this makes you just as bad as Tesco.
Yes -I'm that angry that I can leave a sentence ending with a preposition and not go and fix it.
Pubs are special places. They're a place where people can get together in public for no particular reason. Yes, village halls, community centres and sports clubs have their places but you have to have a reason to go to them. You don't just hang out there on your own or with a friend or two in the vain hope there might be someone with whom to have a casual encounter or conversation (yep, caught the pesky preposition that time).
There's no compulsion involved, we go to pubs because we like pubs. We like drinking in pubs...and let's face it, even the drinking isn't compulsory.
Even the government have recognised that pubs are important in the community - they allowed pubs to be registered as assets of community value (ACV) under the Localism Bill.
So why in the name of all that is logical is it so easy to turn a pub into a non pub? Even when that pub is the only one for miles around?
When the law was changed to reduce the grip that the major brewers had on the range of beers available, an evil twin was spawned: the PubCo. Thus is the way of unintended consequences.
PubCos don't even brew beer any more, for the most part, they're just property barons.
The PubCos appear to be all lovely and cosy in their makng available of licensed premises for people who dream of running their own pub. However, they typically promise much but many (most?) deliver little. Worse than not supporting their licensees, it seems in some cases that they actively look to undermine the business just so they can churn a couple of new people through the pub, perpetuate the lack of success and then claim that this pub is "unviable" so they can sell it to developers.
Like most uber companies, PubCos know their onions when it comes to the law...and how to exploit the letter of it to circumvent the spirit.
So they regularly sell on their premises to supermarkets who can change the pub into a shop without having to ask permission for a change of use.
We can register these pubs if we get wind of the change of hands going on, we can even register them prior to any sale being contemplated, but it seems that the slippery evil twin, and his cohort the supermarket will still do everything in their power to stop communities stepping in...how?
- by fighting the ACV registration by using language like "pubs don't offer any community value beyond selling alcohol", or similar things despite using language like "pubs are the centre of their community" on literature used to get support for their business.
- By leasing buildings to supermarkets on a short term basis, rather than a long lease or sale since such arrangements do not count as a relevant disposal that a community could bid for.
- By arranging to sell the premises very quietly and hoping no one learns of it in time to mobilise people to get the ACV registration done.
Punch Taverns wish to offload one of the pubs they own to address the deficits in their balance sheet. The financial issues they have are a matter of public record - and everyone knows they are taking their marginal pubs and getting rid of them. Pretty much everyone knows that they have a basket of tactics they use to do this since pub premises with no other development potential are not fetching the best price at the moment.
So, they're looking to sell this big pub to Co-Op. There's already been a bit of a planning tussle in the past leading to a referral to the planning inspectorate to overturn the decision made by the local authority.
The pub in question is the only one within about 1km walking distance for thousands of households. It was built to serve the estate it sits within.
It's not everyone's cup of tea, nor does that matter. It has a loyal band of regulars who have repeatedly offered help and advice to Punch to make it more financially successful. All this fell on deaf ears.
These guys know that they have no "right" to have a pub and that if they want one, they have to support it. So when they learned it was possible to exercise the right to bid for a pub being sold they set to, and got it on the Asset Register and started planning how they would raise the money, as a community to buy it, fix it up (it's been neglected by Punch for several years) and then run it. This is when I met them.
Punch have not yet notified the local authority they are still planning a "relevant" disposal.
Instead, they've stripped out the fittings in the place and are now, from what we're being told, planning to demolish the building.
They're legally entitled to do this without planning consent since they still own it, provded of course they do the various legal bits and pieces required of them. There is little, it seems, we can do to stop it.
I'm sure, if challenged about what a low act this is, they'll give a well-practiced footballer's studs-up tackle shrug of feigned innocence whilst calculating how difficult it'll be for both local authority and community group to salvage anything from the wreckage.
Presumably they think that if the singed earth policy doesn't put us off still wanting a pub in the place then the planning regs when they apply to build something new will fall in their favour since they have more bottomless pockets than either communities or councils.
What I can't get over is how spiteful this all sounds.
I can't believe Punch are expending time, effort and money just to make us feel bad - I would imagine they've got more important things to do. But I do wonder if it's to help them make stronger cases for lack of viability in future?
After all, they've closed the pub and they say it's unviable - if the community make a go of it then the unviability statement was wrong and perhaps they won't get believed in future when they want to do other changes of use.
We might be down...but we're not out.
I, for one, will continue to expend a considerable amount of time and effort in trying to bring back this pub.
I'm also now even more interested in the low-life, underhanded tactics employed by PubCos.
Oh - and Co-op...if you are colluding with this I'm not sure how you can claim to be an ethical business. In my books this makes you just as bad as Tesco.
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Catching up
ooops...events (mostly in the form of minor to moderate domestic crises) have overtaken my writing mojo...
So - beery exploits for the last few days?
A weekend in Hitchin in which we tried to gain a greater enthusiasm for the Bricklayers Arms. It's a good pub, but none of the beer really held our attention - indeed, once I'd left the pub I only remembered one of the four pints we'd had between us (it was Banks and Taylor Golden Fox and was very nice, if not stunning).
So, not surprisingly we ended up back at the Half Moon, welcomed warmly by Howard and the gang...and we did this on Saturday and Sunday. There was Crouch Vale Yakima, Oakham Inferno, XT 4 and a couple of Olivers' ciders. The XT4 was the only unknown...and we'd try it again. The Half Moon remains the stalwart of our Hitchin pubbing...it feels everso slightly like coming home.
