In a bit of a departure for me, this post isn't really about beer - or, at least only tangentally.
About 75% of the time we live right on the edge of a large town with proper countryside (aka The South Downs National Park) within a 20 minute grunt up a hill from our front door.
The beauty of the SDNP is obvious and indisputable.
In a medium-sized city such as Bristol, you have to get your walking interest in slightly different ways.
We walk a lot in Bristol (only mad people would willingly drive) and we also get buses and trains when we need to go further.
We actively seek different ways of arriving at familiar places and seeing what the streetscape has to offer. We now have a collective general interest in architecture and how stuff works and so you'll frequently find us, whilst on a walkabout, stopping and pointing at stuff whilst doing a lot of wondering how that thing comes to be where, or why it's designed like that.
Thus the day we decided to revisit The Orchard a few days ago, I suggested to the man that we could go onto North Street since we weren't very far away. Being a new(ish)comer to the city, the boy doesn't always know which bits of the city join to other bits. He's *way* better than me at orienting himself with regard to the compass (or a river or whatever) but, like me, his internal map sections aren't always contiguous.
It was with great joy, therefore, that I suggested a route across a bridge he hadn't walked across before. It wasn't far from bits of the harbourside/Southville areas that he knew quite well but 15 minute walk had both of us buzzing with "street we've never walked down" excitement. The area isn't significantly different in character to the rest of the place but it still prompted us to look around at the area. All the while the boy was working out where he might be in relation to places he knows and then there's the payoff of arriving at the familiar. We've done this many, many times in Bristol.
Obviously, it's getting slightly harder as we both learn more about this city.
Nevertheless, he was craving a proper walk yesterday (you know, one with mud and trees) but didn't really want to rely on buses. So I found small wooded area in Brislington - which is an area I really know very well at all. Map and community group research done I described the general direction we were heading and how it related to other walks we've done.
We headed out along the Feeder via a slightly different route (via Moor Brewery and a railway bridge) and where the Feeder joins the River we headed into entirely new territory: St Anne's.
We had one false start when we saw a tree on a hill but, putting that behind us, we struck onto a pretty unpromising road system and then (as promised) found ourselves in the woods, next to a brook. Birdsong outweighed traffic in terms of volume and we schlurped along some muddy paths for about two miles or so. There's one slight hiatus as the woods are dissected by a road which means steep stairs back out of the wood, crossing a road, and finding another entrance to the next bit...but once in the next valley it was a real revelation. The day was heavy with fog which made the winter landscape all the more atmospheric. When we got to the end of the valley we headed towards more familiar territory and stopped for a break in Bocabar in Paintworks. The beer was good but the place has lost all but one of its cask pumps (which has Doom Bar) so it was a couple of pints of local (lovely)keg IPA to regroup. Also to mourn the place as a true beer destination for us.
I suggested that we head back to the Barley Mow by a slightly different route to that we'd normally take since we'd had a recent discussion about a turning from the A4 into the St Phillips Marsh area that he had never really noticed - so we walked that way.
The route is relatively uninteresting from a features point of view - and somewhat stinky since we had to pass the refuse facility. But we loved it! That's the point really - it was a different route and there's an exploratory sense of achievement. As we got closer to our part of St Phillips and he worked out where we were he was keen to try other streets we don't usually walk down.
We often discuss whether friends and family would enjoy our urban perambulations as much as we do - since they often take the gritty routes through areas of poverty and untidiness. I'm not entirely sure most of our pals would entirely get it which makes me feel blessed that my best buddy has such an appreciation of the unlikley and unloved bits of this city. Yes, we're motivated by beer as well as exploration but it's not a bad hobby as things go, eh?
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
Friday, 27 December 2019
Season's Drinking
We decided to hole up in our Bristol flat for the festive season.
This is as much to do with availability of beer as a feeling of getting away from other obligations.
As I've alluded to before, we're really not keen on loud crowds in pubs and we're very grumpy folk so are easily irritated by poor behaviour in other people. Thus December is a time of beer hell...except it wasn't this year.
We had been putting off making a decision about our travel day because of chores we needed to do and a train timetable change which promised a potential travel clusterfuck. In the end, we crammed final bits and pieces into a single day, arranged to swap presents with a helpful sister on our departure day and headed on the Thursday before Christmas.
