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Category: UK

  • Brighton – Craft Beer Co

    Primarily a London company, as this is their only pub outside of the capital, the Craft Beer Co have a reputation for excellent beer. They claim that they have the most beers on keg in Brighton with 22 to choose from, along with a selection of 200 bottles and cans. That’s certainly an impressive array of options….

    I asked about the dark beer selection and the staff member was positively enthusiastic about explaining them. I liked that engagement and the staff member seemed knowledgeable about what was available. This is the Sadako beer from the Weird Beard brewery in London.

    It’s a 9.5% imperial stout and so I asked about the price before ordering, and it’s a cool £13 per pint. I chose a third which cost just over £4, but it’s a drink to savour like wine, so the price didn’t seem entirely unreasonable. And it was excellent, with a rich taste and notes of vanilla and coffee. Beautiful and it was also at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature.

    And here’s some more of the beer menu, with numerous other options that were worth consideration. This is what is frustrating about visiting a Greene King pub which has the option of Greene King IPA and, er, Greene King IPA. The pub also serves food which are primarily burger based options, although I visited on the only night which it doesn’t (Tuesdays).

    Tastefully decorated, I only realised that there was an upstairs lounge area as well later on after I had left.

    There was a fire which the staff kept alight (it was meant to be on fire, this wasn’t some sort of Brexit protest), meaning that the atmosphere was nice and warm. It was actually too warm for me, but I like Arctic conditions, so I can’t blame the pub for that.

    I like this chain of pubs and I know I’ve visited one of the branches in London, although I’ve rather unhelpfully completely forgotten which one it was. So that story was slightly irrelevant. Anyway, the prices are expensive, but the surroundings are comfortable and the selection is interesting and pretty exceptional. All that comes at a cost, as no doubt does the competence of the bar staff who were engaging and knowledgeable.

  • Brighton – Pump House

    When we went to the Chequers pub in Oxford a couple of weeks ago, I downloaded the Nicholson’s app when our group ordered food. Roll forwards to my arrival in Brighton today, and I received a notification that I could get a pint for £1 at the Pump House, the Nicholson’s pub in the city. So, being easily tempted, I went along.

    The real ale which was going to be £1 had run out, so the helpful staff member suggested that I have a gin and tonic instead which would also be £1. This seemed like a good deal, so I went for that. I’m not really a gin person, primarily because I never think to order it (it looks expensive is the primary reason), but it’s a fashionable drink and I should really know more about it.

    Whilst I was at the bar I noticed the rather tempting Sweet Dream, so I went for half a pint of that as well. It’s a chocolate milk stout and it didn’t disappoint, with a rich flavour and a pleasant after-taste. It was also served at the appropriate slightly chilled temperature and the only thing really wrong with it was that I didn’t order a pint of it.

    I took a seat by the window and had a good view of the bar area of this historic pub, which apparently has cellars dating to the medieval period. The pub is one of the oldest in Brighton and an effort has been made with the interior, with some impressive mirrors and wooden panelling.

    A lady at the neighbouring table commented to her party that I typed very quickly, which is technically accurate, but she said it loudly enough that I had to acknowledge what she said. Anyway, she was rather lovely and conveniently I was offered some advice on Italy, which was well-timed since I was in the pub planning the 2019 Hike Norfolk trip to the land of pizza and wine.

    The view from inside the window looking outwards to an interesting part of Brighton, which like the pub also feels historic and full of atmosphere.

    The pub was comfortable and felt welcoming, with the two staff members making an effort to engage with customers. I still think that Nicholson’s are one of the better chains, something which the historic nature of their pubs helps with as they’re full of character.

  • Bristol – Zero Degrees

    This substantial brewery restaurant opened in 2004 and was purpose-built to meet the needs of Zero Degrees.

    A view down over the bar area.

    The clever design of the pub meant that we were able to see this brewery equipment, all adding to the character of the location.

    Ready for pizza…..

    Some nice glasses…..

    And the pizza, the sweet and spicy Italian sausage. Very lovely, lots of flavour although I’d have preferred a slightly crispier base. The price was reasonable and the food was brought over promptly, so there was no long wait. We weren’t sure how easy it would be to find a table for five for food in Bristol, but there was a reasonable amount of space here and so we were seated immediately.

