Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Cambridge – Pint Shop (2nd Visit)

    Cambridge – Pint Shop (2nd Visit)

    Pint Shop was the fourth pub on our little tour of Cambridge and it’s Good Beer Guide listed and I’ve visited before, so I’ll keep this post relatively brief.

    I’d say that this was the only pub of the nine that we visited where there was a complete absence of welcome either at the door or at the bar, with the service being a little terse and entirely unengaging. The pub wasn’t that busy, but there weren’t many seats available as the venue has a poor distinction between where drinkers and diners can sit.

    The beer list had a range of styles and numerous credible options, although nothing stood out as exceptional, but it’s certainly not a bad little selection. I’m not convinced that the bar staff had any idea about the beers, but if they did, they weren’t going to tell the customers.

    Some of the pub’s interior decor. I note a series of recent poor reviews commenting on the high prices of the menu and I’m in agreement with those, I’m struggling to see how they’re justifying main course prices of £20 whilst offering a minimal welcome to customers.

    I went for The Turtles All the Way Down from Duration Brewing, based in West Acre in Norfolk. Hoppy and refreshing, I’m not sure I can remember anything about it beyond that.

    The venue wasn’t the cleanest and I saw no evidence of staff cleaning anything, so the two probably go hand in hand. There was nothing of great concern about this pub, but it’s probably one that I’d skip on any future visits to Cambridge as it feels like a venue that is really only for diners and not those just wanting a drink. That was a situation which was less evident when I visited in 2020, but it was at that point much quieter.

  • Saxlingham Thorpe – Duke of Delhi (formerly The Mill Inn)

    Saxlingham Thorpe – Duke of Delhi (formerly The Mill Inn)

    After some meandering around some historic churches (although, not very many since it’s nearly winter solstice and it’s dark at what seems like mid-day) we thought that we’d get a little snack to reward our history research. I found a pub option that seemed suitable, but then we noticed on-line that they seemed to have a Sunday menu and it all seemed a bit complex. Given that, there was an Indian nearby, and I rarely turn down a chance to have my favourite cuisine, so the Duke of Delhi it was.

    This was until a few years ago the Mill Inn, a roadside pub which was previously known as the West End and had been trading since the 1850s. I’m not usually thrilled to see pubs turned into restaurants, but I really don’t see that there was much choice here. There’s a limited amount of residential properties nearby and since driving after drinking alcohol isn’t an option for customers, a pub’s trade would be limited. There was a friendly welcome offered when we entered, although we were the only customers which wasn’t perhaps surprising since we arrived one minute after they opened. We were enthusiastic (and, well, hungry as well).

    The staff member took the drinks order immediately after we were seated, which was perhaps a little swift, and he suggested Cobra. I wanted mango lassi really, but they didn’t have that, so I went for half a pint of Cobra. I don’t like that they sell half pints at disproportionately more than pints and although this is a restaurant and not a pub, so they won’t get an angry comment from CAMRA, it does slightly annoy me. Anyway, weak drinks choice from my perspective and annoying pricing policy aside, everything else was comfortable and organised in the restaurant so my first impressions were positive.

    Whilst I’m here, it is possible to do Indian food and craft beer as I’ve had that combination at the Indian Brewery in Snowhill, Birmingham a few months ago. Now that would be an exciting concept for Norfolk….

    I was quite happy with this choice of chutneys with the poppadoms, there was perhaps nothing exceptional, but they were entirely acceptable and I enjoyed them all.

    I went for the Murgh Jeera, a curry that was brought over sizzling away nicely, packed with the flavour of cumin and with a generous amount of chicken. I really liked this, there wasn’t the depth of flavour that would have surprised and delighted me, but the chicken was tender and full of flavour, with the curry sauce being tasty and rich. This felt a little Anglicised, but it was better than I expected and absolutely met my expectations. They didn’t have lemon rice, but the coconut rice made up for that.

    For the record, Richard had chicken passanda, which he said was enjoyable and generously portioned, although he marginally preferred the one that he had last week at Shapla Tandoori in Wymondham.