It felt like a bit of a rush but we thought it was worth doing.
We arrived in Bristol at our usual late afternoon timing having had an uneventful journey and we figured that the Barley Mow would be unpleasantly heaving. We remembered "Cask Thursday" in the Moor Brewery tap so headed there instead thinking that it would be marginally quieter. Actually it was a lot quieter - and really nice. The cask "Galaxy of Mosaic" (or something like that) was superb - freshly tapped, perfect temperature and having travelled zero miles. Instant relaxation ensued.
Freezer provisions completed the day perfectly and set the scene.
We woke Friday to learn that we'd dodged a travel bullet - there was flooding and resulting chaos in Sussex.
We had some work to do and then some provisioning so we ambled into town and came back via The Volunteer. We reasoned that it's not that much of an after work pub and that, as such, it might just be bearable. It was. It had been solidly booked out from 6.30pm but for our duration it was pleasant, and welcoming and .... well ...very nice.
We'd arranged to meet brother and sister in law on Saturday morning and we'd agreed on Keynsham for brunch. It wasn't possible to linger in the Lounge but it was suggested we relocate to the Ship (which, it turned out, was closed) or the Trout (a pub I'd never been to). After a pretty unsatisfactory pint of Doombar we said our fond goodbyes. There only being one train an hour we had to time our departure carefully, so we decided to try The Bank. In fairness, it did have a better range of beer than anywhere else, but it was busy with revellers and football watchers so we just grabbed a quick half of Owd Rodger.
A quick aside about this beer. This was only the second time I'd ever had it - the first being some take out from The Anchor in High Offley on the Shropshire Union canal (a cult place, if ever there was one). I reckon it's stood the test of time better than Theakstone's Old Peculier or (to some extent) Harvey's Christmas beer (entirely based on the judgement of the native Sussexer in the house).
40 minutes later we were on a train back to Bristol and we went straight to The Barley Mow, thinking it would be quiet. It was and we had a chance to chat to Harry (the Manager) - he confirmed the pub had been utterly rammed the two previous days - so once again we had the sense of having bullet-dogded.
Sunday we wanted to pick up some canned beer from Moor so we popped around for a couple of pints and some cans - once again it was pleasantly peopled (maybe 2/3rd full?). We arrived back at the flat just as our grocery shopping arrived (about 10 mins early) and we counted it as another successful day.
We wanted to stretch our legs on Monday so we ambled up to North Street, really just wanting to visit the BBF Tap room. Again, we found ourselves in a space with sufficient people to make it lively but it wasn't rammed or noisy. Perfection (oh, and lovely beer an' all). Walking back via "Corks of North Street" we picked up a couple of bottles of nice wine and strolled home.
Christmas Eve we decided not to go out - the weather was quite grim but we figured that all the pubs we liked would be rammed and, in any case, most were closing quite early.
Christmas Day we returned to North Street, in glorious sunshine, having ascertained a week or so earlier, that The Old Bookshop would be open all day. It was glorious in there! The beer isn't the most exciting but there's always something worth having and we were very happy with our choices. Busy but space to sit with a really nice turnaround of punters means this place has it utterly nailed for us. It's not just the owners of the business, either. The balance of customers makes it perfect for us too.
Boxing Day means beer desert in the centre of town so we didn't venture out (also weather rubbish again) but we'll be heading out later today (once I can persuade him indoors that we really need some new bedding) and I have no doubt that beer will be happily on the cards.
I would like to point out at this stage that beer is not the ONLY thing we've been concentrating on. We've played games, we've read, we've done a bit of work, we've taken (film) photographs, we have a little media server project coming along nicely and we've relaxed more than we usually do.
I absolutely don't begrudge other people their festivities - it's just that I'm usually quite happy when the official season has passed and I can stop feeling like I *should* have been spending the season in other ways.
This is also the time I remind myself (and others) that pubs really need us in January once all the seasonal-only drinkers have departed and the healthy people are doing the "Dryanuary" thing (do it, by all means, but please don't try and make me feel bad about not doing it...).
