BORN PIPPY -A MONDAY NIGHT IN WORCESTER

There has to be a Top 100 pub in Worcester really. A year ago it would probably have been the Paul Pry, never the most predictable pub and apparently closed again.  My visit on General election night was a year’s highlight, this pint of Hobsons a classic.

On Monday night  I met a couple of former colleagues to test the “Pint and Curry” proposition against the Nuneaton benchmark.

Our hotel was something of a contrast with Nuneaton’s offer too; the Crown is one of Wetherspoons’s best accommodation options.  No bargain, mind you.

Worcester also scores highly for record shops; Rise Records had one of the best selection of new vinyl I’ve seen.  Half a point each for identifying these two.

IMG_20161026_221043.jpg

At risk of being barred from the city, I do think Worcester’s attractions are a bit hit and miss. Those ducks, for instance, form a very messy line on the Severn.   At least they’re not on the cricket pitch.

IMG_20161024_160246.jpg

The lack of a statue commemorating the city’s musical genius is a disappointment, as is my having narrowly missed the visit of Lethal Bizzle (two mentions in two posts !).

We kicked off the evening in the new GBG tick, the Imperial (top). If everywhere new in Derbyshire or Essex is a micro, it’s all Black Country Ales pubs in the Midlands.

IMG_20161024_175514.jpg
Proper bench seats, help yourself beermats

And that’s fine, when they’re as charming and chatty as this place, which Karen correctly identified as the former Woo Bar. It’s as far from a Woo Bar now as is legally possible.

The lovely landlady promoted their upcoming fest, but I thought they already had plenty on.  The Pig on the Wall was a bit disappointing, the malty and hoppy ones were much better.  Not much real ale sold in the hour we were there. Use them or lose them indeed, and that applies to Mondays as well.

Charles was then attracted to the splendour of the Eagle Vaults, with unique Crystal Palace away kit dustbins in situ.

IMG_20161024_192045.jpg

It reminded us stylistically of the Wheatsheaf in Shrewsbury, itself a solid Banks’s pub standing proud in the face of beerhouse competition. It did from the outside anyway.  It was closing at 7.20pm, just as we arrived. 7pm closing in a town centre isn’t a good sign.

So we nipped into the Plough, a terrific blokey boozer where Charles did something, twice, that attracted the ire of the old-school landlady.  WHAT WAS IT ? *

IMG_20161024_184444.jpg

I assume Simon hasn’t been here yet, Worcester staring with a W, so I give him the edited highlights below;

  1. In Gents – “Hitchcock” “Pardon !”
  2. Dog with a limp
  3. Man with Hawkwind Space Ritual T-Shirt gesticulating wildly (not the Smiths song)
  4. Inviting set of stairs you attempt to climb even though YOU MUST NOT.
IMG_20161024_184552.jpg
Those stairs you MUST NOT CLIMB

My Hobsons was excellent (NBSS 3.5); I’m still waiting for Charles’s scores for the Fyne.  The Plough is an oddity, almost of Olde Vic proportions.

We finished at the distinctly normal Café Mela with a first rate dhansak, only let down by a lack of mango lassie. Worcester isn’t quite there yet.

One more Worcester pub to report on once it clears the Top 100 Pub Committee process.

*UPDATE : As immediately guessed by the estimable Mr Coldwell, the sin was asking for a sampler.  Twice. I’m firmly of the opinion that a pint is a sampler.  And you pay for it yourself. The taster menu in The Ivy isn’t provided free.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

23 thoughts on “BORN PIPPY -A MONDAY NIGHT IN WORCESTER”

      1. Well since you mentioned twice that YOU MUST NOT climb the stairs, and using the Eggheads` power of reasoning, then I presume he must have attempted to climb the stairs ? They do look inviting. Much the same as the ones in The Raven in Wigan – equally off-limits..
        You mentioned The Wheatsheaf in Shrewsbury. We stopped off in said town in the summer and had lunch in there, enjoying a really good pint of Sunbeam (is that possible ? Yes, I think it is allowed !)

        Must visit Worcester one day. It apparently has a very nice Georgian church (All Saints), with reredos by the Royal Worcester factory, and a three-decker pulpit. Nice…

        Like

  2. I enjoyed the Plough on my visit to Worcester. I had halves of the Hobson’s, MHB, Salopian Oracle and Titanic English Glory. My first Oracle! I confess I did stop at the cathedral.

    Like

    Reply

      1. Funny thing tasters mate. I sort of like them when faced with some esoteric new wave beer in somewhere like North bar, I mean it might be totally off the wall and not to my taste. In a proper pub with normal fare then it’s a definite no, no – if you’re not sure just get a half! I despair when people ask for a taster at a festival, especially when it’s being sold in thirds – for pity sake what’s a beer festival about if it’s not for testing new things.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Pingback: TOP 100 PUBS – KING CHARLES II, WORCESTER – retiredmartin
  6. Pingback: “LIVE AS YOU DREAM” – DEREHAM IN A CAMPERVAN – retiredmartin

      1. LOL. No, I have been looking at Worcester a bit lately. Saw the unanswered question and thought I would put it out of its misery. The blogs goal after all is to leave no questions unanswered. I was curious about whose covers those were though. I can’t say I have heard either person’s music. Have you?

        Liked by 1 person

  8. The Paul Pry has reopened and, to compete with the town’s record shops it has a “Record player available with a selection of vinyl records to play, or you can bring your own”.
    And a bostin’ pint of Banks’s Bitter is a very reasonable £2.65 in the Albert Vaults.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment