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Hempton – Bell Pub (Good Beer Guide)

I was pleased to discover that the Bell pub in Hempton opened at 11:00 as that meant I could make a flying visit to tick it off my Good Beer Guide list. Hempton is a moderately strange settlement as it’s effectively in Fakenham, but it feels entirely separate from it and in terms of its history it hasn’t much changed over the last 200 years.

It was evident that this pub would be excellent simply by evidence that it has survived at all, with the other two pubs in Hempton having closed long ago. As mentioned, it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide, but it also came highly recommended from people that I know in CAMRA. A quick look on-line shows that they’ve made an effort to have a web presence and they’ve also got a history of the pub which is something I always appreciate.

The Bell is a perfect example of a village pub where the welcome is immediate and the locals seem pleased when people come in to their pub. It feels like they have a buy-in, it’s a sign of an exceptional pub where the locals are so proud of their venue. And rightly so, it’s got a community feel where they show sports, have a pool table, two separate seating areas and a cosy atmosphere. There’s something for everything, not least a selection of four real ales which is a good going for any pub.

The beer is the Snetterton Scary Tree, the name of which comes from a local landmark which has unfortunately now fallen down. Brewed by Elmtree this is a session bitter which was suitably hoppy, being well-kept and at the appropriate temperature. Any concern I had that I’d arrive early on a Monday morning and might get a poor quality beer were unfounded as there were already several customers and all the beers had been pulled through.

My visit was short, but I got the impression that this was an exceptional pub which serves its community well and there were numerous events advertised which they’ve involved with organising. There was a friendly welcome, engaging service, keenly priced beer and plenty of real ales. It absolutely deserves its place in the Good Beer Guide, it’s a pub for the many and not the few.

April 3, 2023
King’s Lynn – Live & Let Live Pub

This was a pub that I didn’t get to on my previous trip to King’s Lynn but it comes highly recommended and is listed in the Good Beer Guide, meaning that Łukasz had high expectations. Well, I did anyway. The lack of active signage did though make me wonder whether they were shut as we approached. Although to be fair, I can’t imagine there’s much passing trade on Windsor Road in King’s Lynn that’s being tempted in by signage, their reputation is already strong enough to ensure they’re busy. Anyway, I digress. The pub has a substantial history, it has been here since the early nineteenth century.

I don’t much like formulaic interiors that some pub companies seem to go for when they periodically rebrand and refresh their failing pubs, this sort of traditional, cosy and homely feel is much better. The service was warm and polite, with the pub being reasonably busy for a Friday afternoon (I waited for customers to move from the above table to take the photo). It has two bars and it’s one of those places where the character of the pub is evident when walking in. They also accept cards which was handy as we had limited cash on us. For those visiting between Mondays and Thursdays there’s 50p off pints between 14:00 and 16:00, a sensible way to get a bit more extra trade in during those hours.

This arrangement surprised and delighted me. Let’s start with the crisps, I’m not sure that I’ve ever had these before and they were suitably beefy (they’re made with real Devon fore rib beef apparently) as the packaging had indicated. That meant they complemented the Elgood’s Brewery Black Dog nicely, both strong flavours and this is a pub that tries to always have a mild on which is a very sensible policy decision. The pub is also known for its cider selection and has won numerous CAMRA awards for that.

The phrase “proper pub” is I accept a hackneyed term, but it feels appropriate here since the pub has character, it has a decent beer range and also excellent crisps. And what more could anyone want? Definitely worth the 10 to 15 minute walk from the town centre.

April 2, 2023
King’s Lynn – The Wenns Chop & Ale House (2nd Visit)

I visited Wenns a couple of weeks ago for a flying visit, but since Łukasz and I were in King’s Lynn for the day exploring beer options, we decided to go for food there as well given how well reviewed it was.

The kitchen wasn’t quite ready when I ordered, but I liked how the staff member took the order and explained they’d get it ready as quickly as they could. I was in no rush, which meant that Łukasz and I managed to get through about 15 games of Jenga. I forgot how exciting that is to play after a few drinks. We did actually try other games as well, but I couldn’t understand the rules and so we thought we’d just stick to Jenga, that’s pitched more at my level.