Monday saw me back in Bristol - or, more precisely Keynsham - visiting mum and then meeting an old friend for dinner and, of course, a beer.
Beer was secondary so we went to the Lock Keeper which is a Youngs house. I'm not a fan of Youngs beer, but the pub is in the Good Beer Guide so you can't go too far wrong. However, I was taken aback by the Bitter I had. It was really nice. Nothing exciting but a good beer and was well kept and served at the right temperature. Nice.
Since then, no beer drunk.
I have, however, been tinkering from afar with some of the pub saving projects I've been helping with.
And then I read this, and I despair of the industry.
So - beery exploits for the last few days?
A weekend in Hitchin in which we tried to gain a greater enthusiasm for the Bricklayers Arms. It's a good pub, but none of the beer really held our attention - indeed, once I'd left the pub I only remembered one of the four pints we'd had between us (it was Banks and Taylor Golden Fox and was very nice, if not stunning).
So, not surprisingly we ended up back at the Half Moon, welcomed warmly by Howard and the gang...and we did this on Saturday and Sunday. There was Crouch Vale Yakima, Oakham Inferno, XT 4 and a couple of Olivers' ciders. The XT4 was the only unknown...and we'd try it again. The Half Moon remains the stalwart of our Hitchin pubbing...it feels everso slightly like coming home.
Monday saw me back in Bristol - or, more precisely Keynsham - visiting mum and then meeting an old friend for dinner and, of course, a beer.
Beer was secondary so we went to the Lock Keeper which is a Youngs house. I'm not a fan of Youngs beer, but the pub is in the Good Beer Guide so you can't go too far wrong. However, I was taken aback by the Bitter I had. It was really nice. Nothing exciting but a good beer and was well kept and served at the right temperature. Nice.
Since then, no beer drunk.
I have, however, been tinkering from afar with some of the pub saving projects I've been helping with.
And then I read this, and I despair of the industry.
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Oh Nigel!
I'm just watching last night's food and farming programme with Nigel Slater and Adam Henson.
The premise of the show is that, as a nation, we're rather too removed from our food because we buy stuff from the supermarket where it's imported from abroad, celophane packed and divorced from the seasons.
All sentiments I'm cool with.
They've grown durum wheat and used an artisan miller to make their own pasta flour with which to make home-made lasagne. They've made a virtue from the more grisly cuts of beef and lamb and, true to form, lovely Nige implores us to camera to use more of these cheaper cuts at home. It's all good.
Imagine my disapointment, therefore, when to demonstrate the seasonality of a green-hopped beer they talk to Shepherd Neame rather than a microbrewer. Now, don't get me wrong, I've imbibed the odd pint of Spitfire and it's fine...but it doesn't strike me as in-keeping with the tone of the rest of the show. They're a large brewing plc and quite removed from the crafty, artisan tone of the series.
Still, at least beer made it onto the show...though I find the comment "your beer's just been delivered" somewhat at odds with the simulataneous delivery of a pint to camera. Yeah, yeah...it was probably delivered bright...but I doubt Nige would have omitted that sort of detail from the cooking side of things.
A bit of an opportunity lost in a show with wider appeal...
Nice try but Cminus...could do better.
The premise of the show is that, as a nation, we're rather too removed from our food because we buy stuff from the supermarket where it's imported from abroad, celophane packed and divorced from the seasons.
All sentiments I'm cool with.
They've grown durum wheat and used an artisan miller to make their own pasta flour with which to make home-made lasagne. They've made a virtue from the more grisly cuts of beef and lamb and, true to form, lovely Nige implores us to camera to use more of these cheaper cuts at home. It's all good.
Imagine my disapointment, therefore, when to demonstrate the seasonality of a green-hopped beer they talk to Shepherd Neame rather than a microbrewer. Now, don't get me wrong, I've imbibed the odd pint of Spitfire and it's fine...but it doesn't strike me as in-keeping with the tone of the rest of the show. They're a large brewing plc and quite removed from the crafty, artisan tone of the series.
Still, at least beer made it onto the show...though I find the comment "your beer's just been delivered" somewhat at odds with the simulataneous delivery of a pint to camera. Yeah, yeah...it was probably delivered bright...but I doubt Nige would have omitted that sort of detail from the cooking side of things.
A bit of an opportunity lost in a show with wider appeal...
Nice try but Cminus...could do better.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
How much is too much?
I haven't had a drink for a few days. No recently drunk beer to report, or pubs visited.
So I find myself musing on why I drink and how I drink.
There's no doubt that, along with a significant proportion of the population, I flout the handed-down guidelines for the amount of alcohol I drink on the whole. I'm not entirely convinced that there really are one-size-fits-all levels for things like alcohol...but I do understand that if you're trying to warn people that something is potentially harmful, there's not really room for anything other than clear, albeit probably cautious, guidelines.
Why do I drink? Principally because I like the taste. Beer, wine and, less often, gin and single malt whisky.
So, this implies that I would drink these drinks if they tasted like they do and had no alcoholic content. Well, yes, I would.
Actually, I fairly rarely drink on my own these days - mostly because I know my liver thanks me for some alcohol free days and if I'm in on my own, it's a really easy way to achieve that.