    All told, I liked this restaurant and felt that the service was attentive and polite, with the food being of a decent quality. The drinks pricing policy isn’t one that is unique to the Duke of Delhi, so I won’t mutter about that too much, although what is it with a lack of lassi options? That’d be much more exciting than Cobra. Anyway, all that to one side, I’d happily recommend the restaurant to others.

  • Cambridge – Brewdog

    Cambridge – Brewdog

    This was the next pub that my friend Nathan and I popped to after visiting the Maypole, and this is the centrally located Brewdog that I’ve visited before. I thought that this was one of the better bars in their chain when I visited before, with everything on this trip being well managed so I don’t have much need to change my view about that.

    There was a short wait whilst we were greeted at the front door, where customers are asked to wait. They were encouraging customers to order at the bar rather than using the app, so we did that. There was a decent selection of options, with a range of beer styles being listed there including sours and darker options.

    Although the downstairs area looked quite busy, the upstairs was anything but, so I found us a table with a plug so we could keep our phones charged. This is important when your rail tickets are on your phones…..

    This is the one third of the Carachino from Mad Squirrel Brewery, although it clearly isn’t, it was another Brewdog mispour. They’re managing to do this on around half of my visits, but I refuse to condemn their heavy handedness as it means more free beer….. As a drink, this was another beautifully decadent one, just suited to my tastes of an imperial stout (it weighs in with an ABV of 8%) with tastes of caramel. It was like drinking liquid Cadbury’s Caramel, although my comment about the rabbit from the advertising campaign was lost on Nathan. There was a full body, beautifully smooth taste of caramel and that rich flavour lingered beautifully. Sometimes these flavours can be dulled when drinking more than a third of a beer, but this one remained gorgeously decadent until the end. Very nice.

    Anyway, service in the bar was fine, it was clean and everything felt organised and well managed. No negatives and this remains one of my favourite Brewdog outlets in the chain.

  • Cambridge – The Maypole

    Cambridge – The Maypole

    This was the third in our list of pubs to visit in Cambridge, the Maypole which is a freehouse that is listed in the Good Beer Guide. I have visited here before, but it was several years ago and I’d managed to forget most things about it. It was part of the Punch estate that was purchased from Pubmaster, but it’s now a free house and there’s a comprehensive history of the pub on their web-site from its opening in 1851 which is clearly laid out. The history of the pub is quite complex, as the site once had two separate pubs on, the Maypole and the Plume of Feathers.

    There’s a central bar area in this CAMRA award winning pub, which now has an Italian street food menu.

    Interesting decoration in the pub of a maypole scene and the interior was clean and comfortable. The service at the bar was friendly and helpful, with the environment being welcoming. The pub is well reviewed, although recently got a negative 1/5 comment saying:

    “If the pub happens to be playing a wonderful Luther vandross number, and you happen to sing along quietly, then it appears one might be more suited to wetherspoons and you will be asked to leave”.

    Ignoring the sneering about other pub chains, I quite approve of the policy the pub seems to have here. And from five years ago:

    “I got 31 chips for 3 pounds”.

    A 1/5 review which seems to have been a fore-runner of the JD Wetherspoon Paltry Chips group on Facebook…..

    There were beer options chalked up in a few places, this is the keg list which has some acceptable options, but feels a bit limited for a freehouse with no ties that is mentioning that it’s making a big effort in this area. Although we had just been to the nearby Thirsty, where the options were exceptional, so maybe an unfair comparison between the two. The cask list is better than the generic choices in some pubs in the city, I suspect they do more cask than keg sales here.

    We both went for half a pint of the Brazilian coffee from Colchester Brewery, as I couldn’t see anything at the bar that I hadn’t had before. This is though a perfectly acceptable beer, and one of my favourites from that brewery, and it was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    This feels like a well-run pub and I can see why it has been listed in the Good Beer Guide, with an effort made to have both cask and keg options, as well a wide range of other drinks. We didn’t try the food, but the choices looked interesting and the service was friendly and welcoming, so a very pleasant visit. As an aside, CAMRA note there’s no accessible toilet here.