My beer is the Battle Standard from Shadow Bridge which was a decent bitter from a smoky edge, it’s positive to see different breweries in pubs and this was particularly interesting as my friend Tony from the Hop & Vine had mentioned about this outfit which takes it name from being in the shadow of the Humber Bridge.

The garlic and chilli chicken strips, cleanly presented and fortunately just with a hint of garlic rather than a smothering of the stuff.

Excuse Łukasz’s arm in the photo, but the fish and chips was one of the best that I’ve had in a fair while. The batter had a depth of taste and was drained so it wasn’t greasy, the fish flaked away and the portion was generous. The chips were suitably fluffy and I think that the mushy peas and tartare sauce were homemade, or at least that’s what they tasted like.

I’m quite enamoured by this place, it’s really more of a continental type bar with a strong beer offering which has led to an entry in the Good Beer Guide, alongside a realistically priced and tasty food menu all with friendly service.

April 2, 2023
King’s Lynn – The Wenns Chop & Ale House

NB – I’ve revisited this rather lovely venue as I wanted to try the food.

One of the advantages of the Good Beer Guide is that pubs listed in it can genuinely get more trade from that entry, not least myself today in the Wenns Chop & Ale House in King’s Lynn. I did wonder whether it would have a restaurant vibe, but it was genuinely welcoming to me when I wandered in asking for half a pint. Indeed, their web-site really doesn’t address this issue, it’s very much all about their hotel and restaurant with the chop reference also hiding that their menu is quite broad.

The Wenns name is its historic name, although more recently it was rebranded to be Goldings. Its closure was controversial with allegations of staff not being paid, but regardless of whatever happened there, it seems better now that it has restored its former name. It’s in an historic part of King’s Lynn, opposite the church, a few minutes walk from the town centre.

Just the two real ales on at the moment, but they’re both local and I very much like the Small Town Hero from Three Blind Mice, which I’ve had before. It’s not an extensive selection, but it’s an entirely reasonable offering.

The Three Blind Mice beer, which was reasonably priced and tasting as I hoped for, so all was well there. The reasonably priced element is important here, as if they were excessive with their pricing for the beer than I imagine it might have failed to satisfy the local members of CAMRA. I also understand that they have a happy hour taking place between 16:00 and 19:00 on Mondays to Thursdays, with £1 off the price of a pint.

This was a comfortable and inviting pub, with the staff members being friendly and engaging. I like the informality and the food that was being served looked well presented and of a decent quality. It’s perhaps an unusual entry into the Good Beer Guide, but I’m pleased that it’s in the book as I would have likely otherwise overlooked it whilst meandering around the town.

March 10, 2023
Norwich – Bell Hotel

I haven’t written much about this JD Wetherspoon pub in Norwich, but since it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide I had better do so for completeness. It feels a long time ago now, but the above photo is from when the Bell Hotel was closed during lockdown, days I’m very much glad are in the past. This has been a hospitality venue in some form since 1485 and has been an important coaching inn over the centuries, but despite its name it hasn’t been a hotel for decades. JD Wetherspoon acquired the property in the 1990s and it was one of their first acquisitions outside of London, likely saving it from demolition. A few years ago there was a major expansion to the pub (and here are some photos of that, since I got to get a free meal and drink as part of their soft opening) which brought a former part of the hotel back into usage that had recently been used as offices by a bank.

And a little bit of history from the front of the pub. There’s a photo taken in 1938 by George Plunkett of the pub which is one of my favourites that he took, it’s a very different city today but the Bell is relatively untouched. As an aside, that balcony type structure has been removed from the front of the pub now, but in a photo from 1954 a bit is still remaining. I’m not sure if some of it fell off or something, but I’m quite intrigued by it.

This photo from 1936 interests me, I hadn’t realised that the hotel was previously in two bits. What is now the entrance to the lower bar was the entrance to the garages, along with its petrol pump, with that gap having now been filled in.

These are the only two old photos I’ve seen of inside of the Bell, with this old advert being on the JD Wetherspoon web-site.

This photo is from Norwich Heritage (I can’t link directly as it’s an image in a gallery) and shows The Bell before the tramways required the building to the left to be demolished.

