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Preston – Guild Ale House (Good Beer Guide)

Next in my Good Beer Guide expedition was the Guild Ale House, which was the town’s first micro-pub when it opened in February 2016 in place of the former Hospice charity shop who previously occupied the premises.

The only two customers in the entire pub were sitting in front of the bar pumps, but fortunately they had a drinks screen which made matters easier. There’s a choice of cask and keg on the screen, but they also have a bottled selection as well including some Belgian options.

I went for the Bullet Tooth Tony from Wilde Child Brewing Company, which was well-kept and had some fruit tones, but I found it quite bland. I’ve always rated Wilde Child’s darker beers rather better, but it wasn’t an unpleasant beer.

The pub’s interior which is spacious and there’s a reasonable amount of space. They frequently have live music and other events, although they don’t play background music which is something I think they’re doing right.

I noted CAMRA’s comment of “worth noting they may close earlier than stated times dependent on footfall”, so I didn’t risk going in the evening and went at lunchtime. The venue is though very well-reviewed and in the eight years they’ve been trading they haven’t picked up a single 1-star review on Google, and only have two 2-star reviews. That’s a fairly impressive piece of pub management, so it’s no surprise that they’ve also won several CAMRA awards. Anyway, this seems to be a consistently good real ale pub and long may it continue.

December 5, 2024
Preston – Twelve Tellers

The Twelve Tellers in Preston is a JD Wetherspoon operated pub and isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, although I managed to visit just about all of the central Preston pubs that are in the book.

That’s a quite impressive view. I visited at 11:00 and so wasn’t going for alcohol, my unlimited coffee cost just £1.04 and the pub is on one of the lowest price bands for the chain in the country.

Those two doors are located either side of the main room.

The twelve tellers which the pub is named after and one of the doors is also visible here.

It’s just about readable. but there’s a longer version on the JD Wetherspoon web-site:

“This imposing grade II listed building now occupied by J D Wetherspoon stands on the site of the former Preston Savings Bank, Church Street, that was purpose built. The foundation stone was laid by WP Park, chairman of the trustees in October 1905 and the building opened to the public in 1907 as the company’s headquarters. The bank later became part of the Trustee Savings Bank Group where the public was served inside the grand banking hall by twelve tellers from behind the 65-feet long counter.

The former bank stands on the site of an older bank, established in 1776. It was originally a private residence and in 1715 was owed by Mr Eyre. Later that year, Jacobite rebels entered Preston and proclaimed Prince James Edward Stuart King of England. They used Mr Eyre’s house as their headquarters until it was ‘recovered by a large party of dismounted troops’. The marble and mosaic flooring in front of the counter includes the arms of the Borough of Preston. Preston derives its name from the old English words ‘Presta’ and ‘tun’, meaning ‘priest’s town’. The Holy Lamb emblem is centuries old, associated with St Wilfred, a patron saint of the City of Preston.”

The TSB closed the bank in 1997 and the building could have easily fallen into disrepair, with Bass trying to turn it into a super pub in 2000, but those plans were rejected. It’s, I think, an undeniably careful and thoughtful conversion into a public house and there’s plenty more seating in the rear part of the building, and another area upstairs in what was formerly the board room.

As for the reviews, I’ve found that nearly every JD Wetherspoon venue gets a score of between 3.8 and 4.1 on Google Reviews, with this one no different at 4.0%. Looking at the reviews…..

“My wife and I waited for 18 minutes but no one showed up to take our order, one waiter was on the phone the whole time we were there. He kept on looking at us but didn’t bother coming over or sending someone else”

I think I can work out the problem here with the customer wondering why the waiter didn’t come over.

“Me and my partner walked in here 50 mins ago and ordered 2 drinks each on the app. Drinks still not arrived. Been sat here waiting nearly an hour, yet I’ve seen people walk up to the bar and walk away with their drinks within minute. There is no way to cancel an order on the app so we are stuck here indefinitely. Rubbish. Will be leaving whenever they finally arrive.”

I think I might have walked over to the bar at this point. I wonder if they’re still there.

“THANKS FOR SIMONELLA POISNING! There food is absolutely awful me and my 16mouth daughter got Simonella poisning from the chicken and burgers.”

Interesting spelling. And likely complete piffle.

Anyway, I didn’t order any beer, but I noted that they had four guest ales including from Oakham, Sambrooks, Robinsons and Batemans, all at £2.29 a pint which is something of a bargain. I thought that the whole arrangement was interesting and well managed, and it maintained a decent atmosphere despite being of quite a cavernous size.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Black Horse (Good Beer Guide)

Well, this is always a most wonderful way to start a visit to a pub. I was actually here because it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and I’m carefully working my way around all of the pubs in it that I can. For reference, the other three pubs remaining in the national pub of the year are the Three B’s in Bridlington, the Bailey Head in Oswestry and the Little Green Dragon in Winchmore Hill, London.