I can't deny that alcohol is my drug of choice for socialising. I'm an introvert with a hint of residual shyness that asserts itself mostly in social situations. Alcohol eases my self-consciousness, often gives a topic of conversation and you can muse on what your companions are saying whilst you sip your pint.
The speed at which I drink, in company, generally, corresponds to how nervous I am - you ask S. Thankfully now we know each other pretty well, I no longer match him pint for pint.
Yet still, my favourite afternoon pastime is a walk to the pub with S, (via errands, or possibly a hill) followed by a few hours of beer and increasingly alcohol fuelled conversation and plotting.
There's the thirst quenching, and the taste of the beer, and softening that happens as the alcohol permeates...but the whole experience is far more than the sum of its parts.
I don't care what the government says - it does us both the world of good.
...and the weekend's not far off now.
So I find myself musing on why I drink and how I drink.
There's no doubt that, along with a significant proportion of the population, I flout the handed-down guidelines for the amount of alcohol I drink on the whole. I'm not entirely convinced that there really are one-size-fits-all levels for things like alcohol...but I do understand that if you're trying to warn people that something is potentially harmful, there's not really room for anything other than clear, albeit probably cautious, guidelines.
Why do I drink? Principally because I like the taste. Beer, wine and, less often, gin and single malt whisky.
So, this implies that I would drink these drinks if they tasted like they do and had no alcoholic content. Well, yes, I would.
Actually, I fairly rarely drink on my own these days - mostly because I know my liver thanks me for some alcohol free days and if I'm in on my own, it's a really easy way to achieve that.
I can't deny that alcohol is my drug of choice for socialising. I'm an introvert with a hint of residual shyness that asserts itself mostly in social situations. Alcohol eases my self-consciousness, often gives a topic of conversation and you can muse on what your companions are saying whilst you sip your pint.
The speed at which I drink, in company, generally, corresponds to how nervous I am - you ask S. Thankfully now we know each other pretty well, I no longer match him pint for pint.
Yet still, my favourite afternoon pastime is a walk to the pub with S, (via errands, or possibly a hill) followed by a few hours of beer and increasingly alcohol fuelled conversation and plotting.
There's the thirst quenching, and the taste of the beer, and softening that happens as the alcohol permeates...but the whole experience is far more than the sum of its parts.
I don't care what the government says - it does us both the world of good.
...and the weekend's not far off now.
Sunday, 24 November 2013
Stuff yer transition beers...?
It's very, very easy in most decent sized towns and cities to find really good beer.
For me, this generally means Real Ale, served cool (ideally not cold, definitely not warm), by a person/organization who knows how to look after beer properly.
Do I rate lager as an inferior drink, then?
Not all lager, no, of course not. Lagering is process which, when done properly and with care produces a fine drink. I don't usually enjoy it but I wouldn't say a proper lager is inferior.
But I loathe the mass produced tasteless fizzy stuff in much the way I don't enjoy Mother's Pride or Kenco Instant. They're factory products and the people and machines making them are probably as connected to them as they would be if they were producing washing powder.
So what do I make of the "Craft Beer" surgence (I can't say resurgence since I'm not sure it's happened before)?
Well, I think it's fine.
Perhaps we can all agree that "Craft beer" is a term that encompasses any style of beer that is produced with care (even love, perhaps).
Please, though can we ensure we distinguish between those beers served "alive" from a cask and those which are pasteurised and served under pressure from a keg.
Am I being prissy and pedantic? Maybe, but frankly I don't care.
I have to say, I was really disappointed a few months back on a visit to the Botanist in Kew when I ordered a pint which had a pump clip on a cask pump only to have the member of staff cross the bar space and fill my glass from a pressurized keg pump. When I challenged her, she looked blankly and said "no, it's the same stuff". Frankly, that's shocking.
I accepted the pint and drank it and it was OK but it was too fizzy, and had a definitely metallic signature after taste that keg beers usually have.
More recently, on our first visit to the most excellent Beer Emporium, S decided that he ought to give some of this craft-keg stuff a go. This stuff was properly labelled with no suggestion that it was anything other than from a keg but it still wasn't a very satisfactory experience.
I've no doubt that a lot of people might find craft-keg beer more to their taste, and that's great and it might help craft brewers take some of the revenue from the mass-producers. In some cases, some newcomers to the keg versions of beers might migrate over to cask, having used the familiar texture and temperature of keg beer as a kind of transition.
Actually, I don't think that matters as much as people choosing to buy products that have been made with care.
But please, please don't try and sell me one thing under the guise of another in the hope I won't notice. I will, and I'll think twice about coming back...
For me, this generally means Real Ale, served cool (ideally not cold, definitely not warm), by a person/organization who knows how to look after beer properly.
Do I rate lager as an inferior drink, then?
Not all lager, no, of course not. Lagering is process which, when done properly and with care produces a fine drink. I don't usually enjoy it but I wouldn't say a proper lager is inferior.
But I loathe the mass produced tasteless fizzy stuff in much the way I don't enjoy Mother's Pride or Kenco Instant. They're factory products and the people and machines making them are probably as connected to them as they would be if they were producing washing powder.
So what do I make of the "Craft Beer" surgence (I can't say resurgence since I'm not sure it's happened before)?
Well, I think it's fine.
Perhaps we can all agree that "Craft beer" is a term that encompasses any style of beer that is produced with care (even love, perhaps).
Please, though can we ensure we distinguish between those beers served "alive" from a cask and those which are pasteurised and served under pressure from a keg.
Am I being prissy and pedantic? Maybe, but frankly I don't care.
