Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Good Beer Guide

  • London – Richmond upon Thames (Borough of) – Roebuck

    London – Richmond upon Thames (Borough of) – Roebuck

    This is the only Good Beer Guide listed pub in Richmond, worth the walk up the hill given the extensive views over the Terrace Gardens and beyond. It’s a Greene King operated pub and it has won a number of local CAMRA awards in local years, as well as attracting some rather influential customers. They certainly have an enviable location and there has been a pub here for over 200 years.

    The real ale selection, which is better than I had anticipated for a Greene King pub. The service was, well, unusual. I don’t intend for this blog to ever be a platform to criticise bar staff, but I did find the environment really quite strange. Visitors, including myself, were welcomed with a slightly abrupt “do you want a table?” which is a question I’m still not sure I entirely understand. Everyone replied yes and I can only imagine that perhaps some customers perhaps want to take food or drink away because of the lovely views. I’d prefer a more gentle welcome. Anyway, my confusion put to one side, I noticed a table that looked handy for my needs.

    I wasn’t given any of these nice tables (and nor the one that looked handy for my needs), I was given a table with no view that really wasn’t ideal. I found the situation quite humorous with how the staff member behind the bar told her colleague “give him table 3” rather than let him perhaps check if I had any aspirations to sit somewhere in particular in the nearly empty pub. Compare and contrast to the welcome at the pub I’d been to before…. I must admit that the staff member did provide me with quite a lot of entertainment, including her thoughts at times about other customers, colleagues and her housing situation. I’m not entirely sure significant chunks of that conversation were really for customers to hear, but I can’t deny that I like listening to gossip like that.

    It’s not entirely clear, but the views from these tables is extensive and really beautiful. The pub was very quiet, but it was clean and comfortable throughout. It’s had something of a modernisation recently, but it’s sympathetic to the character of the building and it all felt in order.

    The Citra from Oakham Ales, which was fine. Well kept, refreshing and as the name suggests, made with citra hops, which I’m rarely disappointed by. The server that I had was pleasant and helpful, he seemed keen to help and engage, with made things easier. The pricing was moderate, so that all really rather lovely.

    I’ll missing some of the story out for fear of looking too critical, but the staff member completed her show by shouting “can I help you?” as I was walking to the toilets. I did hear her say this loudly the first time, but I tried my best to ignore the situation as it was already inappropriate and I dreaded to think how she was planning to assist. It then seemed clear to me that she had managed to forget that I was a customer and thought that I was someone who had walked in when she wasn’t looking. My walking merrily onwards towards the toilets wasn’t the clue she wanted and the request was repeated. I did feel the need to comment that I had actually been in the pub all the time, had ordered and was going to the toilet before leaving, and she mentioned she was only seeking to show me where the toilets were. Given that I was nearly at the toilets, I wasn’t entirely sure how she thought I was at that stage going to miss them.

    There was nearly no-one in the pub, which struck me as fortunate because she had made quite clear to everyone that a customer was going to the toilet. I did note that at the previous pub the staff member saw I had a laptop and was keen to point me towards a table where I could plug it in. That’s the kind of pro-active service I’d rather have if I’m being honest.

    Anyway, I don’t want to sound too harsh as I think that the staff member was over-enthusiastic and it would seem churlish and unkind to be too critical of that. But, it’s not a pub that I would come back to because the lack of professional discretion about other customers wasn’t really appropriate and I feel that it would be remiss of me not to mention that. However, judging from the positive reviews, it’s clear that my experience isn’t necessarily one that’s widely repeated and the view from the windows is excellent and the beer selection is perfectly reasonable given it’s a Greene King pub. It probably just needed a manager present to ensure everything flowed beautifully, as the pub is clearly usually operating to a high standard.

  • London – City of London – Old Bank of England Pub

    London – City of London – Old Bank of England Pub

    London is a strange place at the moment to establish when and where it will get busy. Usually when I’m walking down Fleet Street and this part of the city, pubs would be pretty packed out in the evening. I walked by this pub and thought it looked interesting, but also thought it might be one of those decadent food pubs who hardly wanted someone in there for a quick pint before their train home. But, whilst merrily walking by and already having pre-judged it, I checked CAMRA’s Whatpub and discovered that it was in the Good Beer Guide. So I walked back again, trying to not look like a confused tourist.

