Warwick is a great base for an afternoon in Coventry, provided you can cope with a 30 minute wait in Leamington Spa.
Just enough time to photograph all the tourist photos, or use the loos in the Jug & Jester while it’s still a Spoons. By the way, why do all provincial railway stations have those dreadful Pumpkin places.
Last year in Cov we exhausted the potential of the city’s two cracking free museums; this year we finally stumped up the £6 for the Cathedral. It’s an all-time bargain.
I’d always thought the highlight was the juxtaposition of old and new Cathedrals, and the vast glass window you can see outside. But it’s the inside that is staggering.
A combination of colour, light and shape to demonstrate that the 1960s did leave something worthwhile in Coventry. My new favourite cathedral, though Blackburn comes close.
Of course , it was in the following decade that Cov made an indelible mark on music, with an existential classic that struck a chord with disaffected youth of the city.
NAME THAT TUNE
A few yards from the cathedral. a rather less reverent atmosphere pervaded the Earl of Mercia, Cov’s quieter Spoons. Even Simon Everitt will struggle to get some good material here, which is saying something. You can of course drop peanuts on the heads of Fosters drinkers from the gallery above the bar, something Simon may be learning in Melbourne at the moment.
Not much real ale being shifted at 4.30pm, but clearly enough for the cheapo Ninkasi to be rated highly by Mrs RM. These Spoons collaboration beers irritate me irrationally. Rubbish pump clips, a beer you’ll never see again, a chance missed for a proper local family brewer on the bar.
I suppose I shouldn’t complain though. While the 5.8% Spoons Special (all the way from Wolverhampton) was being sold at £1.65 (with that all-important voucher), over the road in Drapers the local UBU @4.5% was £3.75. But of course, good beer is underpriced now.
2 points if you can work by what % the UBU was more expensive.
That said, the Purity was excellent, and enjoyed in a really attractive but odd theatre-like building close to the Uni. This is the one I’d go back to, after the Town Wall Tavern of course.
After a stroll round Far Gosford, we couldn’t resist the call of the ancient Whitefriars.
Great windows, proper seating, heated political debate (“Stop pulling my hair !”), Tull’s Aqualung, old fellas dancing to “Sex Machine”*, Happy Hour porter.
What more could you want ? If this was in Cambridge it would be the Eagle, serving polite lunches to polite tourists. This is a proper pub.
3 pubs, 3 cracking beers in Cov.
Nothing we saw in town, however, could compare to the transformation around the railway station, though I’ll miss the scary walk through the underpass.
* I can never hear “Get on up” again in the same way.
retiredmartin 
…is comin’ like a Ghost Town.
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I’m afraid that was a rogue clue. Something rather more earthy.
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Too much, too young?
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Solo artist. A big hit, even in the US !
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I’ve never been good at numbers: 127%?
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Close enough.
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Do I get extra points for showing my working as opposed to Dave just giving an answer? That’s how it always worked in Maths tests at school.
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Yes you do Tom, 127% extra in fact.
By the way, have you noticed extra views for your own blog yet Add a blog counter to it (I can’t, but don’t let that stop you).
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Splendid.
I have worked out how to view such things and yes, thank you there does seem to be an unusual high number of viewings the past couple of days. I may or may not manage to figure out how to installate a counter.
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I can say I never won a math quiz in school!
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Tom, may I ask for the link to your blog?
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I hereby name that tune Derek.
At voucher discounted price, the collaboration was £1.65 whilst the Ubu was £3.75, hence £2.10 dearer which is 127%. At normal ‘Spoons undiscounted price, the collaboration would have been £2.15, hence the difference would only be £1.60 which is a 97.0% difference.
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Close enough.
Derek’s famous hit was a UK No.7 the same year as the tune I’m asking about.
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As an ex-math(s) teacher, I would have deducted some points for not showing the division and the multiplication by 100.
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Wasn’t Chuck Berry’s ‘My Ding-a-Ling’ recorded at some festival in Coventry (probably at the Ricoh!)? Have to admit I wouldn’t have thought of it without the picture clue. Always enjoy visits to Coventry but all the best pubs are miles apart, so never seem to manage a substantial crawl.
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Winner ! Recorded at Locarno Ballroom.
Yes pubs away apart; I quite like that aspect. Good Bass too.
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Surely the best number 1 single recorded in Coventry in 1972 was “Mouldy Old Dough”.
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Yes it was. You win all the points Matthew. I’ll present your prize on New Years Eve (Good Beer Guide for 1994).
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