Permeability

 Had to be down at our new base yesterday.  It's a large civic building and is right next to a sports ground.

County cricket games were played here - though not often now - but it has a thriving cricket club which attracts all sorts of players.  There is (or maybe was) a croquet club, of course there's a bowls club and there's now a large Padel "tent", one of the Town's non-league football teams plays there along with a lively hockey scene.

It's fairly recently become home to a Gun Brewery taproom which we visited once last summer - and enjoyed watching some young women's cricket. 

Yesterday we didn't really want to go back to Wolf (the other closest bar of choice) so I suggested the taproom.

The sports ground is literally right across the road from our building and there have historically been numerous entrances.  How hard do you think it would be for us to find a quick route to the taproom?

Sigh.

We went to the nearest gate to find it padlocked and a note to suggest walking round to the next entrance -which is/was the football turnstile entrance - also locked. So we had walk about a quarter of a mile round to the next entrance, then walk round a quarter of the cricket ground perimeter then cross to the centre of the whole complex to gain entry to the bar.

Once in we were a bit confused by what was available on the bar - the keg labels were small and behind the bar (and so unreadable) and the beer list did list all the beers but it was a really confused jumble of information.  Only after we'd settled on a 4% Vermont Pale (very nice) did we realise that the two cask pumps we'd seen (Best Bitter and lovely, but stupid strong Zanzama) were only 50% of the cask offering.

The beer list didn't indicate the dispense method of the beers so we'd missed them entirely until we got our beer and sat down.  Only then did we see the ENORMOUS lit beer list on a wall you couldn't see from the bar (but it was almost as confusing as the written list - and still didn't indicate dispense method) and realise there were the other two cask pumps we'd missed at the far other end of the bar.

Still the beers we had were great, if a little on the pricey side, and we ended up with 2 good cask beers as well as the initial keg one.

Being inside the taproom (ie sports bar) was OK - you wouldn't expect it to be cosy but some slightly better furniture would be nice (they have the obligatory taproom folding tables and benches and then high tables and stools plus just a few more comfy seats which were taken).  They had the golf on (which made the BBB happy, but apologetic) and there were a few people there who'd clearly played padel or hockey or whatever.  It felt like an upmarket leisure centre bar and it made me remember very fondly the bar at a Filton leisure centre (in Bristol) back in the 90's where I used to play squash with an old school friend and then have a really good pint of, probably, Bass.  The bar being run by a beer fanatic and used by anyone who wanted decent beer.

Anyhow, when we left we headed out the other side of the sports ground which is across uneven paths and circuitous route out to the road.  It was about 7pm when we left and the bar had maybe 8 or 10 people in it even though it was Friday evening.

Maybe it was because it was the last weekday of the school holidays, maybe the season for the bar hasn't really taken of yet...or maybe it was something else.  I can't help feeling that a bit more permeability of the access gates would make it easier for people to find when they're passing.  Also, a bit clearer signage/menus for the drinks would make choosing your drinks a bit more straightforward.

Definitely a work in progress, I would say.

I am looking forward to going there on a warm evening when there's a cricket match on, or similar - definitely better than watching golf on the TV! 

 

 

Barely Touched the Ground

 The time since we returned from Bristol has been hectic, to say the least.  Work, houseguest, meetings, etc, etc.

 We found time to squeeze in a visit to our local's beer festival.

It didn't get a huge lead time for advertising and still by the time we arrived on Saturday (it had been running since Thursday) a few beers had already sold out - and by the time we went back on Easter Monday, there was really only one "guest" left on that we wanted to try.  It was by Thornbridge so two pints of it was definitely not a problem.

On Saturday my favourite pint had been a modestly alcoholled (4% or so) hazy beer from Fourman based in Glynde's Trevor Arms. I found it absolutely gorgeous and our houseguest shared my enthusiasm.  The BBB was a little less convinced, I think, but there were other beers to choose from, obviously.

We've also been to Wolf and Beerarama but on Tuesday this week we took the opportunity of having to go on a train trip for work (Etchingham...in VERY rural Sussex) which means travelling through St Leonards.

By the time we'd returned to St Leonards, we were hungry and it was around 2.30pm so we legged it to Heist to find some street food and some Three Legs beer.  A pint of cask pale at 3.8% was good to start on an empty stomach.  Of course, we don't actually tend to drink at lunchtime so rather than dig in for a session we made the most of the sun and strolled along the seafront.  We checked out "real ale finder" and learned that there was a St Leonards pub we hadn't been to very nearby - The Horse & Groom.  It was up a hugely steep set of steps (common in Hastings and St Leonards) but once we'd climbed the steps, the pub was just around the corner.