    I had guessed the bit about decadent correctly. However, it wasn’t a gastropub at all as I had thought it might be, although their pies are apparently pretty decent. The building was from 1888 until 1975 used by the Bank of England as their Law Courts and then it was for a while used by a building society, before it was used for a much better purpose, as a pub. The building once had gold bullion in its cellars and the Wikipedia page for the building notes that it might have held the Crown Jewels for a time.

    Going back to the pies that I just made reference to, the pub themselves mention that it’s located between where Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett operated (or allegedly operated since it’s likely entirely made up), noting:

    “It was in the tunnels and vaults below the present building that his victims were butchered before being cooked and sold in the pies to Mrs Lovett’s unsuspecting customers”.

    What a lovely selling point for the pies today…..

    The service was professional and efficient, although it seemed slightly over-staffed, so maybe they had been expecting more customers. It got a little bit busier during my visit, but nothing that was going to be a challenge for the staff to cope with in terms of the numbers.

    It’s a pub run by McMullen brewery, so it had their beers in, which is fair enough for their perspective, but gives less incentive for me to return to try something new.

    Slightly mispoured, but by no great margin as I think this was a lined glass, but the beer range was slightly less riveting. I had half a pint of the AK and half a pint of the Country, which were both well kept and tasted fine, but they were perhaps just a bit routine. The Country had some interesting flavours, not least being biscuity as promised, and I like that clean taste. The prices were actually quite moderate (and looking through the food menu, they were reasonable too given the location), fortunately not matching the decadent surroundings.

    One unfortunate omission is a photograph of the double decker bus that they’ve managed to move into their beer garden. I was going to take a photo from the beer garden after leaving the pub, but it transpired you now need to go through the pub, and I decided against meandering around the building again looking for it. But it’s worth Googling this double decker bus they’ve managed to position into their central London location.

    All in all, I’m pleased I popped into here before my train back to sunny Norwich, certainly a memorable interior and the staff were friendly. Maybe I’ll come back for one of their pies at some point…..

  • Southwold – Lord Nelson

    Southwold – Lord Nelson

    I wanted to visit the Lord Nelson in Southwold as it’s the only pub in the town which is listed in the Good Beer Guide. I had half suspected a queue, as it was around 12:15, but I loitered outside the pub and a staff member came to welcome me in. For the first time, my phone really didn’t like the QR code for the NHS login, and despite some considerable efforts on my behalf to get it to work, we resorted to pen and paper in the end. I then nearly broke the hand sanitiser as it was a bit complex, so I concluded the pub must be used to more decadent and intellectual guests.

    The drinks menu, inevitably biased towards Adnams as they own the pub and their brewery is around the corner. The service was all timely and friendly, with the order taken at the table and there was an option to set up a tab.

    There are only six tables outside in the pub’s beer garden and I managed to get the second, meaning that there were four free. I decided, to be fair to the pub, that I’d leave when the tables all got filled, as they all seated four people and the pub might lose four lunches if I blocked their table. I liked that they never rushed me, never made me feel unwelcome and it all worked out perfectly timewise. I left after around 45 minutes and a couple tried to get a table for food just as I left, so everyone was a winner there.

    The Blackshore Stout from Adnams, which I rate reasonably highly as it’s creamy and chocolatey. And, just so Nathan is pleased, it was served at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    The pub is well reviewed and the pricing is a little towards the higher end for food, but nothing dramatic. As Basil Fawlty says, “you’re a bit stuck if you don’t like Adnams” (well, he said duck, but Adnams fits better here) on the beer front, but there was a range of different styles of beer and cider. It’s got a bit of atmosphere to it, even when empty, and the service was all sufficiently engaging. Quite a decent place, and certainly not a bad recommendation from the Good Beer Guide.

  • Chelmsford – Woolpack

    Chelmsford – Woolpack

    I visited this pub in October 2020, this isn’t some lockdown breach…… Although it’s Greene King, it’s also in the Good Beer Guide and has been the local branch’s pub of the year.

    The pub didn’t have any dark beers and no craft beer, and the poor member of bar staff was left with a dire choice of beers to recommend to me, namely Hardys & Hansons Olde Trip. This beer is, frankly, not particularly good at the best of times, so I wasn’t entirely thrilled. However, I forced myself to have a half, as it seems a little pointless to try and visit every Good Beer Guide pub and then not have a drink.

    The interior was decorated for Halloween, or at least I assumed it was….. I tried to ignore the ‘Create Your Own Dance Video’ machine, which seemed ill-fitting in numerous different senses. The presence of this machine confused me a little, is this trying to be a local community pub or Yates? There were also numerous ‘4 shots for £12’ which isn’t really much of an offer when it includes Cactus Jacks, where an entire bottle costs far less than £12. Anyway, all this seemed muddled, and I got the impression that beer drinkers are being shunted out. If you want a young and vibrant theme then get better craft beer, not machines to create your own dance video. Anyway, I digress.

