The welcome committee was out for Simon today as the BRAPA bandwagon rolled into (newly shiny) Cambridge station.
I took this great photo in the Flying Pig (BRAPA tick No.1) while we compared notes on beer quality across the GBG, taking extra care to make sure Simon can’t be identified by angry landlords.
Statistically, my top town for beer quality is Prestatyn, with Cambridge, Manchestershire and Bewdley right up there. By the same token, the worst is Bishop Auckland. They and our Welsh winners are not fundamentally dissimilar towns, apart from the wet stuff at the end of Prestatyn, so I can’t explain.
Four slightly below-par pints in Bishop Auckland over the years, but I still love the town, and as soon as the Premier Inn reduces its prices back to £29 I’ll review all four again. It’s a good base for Durham, particularly if you like takeaways.
For now, the Green Tree was the first newbie for some time.
Now there’s a hundred pubs that look just like this with adequate Greene King beer within an hour walk of Simon’s Cambridge base, so you’ll assume the Green Tree has something special to get it in the Guide.
It’s not the beer range, is it ? Much as I love Old Peculier. A wild gamble on the Greene King World Cup special (sing it – “This Time, We’ll Get It Right”) causes the barman to turn the clip round. It’s clearly the first one pulled.
“Oh, is he having the Bo66y ?” It’s like I’ve asked for the Snail curry special or something. But it was said in good humour, and the atmosphere was really great. A real BeerMat of a local. They even tolerated the soundtrack by Go West.
And the beer wasn’t that bad, a 2.5 if I was pushed. It even had acceptable lacings; I’m sure the locals with their Carling were desperately jealous.
Back home, I now see Bishop has a micro pub/craft bar. Let’s see how that goes.
retiredmartin 
Did that last weekend but- what an amateur I am- didn’t think to check on any new micros in the town. Bob Hardisty Way is a tremendous name for a road there- from their Amateur Cup heyday.
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NOT doing nearby micros is a wise life choice, if not the most efficient ticking methodology. Talking of Amateur Cups, we returned to nearby Crook Spoons for unlimited coffee. What a corker of a place that is, a real boost to a small town.
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Is that a new Spoons? Also had the Bobby’s in Green Tree (ok). To compound matters I have a single outlier in Co Durham (Peacock). Not my finest route planning.
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Horsehoe in Crook been in Guide for 3 or 4 years. Beer quality does depend almost entirely on throughput. Fact I’d had the previous pint probably helped !
At least you’ve done that Middleton High Force café place !
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Ah yes remember it now on the side of a hill. A very nice Spoons.
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Love that Green Tree exterior, looks like a very nice place.
Any blog post with a photo of Simon in it is just that much more delightful– ah, to be a fly on the wall and hear all that GBG conversation!
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Be careful, it’ll go to his head !
We did have an enthusiastic eavesdropper in the Flying Pig, virtually cupping his ear 😉
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“Angry Babe behind KiltMan”
I thought that was the UK version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. 🙂
“taking extra care to make sure Simon can’t be identified by angry landlords.”
Pfft. The silly bugger will wear that infamous orange thingy and out himself! (LOL)
“Much as I love Old Peculier. ”
Soft spot for it here every since I sank six bottles (I think) under the watchful eye of Urquhart Castle one afternoon back in 1981 and could have sworn I saw Nessie at the end. 🙂
“I’m sure the locals with their Carling were desperately jealous.”
They probably are oblivious to the fact that Carling was made popular in the UK by a Canadian. 🙂
Cheers
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