Our last day in Dorset (the eldest son had run out of bread to make himself sandwiches); a quick lunch in Lyme Regis. Here’s an under-pinked slice of Navigator.
Lyme is the last stop for the Beer Guide before Devon, and a merciless sea of inaccessible GBG ticks that can wait until I have a month to myself.
Despite the Easter drizzle the little town was thronged with families; excited children preparing to dig up the Jurassic Coast in a search for the fossils of the 27.4% who voted against Special Resolution 6.
Their endeavours lasted about 5 minutes before they headed for the cafes and pubs along the Cobb. The town was bustling with life (with one exception).
Lyme was much better than I expected, less fussy and gastro than a Southwold, perhaps more of a Staithes with shops.
And the Beer Guide promised a Proper Pub, with proper opening hours (11am to Midnight 7 days a week). We just needed to make a great uphill walk to the Nag’s Head, a real outlier on What Pub.
It was like walking back to 1998, with Guest House boards saying “Phone us for a brochure“. What a joy to live in a pre-internet age, next to a pub with a Bass sign.
As they say, it was worth the walk.
A lovely pub, simply furnished and with a warm welcome.
No Bass, but Otter is always a suitable BBB alternative. Cool and foamy, NBSS 3.5.
A couple of Old Boys in, and a very enthusiastic Otter fan that Mrs RM took a liking to.
Proper Pub highlights included fly-fishing accessories,
photos of famous jockeys,
and a soundtrack that never quite made it into the 1980s, getting close with “Just A Little Bit” and “Oh What A Night”, before lurching back to the ’60s with “Have You Ever Seen The Rain“, played without irony.
No irony either in the advert for “Prosecco Time !“, despite this being the least Prosecco (or pashmina) pub of the month.
Then, like Rupert Holmes as he started to sing, we planned our Escape.
We would have popped in Cellar 59; Richard Coldwell recommended it. But obviously it was closed, being a micro/bottle shop.
We’re planning a campervan trip for early May, somewhere with wide roads, free parking and lots of GBG pubs I haven’t done yet. Not much to ask.
retiredmartin 
Are you sure Fido wasn’t asking you to take him to a current Bass outlet?
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He’d have a long walk.
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“We’re planning a campervan trip for early May, somewhere with wide roads, free parking and lots of GBG pubs I haven’t done yet.”
Scotland? Is this before or after Northampton?
Had you never been to Lyme before? That’s a rare omission. I went in the Nag’s Head when I stayed there in 2003. Because of its uphill location and the fact that it doesn’t serve food, it doesn’t tend to get the crowds that the other pubs attract.
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Straight after Northampton.
Nags Head still open as long as half a dozen micro pubs put together 😉
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I see no fly-fishing tackle but lots of dart flights.
And the top left packet is appropriate for today – Happy St George’s Day old bean.
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Good job I never took up fishing. Or darts. I’m not one for celebrating any day more than the next, Prof. Obsession with days. Everyday is a pub dat.
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You wouldn’t say that if there was a National Bass Day…
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Every day is national Bass day.
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Love Lyme Regis. Never been in this pub, looks pleasant. Never been ‘out of season’ which maybe explains why Cellar 59 was closed? Sadly, I will not be allowed to visit Cellar 59 again, unless I resign as an active CAMRA member, as it serves the sort of excellent modern progressive beers that ♒︎ 27% of 10% of 180k CAMRA members disagree with. I will have to close now as, putting the finishing touches to the next edition of Leeds CAMRA New Full Measure magazine, I am wondering how to solve the problem of distributing 5,000 copies across Leeds and at the same time preventing any non-CAMRA, non real ale drinking, progressive beer drinking, nay even lager drinking pub goers from reading it! In the words of the immortal Kaiser Chiefs – I predict a riot!
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I must say progressive beer has a much better sound to it than craft beer.I shall henceforth be using it.Thank you.
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Is it like progressive rock? 😉
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I don’t like craft beer, it’s meaningless and misleading.
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What is a progressive beer.
I know nothing about this dispute and do not really want to.
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It’s a fancy word for “trendy” 😛
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It’s a beer that doesn’t taste like beer, Alan.
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It’s not a dispute for me Alan. For me a progressive beer is one brewed using innovative ingredients, non UK hops and the like, often American. Many progressive brewers are recreating styles long forgotten too and generally experimenting. As opposed to being the same old same old. Often nothing wrong with that and we have some wonderful traditional brewers. I like to embrace all of them, I even enjoy Lager which some would sneer at. If I have a dispute its with those that refuse to acknowledge anything other than their own view and who are prejudiced against any other way of looking at things.
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Real ale, dog, carpet, fire place – what’s not to like?
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Nothing 😉
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Fine pair of Docs to deal with pub dog.
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Brand new till I walked along Bridport Bay/swamp.
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Great title. Glad you averted Lyme’s disease trap. Think we picked the wrong beers in Cellar 59- very carbonated to our taste- but know others rave about it.