    On the point of beer choice, I was slightly annoyed to see there was a picture frame full of Titanic Brewery pump clips as well, as that’s one of my favourite breweries and I would have very much liked to have enjoyed one of their beers. Instead, I was stuck with Greene King’s finest.

    The pub serves food including Sunday Roasts and there are burgers and the like.

    The service was fine, although the pub being empty didn’t add much to the atmosphere. The staff member asked me for help spelling words on a document he was writing, which made me feel useful at least. I suspect there’s quite a community feel to this pub in normal times, it had that sort of atmosphere to it. It’s quite a ‘lived-in’ pub and I hope they don’t try and modernise this VIctorian pub pointlessly, it’s got charm as it is.

    As for the beer, it was bloody awful and on the turn. Usually I’d get it replaced, but it’s such a bland and boring beer anyway that it didn’t much change my enjoyment of it. I think Greene King work hard on their obsession to deliver mediocrity and this beer delivers on that. It comes to something though when I’ve started to wonder whether Greene King beers actually tasted better when they’ve gone off, at least there’s some sort of flavour.

    It seems that in normal times there is actually a relatively wide beer choice available, so I was maybe unfortunate to visit when the pub was struggling to offer much of a range. The Railway Tavern in Chelmsford had told me the day before that they didn’t have the trade to justify putting darker beers on, which didn’t seem an unreasonable thing to say. But, judging solely on what was available when I visited, this was sadly just the bland Greene King offering and it also wasn’t kept well.

    Whatpub note that the pub underwent a change of management at around the time that I visited, so perhaps this was the dying days of the previous owners, which would explain why things were a bit ropey. So, nothing particularly impressive from when I visited, although it was clean and the pub seemed to be taking the Covid-19 rules seriously. But, the whole set-up seemed to be focused more on moving away from beer towards gimmicks, and I’d rather they went the other way and pushed towards craft beer as that’s where being on-trend lies. This is all very confusing though, the pub is clearly popular with CAMRA and real ale drinkers, but it felt like it was trying to be something else. Maybe this just all makes more sense during normal times, being a publican is hardly easy during these strange times.

  • Good Beer Guide 2021

    Good Beer Guide 2021

    To my great delight, the Good Beer Guide 2021 edition is out and the app has updated, so I can see which of my favourite pubs have made a reappearance. My delight is mostly reserved to see that the brilliant Hop and Vine is back in, although I’d have refused to have acknowledged that the book even existed if it hadn’t…..

    Anyway, the new copy is available at https://amzn.to/3e6eoCB.

  • York – Brigantes

    York – Brigantes

    I’ve walked by this pub on many occasions in the past (well, obviously not in the future), but I don’t recall ever going in, but since it’s in the Good Beer Guide I had a moral duty to change that. It was all very comfortable and relaxed when I visited in the afternoon, a nice separate area for diners and a friendly barman who was keen to engage about the selection of dark beers. It’s operated by Market Town Taverns, a small local chain who specialise in pubs with a strong food offering.

    A decent selection covering various beer types, with the prices being reasonable. Although it’s clear that there is a food orientation to this pub, well – bistro, they still seem very welcoming to drinkers and there are seats at the bar to cater for this.

    My half pint of the Brass Castle Bad Kitty beer, which doesn’t have huge initial flavours but there are some pleasant afternotes of vanilla and chocolate. I liked it, especially as it’s a local beer to here, with Brass Castle being located at Malton.

    The reviews of this bar are positive, other than when the chef forgot to put someone’s chicken burger in the, well, chicken burger meal. No doubt a genuine mistake, but the reviewer rushed to give them a 1/5 rating because of it. Mind you, one person left a 1/5 rating with the review:

    “There were no pies. At 7:30pm. Enough said.”

    It’s not exactly the fall of the Roman Empire is it?

    Or this review, which I copy in its entirety:

    “I have no idea why they are so slow with bangers and mash but I have been waiting for 50 mins now with no explanation. It is appalling.”

    How do people possibly cope with such trauma?

    Anyway, I didn’t order any food here, but I’m confident that it would have been of a decent quality. The staff were friendly and I liked that I was thanked when I was leaving, always nice to get some form of acknowledgement. I’d say that this is a very deserved entry into the Good Beer Guide.