Just for Mark, a bit of Yazoo today. Weird video, too.
You were waiting for something to happen, weren’t you. ?
Eagle-eyed readers (Russ) will have noticed an absence of “Opening hour drama” since GBG19 made its belated debut on 14 September (yes, I’m still bitter).
But the trip to Bristol and Bath had a month’s worth of Tick Fail Drama (TFD) tucked into one desperate afternoon.
Starting, as so often, in Corsham.
Lovely Corsham is to Chippenham as Harpenden is to Luton. Which may be harsh on Luton.
You’re greeted by the town peacock.
And a stunning cobbled High Street which makes you wonder why they bothered constructing Shaftesbury just for the Hovis advert.
The only thing missing (you may have noticed) are people. I presume they’re all in Lacock or Chippenham’s 17 garden centres.
Or perhaps in new Guide entry the Flemish Weaver.
Despite all signs to the contrary, it’s closed. The GBG doesn’t know, WhatPub doesn’t know, the website doesn’t work, Facebook was last updated in October 2016.
So, short of phoning them, the only way you know they’re shut on Mondays in “Winter” (it was virtually Summer the next day) is the little sign on the door.
And that wasn’t the only shop and café closed in Corsham last week under the guise of “Winter Hours”. We really have given up on Autumn, haven’t we ?
Once again Winter kills off the dreams of the pub ticker.
retiredmartin 
Crushing…I feel your pain and bitterness…what is the world coming to…remove their GBG 2019 entry immediately…
You should have a special calling card for such occasions – bit like the ‘We called to read your gas meter’ but with more bitterness, maybe…
‘Good Beer Guide recommended you this year
And so I called to drink your beer
But the closed sign confirmed that you weren’t here
Maybe I’ll try again next year.’
😦
I suppose you’ll have to keep those Winter Mondays free for Weatherspoons… 🙂
LikeLike
I think the last line of the calling card should read:
“Obviously I won’t be trying again next year as you won’t be bloody in it!”
LikeLiked by 2 people
PS – either that guy in the first picture has been waiting too long for the pub to open, or it’s Father Christmas…
First and second comments to me – woo-hoo…!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I come to you to hear criticism of Harpenden not praise. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Harpenden is Prosecco & Pashmina hell-hole, Give me Dunstable (let alone Buzzard) any day.
Hope that helps.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Feel better already
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch. Not to rub it in but I managed to do this one on a Saturday evening when it was absolutely rammed. Driving back from
Heathrow yesterday I might have managed a tick but virtually everywhere needed without an extensive detour was closed on a Monday. Now we know what the Boomtown Rats were really singing about. But sure you won’t be that unlucky again….
LikeLiked by 1 person
It wasn’t too much of a hardship as en-route to Bath. But it’s reminder of the persecution we face on a daily basis.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I sympathise with the frustration. When you say “short of phoning them”, do you ever do so on your travels, and have you been subsequently let down?
LikeLike
Didn’t mean to be anonymous, pressed the wrong button
LikeLike
I’ve phoned a few micros, where the hours have been unreliable. Last week I phoned the Bristol Beer Factory because the hours on Facebook and their Website seemed different, and to their credit they phoned me back. A lot of places don’t answer my calls.
LikeLike
I will have two nights in Bristol next month but am not minded to use an establishment that forsakes the proper word “Brewery” for “Beer Factory”.
It would probably be as dreadful as those venues that refer to their staff or employees as “associates”, “partners” or “people”.
LikeLike
Possibly the Bristol Beer Factory won’t be on your list of essential stops, Paul, but the beer was very good indeed in every sense.
LikeLike
Yes, I had good BBF beer in the Euston Tap when I used to go there but in Bristol shall more likely be in the Kings Head and other proper heritage pubs.
What a shame it is that the Cattle Market Tavern closed some years ago.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Looks great, sadly not GBG”
You could have ventured into “The Royal Oak”, found it good and proposed it to replace “The Flemish Weaver” in next year’s GBG. Or is “The Royal Oak” one of these secret visits that you undertake but do not share with us ?
As a radical alternative, why not suggest that the GBG is published twice a year, the Winter GBG and the Summer GBG ? The former would be half the size (but probably nearly the same price) and would not feature establishments such as “The Flemish Weaver” that close at the end of September.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yet another great idea. Actually one Beer Guide for places that are always open, one for those that are closed, which you can then throw away.
LikeLike
“You could have ventured into “The Royal Oak”, found it good and proposed it to replace “The Flemish Weaver” in next year’s GBG.”