    Not that it would have mattered as we were there on a Friday, but the restaurant has resorted to a buy one get one free with Tastecard, a sign to me that a location isn’t performing well. They might be doing perfectly well, but I wouldn’t go back knowing that they were ditching out food cheap like this without it being offered to loyal customers.

    The service was quirky and the server had a rather dry wit, but he came across as friendly and welcoming. The environment was pleasant and despite the harshness of the interior design, it was still comfortable in the dining area.

     

  • Bristol – St. John’s Conduit

    A little bit random, but this is St. John’s Conduit, located at St. John on the Wall Church on Broad Street. This was originally installed to bring water to the Carmelite Friary in the fourteenth century and it is rumoured that it ran with wine during elections in the city.

    The information plaque at the conduit. Part of the original route of the conduit is apparently marked on the pavement by small plaques, but I didn’t know about this at the time to look out for them.

    And a sign nearby informing those passing by that the conduit had been the only source of fresh water in the city during the Second World War.

  • Bristol – The Three Tuns

    The Three Tuns is an independent pub with a comfortable atmosphere, although it proved to be too busy for us to stay too long. I was though pleased with the pub’s thoughts on Brexit which were mentioned on a chalk board on the back bar. There’s also some history to the pub which retains a traditional feel and it dates back to the early part of the twentieth century.

    Some of the beer selection which had been sourced from numerous breweries. I say some of the beer selection although the photo doesn’t exactly show much of the choice, although it does evidence that this was a local CAMRA pub of the year in 2012.

    The Three Tuns also does food and if I were ever to make a future visit, I’d pop along to try out the menu which is mostly themed around burgers and is operated by a separate company in the pub’s kitchen. Given that the pub isn’t that large in size, it seems a sensible choice to just operate with a limited menu.

    A poster in the pub detailing some of the many heritage pubs in Bristol.

    It was a shame that we couldn’t stay for longer in the pub and they did try and find us a table, but there sadly weren’t any available. There seems to be lots of events held here, including quiz nights, film nights and live music, and there was a community atmosphere even though it’s a city centre pub.

  • Bristol – Bag of Nails

    It’s safe to say that this pub is unique, since it’s full of cats, it has a lot of rules and a landlord who has upset a fair few people. But, it’s also marvellous, it’s well-run and at a guess I’d say that most of the people upset by the landlord are probably idiots.

    Some of the pub rules.

    The quirky interior of the pub.

    The toilets are also decorated.

    A port-hole through to the cellar underneath the main bar.

    This is a beard friendly pub. And goodness knows what happened to that phone.

    The nature of the pub’s operation, namely being full of cats, means that there’s a limited opportunity to serve food. Nathan decided to risk a pork pie for £1 and he reported back that they were excellent, so we ordered a few more. He was right, they were a bargain for £1 each, and there was piccalilli to go along with them.

    Some photos of the cats, who to be honest looked perfectly content and happy. They were evenly distributed along the bar and were mostly asleep.

    One of the cats scratched Scott. He deserved it.

    Liam, Scott, Ross and Nathan admiring all of the cats.

    I very much liked this pub although I hadn’t expected to before I went in. The landlord seemed happy to engage about the beer selection, the other staff member was helpful and they were both keen to discuss the cats in the pub. They might be just slightly selective in their customers, not wanting stag groups or anything which might upset the cats, but that doesn’t seem unreasonable. There was also a decent beer selection, with none of that fizzy rubbish, and the surroundings were clean and quirky. All rather lovely.

  • Bristol – Edward Colston Statue

    This is the controversial statue of Edward Colston which is located in Bristol city centre. The local Labour MP, Thangam Debbonaire wants it gone. However, such a move might be divisive, so why not do something artistic which tells the story rather than airbrushes it? That’s the plan here anyway.

    And here it is. Using the old overhead view of how slaves were forced into a small spaces during transport, it has been brought to the modern day by referring to jobs such as kitchen worker, sex worker and fruit picker. These jobs can be related to modern slavery and what a wonderful way of using art to tell a story.

