A few posts from the “M180 corridor” as I finish Lincolnshire, a large county rather over-represented in the Beer Guide if you ask me.
But I always welcome a trip to Barton-upon-Humber, which seems intent on giving all its pubs a crack in the GBG. Rotation, rotation, rotation.
I was last here for the Great Mass Observation of 2016, but neglected to bring you a picture of the train from Grimsby terminating at the picturesque station. Here you go.
A flying visit, so no time today to track down Barton’s gem, the house where Paul Hayes lived while playing for Scunthorpe United in the ’90s. But here’s a proper barber shop.
The White Swan lies across the road from the station entrance, and very handsome it is too. “Surprised I haven’t been here before“, I thought to myself, as I was nearly mown down by a white van while crossing the road while staring at What Pub on my phone.
At the door I spotted the GBG17 sticker.
Having finished Lincs last year, that meant one of two things. Either I lied about completing the county last year (ain’t nothing I can do about that) OR I‘d been here before. A ticker’s nightmare. I could have spent more time in Grimsby (said no-one ever).
I went in anyway, if only to try and jog my memory. It’s a bit sparse and modern, and the only two customers were about to leave. That happens to me a lot.
Quite a lot of beers on the bar, too. Recognising none of them, I went for the one with a bloke drinking beer on the clip.
Aaagh, a handle. Still, the Landlord was old school gem, and at least there were a) proper Carlsberg beer mats, b) NO jam jars.
And then I saw this is the/a Scunthorpe Pub of the Year. I’ll say this, what Scunny lacks in quantity it more than makes up for with beer quality. This was a Beer of the Month, despite the evil jug. Cool, rich, complex, bitter, NBSS 4.5.
I warmed to a naff soundtrack that ranged from “She’s the one” to “All I wanna do”, and my only warning is that the sexist pictures in the Gents will either have you heading to social media to complain/planning a return visit to North Lincolnshire (delete as appropriate).
This is the only remotely printable one.
retiredmartin 
Postcard of that genre often portray men as inadequate and downtrodden, so in a sense could be regarded as misandric 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
We can only be thankful such an image wasn’t on a pumpclip.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This country is becoming so prudish, not allowed to have saucy pump clips anymore, what was wrong with the old Castle Rock Elsie Mo pump clip.
I do despair about how things are going, it will come to the point where women have to cover up and show no flesh in a few years time.
LikeLike
Classic case of Accidental Revisit Syndrome – we’ve all done it. Surprising it doesn’t happen more often. Maybe also surprising how many pub toilets still have those Donald McGill postcards. Apparently there is a museum of his stuff on the Isle of Wight. Perhaps the nearest modern equivalent is all that Marilyn Monroe-esque wallpaper you see from time to time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely an award winning picture of dimpled jug with exceptional lacings….is Lincolnshire overrated?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve never met anyone who rated it highly ! (Stamford and Lincoln apart). I do like the coast but the interior is desparate.
LikeLike
Fair point…I’ve been to Stamford which is good but no little of rest
LikeLike
Stamford is to Lincs as Repton is to the A38 corridor 😉. It’s practically Rutland.
LikeLike
Ah right…the picture is clearer now 👍
LikeLike
Off to Lincoln on Saturday – we’re at Sincil Bank for first time since 2004. Updating a pub guide, found eight pubs within c.1/2 mile of the stadium have permanently closed since then. (It may be more – those just the ones that had received a mention.) Been a tough time for pubs generally, but wonder if reason for so many disappearing in such a focused area was Lincoln’s spell out of FL, when attendance slump to around 2,500 for five years; before more than doubling in their promotion season, and up another 75% this, now back in FL. Some pubs already struggling were tipped over the edge when the surge of custom from football fans once a fortnight was severely reduced? There is one new pub within that radius since 2004 – perhaps predictably, a micropub.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely a factor.
Mirrors Cambridge a bit (9 years in Conference 05-14). Lost 3 basic pubs close to the ground, one of which (Greyhound) was away pub.
Those pubs always at risk from smoking ban, Spoons, general trend away from wet-led pubs.
Has Yeovil seen any benefit since promotion(s) ? I guess not.
LikeLike
Not much impact, as had moved out from Huish in the town centre (now a Tesco), to Huish Park in 1990, thirteen years before made it to FL. Right on western edge of town, in suburb of Houndstone, two & half miles from the centre, so any effect on pubs in town had already worked its way through before the crowd boost of promotions. Location in relation to the road network and two railway stations means few fans, home or away, will go through town. Only the limited numbers using the A30 route, or Penn Mill station, even need to.
There were five hostelries towards HP when we moved. Two estate pubs, The Arrow (Marston’s) and The Royal Standard (Wadworth); three roadside, The Bell (a Hungry Horse), The Plucknett (a Palmers) and The Preston (a B&B hotel). There are still five, though with a change: The Airfield Tavern (Table Table) has opened; the Plucknett was closed and sold by Palmers for property development in 2016.
None of these are ever going to see the pages of the GBG ;-).
LikeLike
That’s true. Mind, it’s 1.5 miles from the historic centre of Lincoln to Sincil Bank !
Incidentally, I’ve only ever been in 2 Yeovil pubs (Butchers Arms and Quicksilver; can’t think of anywhere similarly sized I’ve been to less pubs.
LikeLike
Martin,
Yes, “Stamford is to Lincs” as anyone going by train knows with the ticket showing “STAMFORD LINCS” which will be to avoid confusion with the bigger “STAFFORD” but Stafford is only bigger because an influential Lincolnshire landowner didn’t want that newfangled railway on his land near the market town and so Peterborough became the important railway junction instead.
LikeLike
It’s not a town for many good pubs! See has none in latest GBG; The Quicksilver, which had an unbroken run of nearly a decade, has been dropped. Apart from it, and (a single year for) the Butchers Arms, the only other pub to make it in last ten years was The Great Western (twice). A battle is being fought at the moment to save it from property developers: ‘Save The Great Western pub, Yeovil’, Facebook group. Sadly it looks like a battle that is already pretty much lost. Demolition crews have been in destroying the interior even before final planning permission has been granted.
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…despite the evil jug. Cool, rich, complex, bitter, NBSS 4.5.”
Just speaking up for proper glasses here – I can’t help thinking that drinking a beer from a dimpled glass and scoring it as 4.5 is no coincidence…
The dimpled glass is back…http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-27188915
..it’s not only old men with flat caps and whippets by the way…
…even for hipsters, beards and ‘girls in skinny jeans and fashionable T’s’ – apparently…
…by eck – the BBC’s stereotyping is enough to make your flat cap curl…
LikeLike
Dimples for Dumbos mate.
LikeLiked by 1 person