  • Cambridge – Thirsty

    Cambridge – Thirsty

    [NB, I’ve visited again and it remains excellent]

    This was the second pub in the little expedition that my friend Nathan and I took ourselves on in Cambridge on Saturday (the first was JD Wetherspoon for a quick breakfast) and it was apparent quite quickly that this was going to be an early highlight of the day.

    That’s a very decadent and exciting selection of beers chalked up above the bar. The service was friendly, engaging and the staff member was knowledgeable and keen to help.

    Functional seating in a venue which seemed to have started with more of a wine emphasis and has shifted more towards craft beer, a move that I applaud. There were lots of power points around the bar as well which was handy. They’re partly a shop and partly a bar which is a nice combination, although we noticed them on Untappd, which shows that it’s perhaps worth venues like this paying for the premium service to get noticed…. It’s not the largest venue around, but there is a reasonable amount of seating and there are a few seats outside as well for when it’s warmer.

    The beer selection in the fridges, which cut across numerous styles and the choices here were no less decadent than the draft options.

    The Sweet Cherry Bakewell Sour from Vault City Brewing, nice flavours of cherries and almonds, although I probably didn’t need as much as half a pint of it.

    The Blueberry Pumpkin Spice Latte, again from the ever reliable Vault City Brewing. Smooth, full bodied with an initial hit of blueberries and then a rich aftertaste of cinnamon and more blueberries. Really very lovely. What was also nice was that the staff member came over and gave us each a Vault City Brewing glass, which was handy as I needed a new beer glass, although it meant that we had to navigate around Cambridge all day with a glass each [as a spoiler, Nathan and I did both get our glasses back to Norwich safely].

    I very much liked this venue and they had numerous customers coming in when we were there who purchased boxes full of different cans, and it’s fair to say that they weren’t priced like Morrison’s flog off their Stella. Some considerable effort has gone into sourcing beers that are actually very good, which isn’t the easiest thing to do and often isn’t done at all by pubs. There were some very tempting options in the fridges, particularly the sours and the stouts, but I managed to resist the temptation, not least as I already had a glass to traipse around all day, let alone beer.

    Definitely one my my favourite pubs in Cambridge and one I’d happily recommend. Quirky, on trend and free from generic beers. As a controversial aside though, the beer range here is one of the best in the city, but I suspect that it will never get listed in the Good Beer Guide due to the lack of real ale…..

  • London – Islington (Borough of) – Mikkeller Bar (Exmouth Market)

    London – Islington (Borough of) – Mikkeller Bar (Exmouth Market)

    There are now two Mikkeller bars in London, there’s one in Shoreditch, and there’s now this one at Exmouth Market (named after the Exmouth Arms Pub) which isn’t too far from King’s Cross. This visit is from early November, when a few of us gathered here before we went to meet Scott at King’s Cross railway station, which was very kind of us to meet him off his train. Mikkeller was founded in 2006 and it now has something of a global reputation, once a cuckoo brewery which brewed wherever it could, but now with its own locations which include this bar.

    The beer selection is chalked up behind the bar, but they’ve also got it listed on Untappd as well which is handy. They do have beers from other breweries, but they inevitably have a focus on the beers that they’ve brewed themselves. It’s inevitably all very on-trend, not just the beer selection, but also the location and the service style. I had absolutely no complaints about the balance of the beer selection either, there was an excellent range of different styles available.

    The food options at the bar, and the company said when opening that:

    “This is not a restaurant with a brewery, it is a brewery with a restaurant”

    I liked the menu, which was quite simple, but had some interesting options on it, including the ‘Ndjua Scotch Egg and the Nordic Summer Salad, a very firm nod towards the origins of the brewery. Decent mix of vegetarian and meat options as well, it’s actually quite a tempting little selection.