I’ve many photos of the food here, but here’s once from 2017 when they still sold the pastrami bagel, which I think is one of the best things that they’ve sold.

The mushy peas are slightly splodged on, but I’m sure it tasted delicious.

And a breakfast from when they used to be more affordable, as there have been a series of price increases over recent months making everything more expensive.

Back to the beer and away from the food, there are usually seven or eight real ales available on a regularly changing basis. I’ve never had any issues with the beer here, it’s always well kept and at the appropriate temperature. At the time of writing they’ve got eight real ales on, with three of those being their staples of Greene King Ruddles, Sharp’s Doom Bar and Greene King Abbot Ale. They’ve currently also got Adnams Ghost Ship, Beartown Bearskinful, Brains Rev James Original, Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing and Woodford’s Phoenix IPA.

This was one of my favourites that they had on a few weeks ago, the Red Herring from Green Jack Brewing in Lowestoft and it’s a Rauchbier.

The pub is relatively well reviewed and I think it’s the busiest of the JD Wetherspoon outlets in the city. Looking through the reviews:

“This used to be my favourite Wetherspoon restaurant in the city until yesterday when I came in with my family for a meal and I was welcomed by a living SNAIL on my bbq chicken pizza”.

That sounds exciting to be fair, I’ve never been served a snail in any JD Wetherspoon pub.

“After 22 years of not eating any animals, I was served chicken nuggets today at The Bell Hotel instead of quorn nuggets. I’ve never had quorn nuggets in Weatherspoon before and I have not eaten chicken for 22 years, so I have not realised what happened until the mistake was discovered after I have eaten some of the meal.”

That is far from ideal, although I have often been served the wrong meal in this chain, so I’m not entirely surprised. The mistakes that they make with my order don’t have the same impact as this customer.

“No wonder the owner wants European staff, they don’t understand the negative comments”.

Oh good, a bit of hatred and piffle thrown into the mix.

“I asked for a double jack and coke with no ice the guy put ice ion not a big issue but instead of making another one Jim I think he was called just put his hand in the drink picked the ice out and then gave it back to me what the hell and during a pandemic”

I’d like to think that this isn’t true.

“Ok if you are a non-smoker. 13 tables to choose from, 4 if you smoke. WOKE PUB”

Of all the pubs that is ‘woke’, it’s not ones operated by Tim Martin. Unfortunately, the chain decided to scrap their social media presence a few years ago, so none of these reviews are ever replied to.

Anyway, I digress. It’s a perfectly well managed pub from my experiences and there’s a choice of bars with a smaller one downstairs and the main one upstairs. There’s plenty of real ale and also craft beer, I suspect it’ll be remaining in the Good Beer Guide for some time to come.

March 9, 2023
Norwich – Coach and Horses (Bethel Street)

Working on my list of Good Beer Guide pubs that I’ve visited, I have been to the Coach and Horses in Bethel Street (not to be confused with the one on Thorpe Road which is also in the Good Beer Guide) many times before but for the purposes of this post I thought I’d visit again. It’s important to be professional with these things…. As a pre-warning, it is a Greene King pub, but as a spoiler, I’d say that it’s as good as a Greene King pub is going to be.

Seven real ales available, which is impressive by any measure and there was a wide choice of different beer styles.

The selection of real ales required two photos and as evidenced here, there was a real cider available as well. One problem with many Greene King pubs is that they sell one or two beers from their own brewery, including Greene King IPA, which don’t exactly surprise and delight. However, here there is an effort to source beers from local breweries with only two Greene King beers.

Given the pouring rain outside at the time, I went for a darker option which was half a pint of the Winter Porter from the Panther Brewery from Reepham. It was well-kept, at the appropriate chilled temperature and it had some chocolate notes which I approved of.

The service was personable and engaging, this felt a well-run pub with an inviting and warm atmosphere. It was surprisingly busy for a rainy afternoon, with perhaps six or so of the tables being occupied. They offer a tapas menu, which I’ve eaten from before and has been of a decent quality in the past and the prices for food and drink are moderate. It’s a very busy pub for pre-theatre drinks as the Theatre Royal is just around the corner, with plenty of lunchtime customers as well. The reviews on-line for the pub are excellent with few negativity from visitors.

