Before you read the rest of this, can you name the pub chain from the photo above ?
Course you can. Especially of I add “random tractor” and “too many pumps“.
Anyway, another couple of Lancashire ticks in the beautiful Ribble valley. Loads going on the OS extract below.
Witches, hills, a recent National Pub of the Year, posh unpronounceable towns, and a bar with 42 handpulls (what could go wrong ?).
But the bar offering unlimited choice loses out (can’t explain) to two gastro pubs, both worthy GBG entries, so all is well with the world.
Waddington’s Higher Buck offers me a chance to renew acquaintance with the village (1,028 souls, 3 pubs) where I stayed when England were last the toast of the entire nation after a Nil-Nil draw in Rome. There were folk beeping horns on the street of Waddington that night. Possibly.
I simply MUST have done the Higher Buck that night, but there’s enough doubt (0.001%) to mean I have to go back and do the Pub/Kitchen/Rooms.
Nice wines, not all screwtop.
Nice beers, not all Thwaites.
Don’t mind tulips for halves, and that Sunbeam was excellent. The tide has turned now I’m drinking beer north of the Watford Gap.
Everything else about the pub was terrifyingly dull. Craig David, late lunchers in pashminas, joyless service. You could have been in a Brunning & Price, though to be fair their staff are lovely.
Talking of which;
So, so lovely, isn’t it ? I stayed at Mitton in the late ’90s (NHS extravagance), an straggling place with 3 giant gastros.
Lots of whispered conversations “Anyway, last week I met her Father”, “Her husband is loverly” “Does anyone own a purple BMW ?” etc etc.
Yes, the Boltmaker jam jar is as big as the pint pot. I should have drank from that.
It was fine, but tasted like it had come from the sort of longpull beloved of Spoons. But worth £2 for pictures of adverts for bile beans, of course.
retiredmartin 
I don’t think any of us regular Draught Bass drinkers need a “Constipation Cured” remedy.
That other sign would make me boycott the Aspinall Arms. They couldn’t be more condescending than “How things works”, us curmudgeons don’t take kindly to being told “Enjoy!”, boats not pubs have a “crew” and “xxx” for a pub should be about the beer strength.
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My old guvnor always said alternating pints of Bass and Guinness would keep you perfectly regular.
Agree about Aspinalls sign. Nauseating.
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I had the same confidence I had already done the Higher Buck, and didn’t even bother going in when I was there for football last season. My records didn’t show it so I had to go back. Easy to get your Lower and Higher Bucks mixed up.
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Exactly, and I actually thought the Higher Buck was the alternative name for the Waddington Arms, which was in a few years back. Lower Buck actually quite pubby.
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Generally speaking, the cornier the beer name the poorer it will be. Mind you, it hooks in those with no eye deer.
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Boom boom 😉👊
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Tulips definitely work for halves…in fact they are probably my half glass of choice…after a pint glass of course
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Funnily enough I had a tulip yesterday.
Mrs PPT and I were doing what we have taken to calling a Stafford Mudgie and were looking for early libations – we’d only gone out for a loaf of rye bread when we took a wrong turn and ended up on a pleasant coastal drive and a small town called Mexico Beach.
Sod it,she said,let’s do a Stafford Mudgie at the first bar we find.
Toucans,it was called,though sadly we had to wait until the 11am bar opening by which time the real Stafford Mudgie would have already breakfasted and be horsing into his third pint.
Anyhow,the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale in a tulip was mighty fine if a little strong at 8.2% although I suspect Stafford Mudgie would have knocked it back like a glass of breakfast OJ.
It set me up for the day,I can tell you.
Never again will I make a mild joke about a chap seeking liquid refreshment early doors.
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P P-T,
That’s marvellous.
Maybe a bit late in life but you won’t be wasting your mornings any more.
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Tim Taylor’s Best Bitter, now Boltmaker, is a fine beer. Sadly, you never see it down south.
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Do you not ? I seem to bump into it regularly, must be those Brunning &Prices
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Plenty of B&P places in Surrey and Sussex, unfortunately
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I was thinking London and Sussex, but you’re probably right. It’s everywhere in Yorkshire though (as expected).
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Loved your reference to “Watford Gap.” This idea of England being so clearly divided into north and south wasn’t something I was aware of until relatively recently. Is it really true that you can tell where you are by the presence or absence of foam at the top of your beer? If there is no foam on top at the start, is there any hope of lacings? I have so much left to learn!
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Mark,
Yes, England is so clearly divided into north and south.
North you can get three pints for £10. South you can’t.
There are exceptions though and a pint in Whitelocks, Leeds costs more than a pint in a London Sam Smiths pub.
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“Before you read the rest of this, can you name the pub chain from the photo above ?”
No. 🙂
But I can tell you that another cure for constipation is to spend a few months in Turkey foolishly brushing your teeth with the tap water. 😉
“Course you can. Especially of I add “random tractor” and “too many pumps“.”
Still a ‘no’ here. 🙂
“Loads going on the OS extract below.”
Indeed! I initially read Clitheroe with the syllable break between the ‘t’ and the ‘h’ and thought it was praising someone with a long tongue and some rudimentary knowledge of female anatomy.
“posh unpronounceable towns, ”
Phew! It’s not just me then. 🙂
“Posh Thwaites”
You can tell by the type of seating outside. Proper wicker instead of using beer barrels as either seats or table ends.
“So, so lovely, isn’t it ?”
I ‘love’ how the sign says that life revolves around the bar. 🙂
“Yes, the Boltmaker jam jar is as big as the pint pot.”
You’re having us on aren’t you?
Cheers
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Oh, come on, Russ. I think I must have mentioned tractors a gazillion times when suffering Boring & Pricey (Sparrowhawk at Formby ?).
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That’s a fair cop. 😊
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