“Those who attain any excellence, commonly spend life in one pursuit; for excellence is not often gained upon easier terms”.
Samuel Johnson, on completing the 1770 Good Beer Guide.
What a wonderfully underrated little place Lichfield is. There’s not much to do, but its streets are made for walking. Mostly into the back of slow shoppers.
You’ll have seen the cathedral, but the half-timbered businesses along Dam Street are the real gems. Dam Fine Barbers attempt at Amsterdam chic is commendable.
The shops are much more interesting than those in Sutton; you can get five different types of sourdough in Hindley’s Bakeries, which is almost Cambridge levels. There’s a proper market too, with a statue of someone with a highly tenuous connection to the city.
There’s certainly a healthy collection of proper pubs in Lichfield, though disappointingly few of those are in the Beer Guide now. That’s no criticism, local CAMRA folk know much more about beer quality than I do.
Other factors may be at play apart from the micropub fad explosion; I couldn’t help notice how many beers Joule’s Duke of York has on now. Pale and Slumbering Monk are all I need, thanks. When there’s that many on I might well avoid the cask lottery by going for the Green Monkey lager.
Just like the red Bass triangle, the red Joules cross is the symbol of quality, and this is a classic town pub. Pleasingly, the Duke was packed with drinkers, which is telling. No place in the Guide for the marketplace Earl of Lichfield Arms either (sob), and that was also packed with an earthier type of boozer.
But there is another new micropub, right next to the ancient Whippet.
Or so I thought. “This is NOT a micropub” screams Beerbohm, just like Macclesfield’s classic proclaiming “This is NOT a free house” for years. (Until it was).
And Beerbohm is distinctly pubby, perhaps with more in common with Leek’s Den Engel than it’s excellent Herne-compliant neighbour. For a start, it’s got Whim as a slightly challenging house beer (NBSS 3). The customers aren’t your usual either.
QUIZ – WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THIS PUB THAT YOU CAN’T IN THE WHIPPET ? CLUE IN THE PHOTO
I walked the hour to Wall, worth it for the slightly elevated view back to the Cathedral alone. The pub at the end will be well down my year-end list though. This was the extent of the seating for drinkers in the Trooper.
I don’t know where to start;
The Pedigree (£3.60 a pint) was near undrinkable, a real first-out-the-pumps beer. There were no other drinkers, or diners by the look of it, so no condiment-based hilarity either. Just as well I’m a big Prosecco fan…..
Unlimited Prosecco and jam jar cocktails. “Bliss it was in that time to be alive”.
retiredmartin 
Bring in your own polystyrene food container?
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Excellent – BYO food works for me, as long as folk don’t make a mess on tables like they do in Spoons.
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Nicely done Mr. Nicholls. That deserves two points. I love the start of this post. I chuckled. Which is pretty much laughing out loud for me.
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This is a respectable site. We’ll have no chuckling here.
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Nice one Centurion, nice one.
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I believe the statue is Boswell who was the navigator for Johnson as he worked his way through the beer guide.
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It is Boswell, but I can’t understand why a bloke who visited a pub (that wasn’t even in the Beer Guide) once gets a statue an Simon and I don’t.
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We intend to erect statues of you and Simon in late December. You have more than earned the honor.
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Thank you. Little ones made from Sam Smiths beer mats are fine. I’ll supply the beermats.
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There`s a statue of Arthur Conan Doyle in Edinburgh, commemorating his completion of all the Scottish GBG pubs in 1897.
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Is there ? Is he still holding the copy of the Guide he completed ? Id like to see if there’s any advice for taking your pint back in 1897.
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For an extra point, without googling it, the final quote is Wordsworth written about the French Revolution.
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I read it once in Gramophone, good to know. Worth an extra point lad.
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I just looked up what Gramaphone’s focus is on. Now I know you do have a really wide range of musical interests. Is there any style of music you don’t follow?
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I don’t like anything to do with Halloween Dave. That is all. Or music recorded on oil rigs.
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Comments like this one lead to follow ups. Name a song recorded on an oil rig? Or is that your poing:)
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That’s my poing 😉
Actually, Johnny Cash must have recorded an album on one, surely ?
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Even better than Johnny – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGIgyQ856dU
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Wow -you win ! Top quality Shirley too.
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I like your use of vintage postcards in your posts Martin. Are they from your own collection ? Lichfield looks like a town to visit soon.
The only Joules pub I have been in is the Cross Keys in Chester. Loved the decor, and the Slumbering Monk.
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No I occasionally get them off Google when I can’t get proper light on my own phone camera. I do like old photos of places as you don’t get the cars and Poundshop signs.
I really rate Joules, quite a few featured n the Beer Guide and therefore this blog. My main (unreasonable) gripe with micropubs is that they seem to edge out Joules/Titanic/freehouses in a few Staff/Cheshire towns.
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Just looked at the Joules website to see where the concentration of their pubs are, and the Chester one is the closest to me. The pub page is interesting reading. I think I like them and their ethos.
http://www.joulesbrewery.co.uk/pubs/pub_list.php
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Thanks for posting that, I hadn’t realised how many new pubs they’d opened/taken over. The Chester one is excellent, but has had some reduced opening hours I think.
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I would have to object as Lichfield is a city rather than a town. Indeed, it is well known for its very rare example of a railway station with the suffix ‘City’ in its name.
That menu in the Trooper is a pedant’s nightmare. Although my main gripe is the attempt to appear over evolved by writing in various foreign languages.
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Its better than websites like Trip Advisor that would label North Ferriby or Scartho a city though.
Very good spot on the languages .
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Have you already ticked the Horse and Jockey in Lichfield? In addition to the Duke of York, I liked that pub and the George and Dragon, which dropped out of the GBG.
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Years ago, quite pubby, but preferred the G&D. Years ago the Queen’s Head was well known for cheese & pate lunches.
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