I’ve sometimes seen Greene King pubs listed in the Good Beer Guide and I’ve struggled a little to wonder why. The situation at this pub is different given the wide range of ales and I also trust the CAMRA members in Norwich not to let any venues into the book which aren’t of a decent standard. There are some other little highlights in this pub as well, not least the bar billiards table which is always a positive in any venue. For those who need them there is also wi-fi and there are plenty of plug sockets to ensure devices can be kept fully charged. I can happily comment that this seems a well deserved entry into the Good Beer Guide.

March 9, 2023
Luton – The White House (Visit 2)

I’ve written about this pub before, so won’t linger on its history again. But it’s the Good Beer Guide listed JD Wetherspoon venue, their only pub in the town as they’ve closed the London Hatter on Park Street.

It’s quite an attractive interior although there’s quite a lot of bouncing of the upper level floor when anyone climbs up the circular stairs. It’s peaceful and calm with numerous power points up here if anyone wants them. I didn’t really get to engage with any team members as I used the app, but they seemed friendly and helpful.

There were six real ales on, two that I’ve haven’t had before and this is the Going Loco from Tring Brewery from Tring in Hertfordshire. It was well kept and at the appropriate temperature, but it didn’t have much depth of flavour although would likely make a satisfactory session beer with its 3.9% ABV.

There was a little bit more going on with the Ossian from Inveralmond Brewery who are from Perth in Scotland. Hoppy and full in flavour, it’s a 4.1% ABV golden ale. Well-kept again, the pub feels like it deserves its place in the Good Beer Guide and the beers were both priced at £1.23 for a half.

The pub is generally well reviewed on-line, although I was amused at this:

“Generally when someone orders a meal in any restaurant and it isn’t available either a refund is given or a substitution of such . I do not understand why if a meal of beans on toast is ordered then given as just toast that you have the cheek to refund the beans as if it was and extra”.

That’s not really ideal, I’m with the customer there. If you sell beans on toast and only have half the core ingredients, it’s probably best not to just bring out half the elements required for the meal.

“Was just starting to eat my breakfast at around 10am. I was watching a film on my phone while eating my breakfast as there was no music. This bar tender came over and asked me to turn the volume down. The volume wasn’t that high and didn’t see anyone going to complain. Unless there people praying there I can’t understand the point as being a pub where music is normally played and sometimes can’t hear what you are saying, I found it insulting. There are are better places to be treated properly. I’ll take my money else where.”

I’m entirely with the pub, I’d personally say that team member was spot on. Music isn’t normally played there for a good reason…..

Anyway, definitely a safe bet for anyone wanting real ale in Luton.

March 2, 2023
Great Yarmouth – Blackfriars Tavern

Firstly, my apologies that I wasn’t intending to write up the day that Nathan I spent visiting all the Good Beer Guide pubs in Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. This means that I didn’t burden myself with taking many photos, so my extensive readership of two will just have to use their imagination a bit more than usual. I am slowly, but very surely, visiting every pub in the Good Beer Guide which is an impossible project but that doesn’t stop me. This pub in Great Yarmouth (94 Blackfriars’ Road, NR30 3BZ) is just a little out of the way, so credit once again to the Good Beer Guide for listing this venue.

Let me start by writing up-front that this is a very good pub and I was absolutely unable to fault it. The warmth of the welcome, the engagement from who I am guessing is the landlord, the range of the beers and the inviting nature of the environment. This is going to be one of those feel good posts where just everything went well. As a pre-cursor to the below, the landlord mentioned to us that he had just written a blog post that day about the beer Nathan ordered, so for some extra context have a read of https://www.blackfriarstavern.co.uk/the-story-of-the-starry-night-stout-and-the-three-wise-men/. That web-site is a work of art on its own with the width of their offering being clearly evident.

I went for the Recessive Red from the reliable Mr Winter’s and this was a well kept quite punchy 6% red ale. There were two darker beers with Nathan going for the Starry Night Stout from Tindall Brewing and checking through his Untappd he was happy with it and its smoothness. He probably told me at the time, but I doubt I was listening. We were on one of our random days out with occasional shots (it’s a long story, but we should probably be supervised by a responsible adult if I’m being honest), which is why there’s a delicious shot sitting next to my real ale. I don’t actually want to focus on the beer choice for too long, but it was excellent for a venue of this size with five real ales and an extensive Belgian beer selection. And the pub wasn’t just offering beers, the landlord was positively enthusing about them. This is a landlord that cares about his beer.