The exterior of the pub adorned with CAMRA awards, this is a proper looking Victorian pub and it’s a Grade II listed building. Located on Friargate, there has been a pub with the name of the Black Horse on this site since the late eighteenth century. It was opened in 1898 as a small hotel and designed by J A Seward of Preston for Kay’s Atlas Brewery Company of Manchester, one of just two of their pubs remaining. There’s original tiling on the bar which was added shortly after the hotel opened and there’s Robinson’s brewery memorabilia dotted about, as they’re the current owners.

One of the entrances, with the building once also being used as a hotel. I didn’t realise this at the time, but it’s noted that this is the only pub in the country that has entrances on three different streets.

One of the banks of pumps. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that shiny Guinness tap, but it all looked inviting and interesting.

The second bank of pumps.

And another couple for good measure. The barman was helpful and engaging, I felt choosing just one beer was perhaps beyond me, so I had three half pints.

Decorative elements everywhere.

I chose this room to sit in. It was a bit dark, but it was cosy and it had a fire going which the barman attended to every now and then.

A bit of heritage in the toilets.

Anyway, back to the beer and I liked the Preston Ale Trail leaflet. This first beer was odd, it tasted a little of plum initially, it felt like Titanic had plum porter overflowing everywhere. It’s meant to be the Titanic Classic Mild and it had a dark smoothness to it.

Beer two was the Tell No Tales from the Bosun’s Brewing Company. A little thin, but there was lots of coffee flavour, some sweetness and a bit of a malt.

Beer three and this is as good as cask gets, the 6.5% Cherry Porter Grand Reserve from Titanic Brewery. Decadent, smooth and boozy, lots of cherry and Titanic at its best.

The pub was laid-back and comfortable, with the bar staff being attentive and I was thanked when leaving (I mean politely thanked for my custom, not thanked for finally leaving). I can’t say that it’s a surprise to discover that it’s rated as one of the best in the country, it was a really quite classy traditional pub.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Plug & Taps (Good Beer Guide)

Carrying on my meanderings around Good Beer Guide pubs in Preston, this is one of the few pubs that is Untappd verified and is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the beer board but their offerings are listed on Untappd and they had ten craft beers and four real ales. There’s also a large beer fridge with some interesting options available, as well as a choice of Belgian beers. The bar opened in June 2018 and they have a permanent line from the Rivington Brewery.

My photos in this venue aren’t very good unfortunately, but this is the Helio (10th Birthday Beer) from Track Brewing. Tropical with a very lingering flavour, it was heavy on the pineapple, being smooth and decadent.

Well, there’s fighting talk!

I love the Stoopid series from Vault City and these beers pour like smoothies, so the glass will be a nuisance to clean. Slightly tart, creamy with heaps of strawberry, some blackberry and it was generally just delicious. And yes, I think it’s a beer, although that’s kind of the point, these drinks are meant to question that entire matter.

The atmosphere was welcoming, although it was quiet, but everything felt modern and on-trend. The service was polite and friendly, with the bar staff seemingly knowledgeable about the beer options. The venue was clean with the high seating that I personally prefer. The on-line reviews are nearly all positive, just a couple of grumbles about the prices, although I thought they were comparable with similar venues. Definitely yet another bar which I think is justifiably in the Good Beer Guide.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Orchard (Good Beer Guide)

Located in the covered market, this small craft beer bar serves mostly keg, but it has a couple of real ales and it has found itself in the Good Beer Guide.

The craft beer board, some intriguing and interesting choices here, a fair few of them are rated over 4 on Untappd.

Starting with the Crushing Blows from Neon Raptor and although I wonder sometimes whether there are too many beers of this style, I still like it and so I don’t much care. Plenty of pineapple and some miscellaneous stonefruit, tropical with a creamy mouthfeel.

There are only a small number of tables inside, with a few more outside, but it’s a cosy and comfortable interior with a homely feel. I can imagine that there are plenty of times when it’s difficult to get a seat though. Everything felt clean and tidy, with chunky tables that didn’t wobble and plenty of high seating, which is my personal favourite. Surfaces were also clean and not sticky, another problem in numerous bars.

My second beer was another clever brew from Vault City, with an upfront taste of pancakes, then the strawberry flavour hits and then the chocolate at the end. Smooth, decadent and maybe slightly over sweet, but everyone needs some sweetness in their life.

The venue is well-reviewed on-line, although there’s a ridiculous review which says:

“Came to have a drink and asked for draft cider and gave us cider from a box. Plus they lied to use saying it was a draft as she filled it at the back”.