    I had three one thirds here, with all the drinks being brewed by Mikkeller. I went for the Can’t Say No 2 U (a stout), the Heliosphere (an IPA) and the Parasol Paradiso (a fruited sour). That last drink, and the lighter coloured one in the photos above, was beautifully decadent, a nicely balanced sour with strong flavours of mango and passion-fruit. The drinks were all served perfectly, in smart little branded glasses and everything was at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    The venue was relatively busy, but seemed clean and organised. The service was attentive and polite, with the bar staff being knowledgeable about the beer options. If I’m being overly critical, the noise volume was a little higher than ideal, but it’s a busy bar in London and so perhaps that’s not an entire surprise (although Goose Island have better acoustics as far as I’m concerned). The on-line reviews are nearly all positive and glowing, which isn’t unexpected, and I’d quite happily return here and recommend it to others. All really rather lovely.

  • Norwich – Brewdog Visa

    Norwich – Brewdog Visa

    I picked up my new Beer Visa from Brewdog in Norwich yesterday, which I thought I’d be interested in given my attempt to visit every Brewdog in the country. I have to say that I don’t really quite get what they’ve done here, I had hoped it was something like just getting it stamped at each Brewdog. Instead they’re introduced something really quite complex which seems to involve having certain drinks to get stickers and then also repeating the same process at different Brewdog venues. I can’t see whether they’re trying to promote visiting different bars or drinking their mainstream beers, so they’re got some hybrid thing going on.

    It’s actually so complex that I really don’t understand it despite reading the instructions on numerous occasions. Although, to be fair, I’m often easily confused by things. For anyone who wants to read the rules then they’re at https://www.brewdog.com/uk/beer-visa-2.

    Given that I don’t tend to drink Brewdog’s own beers when in their bars, as I’ve had them all, I’m not that interested in the whole process so I’m going to bin the visa. Not the loyalty scheme that I had expected, but apparently they’re relaunching it again in 2023. I’ll wait until then and hope they get something a little more exciting.

  • Norwich – Dhaba at Fifteen

    Norwich – Dhaba at Fifteen

    In an attempt to work through some of the restaurants in Norwich that I’ve neglected to visit over the last couple of years, my friend James and I popped to Dhaba at Fifteen last night. I wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted by Spice Valley last week, but this one came recommended. The welcome was immediate and helpful and we were asked to provide track and trace details. I’ve lost track now of what the actual rules are, but I thought the restaurant was being careful which is always good.

    The menu which I thought was well laid out. There are the traditional Anglo-Indian dishes shoved at the bottom, so they’re there as a choice but the restaurant isn’t going to shout about them. There were numerous really quite innovative dishes there that I haven’t experienced before as well as plenty of vegetarian options.

    The restaurant is perhaps a little plain its decoration, but it was clean and comfortable. It got much busier during the evening, with a number of smaller groups coming in. The restaurant also seemed to be doing a decent amount of takeaways and deliveries, so it seems a popular location.

    I’m always disappointed at any Indian restaurant that doesn’t offer my drink of choice, namely mango lassi. They had it here and it was thick, slightly sweet and very delicious. I approved.

    This is much better from the chutneys and the staff member explained what they were. There was a minced carrot almost like coleslaw (I clearly wasn’t listening when they told me exactly what it was called) and a mint raita which both had a depth of flavour and some care put into them. I’m going to have to e-mail the restaurant so they can tell me exactly what these were.

    [I have e-mailed them and they promptly replied saying that, from left to right, they were a sweet carrot & onion chutney, mint raita and spicy mango chutney.]

    I went for the Kolkatta Kasundi Chicken which is a mustard based curry, something that I’ve never had before. I was suitably surprised and delighted by the arrangement, the chicken was tender and moist with flavour from the sauce, the curry itself had a strong mustard taste without being over-powering and it was served as a generous portion. James had gone for the Peshwari Chicken Pasanda which he thought was equally good, with a similar flavour of almond running through the curry. The rice was fluffy and as expected, with everything being at the appropriate hot temperature.

    The service was always polite and engaging, but without being overbearing or fake. The staff seemed keen to help, which was evident in the way they were offering other customers the option to change dishes to suit their tastes or to make starters into mains. Although the restaurant was getting busy, we were never rushed or hurried, so the environment was comfortable. The prices were perhaps a little towards the higher end of the scale, although the quality justified that.