    These 100 figures were part of the anti-slavery day which was held in October 2018, although I can’t find out which artist was responsible for it. Whoever it was, it’s a brilliant reinterpretation of the statue which doesn’t take away from history, but adds to it.

  • Bristol – Small Bar

    The pub name of Small Bar refers to the concept that small businesses focus on being the very best that they can be, rather than the size of the venue which is actually relatively large.

    I’m very much in support of this, which is any business being brave enough to be cash free. It means that people don’t have to carry about money, pubs don’t have to have money on site or transport it to banks and then pay to change it. It’s easier to be transparent with card only payments and it’s just quicker.

    This is why I don’t like pubs like the Jubilee in Norwich which still surcharge for card payments (or at least they did a few months ago, I’ve now stopped going in because of the surcharge despite it otherwise being a brilliant pub), even though the law has changed to prevent such price gouging.

    There are 31 taps available in the pub with the choices on chalkboards above the bar. The full list of bottled beers are available on a screen to the side of the bar, all very modern. It’s also much easier to keep a screen such as this up-to-date, it’s a shame that more locations don’t do this.

    And the crisps selection.

    The pub had a relaxing and on-trend feel to it, being both stylish and not over-stated. The beer quality was, as would be expected, excellent and the choice was considered and well thought through.

    Every modern pub needs some books. The pub served food, and it was an on-trend (like most things about this pub) menu based around Asian chicken. We weren’t ready to eat when we visited, but it did offer a tempting selection.

    Overall, a rather lovely pub, perhaps one of my favourites from all those that we visited over the weekend. Although it had a modern feel to it, there was no element of pretentiousness or excessive hipster atmosphere, just a comfortable and welcoming environment.

  • Bristol – King’s Head

    There’s some history to the King’s Head on Victoria Street in Bristol (it has its own Wikipedia page) which was a long time ago a private property, but which was later turned into a pub. And the Victorian interior which dates to around the 1860s is gorgeous and remains relatively untouched, sufficient for the pub to be listed on the National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors.

    There’s a corridor along the side of the pub which runs to the back of the building, with the Tramcar Bar taking up the central space. It’s really quite staggering that this was never removed during the twentieth century in the name of progress, as it is a bit clunky, but historically it’s marvellous.

    A photo of the aforementioned corridor.

    It was towards the end of the night, so the photos aren’t quite as straight as perhaps I’d ideally like. But another photo of the historic interior.

    Underneath the old mineral waters sign is this old Dublin Stout sign, which I assume was from Burton Ales.

    I didn’t place the drinks order, but I think from memory I had the London Pride (or at least it tasted like London Pride, so my money would be on it being London Pride), which was well-kept and at the appropriate temperature. There was nothing there which was particularly unique, although it was nice to see a beer from Harvey’s Brewery in Lewes as I was in the town just a couple of weeks ago.

    The service was friendly and I can imagine the furtive conversations which have been held here over the last couple of centuries. It’s a comfortable environment, although the pub is relatively small, so there isn’t a great deal of space.

     

  • Aldershot – Garden Gate

    There are now just two pubs in Aldershot which are in the Good Beer Guide, and only one of them was near to the centre of town. This was the Garden Gate, which unfortunately didn’t open until 17:00, although since my train left at 19:00, I was able to get time for a visit.

    Slightly blurry, but this is the image that customers get when they first enter the pub. It’s a good first impression in my opinion.

    Pubs have to be brave to put up material such as this…..

    Although this was amusing (to me anyway), captioned “is my friend in the bunker or is the bastard in the green?”.

    The welcome in the pub was friendly, and they had a beer from the St. Austell Brewery and as that was the darkest they had, I went for it. It tasted fine and was well-kept, although I would have ideally liked a more inventive beer selection. The welcome seemed genuine though, although it was a customer who answered my question about what dark beers the pub had.

    A slightly old-fashioned interior, but that absolutely suits the style of the pub, which is a comfortable location for locals and visitors alike. There’s a feeling of tradition here and it’s only through good management that the pub has remained trading, as its future looked in doubt just a few years ago.

    I liked how the staff member offered me a friendly farewell as I left the pub, it’s never a very good final impression when staff just let customers walk out without making some sort of effort to thank them. Overall, it’s a decent pub and one which I imagine has a real community feel to it.