I have to say, I was really disappointed a few months back on a visit to the Botanist in Kew when I ordered a pint which had a pump clip on a cask pump only to have the member of staff cross the bar space and fill my glass from a pressurized keg pump. When I challenged her, she looked blankly and said "no, it's the same stuff". Frankly, that's shocking.
I accepted the pint and drank it and it was OK but it was too fizzy, and had a definitely metallic signature after taste that keg beers usually have.
More recently, on our first visit to the most excellent Beer Emporium, S decided that he ought to give some of this craft-keg stuff a go. This stuff was properly labelled with no suggestion that it was anything other than from a keg but it still wasn't a very satisfactory experience.
I've no doubt that a lot of people might find craft-keg beer more to their taste, and that's great and it might help craft brewers take some of the revenue from the mass-producers. In some cases, some newcomers to the keg versions of beers might migrate over to cask, having used the familiar texture and temperature of keg beer as a kind of transition.
Actually, I don't think that matters as much as people choosing to buy products that have been made with care.
But please, please don't try and sell me one thing under the guise of another in the hope I won't notice. I will, and I'll think twice about coming back...
Saturday, 23 November 2013
Lone Drinking
I'm not normally a woman who pops into the pub for a pint on my own.
These days, I'm perfectly happy to toddle in on my own in order to meet folk for a drink - in fact, I do it on a regular basis. It wasn't always the case, though...it used to take me a lot of screwing up of courage to do that. So it would have been unthinkable for me to drop in for a drink just because I fancied one.
The very first time I popped into the pub for a drink on my own I had to be coached from afar by my good and tolerant mate, Tim. He maintained that no one would give a damn that I was there on my own. Of course he was right and even though the experience was terrifying and required me to take plenty of props with me (book, smartphone and camera), it was totally worth it (even though Doom Bar was the Hobson's Choice beer).
Why is it such a problem? I'm not sure.
I guess it feels quite exposing to look a bit "Johnny no mates", and I think that women might feel that more acutely since it's very common to see blokes in for a pint on their own.
Does it make it better or worse that I'm a drinker of pints of real ale? Would I feel better drinking gin or wine?
In a pub that's known for its beer, I'm probably more comfortable than in places that do beer but don't specialize. But I haven't done any extensive research since usually I'm lucky to have my favourite beer buddy with me.
Since my first solo flight I've repeated the experience a small handful of times - once to watch football in what was my local in Bristol, three times on working visits to Eastbourne before we bought our place here...and then today.
I was running errands in town and I just fancied a little sit down and a pint - so I went to the Dolphin again and had a pint of Dark Star Darkness. I was perfectly content in the place, the only disappointment being that my favourite sofa near the fire and the nicest tables were all full.
I had a sales brochure to read, I'd deliberately brought my recently acquired copy of Sussex Pevsner Guide and I had my phone which I used to send a couple of emails.
I concluded that this is a 3+pint pub - and it would have been awfully tempting for me today to stay longer, had the sofa been free.
What makes it good? I still don't know.
It's a fairly spacious and open kind of a pub too and plenty of spaces of different sizes so you can choose accordingly.
The friendly and engaging staff make a huge difference to a lone lady drinker, I reckon. And this probably what tips the balance for me.
It won't be the last time I pop in, that's for sure.
These days, I'm perfectly happy to toddle in on my own in order to meet folk for a drink - in fact, I do it on a regular basis. It wasn't always the case, though...it used to take me a lot of screwing up of courage to do that. So it would have been unthinkable for me to drop in for a drink just because I fancied one.
The very first time I popped into the pub for a drink on my own I had to be coached from afar by my good and tolerant mate, Tim. He maintained that no one would give a damn that I was there on my own. Of course he was right and even though the experience was terrifying and required me to take plenty of props with me (book, smartphone and camera), it was totally worth it (even though Doom Bar was the Hobson's Choice beer).
Why is it such a problem? I'm not sure.
I guess it feels quite exposing to look a bit "Johnny no mates", and I think that women might feel that more acutely since it's very common to see blokes in for a pint on their own.
Does it make it better or worse that I'm a drinker of pints of real ale? Would I feel better drinking gin or wine?
In a pub that's known for its beer, I'm probably more comfortable than in places that do beer but don't specialize. But I haven't done any extensive research since usually I'm lucky to have my favourite beer buddy with me.
Since my first solo flight I've repeated the experience a small handful of times - once to watch football in what was my local in Bristol, three times on working visits to Eastbourne before we bought our place here...and then today.
I was running errands in town and I just fancied a little sit down and a pint - so I went to the Dolphin again and had a pint of Dark Star Darkness. I was perfectly content in the place, the only disappointment being that my favourite sofa near the fire and the nicest tables were all full.
I had a sales brochure to read, I'd deliberately brought my recently acquired copy of Sussex Pevsner Guide and I had my phone which I used to send a couple of emails.
I concluded that this is a 3+pint pub - and it would have been awfully tempting for me today to stay longer, had the sofa been free.
What makes it good? I still don't know.
It's a fairly spacious and open kind of a pub too and plenty of spaces of different sizes so you can choose accordingly.
The friendly and engaging staff make a huge difference to a lone lady drinker, I reckon. And this probably what tips the balance for me.
It won't be the last time I pop in, that's for sure.
Friday, 22 November 2013
A pub with no beer
Last night I met up with a brilliant group of people.
