I still get people commenting on this blog about how unlucky I am to go loads of rubbish pubs when I could just go to the Maypole/Cambridge Blue/Petersgate Tap all the time and drink great beer in convivial surroundings.
Where’s the fun in that ?
I love the variety of pubs that gets in the Beer Guide, from the rules-led micro to the Sam Smiths boozer to the family diner.
The next stop, via two buses and a walk through an industrial estate, would be low down most CAMRA members’ “must-see” list, but of course high on mine.
Central Warrington has the food-free boozers, but the distinct suburbs below the M62 at least provide a Pedigree or Abbot with your carvery.
The Seven Woods has the same community catch-all feel as the Eight Towers in Widnes . No doubt I’ll find a Six Flags in St Helens if I look hard enough.
It’s been refurbished recently, presumably to attract the hallucinatory market.
A couple of gentle folk dining to the left, a couple of Old Boys drinking Cloudwater Carling at the bar, more TVs with Sky debating the transfer window than you could count.
The service was cheery, as it generally is in Marston pubs, and a barmaid sensed my despair at the three barren hand pumps,
“But we’ve got EPA and Hobgoblin !!”
Never have I felt so pleased to find a half of Marston’s EPA.
“There ya go chuck” Possibly my first ever “Chuck“.
£6.25 for two courses* and a very decent half (NBSS 3). Looking now I see that if I’d had a pint it would only have been £5.95, and that will surely haunt me to the end of time.
I have a feeling that in a couple of hours, when the primary schools discharge their Sams and Simons, the Seven Woods might see a bit more custom for its bargain meals. I was almost tempted by the toy grabber myself. That’s the second one in a new Beer Guide pub this year after Durham.
* Nachos and hunters chicken weren’t gourmet, in fact they weren’t as good as Spoons grub, but they were a bargain. I was fed and watered and out within 20 minutes.
I’m not going to post a comment. You know my views on pubs like that. Ooops I’ve started, so I’ll finish. I like Warrington, nowt special, but there’s something about it. Cue chorus of “it’s always their year …” The thing is, and it follows on from Peter’s post about people bs closing down, the whole NW is turning into an out of town shopping centre, with pubs like this to match. They’re forgetting what they’ve got, which is good. A bit like Sheffield did, and I think now regret, with Medderall.
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Standard new build Marston’s but nothing wrong with that and EPA is a decent pint…like the regional variety in GBG…
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This pub wouldn’t get near the Beer Guide in Derby and Burton (you’ve been to several similar places) but does in industrial Cheshire, Burnley and, oddly, Rutland. Lack of choice makes people appreciate their pubs more.
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That’s a good point…loads of crackers in Derby but in regions of Brum and Solihull that would be a contender
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I think what your blog (and Pub Hermit down south) shows is that folk don’t take much notice of the Beer Guide, except perhaps the free houses run by CAMRA members. It’s good to be acknowledged, but for most “normal” pubs it makes no difference to visits. Trip Advisor is much more important.
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Interesting that while good beer and good pubs often come together, it’s not always the case as the GBG blogs show.
I suspect ‘non-beer enthusiast’ general public are focussed not on ‘good beer’ in the GBG sense, but what they consider to be their ‘good pub’ as a first priority. I guess that will be judged on a range of factors like convenient to get to/close to home, good crowd they socialise /feel comfortable with, type of pub (loud/quiet etc), type of events the pub puts on etc (haven’t mentioned beer in that list yet).
😉
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Agree. Ask folk in our village what the best pubs are and you’d get a real mix, but predominantly the slightly smart pubs with informal dining that you’ve been blogging about here
https://pubhermit.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/whats-lover-got-to-do-with-it/
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I’m lucky.
I live in a town of 12,000 souls with 17 pubs none of which do food.
They exist to sell drink and nothing else.And they all sell pretty much exactly the same drink.
Of the 17 there’s one dog rough and all the rest I’d quite happily have a drink in.
But within that 16 there’s a kaleidoscopic range of quality of pints,welcome from landlord,incestous locals,different sporting allegiances and just plain cranky people.
All of them have been in business for the best part of 50 years or more.
None of them allow smoking,a couple will do a lock-in and I’d quite happily take my wife into any of them.
I just thought I’d put this out there.
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“No doubt I’ll find a Six Flags in St Helens if I look hard enough.”
The 100 foot high roller coaster will be a dead giveaway. 😋
“Psychedelic”
Indeed! 😱
“Quiz -identify the flags”
All the members of that Euro Cup thingy? 🤔😏
Cheers
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It was indeed THAT Six Flags that sprang to mind.
You’re right, but I was being facetious. Duncan can identify the flag of Vanuatu blindfolded.
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Before I go to a pub like that I’d need to get special glasses that change all the bright colors to blacks and muted browns. 😉
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Ha ! Yes, it wasn’t understated. Definitely a very particular branch of the Marston’s brand.
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The toy grabber machine is actually full of pink marker pens for desperate map carriers.
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LOL! 🙂
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Oh I say,well played sir.
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Martin, did you have a bad experience with one of these in Las Vegas?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42992945
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Ha ! Ever seen the IT Crowd episode where he gets stuck overnight in the machine ?
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Ah, drifting ever closer to the Mighty ‘Corn. I’m half Warringtonian you know. The Eight Towers is an odd place. Naming a pub after a power station which is slowly reducing the life expectancy of all those in its vicinity is a uniquely Widnesian type of humour. Reminds me of a joke which only makes sense in Halton – “Marvin Gaye gets on the X1 in Runcorn and says ‘Can I Get A Witness?’ – No, says the driver, you need the 79C”
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That joke cropped up on “Pointless” earlier this week, as did a reference to Paul Simon writing “Homeward Bound” on Farnworth (now Widnes) station.
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It made me laugh, anyway.
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The first time I ever heard that song as a little kid, I honestly thought it *was* “Can I get a Widnes?” and I couldn’t for the life of me work out what it was supposed to be.
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Oh, sadly no new pubs in Runcorn this year ;-(
Just some dreaded micropub in Chester to finish off the county. Nothing as bad as Hartford’s Chime this year 😉
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Is that the Goat & Munch? IIRC Simon has already been there.
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