This is as much to do with availability of beer as a feeling of getting away from other obligations.
As I've alluded to before, we're really not keen on loud crowds in pubs and we're very grumpy folk so are easily irritated by poor behaviour in other people. Thus December is a time of beer hell...except it wasn't this year.
We had been putting off making a decision about our travel day because of chores we needed to do and a train timetable change which promised a potential travel clusterfuck. In the end, we crammed final bits and pieces into a single day, arranged to swap presents with a helpful sister on our departure day and headed on the Thursday before Christmas.
It felt like a bit of a rush but we thought it was worth doing.
We arrived in Bristol at our usual late afternoon timing having had an uneventful journey and we figured that the Barley Mow would be unpleasantly heaving. We remembered "Cask Thursday" in the Moor Brewery tap so headed there instead thinking that it would be marginally quieter. Actually it was a lot quieter - and really nice. The cask "Galaxy of Mosaic" (or something like that) was superb - freshly tapped, perfect temperature and having travelled zero miles. Instant relaxation ensued.
Freezer provisions completed the day perfectly and set the scene.
We woke Friday to learn that we'd dodged a travel bullet - there was flooding and resulting chaos in Sussex.
We had some work to do and then some provisioning so we ambled into town and came back via The Volunteer. We reasoned that it's not that much of an after work pub and that, as such, it might just be bearable. It was. It had been solidly booked out from 6.30pm but for our duration it was pleasant, and welcoming and .... well ...very nice.
We'd arranged to meet brother and sister in law on Saturday morning and we'd agreed on Keynsham for brunch. It wasn't possible to linger in the Lounge but it was suggested we relocate to the Ship (which, it turned out, was closed) or the Trout (a pub I'd never been to). After a pretty unsatisfactory pint of Doombar we said our fond goodbyes. There only being one train an hour we had to time our departure carefully, so we decided to try The Bank. In fairness, it did have a better range of beer than anywhere else, but it was busy with revellers and football watchers so we just grabbed a quick half of Owd Rodger.
A quick aside about this beer. This was only the second time I'd ever had it - the first being some take out from The Anchor in High Offley on the Shropshire Union canal (a cult place, if ever there was one). I reckon it's stood the test of time better than Theakstone's Old Peculier or (to some extent) Harvey's Christmas beer (entirely based on the judgement of the native Sussexer in the house).
40 minutes later we were on a train back to Bristol and we went straight to The Barley Mow, thinking it would be quiet. It was and we had a chance to chat to Harry (the Manager) - he confirmed the pub had been utterly rammed the two previous days - so once again we had the sense of having bullet-dogded.
Sunday we wanted to pick up some canned beer from Moor so we popped around for a couple of pints and some cans - once again it was pleasantly peopled (maybe 2/3rd full?). We arrived back at the flat just as our grocery shopping arrived (about 10 mins early) and we counted it as another successful day.
We wanted to stretch our legs on Monday so we ambled up to North Street, really just wanting to visit the BBF Tap room. Again, we found ourselves in a space with sufficient people to make it lively but it wasn't rammed or noisy. Perfection (oh, and lovely beer an' all). Walking back via "Corks of North Street" we picked up a couple of bottles of nice wine and strolled home.
Christmas Eve we decided not to go out - the weather was quite grim but we figured that all the pubs we liked would be rammed and, in any case, most were closing quite early.
Christmas Day we returned to North Street, in glorious sunshine, having ascertained a week or so earlier, that The Old Bookshop would be open all day. It was glorious in there! The beer isn't the most exciting but there's always something worth having and we were very happy with our choices. Busy but space to sit with a really nice turnaround of punters means this place has it utterly nailed for us. It's not just the owners of the business, either. The balance of customers makes it perfect for us too.
Boxing Day means beer desert in the centre of town so we didn't venture out (also weather rubbish again) but we'll be heading out later today (once I can persuade him indoors that we really need some new bedding) and I have no doubt that beer will be happily on the cards.
I would like to point out at this stage that beer is not the ONLY thing we've been concentrating on. We've played games, we've read, we've done a bit of work, we've taken (film) photographs, we have a little media server project coming along nicely and we've relaxed more than we usually do.