Nothing to scare the horses in here but Gun Project Babylon went down very nicely (there was a 3 Legs Pale, Harveys - of course and Timmy Taylor).  Proper old pub it was too with a handful of customers most of whom seemed to be regulars/locals which is nice.  Would definitely go back. 

After that what should we do?  We strolled in the general direction of the station noting the very fancy/poncey/overpriced shops which probably are a product of a lot of DFLs or FILTH folk moving in.  It seemed quite rude not to stop at Collected Fictions so we did.  It's a really odd place - half winebar, half taproom with about a 50/50 split of punters in each camp. Unfailingly friendly staff but weird (and very litte of) seating arrangements. We perched on high stools at the window.

To be honest I can't remember exactly what we drank but we finished with a really weird strong sour stout by Earth Ale - I'll admit I rolled my eyes a bit at the website homepage.  The beer was definitely interesting - but the combination of the sour and strength meant that I couldn't finish mine and the BBB obligingly helped out.  I'm not sure I'd rush back to beers by this brewery...but I'm glad we got to try it, I guess.

On Wednesday we went to Wolf again as they're just round the corner from our new work building - they don't open until 5pm on Weds and Thursdays which we find...annoying (it's their prerogative,  obviously).  Still we had a nice couple of beers/ciders which rounds the day off nicely after "peopling" (me) and "shelfbuilding" (him) all day.

Today - once business plans have been written and paperwork sent to accountants, there may be beers...who can say?

 

 

Winding Down

 We're at the end of this Bristol visit.

As usual I'm now really looking forward to getting back to our house with its garden (and its attendant chores) but also our day job will be hard but engaging so it's another thing to look forward to.

I've been working solidly on a pivotal funding application which requires a LOT of words and because of impending travel and work obligations we took the decision to knuckle down and grind through it over the weekend.

By the time I'd had enough yesterday, neither of us wanted to go far or take beer or ambiance risks.  We were a little concerned the Barley Mow might be too busy but because it was nice and sunny we thought there was a reasonable chance that the punters would be concentrated outside.

We needn't have worried - our risk paid off, handsomely.

The changing BBF cask beer (NZ hops, 4.0%) was so good that both of us wanted a second pint.  We took cards with us but had no inclination to use them, we chilled (there was a bit of work chat) and just enjoyed being there.  It was a perfect way to wind down.

The second pint went down almost embarrassingly quickly so we were wondering whether we'd end up having 4 drinks but, getting a couple of hefty 2/3rds (him:  Axe Edge, me: Paulaner Salvator) put paid to that, crikey they packed a punch.

Today, we've finished reviewing the bid and I've read the damned thing so many times that I decided that rather than dither, it was time to submit it.  So it's gone.  It'll be about 3 months until I know the outcome - the fund will be oversubscribed by a huge margin so it depends whether it really speaks to them in terms of the priorities.  Oh - nothing I can do now.

Sooooo -our final pub trip, probably in a about 10 minutes will be Marthas.  We'll take a couple of games (probably the one that is about landing a plane), and muse over what still has to be done before we leave tomorrow mid-morning.

(Oh poo, that reminds me, there's not much beer in the house in Sussex..better do that before I leave) 

  

Thwarted

 Turns out we didn't get to Martha's on Saturday - I spent most of the day (and the days since) nursing an uncharacteristically bad migraine attack.

Yesterday I hadn't made enough progress with a funding bid to take it to the pub for review so we just tootled around to the Barley Mow anyway to chill a bit.

I was keeping my beer consumption as modest as possible (I know that no beer at all is the most modest choice - but come on!) so I made unusual choices for me.  

My first was 2/3rd of Rudgate golden beer:  traditional and tasty.

Second I went proper off-piste and had 2/3rd of Floris framboise (3.8%). It was way better than I had anticipated:  my memory of another Floris fruit beer in Brussels was that it was cloyingly sweet and I half expected this to be that.  It was sweet, but it was also tart and refreshing and had a good, dry finish. The BBB and I agreed that it did a good job. Half made me want to try their kriek.

I finished with half of the lovely Hastings Project/Burning Sky collab (I'll bet I don't get to see it when we're back in Sussex next week).  

Anyhow, half of the pleasure in the Barleymow was overheard conversations from a group who appeared to be from St Austell Brewery, showing a couple of US brewers around (this is mostly conjecture).  Their enthusiasm for their subject was lovely to hear.

