Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Good Beer Guide

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
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
London – Camden (Borough of) – The Seven Stars (Good Beer Guide)

I’m slowly, but steadily, working on my project to visit every pub in the Good Beer Guide. This building, located on Carey Street near to the Hunterian Museum, is thought to have been built in 1602 although the bar is mostly Victorian. There’s no shortage of history to the pub, which was originally called the The League of Seven Stars in a nod towards Dutch geography (the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands). I didn’t go up to the toilets in the pub, but they are noted for their steep stairs and a sign which requests customers not to swing on the rail. It’s located near to the Royal Courts of Justice so they are treated to a considerable amount of trade from the legal profession.

A range of Greene King and Adnams beers is not what I was hoping for as they’re so common in East Anglia, but it’s something perhaps slightly different for London. I went for a pint of Broadside which cost £6 and was well kept and tasted as expected. There are some reviews which mention, quite grumpily, that the pub doesn’t offer tasters and that is highly unusual. Anyway, the service was friendly and engaging, so the atmosphere felt inviting.

The slightly infamous pub cat visible in the background. It’s said that Shakespeare might have visited the building given that his plays were performed at Middle Temple, although that’s perhaps a little fanciful. More likely is that the pub was used as the inspiration for The Magpie & Stump featured in Pickwick Papers. The building is listed in CAMRA’s list of outstanding interiors of national historic importance and they note:

“The frontage bears the date 1602 but the building itself probably dates from “only” the 1680s, and was extended into the building on the right in 1878. The core of the pub is the part with doors embellished with etched and gilded glass, declaring ‘private counter’ (on the left) and ‘general counter’ (right). These names are probably unique, certainly in the experience of the writers, and correspond to the more commonly used ‘private bar’ and ‘public bar’. So there were evidently two separate areas fronting on to a common servery and divided, no doubt, by a timber screen. The counter (a plain affair) and bar-back are Victorian and the coloured advertising panels in the head of the latter are typical of the period around 1870-1890. The pub further expanded into the building on the left hand side in relatively recent years to form a cosy drinking area called the ‘Wig Box’.”

A rather better cat photo than my efforts.

I did try though.

I couldn’t quite understand these chairs, as one customer tried to sit on them and nearly fell off before meandering to one of the tables. The tables have table-clothes on so it wasn’t entirely clear to me whether drinkers were allowed to sit at them. The pub is primarily food led and there’s a blackboard which is chalked up with the daily menu. I must admit, the whole arrangement felt a little uncomfortable so I wouldn’t want to linger, but it’s a popular venue. Most surfaces were sticky which made it a little challenging to find somewhere to stand and not stick to something, but the food is very well reviewed and I’m sure it’s marvellous. Anyway, another Good Beer Guide venue ticked off.

November 28, 2024
Gainsborough – Elm Cottage

I meandered to this pub near to the football ground as it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide, and is a former CAMRA branch pub of the year. Unfortunately, I suspect that this will be their last year in the Good Beer Guide as they’ve abandoned real ale entirely and the venue appears to be under new management. The last real ale checked in on Untappd was in November 2023, so it seems to have disappeared some time ago.

It might be cheaper to rent one….

The team member said that she wasn’t sure how to pour a Guinness, but it’s all theatre anyway in my rather irrelevant opinion. Priced at £5 which is reasonable, it tasted as expected.

The listed building record notes about this venue:

“The Elm Cottage public house is located at the junction of Chruch Street and Morton Terrace in Gainsborough. It has a long history as an inn. It originally had a thatched roof and whitewashed walls and probably started life as a mud and stud cottage in the eighteenth century. This was refronted with a mock Tudor half-timbered exterior covering in the 1930s. A granite horse water trough use to stand outside the pub, but this now sits in the grounds of Richmond House and it being used as a planter.”

