The pre-party completed (I might have made that sound more exotic than it was), it was time to board the coach to be transported to our first mystery pub location.
Safely boarded and ready to go. I had discovered that the first stop wasn’t the Ber Strete Gates and it would be about 25 minutes on the coach, that was the limit of my knowledge of where we were going.
And we arrived at our first stop and I was pleased with this one as it’s been around a decade since I’ve been here. This has been a community run pub since 2012 and although they’ve had some minor financial issues in recent years, they’ve bounced back and all that. There are frequent events held here, beer festivals, musical performances, morris dancers and the like, along with food being served throughout the week.
The venue has been a licensed premises since the late eighteenth century and it was owned by the Coltishall Brewery in the early nineteenth century before they sold it in 1841 and later on it was taken over by Bullards. It then passed into the hands of Watney Mann and then Brent Walker before the community took it on.
A coach load of customers did surprise the venue, but the team members were all friendly and welcoming. I had deliberately taken cash in case that was preferred in these rural areas, but everyone seemed to be paying by card.
The choice of real ales and I liked this selection, a range of beer styles and there are some options there that I haven’t had before.
Some of the events.
We went to sit in the rather nice beer garden and as there were children on the bouncy castle, we thought we’d better not try it out. It was moderately busy in the beer garden and busier inside mostly with diners, but the atmosphere all felt informal and well managed.
I went for the Yellow Tail from Wantsum Brewery from Kent alongside some Mini Cheddars. The beer was clean, hoppy and well-kept, a decent light start to the evening.
This was going around the table and I thought that it was a strange thing to do at CAMRA events but assumed that it was some kind of ritual that they do.
It kept Ivan amused though who was very good indeed at colouring in and it transpired that this isn’t a standard CAMRA activity, it was a one-off.
One of the advantages of visiting here is that that’s another ticked off in my vague attempt to visit every Good Beer Guide pub in the country. A very good first selection by Ivan and after thirty minutes here, we boarded the coach to discover where he was taking us next.