I’ve only just noticed the tin cans in that sign. They’re probably Adnams cans; you get a higher class of litter lout in West Suffolk.
A rare trip without a Beer Guide tick, this was purely to give Mrs RM and myself some professional experience in maneuvering our campervan, with the objective of not hitting things, a noble objective.
Destination Acton, a dormitory village for Sudbury, home of Gainsborough and oddly basic pubs. The village itself was once home to the UK’s richest man, whose death sparked a legal case lasting 117 years and inspiring Dickens (it says).
Acton manages to be both staggeringly pretty (even without my new-found filter) and pleasingly plain.
Parked up outside Acton Village Hall, the patient man recommended by Kompetent Karavanners (I made that up) took over my mansplaining duties for a while, mouthing “Stop !”, “Handbrake !!”, and “Not the Coldplay CD !!!” as we whizzed round the honeypot villages of West Suffolk. Lavenham looked lovely.
The Crown didn’t look that lovely, the front scarred by tradesmen’s vehicles and ladders as we contemplated a pint. It’s the sort of pub you always want to be there, but will inevitably be the subject of a protest about its closure in the future, hordes of villagers bussed back from Wetherspoons standing outside for a photo in the EADT and a caption saying “Popular pub under threat“.
Yes, it’s a Proper Pub, with all-day opening for 1,800 residents and a limited food trade.
Just two beers !
Mrs RM seemed more stressed than I was, so I had a pint of soda while she sunk a quick pint of Golden Hen (#PubWoman) that was cool to the touch and clearly did the job.
Lovely staff, £3.70 a pint (assuming the soda was free), and a soundtrack of the Cardigans. What more do you want ?
And that ultimate mark of a Proper Pub, the photo of the Darts team from 1975.
Not THE Alan Border, I guess.
“88% of Suffolk pubs look like this” Empty?
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Photo of Mick Mills lifting FA Cup in 1978.
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I remember him. Or at least I remember Peter Weir tearing him to shreds in 1981.
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Grief, did you see that Dons team ?
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Just about. Last league game I saw was January 85, beat Rangers 5-1 and I thought it was never going to get any better and gave up in the middle of a league winning season. And sitting at Pittodrie is miserable enough in summer.
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I thought it was a skip in front of the church then realised it’s an old grave.
You must have been spoilt for choice with those two beers and no doubt had a pint of each.
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Love the photo of the darts team -the guy with the droopy tache & long hair gets my vote !
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Good call 👍
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Load of hollyhocks as ever.😉
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Is that a hop variety or a euphemism 😱
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“with the objective of not hitting things, a noble objective.”
If you ever want lessons in the opposite my wife is available. 🙂
“Art shot”
Is he ok? I’m assuming he’s lying on the ground under that flower thingy.
“Lavenham looked lovely.”
Apart from the sewage works just south of it.
And, if Little Waldingfield builds lots more houses, will it then take over the title of Great Waldingfield from the village to the southwest?
“Craft free zone”
I get a chuckle out of the ‘extra cold’ for Carlsberg and ‘super chilled’ for Fosters. Sadly, we get that over here. You wouldn’t believe the number of times I have to make sure I ask for a non-chilled glass when ordering an ale (most bars over here put their glasses in the freezer!).
“Scaryvcarpets”
My eyes are watering just from looking at the photo.
“Not THE Alan Border, I guess.”
Or Jim Morris for that matter.
(one year in the big leagues for baseball)
Cheers
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Ooh, love the little Jim Morris detail. Great work.
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I’m guessing the paragraph ending in ““Popular pub under threat“ is mostly in jest, but I wonder if there’s any kernel of truth to the situation you were referring to: i.e., a pub that is not really popular enough to stay open, but once it’s closed, people rally to its defense, even those who normally didn’t go there very often?
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Pub Curmudgeon tweets a lot of articles about pubs just like this one, shut by the brewery or PubCo, with a photo of folk who probably go once a month if that, but turn up to campaign for someone else to intervene to save it.
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There seems to be a progression from the people who care nothing about pubs to the people who care somewhat sentimentally about the “idea of pubs,” to people like Pub Curmudgeon who are so well versed in what pubs are all about, they accept that not all of them can (or even deserve to) stay open.
I’m struck by the level of pragmatism I see among the most committed pub fans.
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Well put, Mark.
I’ve less interest in keeping pubs open just because they’re historic than many, things move on. But the last pub in the village is something that deserves effort to save, even if that means changing the shape of the local.
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– and even if it means bringing the toilets inside ?
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