Another day, another micro pub to subtly change my view on micro pubs. At least in the North*.
Simon is best placed to tell us if micros deserve to be thought of as Proper Pubs (PP). The new BRAPA regime sees him spending a whole week living with the sole other customer to get under the skin of the place. Sometimes 27.5 minutes just isn’t enough.
I spent 13.83 minutes in the Old Vault and can formally accord it PP status. Sadly, Thorne had failed to book the Christmas Milkshake stall and was looking a little sorry for itself.
But that’s because everyone was in the pubs. It’s a well-pubbed town, including multiple golf, Coronation and “Harlequin” clubs.
And like the Windmill, its GBG neighbour, the Old Vault has that famous Greater Donny welcome (“Ay Up“) which gives me the confidence to ask the bloke at the bar what I should have, which is shorthand for “What you drinking mate ?”.
“Go for the stout, it’s banging” I know someone who would have said it was a mild, but I’m no beer bore.
“Would you like a taster ?” said the impossibly cheery barmaid.
“A pint’s a taster !” I said, to universal acclaim, except from the barmaid.
White Rose Raven was cool, rich and complex. A beer of the year contender (NBSS 4.5).
A cheery place, with lots of comings and goings for fag breaks, reminding me of the Stumble, the community micro in Scarborough.
Of course, the lager and laughter would horrify the micro purists of North Kent, which will worry the good folk of Thorne not one bit.
*Stoke and above but not Cheshire.
*
retiredmartin 
Point of order – it’s Hey Up! Not Ay, as in Aye aye cap’n.
Second point of order – Stumble in Scarbro’ is quite clicky I find, it was their 4th anniversary last night. I didn’t go, but I called in on Thursday, it was okay, but not a patch on The North Riding, or even The Valley where genuine conversation is to be had with genuine local people.
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I prefer t’North Riding to t’ Valley.
How is it that I have a weekend in Scotland, come back and several of my posts show up as “Anonymous”.
I would have made a couple of really offensive comments had I known.
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I prefer North Riding, was there last week and went out for a look at their new brewery with Stu Neilsen.
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Thorne had its own brewery in the form of Darley’s. The company, and its 88 pubs, was taken over by Vaux of Sunderland in 1978, but brewing continued until 1986.
I remember visiting Thorne in the early 1980’s, with the express purpose of tracking down some Darley’s beers and taking a peep at the brewery.
That was back in the day when I used to “tick” breweries and their beers.
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A perfectly reasonable activity.
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“They saw me coming”
As I mentioned on Si’s blog, at least the lights don’t look like undies.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/towns-christmas-lights-branded-pants-6894575
“A beer of the year contender (NBSS 4.5).”
Sigh. Send some of that my way when you get a chance.
Cheers
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