The pub was buzzing but not rammed, and it was lovely to be out of the house. It was interesting seeing people use the pub as dining room, after work wind-down, entertain business visitors, meet friends, quiet time with significant others - and all this is happening in one place, at the same time.  Awesome, indeed

 

Themes

 I must admit I'd never considered that some of my (and the BBB's) weirdnesses are shared by other folk.

When I was a young person I felt out of place:  academic and nerdy, preferring Star Trek and reading books to  going out with other people, never really fitting into the social sphere at work and then when I tried always saying or doing something wrong.

Now that I'm of ... errrr ... more mature years (I was only just of drinking age when CAMRA was formed), I've finally forgiven myself for my "shortcomings".  My job needs me to "adult" on a regular basis so I need to keep the pretense going with people I don't really know well, especially when on duty or "in charge" but those people who know me reasonably well - including my young team of workers - know full well what's going on behind the scenes.  They share some of the traits with me and it was the privilege of working alongside them which finally allowed me to understand myself better.

So, when I saw an update from Boak and Bailey about an old post they'd recently ported to their blog (before I followed them) I couldn't help but hard agree.  It's something I'd wittered about a couple of days earlier (and they very kindly linked to that in their weekly subscriber update) and it's an observation that the BBB and I had muttered to ourselves about before (the BBB also shares some of the traits).

We used to go to a few football away matches (Brighton and Hove Albion, since you ask) - especially when BHAFC were in League 1 and the Championship (League divisions 3 and 2 in old money).  We went to (in no particular order) Charlton, Millwall, Wolverhampton, Liverpool,  Watford, Peterborough, Ashton Gate, The Mem, Cardiff, Newcastle and Middlesborough - and there may be others, I can't remember.  First order was always to find a decent pre-match pub with food and post-match pub - the chaps usually knew the decent pubs if they'd done away games before but just sometimes it was new to them.  Because I was never "on duty" for finding the pubs, I never found it particularly stressful going to a new place:  there was an expectation of it being busy and seats being at a premium but it was still a predictable kind of unknown.

Going to football introduced me to some of my favourite pubs but if you really didn't already know the pub scene, whether a particular place didn't welcome away fans (even those not in club colours) then we might well go to a "'spoons".  We knew the drill, we knew the beer was good enough and, crucially - we knew how they worked.  You can substitute Costa Coffee, Starbucks and Pizza Express: if you just need to get "a job done" - like having something to eat, going to the loo, sitting down after a long walk - they fit the bill.  I frequently have to remind myself of that when I look at the Knights Templar (which I can nearly see from our flat), or the "London and County" in Eastbourne.

As someone really quite prone to overload (is it getting worse as I get older or is it that I'm less prepared to mask to cope with it...? ) it's important for me to remember that as I realise now, I'm not as much of an outlier as I thought I was 40 years ago.  There are lots of people heading to the 'spoons right now because it provides them with certainty and confidence to enter - maybe in a strange town.

For me pubs are a vital part of my way of winding down after some of the stresses of my work -  the place does more of the heavy lifting than the beer, per se.  When I'm feeling unstressed and up for a challenge, I'm more likely to try something new (I'm hoping to get to the Trevor Arms in Glynde, the Hastings Project pub in St Leonards when we get back to Sussex) but I won't be going on days when my head's too busy.

There are reasons we're heading to Martha's again this afternoon:  There's rugby to be watched and neither of us want to be in too loud and busy a space today so we're taking a tablet and finding a corner to hunker down in with the sound turned off (we're not animals).

 

That Elusive Something

 There are lots of reasons the Barley Mow is our absolutely favourite pub, anywhere (the beer, the staff, the atmosphere, the consistency and our history with the place).

No week in Bristol is really complete without at least one visit there.  It's the first place we go when we arrive, and we always make sure we've done "one last visit" before we leave.

On Friday when we wanted somewhere more relaxing than our hectic day in Bath on Thursday it would have been the natural choice but...Friday.  If there's any day in the BM potentially a little overwhelming, it would be Friday.  In the summer it's not too bad since everyone mostly uses the outside space but when it's cool and damp, seats inside can be at a premium and table-hogging can feel more irking than normal.

No - I'm not complaining about a pub being too busy, I absolutely love how successful any pub can be.

Anyhow, when we were heading out for beer on Friday the BBB said "nearby" and I said "relaxing".

We agreed that on a Friday Martha > BM in terms of relaxation.

