We arrived in the West Country base yesterday afternoon following an uneventful train journey. Naturally, we headed to the Barley Mow as feels right an proper.
When we arrived lots of people were sitting outside but inside it was quiet.
We took up our usual seat in the corner and ordered a couple of beers. It has to be said the range of cask was a little bit disappointing - still being far below the pub's pre-pandemic heyday. Nevertheless, what was there was good and interesting and there were a few nice keg beers available.
As time went on the number of people coming in increased but we observed - much like we do in Eastbourne - that we don't recognise many of the people. OK, we don't spend anything like as much time here as we do in Sussex...but even so, we tended to recognise at least some of the patrons. Today, there was only one chap who has been a mainstay of the pub since we started coming here.
I'm wondering whether a new type of pubgoer has emerged? Perhaps someone who didn't like the crowded-stand-by-the-bar atmosphere but ventured out as the capacity of pubs has been reduced: first by law and then, seemingly, by choice (we noticed that the BM had a little more capacity than last time we came - but definitely doesn't feel crammed).
By the time we left the pub was very pleasantly busy and buzzy and we were happy that punters are returning. This is partly selfish in that with more people drinking beer in there (and there were) they will inevitably increase the range of beer on offer.
Today we'll venture elsewhere, I suspect. Our guess is that Fridays are likely still to be very busy around the place so we'll probably seek out somewhere a little quieter. It's nice to be back again.
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