It's pretty clear from most of these vague ramblings that the Boy and I like our beer - but we like it in quiet places. Not for us the "shared" experience of being around a lot of people - we seek out the quiet and revel in going to really popular places when they have fewest punters.
No, it's not altruistic - and whilst we like the idea that we're peopling a bar/pub/taproom which has committed to opening but whose sales probably struggle its staffing bill at certain times of day - it's mostly that we like places to be relatively calm.
Is it because we're getting on a bit? Not really - both have of us have eschewed crowds for most of our lives - although it's easier to hear each other without the clamour of a busy clientele. No, we are just those kinda people that likes to be with a limited number of other people at any one time.
In fact - when I've had particularly peoply days at work - I can really only bear to go to somewhere really quiet with only himself, since he understands.
Anyhow this is preamble by way of explanation as to why us going to what amounts to a sports bar on a Saturday afternoon is an anomaly.
Brighton were playing in the 5.30-kick-off slot - this means televisation, and that means (usually) Sky.
The competitive beast in him makes even watching on the TV quite stressful - so we don't always do it. However, yesterday he was quite keen. However, if the beer's not good - we wouldn't do it.
We settled on heading to King Street which is a maelstrom of drinking people from Friday to Sunday which is why we usually give it a very wide berth. The Brewhouse always has TVs on, just up the road is the Volly and just around the corner is a Fullers pub which could work in a pinch.
As we rounded the corner to go in we braced for impact a little bit - the outside seating was RAMMED but inside it was quiet. All the big windows and doors were open giving an outsidey-insidey thing going on (useful for a hot lady-of-a-certain-age). There was initially a big queue and a couple of chancer young men attempted to cut in front of me (poor, naive little boys) but I soon came away with a couple of pints and the Boy had settled himself in a lovely quiet little corner - perfect spot.
As always, the beer was fine. Crowds of people came and went to the bar but even the group who inveigled their way to our little corner of quietude were pretty well behaved (ie: not too loud).
Three pints, two hours, periods of serious stress, and a 3-1 scoreline later - we cheerfully ambled home leaving the throngs behind.
What I found interesting was that depsite many hundreds of people converging on these two drinking streets and who were clearly spending a long time there I only saw one young woman very obviously worse for wear (ie - she'll be the one having her hair held back by a mate later as she voms into the gutter) - and OK it was about 7.45 when we left and I'm sure it got a lot more feisty later - but it seems to suggest that with the right sort of establishments and arrangements many of the issues can perhaps be managed pretty well. Well done KingStreet and Welshback you make this part of town pleasant to be in - even at the weekend!
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