Dick and Dave will be safely Back in the USA (was that a song ?) now, but will have to wait a little while longer for my post while I run it past Trump Towers.
Instead I want to praise an unassuming little Essex pub five miles from Harwich Ferry, in the Beer Guide for the first time under its Landlord of 30 years (well done).
We stopped at the Waggon to give Mrs RM a last comfort break before the ferry to Hook, and the last real ale for a fortnight. It’s a very basic roadside pub, more Clacton than Harwich, and the very definition of unpretentious. Aficionados of the Gravesend to Northfleet stretch of pubs will love this place.
You really couldn’t stumble across the Waggon, unless you were looking for a place to bury a body in the misty fields. It really is “Great Expectations” style remote. The pub itself still has the original “Christmas Carol” decorations up too.
We entered to the joyous sound of chat and laughter from the 8 regulars, mostly our age, huddled round the bar. I’d love to know if Beer Guide inclusion has seen a flood of pub tourists, but suspect the GBG bonanza could be counted in pence.
We added £8.10 to the coffers, for a pint, a half, and two J20s. That would have been £11.50 odd in Battersea.
Mrs RM feigned disappointment at the lack of a gastropub menu, but secretly was happy to hang on for the massive bags of crisps on the Stena Line. She thought her pint of Mauldons and half of Shalfleet were good enough, though I didn’t see any other cask pulled during our stay.
I’d bought Mrs RM a BRAPA T-shirt (£15 + P+P) for her birthday, which has given her the heightened powers to overhear conversations like the one between ‘Chelle and Darren about trips to Vegas and the bonus ball on the Christmas raffle.
It all sounded like the plot for a Squeeze single c.1979, but instead Pete chose Stereophonics and Stealer’s Wheel.
Pete did apologise for choosing the Elton John though.
I liked it a lot. Cartoons of the Landlord, metal tankards behind the bar, a map of the footpaths of Wrabness, a sense of village community.
Use it or lose it, folk from Wix.
Take a close look at that chair Mrs RM is sitting at; it features heavily in the next instalment.
FOOTNOTE – Pub Curmudgeon has reminded me there was a second pub in Wix once, the relatively recently closed White Hart- see here.
retiredmartin 
Quiz = The top one is Final Selection.
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Actually in the ’90s it would have been the bottom one !
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You might not stumble across it these days, but before the A120 upgrades were done in the 1970s, the main A604 as it was then ran straight through Wix. I live in Clacton, so don’t visit very often, but have never had a bad pint there, always get a friendly welcome and their prices are perhaps the least expensive in the Tendring district.
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All of those 3 Ed, and a pub like that worth a detour. There’s some good pubs just off the A120 just before you get to Wix, of course, though I see the Haywain has only just re-opened.
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Brakespeare’s Ordinary, Flowers IPA and Castle Eden – the glory days of the first guest ale era. The Orange Tree in Winchmore Hill has a similar collection.
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Oh yes ! remember that (scarily). Any idea on the 3rd ? Whitbread something.
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I read it as Whitbread Best Bitter.
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Better eyesight than me, not a beer I remember on cask.
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Dick and Dave are safely home planning their next visit. We also had the “Great Expectations” feeling while standing outside the Shipwright’s Arms Faversham looking over the water.
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Thats the one in Hollowshore down by the creek ? Wonderful place.
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Yes, Hollowshore. I wondered if I should have used that instead of Faversham (Faversham always make me think of Havisham). We were there on a rainy, dreary night.
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Definitely file under Faversham, unless you’re trying to confuse Simon. Probably even better in the rain.
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Never actually been there, but I have a photo of the White Hart at Wix on my Closed Pubs blog.
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Thanks for that. I’ve added a link to your post on mine. The listed White Hart was up for sale as recently as 2011 but even with the Waggon’s lack of food there were no takers.
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The owner of the White Hart at Wix managed to get change of use to a house after years of trying, on the casting vote of the chair of whichever meeting had the final say, despite many local objections.That was 18th October 2011 if my records are accurate. The land behind has at various times had permission for a motel (never started) and I think now outline planning permission for houses. Recent (back to 1996) planning history is available here: https://idox.tendringdc.gov.uk/online-applications/propertyDetails.do?activeTab=relatedCases&keyVal=OFZ280QB03B02
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Thanks Ed. Too foggy the other week to notice much. A straggling village that probably grumbles about the lack of a food pub now.
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If you build a bypass, you remove a lot of the passing trade and visibility for village businesses, not just pubs. It’s a double-edged sword. If you never drive through the village you don’t even know there’s a pub there.
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Indeed. There’s no advertising boards for pubs on either side of the A12 to Harwich that I’ve notice, and there must be a few people looking for a pre-ferry stop.
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The only official brown and white signs on that section of the A12 mentioning pubs are for the ones with campsites (Strangers Home, Bradfield – currently closed, and the Castle at Ramsey).
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The Waggon looks quite posh to me,but that is compared to pubs in my home town.
Ive done most pubs in Faversham and area and visited the town three times,a pilgrimage to Shepherd Neame brewery.
On my second visit with a mate we camped at Painters Forstal,what a great name for a small village,there was a bus every Thursday to Faversham,we got there on a Saturday so after the walk up from Faversham we had to walk back and forth to get to the camp site,the Alma was a decent Shepherd Neame tied house and the only pub in the village,we also did another Shepherd Neame tied house in Faversham that was closing down that week so the beer was cheap,it was called the Kings Head.
15 Shepherd Neame tied houses done in Faversham all in 1982 and 1983.
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If the Waggon looks posh to you Alan I’m either a good or a bad photographer !
Painters Forstal is a great name.
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