We were greeted enthusiastically - although with a bit of "but it's Friday!" When I said that we'd wanted somewhere we found relaxing, she said "that's the nicest thing anyone can say".

We took a couple of small games and made sure we didn't take up too much space - it was already pretty busy with after-workers. 

We were so comfortable nattering about nothing much, chatting to the staff and watching the technical gubbins of running a bar unfold that we didn't feel the need to play a game to take minds of other things - or stop us just talking about work.  

So what makes it relaxing?  It's difficult to tell, to be honest - there's lots about a taproom in a railway arch which doesn't lend itself to cosy and intimate...

It's not a pub, it's a little bit cavernous and echoey and there isn't a choice of cask beer - for me this means all the other things clearly work harder:

- the seating is great:   two lovely snug booths (the BEST pub anywhere to play boardgames);  the high seats on shallow tables near the bar are well designed so the hobbits like me can comfortably rest my feet and allow me to sit opposite someone and not be too far away for conversation;  good areas of seating for larger groups but still flexible; a modest outside area which catches the sun if you want to do "beer garden". 

- beer range is solid.   Quite often there's a guest (cask or keg) and sometimes there's something stupidly strong as good last beer. The brewery beers are definitely getting more consistent and confident. (Black IPA is a cracker).

- The staff are engaging and fun - even the person who is clearly much more reserved and shy gives it a good go. They all run the bar with a level of professionalism and efficiency which is reminiscent of The Basket Makers (this truly is a god-tier compliment). 

- It's close to the flat.  When you're ready to head home, it's a lovely feeling knowing that the journey is a short one.

But even with these things all listed out - it doesn't really cover it.

Bravo, Team Martha and thank you for making my Friday evening a proper "wind down at the end of the week".

We'll be heading there again today - games. Natch. 

Not with a bang...

So, after circling the reputational drain for a while, they've gone.

I guess no one is really that surprised: pretty much as soon as they sold a stake in their business to a venture capital (or whatever they are now) company it was pretty clear what the founders wanted from the brewery.  It wasn't about staying "independent".

I have two very good memories of their flagship beer: 

Punk IPA on cask at least once (maybe more, can't remember) at the Bristol and District Beer Festival where its punch, style and strength really opened my eyes to a different sort of beer.

Being able to buy 8 cans of Punk in a supermarket in Poole when we were staying on Brownsea Island where there's no pub (or shop) and where the last boat of the day leaves around 5pm leaving you with your own company, and that of the red squirrels.  Having decent beer, lighter to carry than bottles, and sitting drinking it outside our cottage looking out at the sea, watching terns and turnstones was the very definition of contentment.

When the first bar opened in Bristol I was keen to try it.  It was underwhelming - not bad, just not really worth returning to.

As time went on the marketing came across as more and more smug and it was grating.  I completely lost interest in them but I really didn't expect the revelations of their corporate MO.

For the last several years I've noticed the effort that breweries and beer places in Bristol and Sussex appear to go to to feel welcoming and inclusive - they might be lying, but it feels genuine.  As a woman who loves beer, I assume I'll be welcomed and treated with respect by those running the place- and I haven't been disappointed for many years.  

Is that effort specifically aimed as a "we're not them" backlash?  I dunno.

Turns out they were all mouth and trousers after all and, to be honest the new owners don't appear to be any better, based on the way the closure of sites and redundancies seems to have been handled.  

The individual investors and the staff have been royally screwed.

There is an extent to which the "don't gamble/invest with money you can't afford to lose" is applied to everyone who puts money into things - but it is easy to be pulled along by the excitement and I can understand why you'd do it.

Ultimately, though, it's low-paid bar staff and lower-level jobholders at the brewery who I reserve my sympathies for.  It's a tough world out there - hopefully in some places there will be other hospitality opportunities, it appears many staff were well trained and most should benefit any other bar.

Running a company is a serious business and needs to be taken seriously by all those in charge - and that must extend to their staff to whom they had a duty of care. It turns out they didn't deserve all the accolades they got for their beer because of their total disregard for their responsibilities...it can't start and end with the product.

The new owners will undoubtedly asset-strip what they've bought, cut the range, brew cheaper but continue to sell through pub companies and supermarkets -  who knows, maybe some cross-pollination of the organisations other business interests will mean that Mary Jane might have a new flavouring.  Many people will still buy it not knowing the backstory or not caring.

It doesn't feel like the end of an era to me - just the inevitable whimper of an organisation who lost the plot.