They're trying to save their local pub. It's the only pub in the area and the owners are looking to sell it - potentially to become a supermarket.
Planning regs allow for pubs to be unceremoniously turned into retail spaces without so much as a "by your leave" (aka Planning Consent) since it's considered to be "Permitted Development". But these guys aren't happy with that. They want their pub back so rather than just whine and demand that "something must be done" they've got off their collective backsides and, despite having day jobs and busy lives they've launched into a project to bid for the pub with a view to owning and running it themselves.
The pub is on the fringes of Eastbourne - it was built in the 50's along with the estate that surrounds it. Last night one of the group members told me how his family ended up in the area when a large employer relocated to Eastbourne from London, encouraged the pub to be built and installed the landlord and landlady from one of their favourite pubs in London for the benefit of the workers.
What a brilliant story, and what a shame it would be for it to come to an ignominious end as another faceless supermarket.
Fortunately, communities have a little more power since the various bits of the "Localism Bill" came into law. They can insist on being able to bid when buildings or land of community value are offered for sale.
The first stage was it to get it on the local authority's Register of Assets of Community Value. It was at this stage I heard about the group because I'd been involved in a similar registration for another pub, a little nearer my house. I met them for the first time then, and immediately liked their sense of purpose and determination.
The application for registration was successful so the project can move to the next stage - the one where we find out whether it's even possible for this community to raise enough money to buy the place.
Keep your fingers crossed for us - and if you're passing the Parkfield at some point in the future, and it isn't a Co-op then drop in for a pint, eh?
They're trying to save their local pub. It's the only pub in the area and the owners are looking to sell it - potentially to become a supermarket.
Planning regs allow for pubs to be unceremoniously turned into retail spaces without so much as a "by your leave" (aka Planning Consent) since it's considered to be "Permitted Development". But these guys aren't happy with that. They want their pub back so rather than just whine and demand that "something must be done" they've got off their collective backsides and, despite having day jobs and busy lives they've launched into a project to bid for the pub with a view to owning and running it themselves.
The pub is on the fringes of Eastbourne - it was built in the 50's along with the estate that surrounds it. Last night one of the group members told me how his family ended up in the area when a large employer relocated to Eastbourne from London, encouraged the pub to be built and installed the landlord and landlady from one of their favourite pubs in London for the benefit of the workers.
What a brilliant story, and what a shame it would be for it to come to an ignominious end as another faceless supermarket.
Fortunately, communities have a little more power since the various bits of the "Localism Bill" came into law. They can insist on being able to bid when buildings or land of community value are offered for sale.
The first stage was it to get it on the local authority's Register of Assets of Community Value. It was at this stage I heard about the group because I'd been involved in a similar registration for another pub, a little nearer my house. I met them for the first time then, and immediately liked their sense of purpose and determination.
The application for registration was successful so the project can move to the next stage - the one where we find out whether it's even possible for this community to raise enough money to buy the place.
Keep your fingers crossed for us - and if you're passing the Parkfield at some point in the future, and it isn't a Co-op then drop in for a pint, eh?
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Firsts
The switch from cider (well, Blackthorn, to be precise) to beer was made in my cousin's lounge in about 1985. Cider didn't travel well around the canal system so beer was a better drinking option for holidays. The guy from Lancashire felt that perhaps he could get me to like beer, if he could only find the right one. Quite a tricky job in Bristol in the 80's - good beer wasn't exactly littering the streets.
So it was a wine glass full of Theakston's Old Peculier from a small bottle.
I can't say that I loved it from the start but I did get a sense that beer was something you needed to persist with.
Fast forward about 25 years.
The Royal Oak in Southwark. I'd just met S and he thought I'd like the interior of the pub, and he could introduce me to the beer of his youth.
You never know where a single drink can lead.
So it was a wine glass full of Theakston's Old Peculier from a small bottle.
I can't say that I loved it from the start but I did get a sense that beer was something you needed to persist with.
Fast forward about 25 years.
The Royal Oak in Southwark. I'd just met S and he thought I'd like the interior of the pub, and he could introduce me to the beer of his youth.
You never know where a single drink can lead.
Monday, 18 November 2013
Weekend Report
Back in Bristol for a short time having had a lovely, relaxing weekend in Hitchin.
As predicted the weekend started with me arriving at the station carrying two and a half hours of travel...and quite thirsty. Thence to the Nightingale where we had a pint of Brewsters golden beer...which might have been Decadence or it might have been something else...(beer memory fail). Our second pint was a nice surprise - A Hogsback Brew that I've never tried before: Ripsnorter which was like an oomphy version of the beer of theirs I know best - TEA. Even though we were going to leave it there...we had to have another pint of it before staggering back home for take out Chinese and a decadent evening on the sofa.
Saturday was a day we planned to go shopping - we're both pretty rubbish at this task, and it's really just a thinly veiled half-hearted attempt to buy stuff (in this case, some birthday presents and some black lentils) followed by a spell in the pub.
Unsurprisingly, the only thing we bought was a newspaper...errr...to read in the pub.
So we ventured into a relative newcomer in Hitchin's real ale stakes...The Bricklayer's Arms in Queen Street. It's recently been taken over and completely refurbished and now sells local Banks and Taylor beers plus a few guest beers.
It has a good solid range of decent beers - even if nothing blew my socks off this time. To be honest, the only beer I can remember was Nottingham Brewery's Supreme Bitter.
