Enough of the southern softies with their Peroni and rugger; back up north for a few ticks before chips and City.
Into Lymm, famed as the place where BRAPA insulted the locals by asking whether the village was in Greater Manchester. I visited the location where Simon was sacrificed to the God of Proper Counties.
The hail was falling as I arrived, so you’re spared a full review of Lymm’s undoubted attractions (mainly tanning salons, according to Si).
After years of new Beer Guide entries in posh Cheshire being limited by “New CAMRA” to bottle shops and boutique diners (a.k.a. B & P), the Bull’s Head is a return to “proper pubs“.
A proper pub with just the one other customer on Wednesday lunchtime, an Old Boy with a sensible hat. I worry for the quality of the beer in a quiet pub in a quiet village which boasts five pumps and a penchant for thin glasses.
But it’s a particularly tasty Original (NBSS 3+), enhanced by the surroundings in another really attractive Hydes pub.
The locals even chat to me about football. This being Greater Manchester, we confirm City will thump Burnley at the weekend and that rain is coming.
My body temperature rises by about 20 degrees in 10 minutes, proving once again the health benefits of pubs.
The back room is a bit austere but has classic bench seating and a dart board actually placed away from the chairs in a rare display of common sense.
The Bull’s Head would stand out a mile in Cambridgeshire, but in Cheshire I sense it’s one of dozens of proper pubs that cling on to life in the face of competition from Taps and Tapas. I suspect Pub Curmudgeon has been in them all.
I’m surprised you’ve never been in that one before, as it has been in the GBG in the past, although maybe not recently.
Proper pubs becoming increasingly thin on the ground in the more prosperous parts of Cheshire, unfortunately. GBG Cheshire (as opposed to real Cheshire) is not one of Britain’s best pub counties.
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(Checks his GBG spreadsheet) I’ve only been to the Spread Eagle and newish Brewery Tap in Lymm before, and been doing all Manchester for a dozen years, so Bull’s Head must be a long overdue return to the Guide. It certainly looks a GBG pub.
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Like the line about body temperature rising and the health benefits of pubs. PC is correct. I did this pub on Christmas Day 1987, probably my only ever tick on that date. Also recall seeing somewhere at the time that all pubs in Lymm open on Christmas Day.
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I’m picturing you making a daytrip from Paisley or Reading or wherever to Lymm as a Christmas present to yourself, Duncan !
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On the way south at the time! There are groundhoppers who have seen games on every day of the year. Christmas Day matches were still played in Scotland until 1976 and there remains an annual fixture in Belfast. Otherwise it’s off to the Middle East for the dedicated.
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“My body temperature rises by about 20 degrees in 10 minutes”
Have you been reading discourse again?
So is Lymm in Lesser Manchester?
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No, that’s his blood pressure rising 😛
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Wealthy Warrington
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Amazed you made it out of Lymm alive after calling it ‘Greater Manchester’. These are the types that would rather my ends weren’t included in Cheshire at all, the only footballers who live out here are called Dave and are also electricians
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Everyone knows Halton is the true Cheshire; after all Paul Simon never wrote a song about Prestbury or Sale, did he ? Did he ?
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What a wonderful looking village. That’s the kind of place most of us foreigners only see because of the GBG.
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It is lovely, cobbled streets near market place quite striking. Other good pubs nearby.
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Proper pub, BBB, and a beautifully etched apostrophe. What more does a person want?
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Not much, Ian, not much.
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A pub cat would make it complete.
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And a railway station….
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It’s been a while, but I’ve been to the Bull’s Head twice on our canal trips – 2000 and 2010 – so only another two years before our ‘regular’ decadal visit! Glad to see that it hasn’t changed much!
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I don’t think I’ll ever be able to look at Si the same now he’s been scarificed (sic – according to you). Does it make him walk funny or can’t you tell?
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“Sacrificial site”
I think that’s fake. Surely they would have tied his orange scarf around one of the posts as a reminder to others? 😉
“Bay window”
Nice window, and looks like a nice pub. 👍
Cheers
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There was so much snow you can’t see the orange scarf.
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“a dart board actually placed away from the chairs in a rare display of common sense.” –Ha! Seems you’ve seen them in places guaranteed to injure innocent bystanders.
Is it fair to say the British are particularly interested in matters of location, which towns fall within which county, etc? It’s hard to imagine Americans debating this kind of thing– I barely know the name of the county I live in!
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Interesting that Americans don’t but then you were only invented 240 years ago so you may catch up when Texas annexes Oklahoma and border debates start anew.
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I’d describe it more as being particularly interested in matters of identity.
Counties in the US are more the equivalent of local government districts in the UK – UK counties are more like US states. I get the impression Americans are fairly attached to their state identities, and indeed the boundaries of states seem pretty immutable. There are plenty of odd anomalies and panhandles that a rational mind would surely have tidied up, for example that odd bit of Maryland sticking out to the west along the top of West Virginia.
And I’m sure the inhabitants of Kansas City, Missouri, would be up in arms if someone proposed moving them into Kansas.
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