Two pubs in Peebles. One a classic. One, less so. Actually, it now seems I’d missed the most famous bar in town. By five years.
Actually, Peebles is probably the capital of cask in the Borders, with five entries on What Pub.
A genteel town, the Leamington Spa of the North if you like, with groups of pensioners braving the drizzle on Tuesday, looking for cheaper coffee than in Costa.
So thank goodness for Spoons.
Like the customers, it’s very old, apparently.
Scottish Spoons are odd, of course. You can’t get a beer until nearly lunchtime, so no 9am Tennent’s drinkers, unfortunately.
Just a string of small rooms off a thin corridor filled with cheery gentlefolk.
A very thin corridor, in fact, that became akin to a Peebles RFC tighthead scrum as horders of pensioners descended on the lone DIY coffee machine in the middle. “More milk, more milk” went up the cry.
I sought refuge at the bar. I don’t think the absence of customers reflects the use of the Spoons App.
Too many beers, only one of them Scottish. If I’d sat there all afternoon I’d have been able to provide you with a breakdown of sales. I bet Doom Bar would have won (1-0).
The best thing I can say is that the WiFi works. That Deuchars (£2 a pint, I’d used my vouchers), was the worst I’d had in years. I only had a half (no Spoons vouchers so I couldn’t justify a pint) as I couldn’t be bothered to tackle the coffee crowd.
But not all was lost. As you see, Spoons provide a handy way of seeing if your beer really is vinegar. If you think the Sarsons is better, you get to keep the beer mat.
I kept the beer mat.
retiredmartin 
Scottish pubs and bars are often, for some reason, grim looking places from the outside.
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Sturdy is the alternative word 😉
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In the 19th century, there was a much stronger Prohibitionist tendency in Scotland than south of the border. Hence why so many older Scottish pubs and bars were deliberately designed to appear unappealing and, in particular, not to give passers-by any hint of the delights within.
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And this seems to have been rekindled in the 21st century with the SNP government’s anti-pub and anti-drink crusade 😦
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Malt vinegar in Scotland? All the best places use white.
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You’re right Martin – a lovely looking building that Spoons – but I thought they might have put in a more ‘old world’ interior to go with it..I do hope Tim’s checking what his interior design department are up to…
…that carpet is troubling – it looks like the river has just burst it banks and come rushing it – I would have an irresistible urge to stand on a chair or table…
I always think it’s odd how Doom beer appears to be a bit more expensive than a lot of other beers in Spoons. I’ve noticed that on the south coast as well – so it can’t be the cost of transporting it to Scotland. I know it’s still very cheap overall – but what can the reason possibly be – more expensive than all those beautifully hand-crafted micro brewery beers?…
BTW – was it a good beer mat…?
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Yes excellent beer mat, and interesting point about Doom pricing !
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Must agree with Pubhermit here; that area near the bar must be one of the most blandly “not-traditional-but-not-particularly-modern” Spoons interiors in the country. Lovely exterior, though. (interestingly that picture of the exterior– perhaps due to it being such an overcast day– very nearly looks like a black and white photo!)
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As you’ll probably have picked up, Mark, I’m a fan of Wetherspoons where other pubgoers aren’t. But some of them work better without cask beer; keg beer, coffee and wine would be fine !
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Spoons let Coors charge them a bit more for Doom in order to get the right deal on the far more important Carling, of which they will literally be selling millions of pints.
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“Not cask”
Pretty sure that will come after they finish sprucing the place up with fresh paint. 😉
“Frenzy”
Is the bloke in the photo the equivalent of those Walmart people who go shopping in their pajamas?
“I bet Doom Bar would have won (1-0).”
I’d would have had to have gone with the Monty Python one if only for the name. 🙂
“Taste test”
I would’ve thought that was the Scottish version of Lambic; malty and sour. 🙂
Cheers
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Leamington Spa can get a bit raucous of an evening 😀 people even travel from Coventry 😵
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That’s true. The two Spoons got very lively.
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How was wolves? Not been there for around 20 years!
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Well they didn’t throw bottles at our pubbers coach as we entered the city
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A massive improvement on friendly wisecracking locals in Liverpool then…
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Clearly class is the one thing money can’t buy.
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So a good start. 2 classic pubs and really great beer at.Banks’s brewery. I loved it.
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Excellent …glad to see it is decent as often gets overlooked for more classic black country towns
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