BRAPA and I agree on most things, but occasionally I find myself in awe of just how hardcore a #PubMan he is, as when we had a minor difference of opinion over the Queen’s Head. Pubs that take themselves too seriously rarely score highly on the BRAP-ometer (£37.99 + P+P from Goole).
Simon has just visited Peterborough on his latest trip and we await his characteristically solemn report with details of hop varieties and ABVs. Perhaps.
That smell at the Palmerston was nothing to do with me, though I’d been in mere days before on an unexpected last trip to Posh railway station with Mrs RM.
Perhaps the most beery of ‘Boro’s pubs, and certainly Bateman’s best unless someone in Lincoln wants to argue with me. There’s a touch of Cambridge’s Mill Road about it, but it’s more Live and Let Live than the Blue, being free of food (hurrah !).
I’m sure they’ve moved the bars around since I last went.
Yes, it’s a bit of a breweriana museum.
But there’s some high quality stuff.
And the book and CD library includes such classics as the Nigel Mansell autobiography, which I bet Simon nicked.
Proper seating, beer mats, blokes with enormous man bags. All present and correct.
OK, the beer range is the sort of thing you’d have seen in a Tynemill pub a decade ago,
Yes, ten (10) beers, all from the barrel. In a suburban pub on Monday afternoon. Sounds like a recipe for soup, but the Brewsters Hophead was superbly cool and rich, another NBSS 4 in a month full of them.
No beer bores; it’s hard to imagine tickers here. And more people in the smoking shelter than the bar; no surprise when it’s as welcoming as this.
A decade or so ago the Palmerston Arms was so busy some evenings it restricted entry and had a year out of the Beer Guide (as with the Blue Bell in York). Funny no-one stops micro pubs that restricts entry by almost never being open out of the Guide these days.
retiredmartin 
Am a self confessed ticker, but Palmerston my favourite pub in Posh because the beer condition is consistently superb…and it’s pretty convenient for London Road.
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Pretty much what I thought, too. Posh not really a tickers city, outside their Beer Fest of course. Quality, quality, quality.
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I see a rare Bass Blue Triangle near the top of the distant internal photograph of the bar.
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NOW you tell me Paul…
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“we await his characteristically solemn report with details of hop varieties and ABVs.” –Ha! Maybe one of these days he’ll post a blog like that as a prank. “Can’t remember anything about the banter or the loos, but here’s my analysis of the beers by style, beginning with the lagers and working my way toward the saisons…”
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The absence of a quality 1 April report is the main BRAPA failing. Actually there’s more potential for hidden jokes in Simon’s reports than any blog.
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“Smells of arse but can handle that in the ‘Boro.”
I’d say Simon is a connoisseur of arse but that doesn’t look right somehow. 🙂
“though I’d been in mere days before ”
The trick is to fart deeply into those scatter cushions you’re always on about. The smell will indeed linger for days. 🙂
“Proper seating”
Even right up against the bar too. Well done!
“includes such classics as the Nigel Mansell autobiography, which I bet Simon nicked.”
Tsk, tsk. Sharpe’s Battle surely?
“blokes with enormous man bags.”
Were they suffering from elephantiasis?
“Micro prices, macro range”
I’d have gone for the Bateman’s XXXB, if only because Michael Jackson had it on one of his Beer Hunter shows back in the 90’s.
“no surprise when it’s as welcoming as this.”
Quite nice indeed.
“Funny no-one stops micro pubs that restricts entry by almost never being open out of the Guide these days.”
Too bloody true.
Cheers
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Er, thanks for the advice Russ.
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I remember Bass Blue Triangle as the same Brewery Conditioned Bottled Beer as Worthington E, that’s when Bass Red Triangle was the same Bottle Conditioned Beer as Worthington White Shield, cask Draught Bass was the same beer as cask Worthington E and keg Bass Special was the same beer as keg Worthington E, so four very different beers ( bottled / draught : Real Ale / “chemical fizz” ) each sold under both a Bass and a Worthington name.
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Looks like a cracker. One question. How do they know the OG of the beer? It’s all ABV these days.
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There’ll be a beer bore who reads this who knows that ! I thought OG was quoted as well as ABV.
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The GBG breweries section pretty much universally quotes OG as well as ABV. Simon wouldn’t know that, of course 😛
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“There’ll be a beer bore who reads this who knows that !”
Or someone who doesn’t mind Googling. 🙂
The basic formula used by most homebrewers is pretty simple: ABV = (OG – FG) * 131.25.
Where OG and FG are original and final gravity respectively.
So just doing a straight readacross won’t work. 😉
Cheers
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How exciting.
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“More people in the smoking shelter than the bar” – often the case in decent weather. In effect, the whole pub moves outside.
Interesting to see OG being quoted rather than ABV – that’s a throwback to the past. Or do they just do a straight readacross, e.g. 4.8% ABV = 1048 OG?
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A straight readacross could be very inaccurate.
Original gravity dates from when it was the original malt not the final alcohol that was taxed.
I think HMRC now keep track of supplies of malted barley and 2000 breweries are too many for them to keep a proper watch over.
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Strange to see a Bateman’s bar with only one of their beers on.
Looking at the top shelf of books, the second from the left makes me think a suitable motto for the Taylor household might be “Delenda est Maidenhead”.
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Don’t do Latin, mate
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Tantum unum necesse
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Wasn’t she married to John McEnroe ?
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You can recognise the Nigel Mansell autobiography by the whining noise like a loose fan belt that it emits.
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Wise words in your last para Martin…why aren’t there more boozers left like this? Is it because we are all old men and no one elase really cares where they drink as long as it sells beer? Is that a problem if they do? I am all a quandry!
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I’m not sure there is a problem, you seem able to find loads of good pubs selling a good pint under the radar. Shame pubs are so quiet during the week though.
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Yes that must be an issue long term….makes pictures for blogging easier though!
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Ah! The micropub part-time opening ballache. Im glad it’s not just me. A potential big day out in Burton was aborted following a last-minute check on opening times. Trying to spend more time in proper pubs with proper opening hours, but the beer… the revolution is still far from universal.
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You’re not alone ! To be fair, micros aren’t alone in frustrating opening times; I must have been to a hundred pubs which have limited weekday opening in the last couple of years. 12-11 is now very much the exception outside the busy town centre food-led pub.
Love your blog by the way. Only just discovered.
http://pub-games.blogspot.com/
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