It had all been going so well since “Drainpour Friday“, as legend now calls it. A week of good beer in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Somerset, with barely a dip below NBSS 3.
And so to Gloucestershire’s final tick, the Lansdown in Clifton.
Staying in Weston gives you a £7.10 off-peak return to Bristol (“outrage” cries Tom) and saves double that on overnight parking.
Unfortunately, the train terminated at Temple Meads, a huge disappointment to folk heading to Chippenham, and led to my nervous look at an increasing stack of cancellations as drivers decided they’d better things to do than drive trains.
Will I get back for a night cap in Spoons ? Could you walk from Clifton to Weston ? I’d find out later.
At least it was drizzling, which added something to the photos.
Now, I may have been a bit sniffy about beer quality here in Brizzle, but that’s unusual, and the city looked as wonderful on a drizzly Sunday as it had on a sun-drenched Friday. I needed mental strength to avoid nipping in the c.27 GBG pubs you pass on the hill into Clifton, and the newly refurbished Lansdown.
It looks inviting, like one of those Victorian pubs in Canonbury that improve when Sunday food service stops.
And it feels like a proper pub, even if EVERYONE was sitting in a heated covered garden. By EVERYONE, I mean the entire 23-27 year old population of Clifton, of course.
The Lansdown operates those new fangled weekday hours that deny the existence of lunchtime drinking, as noted by Pub Curmudgeon today. But plenty of boozing on Sunday night, except that none of it was cask. See also : London.
Plenty of choice, which is what we’re told people want, so why don’t people choose cask ?
Because it’s selling so slow in places like this that it’s not that great, I guess. And I chose the Otter, the house beer. There was a good beer in there, probably on Thursday.
Yes, I should have taken it back, but why should I ? It’s not my job.
It’s tradition to finish a county with a pint, and I finished this one. I’m a hero. And I also now know that “passion grows in power and intensity as Mars orbits Maidenhead” according to the girl at the bar who read out the entire horoscope.
Even with a soundtrack of Lionel Ritchie, George Michael and Van Halen, the free horoscope reading was the pub highlight of my final Gloucestershire tick.
retiredmartin 
“passion grows in power and intensity as Mars orbits Maidenhead”
And Uranus sets in Bristol? Sorry, but I’m a Libra, and Libra’s don’t believe in astrology…
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That’s the way you’re all born, to be cynical.
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A delightful read. I didn’t realize you had this tradition of a whole pint when you conquer a county. A shame this one let you down a bit.
By coincidence I had a bottle of Otter for the first time the other day– quite a rarity over here. Reminded me a bit of Old Peculiar; not sure if it’s supposed to taste like that though, I fear the bottles had been collecting dust in that shop for quite a while!
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Always seems appropriate to finish on a pint, which is sometimes the best one in a county. I suspect I’ll have to go back and give it another go (another tradition).
Didn’t think Otter was an obvious export beer. They do a variety of styles in their range but you may have struck luck if it tasted like OP.
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Truly I’ve only seen it in this one shop. Was almost surprised enough to ask the owners how it was that they had it!
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RM you’re a legend
Another great read
Good luck with GBG 19
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Thanks mate, appreciated.
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Well done! To get back in the saddle after the first Landsdown fall is the mark of a true professional. Still time to knock up another percentage point…
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Lot of thirsty looking pot plants in there…
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I remember drinking Starlight in here back in the day when it was a Watney’s pub. Then it was Usher’s which was only marginally better. Latterly it had a reputation for being pricey; it it still like that?
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D’you mean Ushers, Bill. I assume that’s long dead, unless resurrected like Watneys 😱
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Ushers of Trowbridge was taken over by Watneys in 1960 but regained independence after a management buyout in the 1980s.
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Oh, think I missed your point Bill. Beer at the Lansdown was over £4 a pint, which was par for the course for Bristol these days.
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It could have been Usher’s, RM, but it definitely had Watney’s Starlight. I only had the one pint, which was quite enough, You don’t forget that sort of thing.
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I am talking late 70s/early 80s here.
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“At least it was drizzling, which added something to the photos.”
It does seem to make them shimmer.
“Art, apparently”
I’ll have to take your word for it.
“Stop staring and go in !”
It does look kinda nice.
“those new fangled weekday hours”
Good Lord; closed until 4pm Mon-Thu? Sheesh
“passion grows in power and intensity as Mars orbits Maidenhead”
There’s a rude joke in there somewhere. 🙂
Cheers
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Oh grief, I should have put that last line through the “RussJokeChecker” first.
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