The reason that I don’t want to linger on the beer is that this wasn’t the highlight of the visit, and in many ways, it shouldn’t be. The star of the show was the friendly landlord, engaging and welcoming. He also didn’t demur about our random shot and just slightly odd behaviour, he positively embraced it and so no criticisms there. There were plenty of board games and Nathan rushed over with chess as he’s from a chess winning family. Privately I suspect that’s as he didn’t want to play monopoly for four hours which is what I would have ended up doing. Although he quite rightly mentioned that it would have been no hardship staying here for several hours. Incidentally, he won at chess, but I like letting him win as it cheers him up.

There’s also a very decent refurbishment that has gone on here, it’s traditional but yet on-trend which is a hard thing to achieve. There’s nothing formulaic about this pub, it’s laid-back, it’s slightly quirky and it does the welcoming thing well. I’ve mentioned before that one of the key measures of a pub is that someone coming in on their own, perhaps new to the area, feels like it’s a venue they’re part of and a community to which they feel they can join. I absolutely got that feeling here, this is absolutely right to be in the Good Beer Guide, it’s glorious. Anyone coming to Great Yarmouth who likes pubs should pop in and linger here for some time.

March 1, 2023
Tuesday to Thursday : Off to Barnsley for the LDWA 100

Quickly skipping Tuesday and Wednesday as not much of excitement happened during my time in Norwich, it was time for the big event of the LDWA 100, the 100 mile event. I might have mentioned that I walked this last year…..

Richard turned up in his little tank, which I first thought was in camouflage, but he reassured me that it was just very dirty. We were off to Barnsley on the Thursday, ready to help marshal the main LDWA 100 event on the Friday to Sunday.

Safely there and back in the Ibis Styles which I stayed in last year. My Accor settings have me at the end of a corridor miles away from the lift, whereas Richard for reasons unknown likes to be near the lift. So our rooms were nowhere near each other, although it transpired that I was directly above Chelle and Paul, but I’m pleased to report they didn’t cause any noise issues on the floor below.

Classy, that made me feel extra safe in the room.

And my chair had lost a leg, but I had a window that opened, so I was content with that at least.

The signage at the hotel bar is written in the Yorkshire dialect and I got myself an old Speckled Hen as my free welcome drink, whereas Richard went for one of his decadent wines.

We were meeting up in town with one of the heroes of the LDWA, David Morgan, who was far too excited to see us struggle up the mountain that leads into Barnsley. We were meeting at the Tipsy Cow, a very decent craft beer bar, so that Dave could tell me all his gossip, not least all of the mountain summits he’s run up recently. We had walked the two miles or so into the town centre of Barnsley from the hotel, which was one of Richard’s longest walks for a long time. He was very brave and I’d actually like to see Dave and Richard do a walk-off to see who could get the furthest.

Incidentally, they had Cherry Porter from Titanic Brewery, so I was sold on that, and very nicely kept it was too. With that, we moved on, Dave to his South Wales group meal, whereas the Norfolk & Suffolk volunteers and entrants were all scattered about, so it was left for me to supervise Richard in the pubs.

I thought I’d show Richard the Dickie Bird statue. At least having been somewhere before saves me from having to write much about it again, I can just link to previous blog posts for anyone who hasn’t been fortunate to have already read them.

Back in the Old No 7, I went for the Spindizzy from Chin Chin Brewing Company, which was well kept although not particularly exceptional.

The pork pie was lovely though, after I’d carefully picked the jelly out.

I was looking to find a pub in Barnsley that I hadn’t visited before, so we thought we’d pop into the White Bear. We popped into the pub and then popped straight out again, as it appears they had problems with their speaker system and the music volume could be heard in Huddersfield. They were also short of customers, but that wasn’t an entire surprise given the early evening rave going on. Now that I’ve passed my 30th birthday, and Richard is now in his early 50s, I suspect we need to find places that are generally quieter in the future, as I’m not as young as I once was (not that I liked loud places when I was younger).