The venue appears to be pivoting from real ale and traditional atmosphere into a vibrant events led pub which seems to focus on lager, which was by far the biggest seller when I was there. The service was friendly, the atmosphere relaxed, but it’s not really a pub that is aimed for me now.

August 7, 2024
Gainsborough – The Sweyn Forkbeard

This JD Wetherspoon pub is listed in the Good Beer Guide, so that’s another one ticked off my list of trying to visit every one in the country. The pub is named after Sweyn Forkbeard and occupies what was formerly two shops, opening in around 2001.

The inside of the pub, all suitably modern and functional. I appreciate the amount of high seating as well, my personal preference in pubs. The gaming machines are on silent to retain the quiet pub atmosphere that JD Wetherspoon are aiming for. I also like the considerable efforts that they go to with the local history boards around the pub, I didn’t notice anywhere else in the town doing that.

The chicken jalfrezi and large bottle of Elvis Juice which came in at just over £10, all very reasonable. For the price point, the quality was perfectly adequate and everything was at the appropriate temperature.

And the next morning I felt that I should return for breakfast. Being quite picky, I like that the egg is runny and there’s no fat of note on the bacon. I could have gone to the Canute next door to try somewhere different, but they had annoyed me by offering 33% off to groups of two or more, so I didn’t. It’s consistent, reliable and affordable at just over £5 for the traditional breakfast and coffee.

And the carpet, with every JD Wetherspoons having a unique carpet design. There were also plenty of power points available for customers.

This pub has six real ales and the one that I had, the Lincoln Tank Ale from Pheasantry Brewery, was well-kept and priced at £1.99 a pint. The pub’s craft beer range is excellent, including a few regional cans that were of interest such as the Brownie Hunter from Wilde Child Brewing Company and the Tropical Assassin from Roosters. The prices across the board were low, the venue was clean, the staff were friendly and the ordering process efficient. It was by far the busiest pub in the town and it all felt well-managed and organised. A rightful entrant into the Good Beer Guide in my view.

July 18, 2024
Tewkesbury – Royal Hop Pole

Jonathan, Julian and I popped into this JD Wetherspoon operated pub in Tewkesbury which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. It was a relatively brief visit to this historic venue, an intriguing former coaching inn.

It’s a long building, with wood panelling seemingly everywhere, which dates to the fifteenth century although has some eighteenth century additions to it. It’s been a sympathetic renovation by JD Wetherspoon and it’s also one of their hotels with 28 bedrooms available. The Royal bit to the pub was added after Mary of Teck visited in September 1891. The pub was also mentioned in Charles Dickens’s Pickwick Papers:

“At the Hop Pole at Tewkesbury, they stopped to dine; upon which occasion there was more bottled ale, with some more Madeira, and some port besides; and here the case-bottle was replenished for the fourth time. Under the influence of these combined stimulants, Mr. Pickwick and Mr. Ben Allen fell fast asleep for thirty miles, while Bob and Mr. Weller sang duets in the dickey.”

In fairness, some of the old world charm has been lost, but that’s perhaps inevitable in a busy and modern pub. I’m fascinated by coaching inns as they provided entertainment, hospitality and comfort of some sort to generations of travellers. Tewkesbury was an important location as it was a stopover for travellers from London, Manchester, Bristol and God’s own city of Bath. There were once four coaching inns in Tewkesbury, but this is the only one which remains trading. The railway was the start of an economic boom for some locations, but not for Tewkesbury, the coaching trade came to a near immediate halt in the 1830s.

We visited during the pub’s beer festival, so I went for a third of three different beers. The Quiet Shadows from Fyne Ales was a drab affair with little depth of taste to it, but the Scallywag from Hop Union Brewery had a decent toffee flavour to it. Continuing on that theme, the Steel & Oak Easy Stout was a pleasant 4% beer with flavours of toffee, chocolate and coffee. It cost around £2.50 for these three, it’s hard to deny the value that they’re offering. Jonathan and Julian went for food, but I found some heavily reduced sandwiches in One Stop over the road. I know how to live the decadent life….

