TLDR: Yes.
We had to pop over to Worthing again ysterday for a little moral supporting of some of our staff running a workshop in the brilliant Colonnade House.
It was clear, immediately we arrived, that our lads had the whole thing under control (as we knew they would, really) and that the commissioning organisation was delighted with the way things were going.
This mean that we could leave them all to it after an hour or so of pleasant chat and session observiation.
Clare recommended a newish micropub - The Old Bicycle Shop - very close by so we went to fnd it.
They had a nice range of beers and the space was really pleasant. It was very quiet, and a little chilly but we supped our beer happily enough.
We really wanted to ensure we got to the Brooksteed Arms before heading back to Brighton so decided not to have a second but, instead, to head up the hill.
We were so glad we did. Even though the first pub was nice, the atmosphere in the Brooksteed was so much warmer (physically, and emotionally). Obviously, the beer was ace, too.
Sadly, we really only had time for one there so then we got ourselves on a train to Brighton and the Evening Star to meet an old friend post-match.
I have to say, the ES doesn't feel anything like as exciting as it used to. Despite assurances, the Dark Star beers post-Fullers acquisition, are a shadow of their former selves. Mind you I had an excellent 2/3rds of a Burning Sky keg beer and this made up for the lack lustre APA.
All in all a really pleasant day and it makes me want to give Worthing a more relaxed visit (and maybe when it's a little warmer) to really give their pubs a good try out.
Side note: I'm really impressed with Unbarred's modest ABV beers. They pack tonnes of flavour into their pale sub-4% beers...enough to make you want a second. That's quite a feat!
Must revist their taproom soon...
Sunday, 19 January 2020
Thursday, 16 January 2020
South Coast Delights
First couple of weeks of the year have been hectic, workwise.
Still, as you'd imagine, it hasn't stopped us ensuring we do our bit for the pub and brewing trades.
Highlight, so far, has to be yesterday's trip to Hastings.
I was running a training course so struck out from home in the morning and met the Best Beer Buddy a little later. There was no question of where we were headed - even though there are a couple of micropubs and other good beer pubs in the town.
So it was we found ourselves in The Imperial - home of the fabulous Brewing Brothers.
We opened the door and entered the steamy fug of a brewpub just finishing a boil. The scent of wort was heavy in the air.
I chose Unbarred Pale Ale (3.5%) on cask as my first pint and I was not disappointed. The boy chose one of the Brothers' beers - Kennedy - on keg (4.4%?) as his starter and so the afternoon unwound.
Between us we tried 6 of their beers over a total of 8 pints and shared a couple of pizzas.
I so wish that we could pick this pub up lock, stock and (very literally) barrel and drop it in Eastbourne. It's as close to a perfect pub as we know down here and probably ties in first place with the Barley Mow for ...well, everything.
Still, as you'd imagine, it hasn't stopped us ensuring we do our bit for the pub and brewing trades.
Highlight, so far, has to be yesterday's trip to Hastings.
I was running a training course so struck out from home in the morning and met the Best Beer Buddy a little later. There was no question of where we were headed - even though there are a couple of micropubs and other good beer pubs in the town.
So it was we found ourselves in The Imperial - home of the fabulous Brewing Brothers.
We opened the door and entered the steamy fug of a brewpub just finishing a boil. The scent of wort was heavy in the air.
I chose Unbarred Pale Ale (3.5%) on cask as my first pint and I was not disappointed. The boy chose one of the Brothers' beers - Kennedy - on keg (4.4%?) as his starter and so the afternoon unwound.
Between us we tried 6 of their beers over a total of 8 pints and shared a couple of pizzas.
I so wish that we could pick this pub up lock, stock and (very literally) barrel and drop it in Eastbourne. It's as close to a perfect pub as we know down here and probably ties in first place with the Barley Mow for ...well, everything.
Tuesday, 31 December 2019
On the Joys of Urban Rambling
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?
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?
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!
Wednesday, 30 October 2019
Grounded
Our plan was to make the most of a day without rain forecast so we were going to get on a bus to Ashton Gate, walk over to Ashton Court and wander around the woods for a bit before retiring to a pub (or two) in North Street.
As it was, neither us were quite in the zone for extended time in the cold. So we elected to be "less ambitious" and we donned a couple of extra layers and strolled up the river towards Bedminster (not Bedmo, or Bemmie but possibly "bemminster" if you're a local).
It's a couple of miles of ambling and we do what we always do - notice things, conjecture about things and generally enjoy the streetscape almost as much as nature.
We walked up Bedminster Parade and East Street and noted that, despite more buildings being turned over to residential developments, the area still looks rather tired and run down, barring a few little interesting gems.
Then around the corner into North Street. We noted that the Steam Crane appeared to have more interesting beer on than the last time we passed, but we didn't stop this time. We also saw that the Hare has disappeared to become some sort of wine bar place (no great loss) and then we were at the Old Bookshop.
