Premiership winning interlude over, back to the South coast.
So you’ve heard about a “pub” that shuts on Saturday for private functions, and a craft beer bar with trestle tables and ’80s vinyl, what about Proper Pubs ?
How about the Eclipse, which enchanted and disappointed a year ago ?
That was on a midweek afternoon; on a Friday night I thought it was a Top 100 pub, only denied that heading because SINGING “COCKLES & MUSCLES, DOOM BAR NBSS 4.0 OH” is a better title.
“Looks nice” said Mrs RM, who has a way with words.
“It is, but the beer is ropey” said I.
The Eclipse was busy enough, but just to be on the safe side I went for the previous beer pulled. But also got Mrs RM a Landlord, just in case.
Well, it was the best Doom Bar I’ve ever had. Yes folks, I enjoyed it. Cool, chewy, blah-de-blah (NBSS 4+). The Tim Taylor was decent too (NBSS 3.5). We stayed for a second packet of crisps.
But we hadn’t come in for the beer, just to soak up the atmosphere. This was the only place where everyone wasn’t dressed up and wearing suits and peaky blinder caps (true), just full of the sort of folk who like a chat and a pint. You could have been in Berwick.
The chap on the left of the photo above wandered over.
“Excuse me folks, do you mind if we sing a few songs ?”
“That’s fine. Can you do “Seven Nation Army” and “Yellow” ?”
So we were treated to a capella versions of “The Wild Rover“ and “Cockles and Mussels“, and very decent it was (NASS 4). Whatever happened to the Flying Pickets ?
It was pub magic. Then a group of lads came in, asking for Grappa, which must be rhyming slang for BRAPA, as the next things I heard were,
“Are you sure ?”
“Don’t worry, I only drive a Subaru”
retiredmartin 
I’m considering getting one of those carpets for my living room. A few tins of Tennent’s and Bob’s your uncle – instant pub, no need to go anywhere. Get a fruit machine in the corner and quit my job and live of it’s proceeds.
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I’d visit your pub, Morten. I quite like the Ægir beers from Flam. Sell me those for a euro a can and I’ll bring Mrs RM 😉
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That fellow appears to checking the time as if to say ” I wonder how long we have to keep up this singing malarkey before those strangers go and the landlord brings out the complimentary Friday night cocktail sausages “
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Excellent point. No-one sings for nothing, do they ?
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Or is he thinking “only nine minutes until the results of the Special Resolution votes are announced”?
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Know what you mean about opting for the previously pulled beer, but reminds me to give a shout out to two pubs recently that, on my arrival shortly after opening, pulled through and discarded what had been standing in the pipes overnight before serving my pints: Greyhound Inn, Sutton Stop, Coventry; Pembury Tavern, Hackney. Neither place knows me from Adam, so clearly a standard policy of two establishments determined to maintain a reputation for quality ale.
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Another good point. And in a couple of pubs around Bradford I saw the beer I’d ordered pulled through vigorously before I was served.
I was in the Pembury recently (it serves beers from my village), and excellent beer; the Greyhound has a great reputation for beer (Pedi from memory).
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Not Pedigree on that day – but Bass Premium was :-).
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Bass PREMIUM ? Wazzat ? 😁
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I experienced that in the Duke of Wellington in Hastings a few weeks back. It is just a standard neighbourhood boozer and I don’t think they do more than one or two real ales, but the landlady kindly pumped the day old Long Man out of the lines before attending to my mid day half. In my experience, most proper pubs will do that, but it is so much nicer if they do it by themselves without having been asked.
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I wonder how many people have ever asked for a beer to be pumped through !
Not sure I’ve been in the Duke, though I think Hastings is a reliable place to get a beer.
Do you come over much ? asks Mr Nosey here.
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4-5 times a year, but mostly London and the south east. I toured the pubs of Hastings, Rye and Ramsgate a few weeks ago, maybe London again in May and then North and West Yorkshire in July.
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Get them trained up properly and they’ll give you the discarded ale as a tester !
Got two free – NBSS 3.5 – pints the other day by rescuing nearly condemned beers.
The local ‘Spoons branch has two or three semi-professional drinkers who supplement their income by minesweeping !
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Proper pub + good beer = smiling people. The beer equation for every occasion.
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Ok.I’ll ask the question you probably get asked more than any other.
Which ?
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Which what !
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Which is the best pub you’ve been in so far on your intrepid adventure ? I would have thought you’d be asked that all the time.
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Sorry, thought you were after consumer advice.
This one, the Dove in Bury St Edmunds.
https://retiredmartin.com/2017/08/13/beer-from-the-jug-in-the-dove/
with the Dead Poets in Holbrook nr Belper (post soon) and the Front in Falmouth making up a top 3.
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All pubs should hav singing in! We once had to leav a pub for singign purposes and therefore it is not really a pub if it doesn’t allow singing at certain times. Wild Rover – tremendous – slightly disappointed they didn’t do Seven Nation Army for you though…
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I hope you realise that was irony ! The guitar group in Cambridge did Seven Nation Army, possibly interposed with Sweet Dreams !
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Yes I did! As was my response with a large tongue in cheek 😉 that sounds like it might actually work!
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Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire, Oh Dan-ny Mc-gu-ire … Seven Nation Army, Leeds Rhinos style.
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Wonderful! “We stayed for a second packet of crisps” the new benchmark for ‘proper pubs’
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You beat me to it– I was going to make this very same comment! Perhaps we’ll start dividing places into “single crisp packet” and “double crisp packet” pubs. 🙂
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Absolutely – rather than ‘staying for another pint of Doom beer’ which would have been unthinkable in a proper pub…:)
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The Lamplight Porter is usually good, if that’s your thing, where can I get myself a Peaky Blinder cap?
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Rough pub near New St station.
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When I was in Winchester a few years ago, the Eclipse was the best pub of the the nine or ten I visted. That probably wouldn’t surprise you. The much-lauded Hyde Tavern was the most disappointing.
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“So we were treated to a capella versions of “The Wild Rover“ and “Cockles and Mussels“,”
That partly explains the title, even if the scansion was off. 🙂
And maybe no peaky blinder caps, but that woman with the pink could have used one. 😉
Cheers
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I note there is a distinct absence of Doom beer backlash in these comments (so I added a little one in reply to pintsandpubs comment). This is difficult to explain, but possibly:
a) everyone has learned to love Doom beer, or learned to love a Doom beer lover
b) everyone so stunned to hear of Doom beer being scored NBSS 4+, that they are unable to comment…
c) everyone has given up…
d) Coors have improved the recipe and it’s now a proper real ale…
…just in case it’s d) I’ll pop down to the local and try it again…
😉
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Don’t diss the Doom.
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It was genuinely good in Winchester’s Eclipse, to be honest. Very drinkable. I don’t know what to think.
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