Pubmeister has just completed all the Good Beer Guide pubs in England, again. Well done, Duncan. The GBG tick remains just as tough a task as when first undertaken by Sir Richard Francis Burton in 1852, 120 years before CAMRA invented real ale.
NB A reminder that signed photos* of Duncan in shorts are still available from the usual address as part of the fundraising for our trip to the Falklands Frothblowers pub when it gets in the Guide.
Duncan’s last two ticks were pubs in two neighbouring Northumbrian villages a short hop across a bridge apart.
To conclude my successful Forest of Dean incursion, I crossed a bridge into the next country (and perhaps next century) to revisit a classic.
Virtually everyone visits the Boat from Redbrook in England. Now it’s possible that Redbrook’s Bell has been in the Guide (there’s a good churn of entries in Dean), but the lack of a survey since 2012 tells its own tale. And buses are VERY slow round here. Redbrook’s village pub is in Wales.
The sign for the Boat is in Redbrook, too, behind the football pitch where I failed to see a second missed penalty in as many days.
With a steady steam of walkers in both directions there’s something of a destination feel to this one, a bit like the Ty Coch on the Llyn.
Even with English tourists, you sense you’re back in Welsh farmland pub territory immediately.
Joy of joys, just two beers from the barrel, both from Wickwar. Great frothy head.
In our barmy/balmy summer no-one was using the classic indoors rooms, with some live musicians just packing up.
Proper pub geezers with pork pie hats make a change from Prosecco and pashminas in Monmouth.
There’s few better places to enjoy a pint than by the Wye, and the Wickwar was decent if not spellbinding. The house cider was cooler, oddly.
Of course, it’s worth coming just for the outside loos.
A classic, improvable only by adding Bass.
*Signed by Richard on Duncan’s behalf.
retiredmartin 
Yes, and it’s made by that slight note of tattiness and eccentricity.
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Don’t know if it’s in Good Pub Guide or similar, but it’s not a pub you hear mentioned among the classics despite being an exemplar basic alehouse that also caters for visitors.
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Superb photos of a classic bridge and pub. I may have to arrange for an audit of your accounts as I have been advised you are not keeping HMRC fully abreast of the brisk photo sales.
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I thought that sort of thing was immoral and therefore not taxable ?
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Oddly, sales to a PA postcode seem particularly brisk.
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Yes, a “sturdy” “classic bridge” as we learnt a lot from the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879,
Very sadly Italy didn’t build all their bridges properly in the 1960s.
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“A classic, improvable only by adding Bass” reminds me that yesterday lunchtime I was in the Vaults, Uttoxeter which might be the only pub to have a claim to NOT ONLY Bass pumpclips on four of the five handpumps BUT ALSO beer mats with the pub name on one side and the Bass triangle on the other..
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If you were on Twitter, Paul, you’d see that Pub Curmudgeon has that very shot as his background photo (with Wizard as the fifth). Overdue a return visit.
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Sharps Sea Fury was in place of the Wizard yesterday.
The Bass across the road in the Old Talbot was just as good.
There’s not much beer sold in the town apart from Bass and Pedigree so, yes, definitely worth another visit.
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Draught Bass and a classic “ordinary” such as Wizard is basically my idea of beer heaven 😀
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The “ordinary” just in case the Draught Bass had sold out ?
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Bazzard – a classic Bass/Wizard “mix”.
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Nice to see a winner in that area. Nice looking pub.
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“Virtually everyone visits the Boat from Redbrook in England. ”
Ah. A seven minute walk versus a 20 minute drive. 🙂
“Picturesque”
Indeed.
“With a steady steam of walkers in both directions”
Were they steaming due to exertion in the heat?
“Geezers”
I like how the fellow on the left used his sock budget money to buy a hat instead. 🙂
“There’s few better places to enjoy a pint than by the Wye,”
I can see why it’s in the top 100.
“A classic, improvable only by adding Bass.”
Isn’t that true of almost every pub? 😉
Cheers
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I missed sock budget man. The drive down there from Monmouth is hairy, you’re better off walking for all sorts of reasons !
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“Proper sign” made me laugh. I never fail to chuckle when you post a photo of something followed by “proper [fill in the blank].” 🙂
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The Boat was a pub that I was well aware of by reputation for many years before my first visit. Suffice to say that it didn’t disappoint.
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Was it freezing inside, or are they uncooled casks I see racked at the back of the bar?
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Beer was cool enough, perhaps natural stone cooling ? Beer in Wales always seems colder than England.
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