This is a prime example of not judging a lack lustre place without visiting it at least a couple of times: the first time we went here (several years ago) the beer was dull and not very well kept. Then, last Christmas we happened on it and it was terrific. In the summer we popped in and were very happy with it so we were hopeful. We were not disappointed - Nor'hop on Cask (yummy), Weeerd on keg (similarly delicious) and then a couple of cheeky halves - him:"not now cato" a sour beer and me "clwb tropicana". Just lovely.
Staff were quietly friendly and efficient. Other patrons were considerate and none too noisy. All in all, as good an experience and choice of beers as we could have hoped for.
We'll definitely be back, since it's certainly our sort of place.
As it was, neither us were quite in the zone for extended time in the cold. So we elected to be "less ambitious" and we donned a couple of extra layers and strolled up the river towards Bedminster (not Bedmo, or Bemmie but possibly "bemminster" if you're a local).
It's a couple of miles of ambling and we do what we always do - notice things, conjecture about things and generally enjoy the streetscape almost as much as nature.
We walked up Bedminster Parade and East Street and noted that, despite more buildings being turned over to residential developments, the area still looks rather tired and run down, barring a few little interesting gems.
Then around the corner into North Street. We noted that the Steam Crane appeared to have more interesting beer on than the last time we passed, but we didn't stop this time. We also saw that the Hare has disappeared to become some sort of wine bar place (no great loss) and then we were at the Old Bookshop.
This is a prime example of not judging a lack lustre place without visiting it at least a couple of times: the first time we went here (several years ago) the beer was dull and not very well kept. Then, last Christmas we happened on it and it was terrific. In the summer we popped in and were very happy with it so we were hopeful. We were not disappointed - Nor'hop on Cask (yummy), Weeerd on keg (similarly delicious) and then a couple of cheeky halves - him:"not now cato" a sour beer and me "clwb tropicana". Just lovely.
Staff were quietly friendly and efficient. Other patrons were considerate and none too noisy. All in all, as good an experience and choice of beers as we could have hoped for.
We'll definitely be back, since it's certainly our sort of place.
Tuesday, 29 October 2019
Homeward Bound
A few weeks ago I heard an interview with the parents of an England rugby player. It made me immediately, and immensely homesick.
They were from Knowle West in south Bristol and, although I'm not actually from that specific part of the city, My family are from the south side of Bristol and that accent is very evocative.
We hadn't been up to Bristol for a little while and although I do love living in Sussex, it's not the same.
So after a busy day of gardening, packing up the house and lunch with family, via a few miles' walking, we find ourselves at the station to head north.
Travelling on a Sunday is never the optimum way and Sunday evening even less so...but we got seats, and we made the journey in 4 hours which isn't at all bad.
We arrived at the flat at 9pm with that lovely feeling that we could chill for a couple of hours before going to bed and the journey was done. I slept better than I have for weeks.
Yesterday, we did our usual levels of (laptop-based) work whilst looking out at the city from our 10th floor eyrie.
Then we ambled around the corner to the Barley Mow (of course). The selection of beer was good and the fire was lit. After about 40 minutes, the bar manager arrived, saw us and gave us a really cheery wave and asked how we were. (I guess, I haven't seen him for 3 months). Yep, I was home.
Then one of our friends, who also lives just around the corner, popped in to make reservations for the quiz on Tuesday - so he stopped and we had food and drinks and caught up.
Utterly delightful!
I wouldn't normally think of myself as particularly tied to a place - but even though I no longer have work to do here in Bristol (it might be tempting to find some) and I love having a home in a seaside town, Bristol is the place I feel most at home.
What's even nicer is when Best Beer Buddy says to friend in the pub last night: "...as the train draws into the station in Bristol, I always feel immensely happy..."
Yep.
They were from Knowle West in south Bristol and, although I'm not actually from that specific part of the city, My family are from the south side of Bristol and that accent is very evocative.
We hadn't been up to Bristol for a little while and although I do love living in Sussex, it's not the same.
So after a busy day of gardening, packing up the house and lunch with family, via a few miles' walking, we find ourselves at the station to head north.
Travelling on a Sunday is never the optimum way and Sunday evening even less so...but we got seats, and we made the journey in 4 hours which isn't at all bad.
We arrived at the flat at 9pm with that lovely feeling that we could chill for a couple of hours before going to bed and the journey was done. I slept better than I have for weeks.
Yesterday, we did our usual levels of (laptop-based) work whilst looking out at the city from our 10th floor eyrie.
Then we ambled around the corner to the Barley Mow (of course). The selection of beer was good and the fire was lit. After about 40 minutes, the bar manager arrived, saw us and gave us a really cheery wave and asked how we were. (I guess, I haven't seen him for 3 months). Yep, I was home.
Then one of our friends, who also lives just around the corner, popped in to make reservations for the quiz on Tuesday - so he stopped and we had food and drinks and caught up.
Utterly delightful!
I wouldn't normally think of myself as particularly tied to a place - but even though I no longer have work to do here in Bristol (it might be tempting to find some) and I love having a home in a seaside town, Bristol is the place I feel most at home.
What's even nicer is when Best Beer Buddy says to friend in the pub last night: "...as the train draws into the station in Bristol, I always feel immensely happy..."
Yep.
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