On and off over the weekend we've mused on the type of pub we visit...and we ended up categorising them by the number of pints we might drink in them, as a rule.
A one pint pub is a perfectly fine place to go - it might be somewhere that has one really good beer, or something otherwise interesting about it, but we never feel quite ready to linger there for a second pint.
A good example of a two-pint pub is the Nightingale. The staff are pleasant, we go there often; the beer's usually well kept and it's usually beer we like. It's just that it's not a place we could stay all evening without some external force (a football match being show, meeting other folk there...that sort of thing). At the moment, we'd typify the Bricklayers as a two-pint pub - it could change over time as it settles down and we get used to it.
Then there are the other pubs...the 3+ pint pubs. That was our second visit on Saturday...to the Half Moon. It didn't disappoint. I had a pint and a half of Oakham Inferno - I'd had enough experimenting for the day so I craved something I knew would hit the spot. It did (of course). S drank wider than me, as usual, but my memory fails me as to what he experimented with.
We could have stayed all evening, but we dragged ourselves away.
Sunday saw us take a walk for a couple of miles and we bypassed The Highlander which is more of an eating than a drinking pub..and we hadn't really built up a thirst yet. But we ended up at the Half Moon end of town and it would have been rude not to...
There had been quite a change over of beers since Saturday evening - Maldon Gold had been added, Citra had replaced Inferno and then a stronger Brewsters beer - I think it was a "Pale Ale" which was about 5% and was delicious.
Meanwhile S had a pint of mild (brewery unknown) which nice, but a little bitterer than you might expect, followed by an Olivers Perry (that's right, the pub also sells good ciders and perries, too) and then he joined me in the new Brewsters pint.
Added to the good beer, was the cheery greeting by one of the bar staff and a pleasant generally beery conversation with Howard the Landlord.
Yep, good times, indeed.
As predicted the weekend started with me arriving at the station carrying two and a half hours of travel...and quite thirsty. Thence to the Nightingale where we had a pint of Brewsters golden beer...which might have been Decadence or it might have been something else...(beer memory fail). Our second pint was a nice surprise - A Hogsback Brew that I've never tried before: Ripsnorter which was like an oomphy version of the beer of theirs I know best - TEA. Even though we were going to leave it there...we had to have another pint of it before staggering back home for take out Chinese and a decadent evening on the sofa.
Saturday was a day we planned to go shopping - we're both pretty rubbish at this task, and it's really just a thinly veiled half-hearted attempt to buy stuff (in this case, some birthday presents and some black lentils) followed by a spell in the pub.
Unsurprisingly, the only thing we bought was a newspaper...errr...to read in the pub.
So we ventured into a relative newcomer in Hitchin's real ale stakes...The Bricklayer's Arms in Queen Street. It's recently been taken over and completely refurbished and now sells local Banks and Taylor beers plus a few guest beers.
It has a good solid range of decent beers - even if nothing blew my socks off this time. To be honest, the only beer I can remember was Nottingham Brewery's Supreme Bitter.
On and off over the weekend we've mused on the type of pub we visit...and we ended up categorising them by the number of pints we might drink in them, as a rule.
A one pint pub is a perfectly fine place to go - it might be somewhere that has one really good beer, or something otherwise interesting about it, but we never feel quite ready to linger there for a second pint.
A good example of a two-pint pub is the Nightingale. The staff are pleasant, we go there often; the beer's usually well kept and it's usually beer we like. It's just that it's not a place we could stay all evening without some external force (a football match being show, meeting other folk there...that sort of thing). At the moment, we'd typify the Bricklayers as a two-pint pub - it could change over time as it settles down and we get used to it.
Then there are the other pubs...the 3+ pint pubs. That was our second visit on Saturday...to the Half Moon. It didn't disappoint. I had a pint and a half of Oakham Inferno - I'd had enough experimenting for the day so I craved something I knew would hit the spot. It did (of course). S drank wider than me, as usual, but my memory fails me as to what he experimented with.
We could have stayed all evening, but we dragged ourselves away.
Sunday saw us take a walk for a couple of miles and we bypassed The Highlander which is more of an eating than a drinking pub..and we hadn't really built up a thirst yet. But we ended up at the Half Moon end of town and it would have been rude not to...
There had been quite a change over of beers since Saturday evening - Maldon Gold had been added, Citra had replaced Inferno and then a stronger Brewsters beer - I think it was a "Pale Ale" which was about 5% and was delicious.
Meanwhile S had a pint of mild (brewery unknown) which nice, but a little bitterer than you might expect, followed by an Olivers Perry (that's right, the pub also sells good ciders and perries, too) and then he joined me in the new Brewsters pint.
Added to the good beer, was the cheery greeting by one of the bar staff and a pleasant generally beery conversation with Howard the Landlord.
Yep, good times, indeed.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Normal service will be resumed...
The Hitchin base currently has no internets and that may continue for a couple of days. I'm heading there for the weekend so unlikely I can fulfill my mental aim of doing a blog per day.
However, I can reaonably predict that some time between 4 and 5pm this evening, I'll meet S in The Nightingale which is the closest pub to the station and usually it serves a jolly good pint.
I feel like a regular there now, recognised by the bar staff and even able to get a grin or a wry chuckle out of the taciturn landlord from time to time.
Usually home to some Tring beers which are decent, if not awe-inspiring and those from the Colchester Brewery which have their moments, and sometimes from the ladies at Brewsters, who can brew a cracking pint. Yep, that's right the brewery is a female affair which I think is brilliant.