Richard, who if truth be told is much greedier than I am with food, went for a heap of plates full of JD Wetherspoon cuisine in the Joseph Bramah.

I had a packet of Mini Cheddars alongside my Farmers Stout from Bradfield Brewery, which had a depth of taste to it and was well-kept. As a flavour combination, Mini Cheddars and/or Wotsits go really well with stouts. See, it’s worth reading this blog to get top tips about craft beer and food pairings. I ordered a different beer as my second round, but they ignored that and brought me the same one that I’d had. I couldn’t be bothered to argue about the situation, especially since I had enjoyed my previous half pint. It’s a friendly pub though, spacious and it wasn’t too busy.

Next was a repeat visit (for me) to the Jolly Boys. I got myself another one of my classy snacks of Bacon Fries, which is making it look like I survive on things like this…..

When a space became available, we moved to the upstairs balcony which was quite decadent. It was the Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend, hence all of the bunting. Friendly service here again, I’ve worked through a lot of the Jolly Boys’ Brewery beers before, so I went for the tried and tested Jolly Collier Porter.

Barnsley Town Hall at night. I’m skipping out one pub, Maison du Biere, as it was outstanding and so it’s getting its own post, it was the first time I’d been there and it significantly exceeded my expectations. It was so good that it meant we forgot to go and look for some beacon they were setting on fire, but I hadn’t been much interested in that anyway so that’s fortunate. A good pub is better than watching random fires if you ask me…. More on that pub in a little bit, but it was time to walk the two miles back to the hotel, which Richard braced himself for and achieved comfortably fuelled on by the beers and food of the evening. We met Chelle at the hotel with her dog in reception at the hotel, I suspect she’d been hitting the bar again (figuratively, not literally), but I didn’t say anything.

What it did mean was that we didn’t have many hours of sleep before we had to get up for the LDWA 100, and indeed, we didn’t expect to get sleep during the weekend anyway. But, it’s much harder for the entrants, so I decided not to feel sorry for myself as I’m good like that, always a bundle of positivity.

June 20, 2022
Friday : Off To Wales (Part Three – Gloucester and Beer)

In part three of this riveting series of posts, Liam and I have managed now to navigate our way around various Greggs across the country, have faffed about at a National Trust property and have now arrived in Gloucester. I admit, the Wales element of this trip is still a little way off in writing terms, but I’ve called it that as I was very brave in Wales and that’s how I want the weekend remembered.

We got to Gloucester and Liam mentioned that we had managed to park on Cromwell Street, which is perhaps best known for being where the crimes of Fred and Rosemary West took place. I hadn’t realised that this was in the centre of the city, I had just assumed it was in some obscure outlying area.

I’m not normally into dark tourism, but this is where the property was, now demolished and replaced with a small green area and a widened road. It’s odd to think of the crimes committed there, but there was no point dwelling on that as I’m sure the city has wanted to move on from this for some time.

We walked into the town centre and this is the signage relating to the East Gate.

And there are the remnants of the structure. These defences to protect the city were built by the Romans soon after they had established Gloucester as a settlement in AD 68. A thirteenth century tower was placed on top and the structures have been much changed, but some Roman remains are still there nearly two thousand years on.

A quick walk across the main square, or at least, a big square.

We were trying to kill an hour before moving the car to the hotel’s car park, as it was much cheaper after a certain time. As we were visiting the decadent pubs in city later on, we popped to the Wetherspoons outlet, the Regal, for a quick drink.

The interior of the pub and I did feel watched throughout by someone.

But I was too busy with my 50p Mini Cheddars to worry about people looking at me, whilst Liam had rather more decadent crisps. The beer is half a pint of Wychert from the Vale Brewery Co which was well-kept and slightly under-poured. I thought that I’d better have a quick look at the pub’s reviews, a little towards the bottom end of JD Wetherspoons outlets.

“This Wetherspoons has recently started offering Pizza on the menu. We have tried them a couple of times and they were delicious. However, today we ordered them expecting the same quality,but they were disgusting. There was virtually no topping on them, they were not even the correct shape! I complained about it, and I was given another one, which was much the same as the other one, but with dollops of cheese here and there. Needless to say, we will not be ordering a Pizza again.”