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Open pubs are the best ones.
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I loved Lyme Regis when we visited there. We really enjoyed the older pubs in the center and along Marine Parade. I know this won’t draw a lot of people, but they were for the most part Palmers’ pubs. Nag’s Head was very good too, but the feel of the center and waterfront was hard to top. I’m not sure anything can beat a pint at a waterfront pub in England.
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You’ve seen more of the southcoast than I have !
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Lyme Regis was a nice visit as was the Nag’s Head. We also had good food at the Taste of India on the way back to the Center.
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You pointed us to Hastings which I had bad perceptions of from 30 years ago. Loved it last summer. If they only had sparklers, I think we would go there more often. LOL.
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Oh dear !
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I went to Lyme Regis on the 23rd August 2000 and thought it was a really nice town,i did nine pubs there including five Palmers tied houses.
The Nags Head had three real ales on GK Abbot,Ridleys IPA which was very nice and Quay Sark Lark.
Two pubs had Bass on the Royal Lion Hotel and Volunteer Inn which i thought would be the pub that Camra types would prefer,it was also the most expensive in Lyme Regis.
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Loving the progressive beer thing, like prog rock as well. Have had a beer in Lyme Regis back in the 80’s, absolutely no recollection of what or where though.
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THINK HARDER !
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“Steep”
But a nice view at the end though. 🙂
“Guess the beers”
I think I see Tetley (and possibly Peroni?) down the far end. 😉
“and a very enthusiastic Otter fan that Mrs RM took a liking to.”
I’m thinking he was more of a crisp fan. 🙂
“Fly fishing”
Those must be those minnow ‘darts’ I’ve heard about. 😉
“before lurching back to the ’60s”
I spent most of yesterday afternoon downloading Billboard’s top 100 songs for 1968 (upcoming 50th anniversary for one of my wife’s brothers).
“somewhere with wide roads, ”
Wide roads? Could be tricky if you’re not leaving the UK. 🙂
Cheers
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You’re right about the roads !
Mrs RM thought those were fishing flies as well.
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“in a search for the fossils of the 27.4% who voted against Special Resolution 6” –Ha! It has been a slightly dark day, as I have watched people take sides on Twitter. I do hope the two camps can make peace with each other in the weeks ahead– surely people who like British beer, of any type, have plenty in common.
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We stayed in the Angel, a Palmer’s pub, in Lyme Regis but that closed some years ago.
More recently we have hired a cottage in Charmouth, opposite Palmer’s Royal Oak, and breakfast and Palmers in the Royal Standard and lunch and Palmers in the Cobb Arms made a nice start to the day before doing a few pubs, some of them Palmers, inland.
And we would often get to Bridport for pubs like the George and best of all the Ropemakers where it was just going to be a pint but Tally Ho was on and the food looked nice so we stopped to eat then the pub quiz started and we stopped for that and I probably had more Tally Ho in those few hours than during the rest of my life.
Worst beer of the holiday by far was in the Volunteer at Lyme Regis, and I was daft enough to buy pint reduced in price and was then not really surprised that it was Sarsons. Still, several “beer range varies” beers on and Palmers pubs might use cask breathers so the Volunteer was in the Good Beer Guide.
No surprise really that I used the Palmers pub leaflet more than the GBG.
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Interesting, particularly Palmers for breakfast !
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With no Wetherspoons venue in Lyme Regis Palmers have the sense to open their Royal Standard at 10am and I won’t be alone in preferring a Proper Palmers Pub to a soulless high street barn.
There’s nothing wrong with starting the day with BBB in a PPP.
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Are you seriously calling Wetherspoons soulless, Paul ? The buildings, frequently; the pubgoers, never.
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Martin,
You have reminded me of the danger of making generalisations.
Not all Wetherspoons buildings are soulless, those not being from a magnificent but redundant historic cinema or bank, rather than the Woolworths, being Tim’s cheapest option in any particular high street.
And indeed many of Tim’s customers are soulful which has been defined as “expressing or appearing to express deep and often sorrowful feeling” which is probably from being in a soulless building.
With apologies for digressing from Lyme Regis.
Paul.
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While some Wetherspoon’s are indeed in magnificent buildings, the fixtures and fittings often fail to do their surroundings justice. I think I’ve described them before as being like putting a works canteen in a cathedral.
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Yes indeed, and that reminds me that I’ve had better than microwaved ready meals in works canteens, and in a works canteen I expect my food and drink to be properly subsidised by my employer rather than just being marginally cheaper than in a proper pub just off the high street, not that I’ve ever been a “Wetherspoons hater”.
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Hi Martin, I am glad you enjoyed your visit to the Nags Head Lyme Regis.
I agree the hill is a long walk!
But its well worth it when you make it to the top.
See you again soon, all the best.
James (AKA landlord)
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Thanks for that James. Always good when the landlord sees positive feedback. The steep walk is great, and clearly I loved your pub.
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