Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Draper’s Arms

  • Peterborough – Draper’s Arms and the Quiz….

    Peterborough – Draper’s Arms and the Quiz….

    I don’t much like pub quizzes, although I manage not to harbour a grudge against those pubs who hold them, since they do play a part in pub life. And anyway, life’s too short when I can complain about the lack of dark beer in pubs. But, I’ve still yet to discover a Wetherspoons where they run a pub quiz and it’s actually popular, although I don’t deny for one moment that such a mythical beast exists. Indeed, the quiz in the Draper’s Arms, which was littered with inaccuracies (I had to listen in so that I could complain to myself about the situation) was busily attended by four tables (and a man on a stool) and it managed to disturb the entire pub. I noticed four customers walk in and walk out, primarily because their preferred table was in the middle of the fallout area of the unnecessarily loud sound system which had been rigged up.

    Perhaps it’s often more popular, and to be fair, they had reserved off three tables in what appeared to be an unusually aspirational move since the quiz was half-way through and there were still no patrons at those tables. On the inaccuracy front, even I was puzzled by what the “Gatsby Plot was” (I was trying to work out if it was to do with F. Scott Fitzgerald), although fortunately one of the quiz entrants told the pub’s quiz host that it was the Catesby Plot. One table (well, one person at the table, although I suppose that was enough) was cheating throughout by looking at their phones for the answers, so I assume that this quiz isn’t for big money.

    I also looked like I was cheating since I had a laptop on the table, but I overcame that worry. I liked the knockout round at the end where if you answered a question and got it wrong then you lost all your points. A bit like bar billiards I thought. And on that point, perhaps they could get rid of the quiz and replace it with a bar billiards table. Win win.

    Incidentally (and irrelevantly, as is usual with my posts), I have a good record at pub quizzes. Not because I’m any good at them, but primarily as I manage to get on teams with someone who is clever and good at quizzes. That’s the key to winning quizzes, not being clever.

  • Peterborough – Draper’s Arms

     

    I’ve visited this Wetherspoons before as it’s near the railway station and I’ve sometimes had enough time to visit. One thing that I hadn’t previously realised is that it wasn’t Wetherspoons who transformed the interior from a draper’s shop into a pub, it had been the “Old Monk” for a few years before they took it over. It was though a drapery for over 100 years and it today has the honour of having made it into the Good Beer Guide.

    Another thing I hadn’t really noticed is that the exterior doesn’t have any Wetherspoons branding. And there’s a reason for this, which Wetherspoons said in a statement over a decade ago, saying:

    “We have decided not to not put the Wetherspoon logo on this pub and just stick with its name, which is a first for the company. We want the new pub to be a little bit different from other Wetherspoons, to cater for a slightly different, perhaps slightly more up market or professional crowd. For example, there will be 14 world beers to choose from and there will be no smoking or music”.

    It seems that it was the first pub in the city to go entirely smoke free, although I’m not sure it can any longer claim to have a more upmarket clientele as it just seems like any Wetherspoons outlet.

    The interior of the pub, which is long and relatively spacious. The pub is in need of a renovation though, there are some maintenance issues and it has some of the worst toilets I’ve seen in a Wetherspoons. They’re clean, but they’re not well maintained and they’re rather small for the outlet.

    A random photo of some of the interior glass dividers between the booths. I only had a coffee (well, five) in the pub as another customer was busy complaining their breakfast was cold, and that was sufficient reason for me not to bother ordering food.

    The staff didn’t really engage, but they were also perfectly polite. There were around eight real ales available, but I was visiting too early in the day to start on those.