The bar correctly responded that this is still draft and it’s how most real cider is actually served, although I guess it’s not how Strongbow would be served so perhaps therein lies the problem. Just about everyone else is happy with the beer, cider, atmosphere, occasional music and staff friendliness.

As a general comment, as a market conversion, they seem to have done a very decent job of the modernisation, with this bar feeling like it fits in well with it. They don’t do food, but there are plenty of options for that within the market. The welcome at the bar was friendly and the atmosphere was comfortable and laid-back, a worthy entrant into the Good Beer Guide even though its main emphasis seems to be craft beer.

December 4, 2024
North Walsham Pub Day (Revisit) – Peasants’ Tavern

Julian and I were beyond excited to once again visit North Norfolk’s leading transportation hub and mark my words, it won’t be long before North Walsham International Airport is opened. Imagine the possibilities of that, direct access from Las Vegas to its Norfolk equivalent, I can just see the A380 landing now.

Anyway, back in April 2023, Julian and I visited every pub in North Walsham, including an attempt to visit the Market Tavern which was a bit shut. I noted at the time:

“We were told in the Hop In that the landlord died which is why it closed, but hopefully it can re-open again in the future as a pub as the venue seems entirely viable financially.”

Well, I’m pleased to note that Charlie (from the King’s Head in Norwich) and team have taken over the premises and it is now thriving once again. Julian and I decided that we needed to visit Charlie and also complete our North Walsham pubs.

We spent a few hours at the pub which is located just off the main square. The pub re-opened in April 2014 and had previously been known as the Carpenter’s Arms and the Market Tavern. The latter pub name was introduced by Pete Callaway in 2013, when he opened the pub with a focus on pie & mash, and that name survived until he sadly passed away and the pub closed. I can find nearly nothing about this building, although it’s listed and was originally constructed in the early nineteenth century.

And always a delight to be in the company of the hugely talented Charlie. And Julian of course. He must be nearly 30 now and he’s lost none of his enthusiasm, I hope that I’m still as energetic at his age.

A nicely balanced selection of real ales from a range of local breweries. It was no surprise to discover that they were all impeccably kept.

Julian spent the day drinking mostly this, which surprised everyone, but Charlie was too professional to question it as there’s a drink for everyone. I questioned it though as I’m not professional. There are a few non-alcoholic options available, something of a must in pubs now. Unless they’re really badly run pubs which think that Stella, Madri and Budweiser are the height of sophistication, but I mustn’t be judgemental….

Spot on with the crisp selection, I’m always sceptical about pubs that just have Walkers. The beer on the right is the Rheingold from Derby Brewing Company, which was hoppy and rustic, whilst the one on the left is the Winter Stout from Panther, a creamy number with coffee and chocolate flavours.

They have a craft beer fridge and I noted with some excitement the Raspberry Dark Chocolate Coconut Cluster from Vault City. It didn’t disappoint, although for my own Bounty loving tastes, I would have preferred more coconut. However, there was a nice level of sourness and the raspberry and chocolate were much more evident. Marvellous, a case in point of how a bar can offer cask ales and craft beers to suit the needs of the many.

There’s a tastefully decorated room to the rear and also a pleasant little external courtyard area for the warmer summer months, or for the cold months as well if you’re a smoker. The pub is also open long hours, from 12:00 until 23:00 every day of the week. On the matter of seating, I very much liked the higher chairs by an area near to the bar, but they didn’t block the bar for those who wanted to see what was available on the pumps. There were also numerous power points for customers to use, as well as wi-fi. Looking at some older photos, the transformation has been extensive and very much in keeping with the building, it is a vast improvement. I can imagine the amount of blood, sweat and tears that went into planning and delivering on this evolution of the property’s use.

I accept that I’m slightly biased in writing this (although I’m very independent), but this is a quite marvellous pub. It’s got a traditional vibe with its focus on beer, community, conversation and pies, but it’s also got the craft beer edge that I also like. I’m not sure that they’d refer to it as a micropub, as it’s quite a chunk of space to the rear, but it has that sort of energy. I very much hope that this pub does well, and I’m confident it will with the quality of the people there, and maybe there might be a little series of these venues across North Norfolk. And I can pledge that Julian and I will do our best to visit them all.

December 4, 2024
Bournemouth – Goat & Tricycle (Good Beer Guide)

Continuing my never-ending quest to visit every Good Beer Guide pub in the country, the Goat & Tricycle is an intriguing building which is formed of two different pubs. The one on the left (which has a beautiful green tile frontage which is pretty much impossible to make out on my photo) was known as the Pembroke Arms and this half of the pub is listed, so they go crazy in the other half I can imagine. This venue is from 12:00 until 23:00 every day of the week, other than on Fridays and Saturdays when it opens until 23:30. They serve food on Mondays to Saturdays, with around ten real ales usually available.