Agreed. It would have been a possible pre-emptive.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or a facility on the GBG App that enables you to delete establishments that should not have been put into the GBG in the first place.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for the shout out, Martin! That was a rather exceptional song by Yazoo, it must be said. Very few bands have succeeded in blending pop music with classical music elements– most who attempt it fall very flat on their faces.
That cobbled road really is gorgeous. I’m in awe of such places, in the way many people are with cathedrals. You just feel grateful they had the sense to leave it there and not tear it up, or pave over it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought of you and Dick and Dave when I walked Corsham. I doubt 1% of the population have been here, and it’s on a par with the best of North Yorkshire or Oxon.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought of myself there too when I saw the pictures:)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Let’s hope that thought comes true.
LikeLiked by 2 people
“Not the actual landlord”
I thought it was yet another pub doing early Christmas decorations.
“Eagle-eyed readers (Russ)”
Sadly I’m more like the Ostrich with his head in the sand lately.
“Starting, as so often, in Corsham.”
Bloody tiny writing on the OS… but I did manage to make out Thingley which made me chuckle. 🙂
“Proper Streets”
Cobblers! 🙂
“Looks great”
It’s a bit hard to read from the photo but I’m hoping it was formerly called the ‘Puck’ Horse Inn?
“We really have given up on Autumn, haven’t we ? ”
Good Lord. Couldn’t they at least wait until you put the clocks back?
“Once again Winter kills off the dreams of the pub ticker.”
When they say ‘winter is coming’ they’re not kidding!
Cheers
LikeLike
Winning comment – at least wait until the clocks have gone back. Yes.
LikeLike
Shall I send you a magnifying glass.
LikeLike
“Shall I send you a magnifying glass.”
I shan’t be having with these newfangled inventions now that I’m an old f**t! 🙂
LikeLike
What a great looking town…shame about the opening hours…wonder how often we’ll say that in 2025?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d say I guess expect more pubs to just open Fri-Sun but you can’t have pubs not using all that space, can you ?
LikeLike
You’d hope not…. diversification?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Why would anyone want to replace Pack Horse Inn – anagram Inner Hopsack – with Flemish Weaver ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Don’t be too hard on the Bristol Beer Factory, Staffs. “Factory” is a sort of trademark for George Ferguson, erstwhile ineffectual Mayor of Bristol and owner of the Tobacco Factory arts centre/bar/restaurant close to the aforesaid Beer Factory. Their mainstream cask beers are excellent. To the best of my knowledge, they don’t go on about “associates” or any of that bollocks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And the Fag Factory bar opens at 10.00 am for an early-ish sharpener
LikeLike
Bill,
When I stayed in Bedminster several during the 1980s the W. D. & H. O. Wills tobacco factory wasn’t far away and it looks as if it has now been put to good use.
LikeLike
You could almost say, ‘What’s the point in campaigning against pub closures, Pubcos and associated legislation’ when faced with incompetence of this sort. Anyone who invests considerable time and money in a pub business in what is a popular area but then closes the pub without advertising it is doomed to failure. Having a website (or worse, not having one) or a FaceBook site and not updating it with current opening times, etc is beyond belief. Once people have visited somewhere and it is either closed or poor quality they, a) don’t go back and b) tell others.
And there’s nothing wrong with closing on Mondays in the quiet seasons. Just tell people and don’t rely on local word of mouth, it’s 2018 FFS and you need every customer you can get.
LikeLike
That’s the point. Let people know. Having a website or Facebook and not updating it is poor.
LikeLike
Forget about the licensed trade, this is just poor business sense, but then don’t you always get that in licensed trade?
LikeLike
I’m always conscious I can come across as complaining about business realities (reduce trade = more days shut), but it’s the use of websites and social media that wind me up.
LikeLike
Business reality is the longer you are open the more business you will do – unless you feel there isn’t enough business to justify opening on Monday & Tuesday, in which case you are in the wrong place or you are just playing at it.
The two bars/cafes down the village open at 8 for coffee and breakfast, do lunches and food through till 9pm and stay open till 0100 Thu – Sat. Beer and wine is available throughout. Essentially you have two ex retail units (shops) grossing near on £40k per week between them, yet the £2 a pint Sams pubs are as dead as … Sams pubs. Addy just closed again too, third time in less than 18 months after full refurb!!! To be fair I went in on Saturday tea time a couple of weeks ago and it was nicely busy. Only problem was the three ladies who ran it didn’t seem to have one personality between them!
LikeLiked by 1 person
We should never assume, as the internet often does, that independent cafes, pubs and breweries have the best service, food and beer. Independent coffee places often serve tepid beer at twice the price of Starbucks, and Café Nero staff are often incredibly cheery. As are 90% of Spoons staff.
LikeLike