In addition, this weekend will hopefully include a visit to my favourite Hitchin pub - The Half Moon - which always has interesting beers which are turned around incredibly quickly and so are in tip-top condition. The landlord knows his beer and likes his customers to enjoy them. He's even been known to exchange a pint which I thought was off, but turned out I just didn't like it. I'm not sure he'd let me make a habit of that, but you have to appreciate a pub like that.
In fact, the only thing I don't like there is the fact that some people have a habit of clustering tightly around the pumps to do their drinking which makes it hard for the rest of us to get served...but it's a small quibble.
So, should you ever be passing and you see this pretty ordinary, possibly slightly down-at-heel pub on the road toward Stevenage - give it a try.
Oh, the food's pretty good too.
May your weekend be blessed with good beer...like mine probably will
However, I can reaonably predict that some time between 4 and 5pm this evening, I'll meet S in The Nightingale which is the closest pub to the station and usually it serves a jolly good pint.
I feel like a regular there now, recognised by the bar staff and even able to get a grin or a wry chuckle out of the taciturn landlord from time to time.
Usually home to some Tring beers which are decent, if not awe-inspiring and those from the Colchester Brewery which have their moments, and sometimes from the ladies at Brewsters, who can brew a cracking pint. Yep, that's right the brewery is a female affair which I think is brilliant.
In addition, this weekend will hopefully include a visit to my favourite Hitchin pub - The Half Moon - which always has interesting beers which are turned around incredibly quickly and so are in tip-top condition. The landlord knows his beer and likes his customers to enjoy them. He's even been known to exchange a pint which I thought was off, but turned out I just didn't like it. I'm not sure he'd let me make a habit of that, but you have to appreciate a pub like that.
In fact, the only thing I don't like there is the fact that some people have a habit of clustering tightly around the pumps to do their drinking which makes it hard for the rest of us to get served...but it's a small quibble.
So, should you ever be passing and you see this pretty ordinary, possibly slightly down-at-heel pub on the road toward Stevenage - give it a try.
Oh, the food's pretty good too.
May your weekend be blessed with good beer...like mine probably will
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Desert Island Beers #1
Since I failed to do a blog entry yesterday, I'm doing two today.
I frequently get into conversations about favourite beers, favourite pubs and stuff like that. My desert island beer list changes about once a week, of course, and anyway half the fun is of trying new beers...but I'll list some of my favourites today...it'll be different tomorrow, I'll wager.
S tells me you have to have a mix of styles in the desert island list because you'd get bored of the same thing. He's probably right, so I'll try and stick to that rule too.
As for my book to go with the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare...well Good Beer Guide, obviously. Mind you, my pal Dr C calls it "the bible" so maybe I could trade the King James for the CAMRA versions and have a book on cellar management...?
Post Script...
...now here's a thing. I told you the list would change by tomorrow...actually, I've just realised the error of my ways in not including an Oakham Ales beer. Yet I've liked every pint of their beer I've ever had and adore their brewery tap in Peterborough...
That means APA at no7 might have to go and be replaced with something from Oakham...and since we're talking about a stronger beer here then possibly Dream Catcher which is a a beer-flavoured cosh...but brilliant.
OK - I'm really stopping now...probably.
I frequently get into conversations about favourite beers, favourite pubs and stuff like that. My desert island beer list changes about once a week, of course, and anyway half the fun is of trying new beers...but I'll list some of my favourites today...it'll be different tomorrow, I'll wager.
S tells me you have to have a mix of styles in the desert island list because you'd get bored of the same thing. He's probably right, so I'll try and stick to that rule too.
- Dark Star Hophead a beer I'm happy to drink wherever, and whenever. Light and relatively low in alcohol so I don't fall over too quickly on it. Best drunk in The Evening Star, I find.
- Bristol Beer Factory Sunrise similar in style to Hophead. Discovered on The Grain Barge and I continue to drink it at my Bristol local, The Barleymow - although it seems slightly less frequently available than it used to be. Again, this is a really easy drink. A little stronger than the ideal session pint, maybe, but nothing disabling.
- These days I have an uneasy relationship with brown bitters - it's not that I don't like them, exactly, but they don't usually excite me. However, the list has to have at least one and we learned on a recent Cornwall trip that the Penzance Brewery brews architypes...so what better Best Bitter could I ask for than theirs ?
- Another brown beer I almost always try if it's available is Timothy Taylor Landlord. Well kept it's a cracking pint. It's listed as a Pale Ale not a bitter and, to be honest, I'm not sure I really understand the distinction, but hey.
- Another Bristol brewery I'm very fond of is Arbor Ales. I don't I've ever tried a beer of theirs I didn't like even though the hoppiness of them is distinctly unsubtle on some occasions. Top of the tree for me has to be Black Eyed PA, though.
- A couple more strongish beers need to go on the list - first is Jaipur by Thornbridge. I've had it in cask, bottled and kegged form but from the cask, straight off a fresh barrel, at the Bristol Beer Festival was the best. It has been known to make me an extremely cheap date...one pint and...
- ...and ashamed as I am to include a second beer from a brewery, I think that I'd want Dark Star American Pale Ale available too. It tastes a little stronger than it really is but it's got that oomph you want sometimes, especially if you're only stopping for one pint.