As a sense of scale, the rear entrance to the pub is just to the left and the front entrance is all the way back on that road at the rear. It’s a formidable building in terms of its size.

The pub goes back to the River Avon. It’s one of the best reviewed pubs in the chain that I’ve seen, although with such a beautiful building it would be rather a shame if it wasn’t. Some angry or upset reviews include:

“Didn’t like it. It felt rundown. We wanted a hot drink and they give us a mug to fill up in a drinks machine but could have as many refills as we liked. It was just under £5 for 3 of us. Perhaps that is one of the reasons the place looked like it had had better days as it was cheap.”

I’m not sure that warrants a 1 star review, but each to their own I guess.

“Absolutely crazy place to go always spent loads of money and there 14 of us as a family and the pub don’t like big families after 3 drinks were refused a drink even though we spend £300 at a time not a friendly or peaceful place to be what a shame in a little town this could. Be a nice place to go as pricing in good but this place is awful to go with a big family”

Perhaps it’s wrong of me to suspect that there’s a noise related issued here….

“Today I visited this Wetherspoons with every intention of using the app. When selecting Fish & chips it asked me how I wanted my steak done.”

Seems reasonable 🙂

“Food was good but the sign said no dogs, well our cat wasn’t a dog, she was in a cage and we were in the garden but were still abruptly asked to leave!”

There are numerous complaints from people who were annoyed that their dogs weren’t allowed in, but this is the only angry customer that had their cat thrown out.

Anyway, I digress. There were seven real ales, the venue was clean, the team members were friendly and the building was full of period charm. Quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide and a seemingly well managed JD Wetherspoon.

November 8, 2023
Hereford – The Orange Tree

The next pub on our tour around Hereford was the Good Beer Guide listed Orange Tree which is operated by Black Country Ales, a chain that I know from my previous visits to Birmingham. The Orange Tree is Grade II listed and the front section was built in the seventeenth century, with a more modern section at the rear of the venue. For reasons unknown to me, it was called the Firefly for a while, but the older name returned in 2019.

Then, in 2020, the pub got national publicity when the landlord posted on social media:

“There’s a lot of young chavs, or roadmen, with bum bags in Hereford, if you know what I mean, been frequenting the pub and they don’t know how to behave. The youngsters don’t know how to handle themselves in a pub. A lot of them turned 18 during lockdown and are just misbehaving to be fair, and putting off other customers.”

To reinforce his point, he then banned hoodies and anyone in Stone Island clothing. Oh, and banned under 21 year olds on some evenings. Any pub which has to resort to banning people based on their clothing choices is unlikely to last long (unless it’s so good that it decides that it wants a decadent dress code, but how many city centre pubs are realistically going to be that extravagent?), and it was the inevitable course of events here. It was sold just a couple of months after to another operator, but then, two years later, Black Country Ales purchased the pub and admitted it had been failing for years, before they steadied the ship. They removed the upstairs commercial kitchen to put in a larger manager’s flat, but they restored calm and balance, with a swift entry in the Good Beer Guide coming soon after.

The Hereford Times reported how a former landlord checked on the age of customers:

“If Jacko the landlord had doubt about your age, he used to open your mouth and check your teeth like a vet checks a horse’s.”

Interesting…. I don’t think that will catch on instead of the Check 25 age verification policy.

Looking towards the more modern rear of the pub, much of the wood panelling in the venue has remained in place. There used to be bagatelle played at the pub, but that habit no longer persists. More pubs need bar billiards tables and a bagatelle arrangement. Writing about matters of the past, I liked the article in the Hereford Journal in July 1860 given it covers the subject of pubs and walking:

“VISIT OF JOHN MOUNTJOY – THE CELEBRATED PEDESTRIAN, TO HEREFORD.