    The reviews for the restaurant are generally very positive, although I’m bemused by the negative review that complained about the large pieces of chicken. I’m not entirely sure that this is a negative for a restaurant, but there we go….. I’d say that this is one of the best Indian restaurants that I’ve been to in Norfolk, suitably decadent and I think I’ll likely come back here. All very lovely.

  • Morley St. Botolph – St. Botolph’s Church (Stanhope William Howard Sholto Douglas-Willan Memorial)

    Morley St. Botolph – St. Botolph’s Church (Stanhope William Howard Sholto Douglas-Willan Memorial)

    Inside St. Botolph’s Church in Morley St. Botolph is a memorial to Captain Stanhope William Howard Sholto Douglas-Willan, a name which suggests some substantial aristocratic pedigree.

    Sholto, which appears to be the name that he went with, was born in December 1897 was living with Ferdinand Howard and Agnes Hilda Louise Douglas-Willan, residing in Bexhill at the time of the 1901 census, although he was born in Dover. The family had three servants at the time of the census, so there certainly seems to have been some money, with numerous members having served in the armed forces during the nineteenth century. He was though the son of Reverend John Alfred Douglas-Willan, Rector of Morley.

    He was a leader in the 4th Battalion of the South Staffordshire Regiment and as the plaque notes, he was mentioned in Despatches, although his medal card doesn’t give an exact date for that or what he did, but it appears to have been awarded posthumously.

    His photo appeared in the Daily Mirror on 6 March 1917 as a missing soldier, with anyone with information encouraged to write to his father at Morley Rectory, although the press reported the week later that details of his death had been confirmed. Sadly, he had been killed in action on 17 February 1917 and his name is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial.

  • Morley St. Botolph – St. Botolph’s Church

    Morley St. Botolph – St. Botolph’s Church

    This was our final church visit of the afternoon and Morley St. Botolph is certainly very different to the church at Morley St. Peter.

    There is some evidence of a Norman church on this site and it’s possible that they constructed on a pre-conquest building. The church that stands today is mostly from the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, although there was an extensive Victorian restoration. And a more recent disaster that I’ll come to a moment.

    This illustration is from the middle of the nineteenth century, before the church was restored.

    The chancel window, likely put in here quite early, perhaps in the thirteenth century.

    The three stage tower, likely from the later part of the fifteenth century.

    The blocked up priest’s door.

    The vestry was a medieval addition, although it was in ruins by the nineteenth century and subsequently needed rebuilding by the Victorians.

    The porch, probably thirteenth century, but heavily restored.

    It was getting dark and as part of their festive celebrations, the church turned the lights on.

    And another photo of after we had left the church’s interior, I thought that this was rather lovely.

    The interior of the church was accessible as there’s a Christmas tree competition going on and the community had been invited to come and visit.

    The interior of the church is mostly modern as there was a devastating fire in 1959 which destroyed most of the nave. The building was left derelict for a few years, but it was needed by the community and so a reconstruction project was started. The architect was James Fletcher Watson and he has ensured that the church has retained its medieval feel, with some quite attractive new wooden pews. I haven’t yet found any photos of the church in ruins, but the chancel section survived, albeit heavily fire damaged.

    Nicely decorated and there’s the selection of raffle prizes to one side. As an aside, Richard paid £1 to enter and he’s hoping to win the slime.

    Some of the Christmas trees from the competition, all from local community organisations.

    A friendly volunteer turned on the main lighting after we said that we were looking around and he gave us a brief history to the history of the building. The lighting before this though was minimal, but the glow from the heating gave it a strangely warm feel. There was a warm welcome offered by the volunteers, with free hot drinks available which Richard partook in. Members of the community had come to look at the Christmas trees and I liked the enthusiasm of the volunteer at the little desk near to the door who was encouraging people to join in some fund raising projects next year.

    It appears that this church is something of a hub for a number of local congregations and it has a welcoming feel to the whole arrangement. If it hadn’t of been that important cluster church then it might never have been rebuilt in the early 1960s and it could have been left to fall into ruins.