EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY

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You can’t begin to imagine how excited I was to be given a visit to Daventry by the new Beer Guide.  It’s at least 15 years since the Dun Cow and Coach & Horses bounded hand-in-hand into the GBG and stayed there togetherfor ever, at least until they both dropped out a little while back.  Two more solid, ordinary locals pubs it would be hard to imagine. And till now those were the only two pubs in the Guide, even with a decent Spoons.

There has been no reason to go back to Daventry since.  Or so I thought.  Clearly any town whose primary school children can be commandeered to erect warning signs to keep out aliens must be taken seriously.  (Of course it could be a Hockney).

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Stop or we will fyr (sic) says Tommy, age 7

Oddly, this warning is strategically placed not on the A361 but in the underpass, one of the more terrifying in the UK since Coventry cleaned up its act.

More oddly, my parents have been here more than me. Specifically, they’ve been to Badney, presumably for coffee at the garden centre and bluebell watching.

It’s my lot in life to misuse apostrophes find exciting things to say about all the places I visit in England.  So here’s my bullet points on Daventry;

  • Admission to Daventry Town, top of United Counties League Div 1, is just £8
  • The town centre is nicely pedestrianised
  • It has a Wetherspoons !
  • There’s an electrical shop called Edison
  • Despite the attractive Lion & Lamb sign, Fridays is one of the most unprepossessing pubs I’ve seen in years.  That may be good, I don’t know.
  • The impressive Holy Cross church has bell-ringing practice on Tuesdays

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That ought to be enough to get me the job as Tourist Officer, I think.

The crowning glory, of course, is the inevitable micro-pub, which just as inevitably was closed on my first attempt at a visit a few Saturdays ago, just like nearly everything else in January.

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Early Doors was worth an unlikely second visit to the town, and a worthy new GBG entrant.

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It’s large enough not to feel trapped in micro chat, with plenty of proper seating. Two blokes my age chatted to the cheery landlady, two blokes my age read books, two blokes my age contemplated the barrels of beer. You know how micros work.

As at its Northampton home, the house Phipps IPA was superb(NBSS 3.5), served frothy and at perfect temperature. As seemingly required by the Herne Laws, it was just £3.

Anyway, back to the incomprehensible underpass art.

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Five points for the answer to that question.

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.

18 thoughts on “EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY”

      1. I was actually born in Stoke (true) and since yesterday have been wrestling with the existential crisis of not knowing whether I am therefore from the Midlands, the North, or from a gateway between the two.

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      2. Wow ! You go even further up in my estimation. You’ll see from my blog what a Potteries fan I am. I reckon Stoke towns (particularly Burslem) are more northern than a lot f places in Cheshire and Lincs that are geographically higher. Of course, Peterborough is a Midland town even if Cambridge isn’t !

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  3. Erm, I think you’ll find that the first piece of street art is an anti-global warming statement with the last word “fry”. Or were you joking there? The second one looks like schoolkids being harassed by paparazzi?

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  4. If I had to sit on the beach, I would position myself to the right hand side, out of the picture, so that the cannons were pointing in the wrong direction to kill me. I’m good at health and safety you see. Otherwise I agree with Dick.

    Stoke is the second best away day in the top division of English football. Oatcakes, and the shops that sell them, are ace. The people are ace. All those positives, however, do not make it a northern town by the technicality of it not being in the north.

    Is the alien graffiti a threat to fry the aliens? Is there a shortage of fish to fry in Daventry?

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      4. I have not been to Burnley and have not heard Dave speak of it. It looks nice a convenient train base. I do like the look of the Beer Huis.

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