I don’t disagree with this review, as JD Wetherspoon pizzas are in my view cheap rubbish that would be best lifted off the menu, but obviously enough people like them. Anyway, there are two cultural references here that I liked, the dollops reminding me of Friday Night Dinner and the needless to say bit reminding me of Alan Partridge.

“Was served a pint in a badly chipped glass. When I complained I was told that they could not replace the drink as I had consumed some. The best they could do was tip the drink into a fresh glass. Very poor”

Always tricky, pubs usually do pour it into a new glass instead from my experience. This review could have done with photos so I could assess the badly chipped glass.

“Ladies toilets smell horrible and a notice on the door to warn of male workman being in there would of been helpful”

I wonder if there’s more a back story to this one.

“Got charged for a drinks mixer I didn’t order when brought my complaints to the manager nothing was resolved. In short this experience has turned me against pubs, first time going to one since lockdown ended & also Last time I will make that mistake, #StayHomeStaySafe #boycott #ItsMoreFunToDrinkAtHome”

It isn’t more fun to drink at home, so I ignored this review (beyond carefully reading it, copying it and commenting on it).

“The waitress brought out a plate with a very small jacket potato and a small chicken breast on it, the presentation was disgusting. We had to ask for a side salad for my friend. They could of at least put some peas, sweet corn or carrots on the plate with it to make it look appetising.”

Presentation of a meal is disgusting because there are no vegetables?

“salad was NOT fresh when spoke to manager about the salad she told me thats how it comes its pre cut and if they would make fresh salad no one would get food as they would spend all day cutting it”

Spend all day cutting it, that’s a classy comment I think, they should have given the manager some praise for that.

“This is honestly the most disgusting place I’ve ever been”

Some people need to get out more.

“Asked if EURO2020 could be put on the TV instead of the news which no-one was watching, but was told ‘no, we don’t do football here’”

And that’s a 5/5 from me. But that’s enough reading of reviews, I have a blog to write.

When I booked the hotels for this weekend several weeks before the event, the prices were high across Wales and England, the cheaper rates of the last two years have certainly gone away. I don’t know why the Travelodge in Gloucester was relatively cheap, but I picked it because I hadn’t been to the city recently, it was a short walk from the centre and there were nearby pubs.

I went to check-in whilst Liam parked the car, taking advantage of the cheap rate of £2 overnight. I had to wait a few minutes as the staff member was being ill outside, but the staff were so friendly that I felt entirely welcome. Travelodge might have some problems, but they do recruit some excellent staff, although whether or not they should have someone so ill behind the counter is a different point. But they gave me a heap of coffees on request and the booking was all as I expected.

There are two centres to Gloucester, or in leisure and hospitality terms anyway. There’s the Quays area and then the city centre, around a twenty minute or so walk between the two. We started in the Quays area as that’s where the hotel was located.

We weren’t entirely sure where to go for food, but I’ve been to some other outlets of Brewhouse so we thought we’d try there as they haven’t annoyed me in the past.

It’s not the best craft beer around, but it’s credible enough for my liking. The staff member at the door was helpful, saying that they were at near capacity, but she then worked out that a table would be available for us in around twenty minutes. I appreciated the helpfulness as they certainly were busy, and I decided I would ideally stay here for food.

There was some standing at the bar for around twenty minutes waiting for a table, but they kept us informed.

The beer choice. I work through the list in my mind, thinking about the beer styles, cross referencing them to Untappd and then having a final think about what I want. Liam decides which beer name he likes the best on that particular day. He doesn’t even have Untappd. I had two beers, the Unite Celebration, a creditable sour, and the Jamaic Ann Oatmeal Stout, which was a little lacking in depth of taste and mouthfeel.

They brew some beers here themselves, including the two that I had.

I liked the lighting. I had a lot of time to take photos of the decor as the food took over 40 minutes to be served, but to be fair, they had said they were busy and I was just pleased that we were getting food at all.

