I’m sorry to do this to you, but I have no say what goes in the Beer Guide.
So here’s the KEG Craft Beer Tasting Bar, putting Bourne End on the map for the first time since 1951, when Stanley Spencer painted the beer festival at the Bounty from across the Thames.
In fact the only time I’d consciously been to Bourne End was to cross the bridge to the Bounty, one of the great “All Human Life Is Here” pubs. Unless I was brought here on my stag do en-route to Maidenhead (I wasn’t).
It’s literally the (Bourne) End of the line.
Very much a suburb of Wycombe and the aforementioned terror town, there’s one modernish High Street with the usual small-town chain shops.
And KEG. When they named it, was it a deliberate attempt to keep out of the GBG ?
To its eternal credit, KEG opens every day. That’s every day. INCLUDING MONDAY. For that alone I wish it well.
Inside, the usual high tables, sofas, and owners sitting in the bar so you’re never sure who’s going to pounce.
Pleasingly, a mix of drinkers, including a plasterer or two and Old Boys younger than me, if that’s possible !
True to its name, loads of Keg, most of it from folk you’ve heard of. Only one cask beer one (hoorah), and the Tring (again !) was cool and tasty (NBSS 3).
The bantering was all about “rendering“, which makes a change from the merits of Pumpkin IPA.
And you can see the musical ephemera that filled the walls. A bit obvious, unlike a soundtrack that included the best of Heaven 17, just for Mark Crilley.
It fills a massive hole, being the only bar in the centre of town. And it’s cosier than many a micro.
But. But. But.
Prosecco scented candles ? Seriously ?
retiredmartin 
Not only does it open every day, it opens at a proper time of day, almost unheard of.
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11am ?
Yes, earlier than some but most of the morning’s gone by then.
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I’d rather wait than sit a couple of hours in a Spoons. 😉
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You don’t know what you’re missing, Citra. Should have been in Dover Spoons on Sunday morning at 9am to see real life.
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Martin, I don’t have to go as far as Dover to see that kind of life.
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Citra,
We all know that using one of Tim’s venues is usually something of a distress purchase but the curry houses aren’t open then so where would you wait and what would you be eating and/or drinking ?
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Paul, good fry up in a greasy spoon with a mug of tea, a wander around a local art gallery taking in some culture, I would then be ready for a day on the beer. Failing that I would find a proper pub that opens before 11.00.
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I don’t mind a good fry up and a pint of Hogs Back TEA but I see more than enough ‘art’ on this blog without wandering around a local art gallery.
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In that case would the TEA be in a straight glass or a dimpled mug?
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Really, my mornings usually start at about 11 am. Some people tell me that there’s more than on 8 o’clock per day…but I don’t really believe them!
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Pete,
Your mornings usually starting at about 11am explains you arriving in St Albans at 11.25am.
I shall only be ninety minutes ahead of you.
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That’ll be a very early start for me…I may have to face that ‘mythical’ 8 am people have told me about…lol.
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“the best of Heaven 17, just for Mark Crilley” –Ha! Even as a guy who was the ideal age at the time they were at their peak, it’s a bit of a challenge arguing that Heaven 17 were one of the greats. I’d say they got right around the 15 minutes of fame they deserved. 🙂
Yes, I’d agree the Prosecco-scented candles drag down the final verdict on this one, in spite of its virtues. (That, and those steel high-table stools!)
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I reckon the first two albums were out there, third ones crap though.
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Are you going from top to bottom or left to right? I still play all three on a regular basis.
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Never really rated ‘How Men Are’
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Didn’t know you were talking Heaven 17; your analysis spot-on though.
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There’s more beery excitement on that single line up than we saw in a whole day in Worcester.
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A little Googling reveals that KEG comes from the owners initials – Kim E Georgiou. Maybe it’s also a deliberate attempt to stop the local CAMRA activists from coming in and moaning about the sole cask beer?
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