I absolutely don't begrudge other people their festivities - it's just that I'm usually quite happy when the official season has passed and I can stop feeling like I *should* have been spending the season in other ways.
This is also the time I remind myself (and others) that pubs really need us in January once all the seasonal-only drinkers have departed and the healthy people are doing the "Dryanuary" thing (do it, by all means, but please don't try and make me feel bad about not doing it...).
Monday, 2 December 2019
...and we're back
It's telling that most of my posts in this blog tend to be about trips away from Eastbourne.
It's not that you can't get good beer in Eastbourne - it's more that it's harder to find interesting beer in Eastbourne.
We have a few pubs we go to most weeks: Crown, Lamb, Eagle.
We have a few pubs/bars we go to every couple of weeks: Bottle Grove, Hurst Arms, Dolphin, Victoria, Belgian Bar.
...and that's pretty much it.
When time (and aches and pains) allow - there are the out of town places: Tiger, Plough and Harrow
After that you're talking about an excursion to Lewes, Hastings or Brighton for a bit of variety.
We've just come back from a week in Bristol and although we didn't go anywhere new, we reprised several places we've not been for a goodly while: Small Bar, Moor Brewery Tap, Seven Stars, GBrothers, Cornubia, Lime Kiln as well as those places we almost never neglect: Barley Mow (obvs), King Street Brewery.
This time we missed out the whole North Street run (Steam Crane, Old Book Shop, Tobacco Factory, BBF tap room), The other tap rooms, the Oxford, and the Orchard even though we had planned a cider hit. This is it - there's simply so much variety and availability that it's pretty much impossible to get tired of places...even if on the day you go in, the choice of beers doesn't happen to be ideal for you.
What Eastbourne is really lacking is a pub that does a moderate (say 4 or so) cask beers with a few genuinely craft keg beers (no, Goose Island, Shipbuilders and Malthouse really, really doesn't cut it) just to shake things up a little.
I guess it's as much down to the local clientele who maybe don't have much of an appetite for change (see the sheer quantity of 6X sold in the Crown), a sort of Harveys stranglehold and, what I assume is some quite fierce price-sensitivity.
Anyhow now it's December, all pubs everywhere will be starting to get unbearably busy with people who seldom go into pubs annoying everyone else so I'm looking forward to January when pubs really need us...and we're happy to (quietly) oblige!
It's not that you can't get good beer in Eastbourne - it's more that it's harder to find interesting beer in Eastbourne.
We have a few pubs we go to most weeks: Crown, Lamb, Eagle.
We have a few pubs/bars we go to every couple of weeks: Bottle Grove, Hurst Arms, Dolphin, Victoria, Belgian Bar.
...and that's pretty much it.
When time (and aches and pains) allow - there are the out of town places: Tiger, Plough and Harrow
After that you're talking about an excursion to Lewes, Hastings or Brighton for a bit of variety.
We've just come back from a week in Bristol and although we didn't go anywhere new, we reprised several places we've not been for a goodly while: Small Bar, Moor Brewery Tap, Seven Stars, GBrothers, Cornubia, Lime Kiln as well as those places we almost never neglect: Barley Mow (obvs), King Street Brewery.
This time we missed out the whole North Street run (Steam Crane, Old Book Shop, Tobacco Factory, BBF tap room), The other tap rooms, the Oxford, and the Orchard even though we had planned a cider hit. This is it - there's simply so much variety and availability that it's pretty much impossible to get tired of places...even if on the day you go in, the choice of beers doesn't happen to be ideal for you.
What Eastbourne is really lacking is a pub that does a moderate (say 4 or so) cask beers with a few genuinely craft keg beers (no, Goose Island, Shipbuilders and Malthouse really, really doesn't cut it) just to shake things up a little.
I guess it's as much down to the local clientele who maybe don't have much of an appetite for change (see the sheer quantity of 6X sold in the Crown), a sort of Harveys stranglehold and, what I assume is some quite fierce price-sensitivity.
Anyhow now it's December, all pubs everywhere will be starting to get unbearably busy with people who seldom go into pubs annoying everyone else so I'm looking forward to January when pubs really need us...and we're happy to (quietly) oblige!
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