A few trips to the edges of Metro-land now, to see if there’s anything nice I can say about it for a change.
Starting with Watford.
I’ve nothing against the town, but Beer Guide new entries round here have been, er, challenging. 2016 produced pint return trauma, 2017 was just firkin’ hideous. Both those newbies dropped out of the Guide immediately, which shows local CAMRA take their responsibilities seriously.
A trip to the Wellington Arms in early October gives you autumnal colour to match New England in the fall,
and a pub walk of herculean proportions.
With a few minutes till 11am Monday opening, which is a boon, I explored the local area behind the station.
Eagle-eyed viewers will notice Wetherspoons HQ marked in the development (the former London Orphan Asylum) east of the station. I thought about popping to get Tim’s autograph but realised he’d be testing the Abbot in Newton Abbot or somewhere.
No street art, unless you count stickers on lamp posts. This one announces the arrival of gramophonic recordings to West Herts.
Sceptical pub tickers would look at the Wellington, making its GBG debut, and suspect an award for longevity in place. “Run by the same family for 28 years” is the giveaway.
But the only GBG pub in Watford is a Proper Pub. Just look at the carpet;
Actually, the interior looks unchanged for 28 years, only the hideous new London Pride pump and James Bay replacing Elton on the stereo giving away the fact you’re in 2017.
I went for the Tring (again), lured by a name that sounds a bit like Doom Bar and tried a few tables as I had the pub to myself bar blokes doing heavy lifting in the rear.
It was decent, cool and tasty. And getting an NBSS 3 beer first out of the pumps at 11am on a Monday in Watford is a Big Win.
One toilet mystery, what were Rangers fans doing in Watford anyway ?
Finally, just as I was leaving, we got our first Professional Drinker of the day.
Not exactly a cask ale flagship, but for Watford a giant leap forward.
retiredmartin 
At first glance I thought that top picture was a can of craft murk.
You “thought about popping to get Tim’s autograph but realised he’d be testing the Abbot in Newton Abbot or somewhere”. Newton Abbot’s handy for Tim as he lives in Exeter. Coincidently doing some sorting out yesterday I found a greetings card written and signed by Tim thanking me for my letter about, er, I’m not sure what as his writing is worse than most doctors and I can’t remember what as I’ve written a few dozen letters since November 2010
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And Abbot rhymes with Abbot 😁
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Looking at the photo they haven’t done any routine maintainance for 28 years neither. Okay, maybe they can’t afford (or allowed) to replace the windows, but wouldn’t it look so much better if someone spent half a morning with some wood filler and a bit of paint on that window, and while the filler was setting they could have sanded that shabby door and given it a quick coat of paint. A couple of quid and an hour or two of the licensees time and everything would have looked so much better. I was actually going to ring them up and tell them but I don’t seem to be able to get through on that number ..?
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It sounds like you should be in the comments section of Alan Titchmarsh’s blog instead …
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If I ran a pub I would be proud of it and it would be spick and span, tidy and clean. There’s no excuse for having a shabby exterior, a lot of people would take one look and not go in.
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Richard,
But what if you couldn’t afford a couple of cans of paint because you’re having to pay £120 a firkin to a pubco who charges you £50,000 a year and you’re paying quite a bit in wages to keep the pub open a reasonable number of hours a week while a few doors down the road someone has installed random furniture and a unisex toilet in a vacant shop unit with his vision of low rent, low or no business rates, being VAT free and paying £60 a firkin for tastier beer ?
“Ah”, you will probably reply, “I would never have leased a pub from one of those big post Beer orders pubcos”.
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Yes, but, that bloke opening up in a tiny shop is fighting the system/proving greater choice of identical beers/a CAMRA member/only making the micro welcoming to middle-aged blokes like us and needs to be supported.
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Yeah, but, that carpet. It is truly brilliant. If someone had said that it was a Juan Mirò original design, then I would have entertained the possibility, certainly.
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Carpet of the week, definitely.
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As I’ve spent the last couple of days painting and I’ve some cask conditioned home brew in the cellar does this mean I can get in the GBG 2020 if I open for the occasional hour?
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Yes. Especially if you move to Scotland or St Helens.
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Watford is a struggle – in many ways – but expect you’ll have to go back soon. Pope’s Yard Brewery have received planning permission for a Tap, so an absolute shoe-in for GBG if they put the odd cask on, and open alternate Tuesdays from 5pm to 7pm. On the plus side will be even closer to the Junction than Wellington Arms, so the Watford experience can be swift.
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Oh cheers.
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I did a few jobs in Watford ten years ago or so. I was astonished at the absence of decent pubs, and not that much has changed, apparently. There seemed to be no obvious explanation, and I sometimes wonder to this day what it might be.
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In 25 years of visiting Watford (working close by) and around I can’t recall a single specialist cask pub, discounting Spoons. You’d get good Tetleys and Ind Coope (honest) in Bushey, and villages north of M25 into Bucks took it seriously. Chorleywood and Ricky equally dull, just like whole of North West London.
But then, Land of Liberty etc
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I have been to Tim’s Watford venue, his ‘pub’ not his HQ, but from the Junction railway station I rarely get beyond the Flag which conveniently opens at 8am although I might not manage that on 5th November as I’ve only got eleven minutes, 9.28am to 9.39am, between trains and the St Albans platform is at the far side of the station – if only St Albans had been built to the west, not east, of Watford !
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Phew. Read that initially that the pub opened 9.28am to 9.39am. The sort of opening hours that RM loves in a GBG establishment.
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Fred,
Yes, reduce opening hours to 77 minutes a week, and at a quieter time of the day, so taking plummet and it’s no longer viable and can be converted to flats or a convenience store – that’s the way to do it !
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“Finally, just as I was leaving, we got our first Professional Drinker of the day.”
No, he would be the second…😉
And don’t stand too close to the tail feathers of a bird that large!
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That’s a very different interpretation of “Professional Drinker”‘ Dan 😉
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The Welly is the cheapest B&B in Watford, and is very reasonable for food.
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It’s a proper pub, Fred. I’d rather go in there pre-match than a gastro pub.
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Interesting that the blog on the Welly’s website isn’t quite as up to date as this one. It was last updated on 18 June 2007.
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I haven’t read all the various pub blogs out there, but I venture to say yours is the only one where I will have the pleasure of encountering the phrase “Pleasing if inconsistent lacings.” : )
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Necessity is the mother of invention; I needed to say something to caption the photos. I do like to think I have re-popularised the critique of the foamy bits that stick to the side of beer glasses ! Perhaps there’s a society for enthusiasts.
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Yes, members of that society for enthusiasts are to be found in Yorkshire and Scotland and are rarely far from an Autovac.
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