I went for the half beer can chicken, which seems to be what they shove the poor bird on to keep it tender and moist (after it’s already dead I’d add). I didn’t know what corn ribs were, but they’re essentially just bits of corn cut to make them easier to eat, which I appreciated as corn is unnecessarily fiddly. I thought that this was all very delicious, plenty of meat, the sauce had some flavour to it and everything was at the appropriate hot temperature. Liam had some pie and I don’t recall him complaining about it, so all was well and I think we were entirely satisfied with our choice of restaurant.

Next was TANK, an odd place which was poorly laid out with one clearly competent staff member and some less aware colleagues. I know this not only through my own observations, but because the competent staff member mentioned it as well. It’s listed in the Good Beer Guide as it has some cask options, but their keg selection was more exciting in my view.

I went for the Dockside Dark from Gloucester Brewery, who operate this venue as a sort of taproom, and this beer is available on cask and keg, although I went for the latter. It was OK, not rich enough for my liking though, but still very drinkable. They didn’t have any tables available when we got there, although we moved inside soon enough and I noted quietly to myself the staff could do with cleaning the place. But, I mustn’t complain.

The docks at night.

Between the docks and the city centre is this sculpture which didn’t offend me, but which was voted as one of the worst in the UK a few years ago.

We then decided we’d better make the walk into the city centre and we went to the Good Beer Guide listed Pelican Inn, which was delightful in every way. The menus were on Untappd and it had that community feel to its arrangements. I think the service was a bit lacking in enthusiasm, but Liam got this round and so I can’t comment much more about that. He doesn’t ask interesting beer questions of staff though, he’s too busy seeing which beer has got the name he likes the best.

I’ve just realised that Stuart from the LDWA, who does have Untappd (unlike Liam) as I got him into that, had been to this pub. Another handy feature of Untappd is that I know that, although it’s not clear what I can do with that information. This happens a lot with Nathan, who seems to have been to every pub in the UK. I went for the Wholesome Stout from Wye Valley Brewery, which was excellent, rich, full-bodied and, well, wholesome. It’s always a delight to see Untappd screens, not least so I can look at little pictures of myself at the bottom of the screen and remind myself I need to change my profile photo on the app.

A decorated postbox. I’d never have the patience to do this and I would be highly annoyed if I had spent hours on it and then someone pinched it.

Gloucester, including some photos of the Cathedral, at night and some of these came out better than others. I’m still playing about with my new phone to get photos look as I want them.

We thought we’d have one final drink when we were back at the Quays, ticking off the JD Wetherspoon outlet which has the intriguing name of the Lord High Constable of England. Below is the history of the pub name that I pinched from the pub’s web-site:

“This building stands on the east side of the docks, between Llanthony Warehouse (now Gloucester Waterways Museum) and Llanthony Road, where it crosses Llanthony Bridge. The name ‘Llanthony’ is taken from the now-ruined medieval priory on the west bank. Llanthony Secunda Priory was established by Miles de Gloucester in 1136. Like his father and grandfather, Miles was High Sheriff of Gloucester and was also Lord High Constable of England.”

This pub is better rated on-line than their other pub in Gloucester that we had visited earlier in the day and I was surprised how busy it was. We got the only table that was still available and the atmosphere was calm and sort of welcoming despite the busy venue. It could have all been a little cleaner, but it was towards the end of a night and it was busy, so perhaps I’m being a little aspirational there given that it’s a Wetherspoons outlet.

“I and my partner apparently had a ‘complaint’ made against us for kissing in a booth, out of view and restrained”

There weren’t many reviews that caught my eye, although this one makes me wonder how they were out of view.

“I brought an alcoholic drink from bar without being asked to show my id and then later was asked to show my id to a higher member of staff witch by law you cant do that once you have been served”

I don’t think there is such a law…..

“I would give it a 0 if I could, the tables were disgusting, the management and staff were so rude and I wanted a refund and she refused to give it to me because they “already started making my food” which isnt allowed?since I work with food and if the customer wants a refund, its law tou have engine them one!”

What laws are the residents of Gloucester following?

I went for the Old Thumper from Ringwood Brewery which was OK and well-kept, but I wouldn’t write home about it (although evidently I popped my thoughts here).

A quick couple of photos from the Quays, before it was back to Travelodge ready for our day of bravery starting the next morning. A suitably busy day, evident that it’s taken me three blog posts to write up.

June 17, 2022