There’s the real ale range and there’s a strong presence from the Liberation Brewing Co who are based in the Channel Islands and I remember that they dominated the pub scene when I went to Jersey. Anyway, the selection was broad and it’s evident why it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide.

The beer list on the chalkboard and also a collection of implements that hopefully will never fall on a patron’s head. The service was friendly and welcoming, although there weren’t any seats available as it was busy. The pub was clean and I liked that they kept the front bar clean and dry.

This is the BOB from Wickwar Wessex Brewing Company. A sessionable beer which was malty with flavours of toffee and biscuit. I like drinking a liquid Twix though, so no complaints there.

This is listed as a Winter Ale on Untappd, but I’m not entirely sure what they actually are, I just thought it’s be something stronger in terms of the ABV but this little number was 4.1% which is hardly going to lead to much falling over. Decent beer though, very malty and I got a taste of cinnamon, but I decided that I was probably an idiot on that as no-one else seemed to be.

The on-line reviews are mostly positive and the negative ones are mostly ridiculous by the looks of it. One customer wrote:

“Worst pub in Bournemouth by some distance! Rubbish selection of ales all from Butcombe. Inferior nonlocal Westons cider available at £6 pint. Bright lights and a dreadful environment. Avoid like the plague!”.

I mention this as I liked the pub’s response to the review:

“Just to be warned everyone, this gentleman spent 30 minutes in our pub, he bought a Liberation IPA, drank half of it then tipped half an Old Rosie into the same glass, drank it and then left. Was extremely rude whilst at the bar, complaining we weren’t a Wetherspoons. Walking into a Butcombe pub complaining its full of Butcombe beer. 0 stars for you Greg”.

I think that’s a humorous response personally, I liked that they noted the rather dreadful sounding Snake Bite type drink. And there’s a nasty review which gave them 1 out of 5 because they were honouring their licensing conditions by not allowing under 18s in and the customer noted “this was inconvenient as we had agreed to meet a friend there”. I feel their pain.

The atmosphere in the pub was relaxed and laid-back, it was a comfortable place to be even without a seat to sit at. The service was efficient and customers were served in turn, with what felt like a genuine welcome offered to all. The pub is owned by Butcombe Brewery and there are apparently a couple of function rooms available, which isn’t entirely surprising since they’ve formed this venue from two separate premises. Anyway, all rather lovely and I’d merrily recommend this pub to others given the range of real ales and the ones I had were well-kept.

December 3, 2024
Bremen – Schüttinger Gasthausbrauerei

[I originally posted this in April 2018 but have reposted it to fix some broken image links]

Nothing too exciting from the exterior, but the reviews were good for this bierhaus and brewery, so it looked worth a little visit. That was after Google had sent me to the wrong end of the street, a rare error from Google Maps…

The entrance reminded me of the start of a medieval theme park ride…..

It was happy hour, 0.4 litres for just €2.50. Bargain! I decided that one wasn’t enough to really test the beer fully though, so I had to try a few….

The pub makes its own beers which were perfectly pleasant, although perhaps a little light.

There was lots of character in the bar, which was much busier by the time I left.

I thought that I’d better test the food and the fish and chips looked like a rather good option. The batter was soft, but it had lots of flavour and the tartare sauce complemented the fish beautifully. The chips had some paprika on, and had a crispy exterior and nice and fluffy interior. Rather lovely!

December 3, 2024
Bremen – Kunsthalle Bremen (Repair of the Illustrations)

[I originally posted this in April 2018 but I’ve reposted it to fix some broken image links]

The Kunsthalle has a large display of their illustrations, of which many have been restored over the last four years. There was a special display which showed how some of the illustrations had been repaired, which in itself was rather well put together. Many of the illustrations have been lost during the Second World War, although the museum is still trying to get some of the back. Unfortunately some of them also became quite damaged, although the museum has decided to keep what they have, so everything is being preserved.

The black all over the face has been removed.

The hole has been quite neatly covered up.

Some neatly repaired creases.

A piece had been lost on the right hand side of the illustration, this was rather neatly repaired.

The iron in the original black ink had eroded away and holes had appeared in the paper.

Some of the illustrations are damaged beyond repair…..

December 3, 2024
Bremen – Kunsthalle Bremen (the rest of the modern art)

[I originally posted this in April 2018 but am reposting it to fix the broken image links]

I have no idea about some of these, but some of these looked quite impressive. The animal one, which looks like something out of Bev’s front room, is from the Musicians of Bremen folk tale.

December 3, 2024