Just to prove I do occasionally read your comments on here, this post follows a recent suggestion from the mysterious hedgenerd about Draught Bass in Grantchester. To be fair, I’d want to remain mysterious if I lived in Grantchester or Trumpington.
“I just had a nice pint (two actually) of Bass at the Green Man in Grantchester. NBSS 4 by my reckoning …”
You had me at NBSS 4, as we say in Waterbeach.
I was there in 15 minutes (thanks Mrs RM), catching the end of a startling summer’s day.
and catching the sound of ball on willow at the end of a competitive Grantchester CC v Flycatchers fixture from just behind the Green Man, backing onto the Archer estate.
It’s a classy Beer Guide pub, and a rare middle class drinking den (even if Moretti and complex cocktails beat cask). At one stage a chap (possibly a fag*) rushed in asking for gaffa tape. You don’t get that in a Hungry Horse.
Middle class pubs rely on wickets with hunting pictures to sell beer, of course. This shot will evoke one of three reactions;
- What’s a village pub doing with six handpumps ?
- Is that man pressing the security alarm ?
- How dare they relegate Bass to the end of the bar ?
All the pubs in Grantchester are posh by Waterbeach standards, let alone Wigan. Giant dogs, oak beams, Chesterfields, £4.60 pints. FOUR POUNDS SIXTY !
And not even in a Bass glass,
Still, if it’s NBSS 4 that’s OK ? I gave it a 3.5, at a push. Tasty, full-bodied but not quite as cool as you’d hope. It was Derby standard, not Buzzard or Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Oddly, we had Black Sabbath playing inside, so popped outside to the world’s longest, narrowest beer garden that leads down to Grantchester Meadows (I’ve done the Pink Floyd link before).
Here, I “enjoyed” acoustic strumming of every Cambridge graduate’s favourites – “Mr Brightside”, “Budapest” and (of course) “Wonderwall”. A beardy bloke on the Moretti rocked his table furiously in time, shaking my Bass into life.
To top it all, a small child ran up and down the path, waving a huge branch (probably listed) in my face. THREE TIMES their Dad said “Toby, don’t“. THREE TIMES the child ignored his Dad. Just like I would have done.
The view though; that was almost worth £4.60.
* A fag is a student who does menial tasks for a higher year undergraduate. Didn’t you watch Porterhouse Blue ?
retiredmartin 
I hate to be a pecksniffian prodnose or whatever the Canadians call them but it’s actually gaffer tape.
Thought to come from its use in the film industry where gaffers,the chief lighting technician on a set,would order a minion to tape electrical cables onto the floor to stop people tripping up on them.
With that I’m off to the bar with loads of IPAs that all taste exactly the bleedin’ same.
I might have a word with the gaffer to broaden his range a bit to include Bass.
Prof.
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Nah Faithfull Gaffa Tape https://www.amazon.co.uk/Faithfull-Gaffa-Tape-50mm-Black/dp/B0001IWRYS
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That’s a heck of a palaver to order a pint of Bass online
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That last comment of mine should have been blocked as Spam, surely ?
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Was it meant to be the Spoons app?
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“That last comment of mine should have been blocked as Spam, surely ?”
I skimmed over that and thought it was about someone flogging lace wigs or some such from India. 🙂
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Future career change right there.
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Have you considered a career as a merkin salesman?
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Haven’t we all ?
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I see people who bought gaffa tape might also be interested in duck tape..
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“Ah, reserved for Mr T, Water Esq”
Silly boy. That’s where they keep their reserve signs in, um, reserve. 🙂
“How dare they relegate Bass to the end of the bar ?”
You’re being too pessimistic. What you should be thinking is that, after surveying the first five pumps in dismay, the fellow then spies Bass and lights up with joy! 🙂
“FOUR POUNDS SIXTY !”
Sadly, over here, that would be about right. You don’t tip over there and your tax (VAT) is included. Over here they usually don’t include the 15% tax on the menu price, and then it is assumed you’ll tip about 15%. So a $6 (Cdn) pint will wind up costing almost $8; definitely in the four pounds sixty range.
“The view though; that was almost worth £4.60.”
Blimey. I need to sit out in my backyard more. (just kidding)
“* A fag is a student who does menial tasks for a higher year undergraduate. Didn’t you watch Porterhouse Blue?”
Nope. But I did understand that from reading (sort of) about Tom Brown’s School Days in various Flashman books. 😉
Cheers
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We don’t get interesting cloud formations very often, Russ ! If you look closely you can see BRAPA’s face in that last picture.
I repeat again -FOUR POUNDS SIXTY ! Been paying £2.70 a lot in North West.
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“f you look closely you can see BRAPA’s face in that last picture.”
Yes of course! I see it now.
And that puffy bit on the bottom right must be his wonky knee. 🙂
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Don’t mention his wonky knee.
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“Budapest”? Surely not the Jethro Tull song?
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Don’t remember a flute !
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Beautiful pub.
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It is a Proper Pub, prices notwithstanding.
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Indeed, I paid £2.90 for a pint of Daleside Bitter in the Duke of Wellington in Daneby, North Yorkshire, this summer. I’m not expecting that in any pub these days, but £4.60 for real ale is a rip-off.
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I was surprised, though £4+ for Citra/Adnams etc is common in Cambridge, and I paid £4.50 for Landlord in Ely last year. Grantchester does have a premium.
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Thing about this blog is that although there are frequent comments about cats, there is no mention of the handsome Lurcher?
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Ugh…
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Yes, a proper Lurcher that – and it and it reminded me that “Hebden Bridge is Proper Yorkshire and within an hour of arriving there I realised that more whippets than mobility scooters is a sure sign of it still being a vibrant wool trade town. I thought that it’s not a bad place that has far more dogs, all well behaved, than childen in and around the proper pubs ……….”
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Sadly we have run out of Lurchers and Terriers at our house … will no doubt get some more, but not at the minute.
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