Not a lot to say about the next two Northumberland pubs, Mrs RM quaffing a quick half and letting me sip the dregs, washed down by a soda water*.
Frankly, I sense the OS extract will keep Russ going for weeks, anyway.
When “Football Hole” and “Jenny Bells Carr” aren’t even the best of it, you’re on a winner.
Sadly, Embleton and High Newton are inland, and Mrs RM wasn’t taking a walk to the Ship at 9pm, having been nearly locked out of her Melrose hotel at 10.30 last week.
Whenever I visit less heralded parts of the country I get loads of people telling me about the pubs I’ve just missed. Folk can’t understand how I could miss the Ship; that’s the lot of the GBG ticker.
But I’ll be back in the autumn.
I can’t wait for a return to Rothbury.
Embleton has a quarry I couldn’t find, a golf course, and a good pub.
The Greys is a small, traditional village dining pub, not a gastro, so the beer range looks a bit ambitious.
What’s wrong with Bass ? Or Workie Ticket ? I know the answer to that, but I’m not telling.
But, good Alnwick Amber (NBSS 3.5), friendly locals, Bryan Ferry (’81 vintage) soundtrack, bench seating,
and a strange Kent lady shouting “Why are they wearing pink shirts” at the telly.
The dogs were better behaved.
A mile or so down the road, the Joiners Arms manfully accepted its role as “not the Ship” by being a quirky gastropub, and I respect it for that.
Oooh, a beer you’ve heard of. Just to be contrary, I went for the Alnwick again. Mrs RM enjoyed it, again, though she wouldn’t be able to pick it out of an identity parade.
This is the sort of pub with loud laughing couples and extravagant low-hanging lampshades I’d slag off it was in east Sussex (sorry, Battle), but quite liked here. We had no idea why they needed a sign saying “Drinks only” at 9pm, but there you go.
Lovely people. I think it’s the accents.
*There’s a blog post to be written on soda water (carbonated tap water) and how proper pubs serve it free with ice and lemon but micros charge you £1.20 for a little bottle, but not tonight.
retiredmartin 
High Newton-by-the-Sea, Low Newton-by-the-Sea… occasionally am inspired by the utterly delightful eccentricity that is Britain.
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Village names north of Yeovil hard to beat !
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Dorset Man or Man of Dorsetshire… never sure which. We have the BEST village names ;-).
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No, the best village names are in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
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Loved the detail about the “Kent lady shouting Why are they wearing pink shirts”.
It is interesting how often you encounter an entire range of beers you’ve never heard of, given the sheer number of beers you’ve heard of. Makes me wonder if a comparable traveller in the US would find a similar situation very often. I feel like in America you may find, say, 70% of the beers being obscure brands, but there’s always going to be a few “Lagunitas” or a “Sierra Nevada” types of beer in there. But maybe cask is a different kind of marketplace, leading to many little-known brands being able to get on the bar?
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I guess if I lived in Newcastle and just travelled in the North-east I’d see those beers more often, Mark. Free houses tend to exercise their option to choose beers from small breweries.
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Do you think it’s part of a business strategy to give pub visitors something unusual, something they can’t find at the local supermarket? Or are these brands quite familiar to the locals, and mysterious only to the visiting outsider?
I keep thinking it would be a somewhat risky approach to be a pub that presents cask ale as one of its selling points, and yet when cask ale enthusiasts like yourself walk in they may well find that they can’t recognize anything that’s on offer. Though I do like the idea of the “little guy” brewers getting their time in the sun, going up against the bigger companies.
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These beers would all be familiar to local drinkers Mark.
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Thanks for the info, Richard. It’s a level of localization that we don’t see in America, I don’t think.
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I’ve sat in The Greys plenty times, till 3 or 4 in the morning. Embleton is a wonderful place, with lovely people. Correct on The Joiners, it’s a nice place, but not so much of a pub. The fish and chips are excellent, but don’t forget to book.
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3 or 4 in the morning ? I’m asleep by 4 in the afternoon. You youngsters.
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Just to confuse matters, there’s also a High and Low Newton near Cartmel in
LancashireCumbria, which are fairly close to Morecambe Bay, if that counts as the sea.LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve sent a link to this to Andrew who runs the Greys. I think he’ll be delighted. The Newtons are becoming known as Jesmond by the Sea owing to the numbers of well heeled folks from the affluent suburbs of Newcastle buying up holiday homes and generally tweeing up the place which is a bit sad. Most Northumberland free houses stock local beers because they find that the tourists and locals prefer seeing something local on the bar.
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Thanks EP. Really good pub even if it was a flying visit.
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http://bl.ocks.org/Azgaar/b845ce22ea68090d43a4ecfb914f51bd
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You weird.
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Is there any other way to be?
I refuse to believe half the places you claim to pass by actually exist.
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That’s half more than I believe.
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“I sense the OS extract will keep Russ going for weeks, anyway.”
Meh. Once you get by the various versions of Newton or Emble there’s not a lot there, apart from the one near the top. Is that the UK version of Fire Island? 😉
“Five more you’ve not heard of”
Pfft. I saw the Freedom one on your Morpeth post. 🙂
“The dogs were better behaved.”
They almost look like twins.
“and I respect it for that.”
From the photos, it looks ok.
“but not tonight.”
Probably for the same reason you can order Evian* or some such muck and it’s waaaay more expensive than tap water. 🙂
Cheers
* – I’m sure you’ve heard this before but ever notice how ‘Evian’ is ‘naive’ backwards? (LOL)
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