On Monday last, it was advertised by public bills, that John Mountjoy, the celebrated pedestrian, whose wonderful feats have been heard of far and near through the medium of the sporting papers, had visited this visit, and that on Monday morning last, he was to perform the following wonderful feats three days in succession – the more wonderful as the pedestrian is now in his 60th year. The bills stated that he was to start from Mr. Hewitson’s the Orange Tree, in King Street, and walk to the Green Man at Fownhope, and back again to the Orange Tree, four times in the course of each day.”

The walking though was just the start of it:

“The other part of the programme was that he would perform the following nine feats in 40 minutes :- To walk forwards half a mile and backwards half a mile; to run half a mile; to hop on one leg for 100 yards; to run backwards 100 yards; to pick up with one hand 30 stones, placed one yard apart, and to deposit them singly in a basket; to pick up 20 eggs in his mouth without touching the ground with his knees or the eggs with either hand, and to deposit each in a bucket of water, without breaking it; and, finally, to leap 20 hurdles, each ten yards apart, with the last egg in his mouth without breaking it”.

Perhaps we should add this extra element to LDWA events….

The bar with its extensive range of real ales, including several from Black Country Ales. With regards to the team member, he was engaging and personable, offering a positive and warm welcome. We were visiting the pub towards the end of the evening, but it was evident he was content to serve until the advertised times. This might not sound particularly notable, but there are a few pubs who do ignore their opening hours and shut early or open late.

They’re not Untappd screens, but they’re useful ways of seeing what beers are available. A well curated selection of beers, with the prices being reasonable.

I went for a snack and the Old Mill Stout from Little Eaton Brewery from Derby. It was a well-kept plum porter and it was smooth with an edge of decadence, a more than acceptable way to end the evening. I was, once again, pleased with my food pairing choices.

All credit to Black Country Ales for this comfortable, friendly and laid-back pub, especially given what the venue has gone through over recent years. It’s done well to get into the Good Beer Guide and from my visit, it seems well deserved. All really rather lovely.

November 7, 2023
Leominster – Chequers

Excuse the sub-optimal photo quality, but this is the Good Beer Guide listed Chequers pub. It’s operated by the Wye Valley Brewery, so there’s a strong emphasis here on the beers that they brew. The building was constructed in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, with seventeenth and nineteenth century extensions. It was likely first used as a residential property, with the earliest evidence of it being a licensed premises being from 1843.

This is a photo of the real ales that I had to take of the back bar rather than the front bar. My first impressions of the venue were negative as they had customer seating along the small front bar which entirely blocked the view of the real ales, meaning I had to try and use my camera to zoom into the options. One customer provided me with help with choosing a beer which is all rather lovely, although it’s more usual that the member of the bar staff does that. Anyway, that issue aside, there was a laid-back and inviting feel to the pub.

Julian’s camera isn’t for effect here, it was just a relatively small table. The choice of table was mine as I noticed that I could charge my phone if we sat there, another little problem resolved. The beer is the Talisman from Wye Valley Brewery, a well kept pale ale which was unexceptional but still pleasant tasting.

There was lots of heritage here, although I had thought when visiting that it was an old coaching inn and it doesn’t appear to have been despite its size. However, a modern extension and new toilets has been sensitively placed onto the side of the building, with the interior feeling historic and comfortable. Just a couple of weeks ago it was named by Hereford CAMRA as their “pub of the season” which isn’t an award that I’ve heard of before.

Engagement from the team members was minimal, but by putting seats in front of such a small bar they’ve created a barrier to first time customers. The result of that is team members are unable to help customers, a situation that I thought was just a little sub-optimal. All else seemed fine though, with the pub being clean and well presented. For those lacking in confidence, it’s probably best to visit a venue such as the town’s JD Wetherspoon which doesn’t barricade its bar as part of some defensive mechanism against newcomers, but for those who are confident and want to try Wye Valley beers, it’s recommended.

October 18, 2023