- The last beer in the list is a little from left-field if you know me. It's not the beer I'd save from the waves, for sure, but drinking it would bring back fab memories of a damp weekend of beer drinking in Brussels when S was trying to show me that there would be Belgian beers I'd like in spite of my assertions to the contrary. It's a kriek but it has to be a draught kriek from Morte Subite. Brilliantly cherry flavoured but also dry and bitter.
As for my book to go with the bible and the complete works of Shakespeare...well Good Beer Guide, obviously. Mind you, my pal Dr C calls it "the bible" so maybe I could trade the King James for the CAMRA versions and have a book on cellar management...?
Post Script...
...now here's a thing. I told you the list would change by tomorrow...actually, I've just realised the error of my ways in not including an Oakham Ales beer. Yet I've liked every pint of their beer I've ever had and adore their brewery tap in Peterborough...
That means APA at no7 might have to go and be replaced with something from Oakham...and since we're talking about a stronger beer here then possibly Dream Catcher which is a a beer-flavoured cosh...but brilliant.
OK - I'm really stopping now...probably.
Share and Share Alike
Sharing your favourite places and things with a friend is one of the most dangerous things we do. Emotionally, I mean...unless you have a particularly violent friend.
I remember, very clearly, the first time S took me to this pub. It was one of the haunts of his youth. It was early days for us and we'd come down to Eastbourne just for the day for an exhibition at the local gallery.
Once we'd had a windblown walk along the sea front and I'd been introduced to Eastbourne's Napoleonic heritage we ended up here, at the Victoria Hotel in the Seaside area of town. It's a Harvey's pub.
Now, Harvey's is not my favourite brew, but a well kept pint of it is always good to find.
The beer here is always well kept and I remember instantly liking the pub which is very much a corner local. S seemed pleased that I liked his chosen venue.
Because it's tucked away in the quieter part of town, and it's a little off the beaten track, it's quite satisfying to find it...it always feels like a bit of secret knowledge.
It was in here that S & I plotted to spend Christmas together in Devon for the first time since both of us prefer times walking and going to the pub than a more traditional turkey and TV celebration. So I'm fond of the place for that reason as well and that feeling gives me a small warm glow every time I come in.
It was with a little trepidation, though, that I took my friend, Will, into the pub yesterday. We were running errands for a community group we're in and it led us to this area of town. We'd walked a fair way and delivered a load of leaflets and we were desperately in need of a rest and some refreshment. Will had never been to the place despite having been a resident for longer than me.
The last time I took a friend into a pub that I loved I was devastated when I realised that this friend really didn't like that pub at all. I didn't want that to happen at the Victoria with Will.
I needn't have worried. As we stepped inside Will's eyes widened a bit and all he said was "Oh wow!".
We got a couple of pints and sat down for a chat.
Will got the place immediately, and started planning bringing his family here for lunch and having meetings around the generous tables that the pub is filled with. He admired the unspoiled Victorian interior and enjoyed the beer.
It might have been the first time Will had set foot in the place, but I doubt it'll be the last.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
It's all about context
"Hophead?"
That was the greeting I got at The Dolphin in Eastbourne yesterday evening. Not from a friend I was meeting but from the lady behind the bar.
I like The Dolphin. We go there quite frequently when we're in Eastbourne because they have decent beer and nice food. Last night we were there because S was off back to Hitchin, The Dolphin is pretty close to the station, it was cold and wet out and it's a pub that has an open fire.
We'd been there on Friday evening, but I certainly wouldn't call us regulars. So the greeting came as a pleasant surprise. She was right, of course.
S opted for Brakspear Oxford Gold and that choice got an approving nod from the only other customer. In fact it prompted an hour or so of pleasant chat on the subject of breweries, the take over of same, pubs closing, beer festivals and other related matters.
...and that's one of the reasons I like trips to the pub, especially with S. It was a good pint - not the best ever, but it was good...but the evening was all about the company and the atmosphere. What a nice evening.
That was the greeting I got at The Dolphin in Eastbourne yesterday evening. Not from a friend I was meeting but from the lady behind the bar.
I like The Dolphin. We go there quite frequently when we're in Eastbourne because they have decent beer and nice food. Last night we were there because S was off back to Hitchin, The Dolphin is pretty close to the station, it was cold and wet out and it's a pub that has an open fire.
We'd been there on Friday evening, but I certainly wouldn't call us regulars. So the greeting came as a pleasant surprise. She was right, of course.
S opted for Brakspear Oxford Gold and that choice got an approving nod from the only other customer. In fact it prompted an hour or so of pleasant chat on the subject of breweries, the take over of same, pubs closing, beer festivals and other related matters.
...and that's one of the reasons I like trips to the pub, especially with S. It was a good pint - not the best ever, but it was good...but the evening was all about the company and the atmosphere. What a nice evening.
Introductions
I've decided that I don't do enough writing (S will probably disagree since he's often on the receiving end of my rambling emails and text messages).
I wouldn't call myself a writer but I enjoy the process. I'm trying to write a book and writing seems to me like a skill that needs to practiced frequently to make you better at it, and to make it easier to do.
I wrote a blog when I was reeling from an unpleasant life event and I found it therapeutic, and surprisingly enjoyable.
So blogging seems like a natural outlet for me and I like to share certain experiences so that subject was a no brainer...beer.
Well, not just beer but the experience of enjoying (or not) it.
Expect rants, critques, personal history stuff...you never know, you might just discover your next favourite pub here.
Oh - just one thing...don't expect chronology...
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