There’s been a host of horrors for GBG completists in this year’s Guide. Brewery taps only open 11 days a year, Cricket clubs open for 8pm till midnight on Fridays, and the usual motley collection of micro pubs that open when they feel like it.
What would greet me at my penultimate Herts tick in marvellous Markyate ?
As LifeAfterFootball will know, the village is named after ’90s legend and Birmingham City team mate Mark Yates, whose miss-timed shot at nearby Kenilworth Road actually crossed the county boundary and landed just off the A5, flattening the original settlement. These things happen.
Nowadays Markyate has all the things a village of 3,135 needs. A Dog Café,
three (3) Indian takeaways, a Proper Pub,
an abandoned Benskins sign,
and our micro, hopefully opening on the dot of five (pm. It’s not Luton Airport).
I confess I was sceptical; but at 5.02 the door was open, and I was first in.
Well, not quite first. I’d been beaten there by about 330 Action Men, most sporting hipster beards.
The barrels contained the less hipster Tring, Rebellion and Chiltern.
The owners were actually away, but a lovely couple had returned from their new home in Carmarthen just to serve me a decent pint of Chiltern. The chatty lady even recommended it to me when I asked.
Places like this give micro pubs a good name.
Proper seating,
Blondie’s Greatest Hits,
World Cup ’66 memorabilia,
and the sort of toilet humour invented just for BRAPA.
It was just about to get rowdy when I drank up, with regulars making a dash for the cult vinyl pile. For five points, name TWO of those LPs.
retiredmartin 
Nice Benskins sign. You managed to capture the pub and all it’s many aspects. I was in a stupid rush when there and the place was heaving so couldn’t walk the walls or even read the rules not to misfire in the toilet. Faster is clearly not always better.
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I rarely linger in the ACME micro pub, but sometimes when you’re the only customer and strike up a conversation about random stuff you get more than you expected.
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Something akin to the best of Hot Chocolate (not got that one) on top & could well be No Secrets by Carly Simon 4th down. GOK what the others are.
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Third down (missed counting the HC sleeve) for CS.
That nice Mr Wikipedia would suggest Every 1s a Winner, not Best of
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Definitely “Very Best of Hot Chocolate” as I have that one. I can’t see anything of the 4th one down so you must be a genius !
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“in marvellous Markyate”
How does one pronounce that?
Mark-yate
Mark-y-ate
Mar-ky-at-e
The combinations are infinite! 🙂
“hopefully opening on the dot of five (pm. It’s not Luton Airport).”
(chuckle)
“Ignore the cushions”
Bracketing a Good Beer Guide it looks like.
“Sensible”
Yep. 🙂
“Less sensible”
I didn’t know they had same-sex bathrooms back in 1957. 😉
“For five points, name TWO of those LPs.”
Well, the LP out of its cover (right underneath) is the Very Best of Hot Chocolate. But that’s all I got. 😉
Cheers
PS – Regarding the post title; do you sometimes make up a title and then go hunting for a pub to match? 🙂
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I thought The John Lennon Collection was in there.
On the PS, yes. Sometimes I actually build the pubs themselves to fit titles I made up decades before.
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A gardener acquaintance of mine always pronounces the Latin “superbum” as super bum, which is nice.
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Best of Hot Chocolate -I have that one -not my sort of music at all but I have always had a soft spot for Errol & Co
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Pauline,#
Yes, I remember Lord Erroll’s Report on Licensing Laws about forty-five years ago but he was a bit ahead of the times.
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Terrific stuff 👍 I think Yates would be joining you on a regular basis unless Macclesfield pick up some points! Micros are the way forward …only way to make a living…blondie are underrated and great band ⚽👍🍻
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You’d be bored if they were all micros BeerMat ! Yes to more Blondie and less Ed !
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Thats a good point very well made 😉
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Hi Martin,
Apologies for not replying sooner but better late than never!
I’m also Martin, the owner of The Local, and it was a shame we were away when you visited (researching more beer, honest!), as we could have had a very pleasurable chat, I’m sure.
Thanks for your positive (I think?!) review, plus the excellent photos, and if you get the chance to visit again, please let me know.
Best wishes to you.
Martin
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Oh yes. “Places like this give micro pubs a good name” I wrote. Your stand in couple did a great job of making me welcome. Keep up the great work (and make sure you close specially for the BRAPA visit 😉) when he makes it to Hertfordshire.
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