Yes, still more from my Birthday I’m afraid.
Having lost track of time AND forgotten I could only use my return ticket on the Welsh chugger back to Piccadilly, I had 27.5 minutes to kill in Wilmslow. No great undiscovered boozers, no micros, not even some weird street art down a dark alley. Just a spooky church and an empty pedestrianised street.
So the Old Dancer would have to do. It was very decent on our official visit in 2016 when the custom came from a genteel Prosecco crowd; tonight it was lovably mixed.
And I like the idea of staff picks, as long as it’s not gin. No, it was an unusual and extravagantly priced Swedish import. Of course it was.
Very good, but tough going, and I couldn’t afford to be late for the 19.39 and have to spend another hour here. The staff came round to light the candles at 19.30, clearly a signal to leave.
Then, oddly, the bottle seemed to reappear, just as we passed Hazel Grove.
Next stop, no idea. So I popped in the Piccadilly Tap to see if there were any Palace fans still gloating.
The Tap has just (belatedly) got in the Guide, rightly so I always thought. The cask list was fill of beers rubbed out by staff, but it did have ONE standout.
Well. A birthday transformed with Burslem’s finest. Not quite the best ever, but rich and warming (NBSS 3.5).
What happened to the rest of that bottle of Narangi, I have no idea.
I did get some good photos in the loos as well.
Not for the first time in the Piccadilly Tap, it was a bit of a blur.
Still, nearly home now.
retiredmartin 
Loved the “oddly, the bottle seemed to reappear” sequence of photos. That beer label wins the prize for “We’re trying to make it look like a minimalist painting in an art museum, or perhaps a lesser-known 45 released by OMD.”
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Brilliant ! Yes, “Messages” era OMD, or 1987 New Order (Peter Saville).
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Remember you asked about Tom Waits and I told you he was in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs ?
Well I finally got to sit down with my eldest tonight to watch it on Netflix over a pizza and a bottle of 15-year-old Dalwhinnie.
Sensational.
The Cohen Brothers in absolutely sublime form.
And Waits is terrific.
My best movie of 2018.
With one day left.
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It’s amazing how much great art (well, music in my case) you catch up on late in the year. Found several wonderful LPs going thru random Best Ofs on Spotify.
Battle of the Sexes was best thing I saw this year. Hate tennis.
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I quite like Italy’s answer to Tom Waits – and to a degree to Vivian Stanshall.
The inestimable Paolo Conte, that is.
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..but if its Train Beer, then also it has to be this:
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Wilmslow to Piccadilly via Hazel Grove ?
I would have a word with Leon about that.
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Indeed. Heald Green perhaps but probably not on a TfW service!
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Oh, come on, every train in the world goes via Hazel Grove. I could tell from the screams.
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“Spooky”
No offense but from that shot it looks a bit like a pub. 😉
“Staff picks – the sure sign you’re drunk”
I take it by this time you’d found your debit card? 😉
“Authentic train beer”
Ah. Pulling a ‘Si’ but with beer instead of food (and in a train vice a pub). 🙂
“Perfection with Seabrooks”
And nice how you make everything look purple. 🙂
“All a bit of a blur”
With a bit of luck you could have that on display in the National Gallery.
Cheers
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Everything looks like a pub to you from over there, Russ.
I found the card as soon as I sat down; it was in the little wallet Manchester City give me to keep my train ticket in (detail, detail).
Everything is purple.
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Especially people eaters
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Can’t believe Russ missed the typo in the Tap 2nd par.
He must be into the New Year’s Eve Labatts early …
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What have I spelt wrong ? Pedestrianised ? Piccadilly ?
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“What have I spelt wrong ? Pedestrianised ? Piccadilly ?”
I think he’s referring to the word ‘art’. 😉
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Why doesn’t the Piccadilly Tap open till noon ?
Piccadilly railway station had 27,724,962 entries and exits last year last year which is nearly 76,000 potential sales of a pint throughout each day.
Each morning there’s a big queue stretching outside from the very nearby Greggs so that must be passengers having to get a coffee instead.
Anyway, if they don’t want my custom on my way to the Lost Dene about 49 hours from now that’s up to them.
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Nanny State, Paul. Nanny State (not the Brew Dog beer).
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The Lost Dene? Crikey. Kind of defines bog standard.
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Maybe, but I prefer a Stonegate breakfast and pint to a Wetherspoons breakfast and pint.
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You’re really selling the Great Lost Dene Early Rendezvous to me, Paul !
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“This pub serves 5 regular beers.
•Bombardier
•Caledonian Deuchars IPA
•Courage Lost Dene Best Bitter (Rebranded Courage Directors)
•Morland Old Speckled Hen
•Shepherd Neame Spitfire”
One’s plenty but FIVE of your favourites to choose from !
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If I do show up I’ll have whatever you’ve had first, unless you tell me otherwise, Paul.
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When did the Tap get hand pumps?
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Good spot. It used to be all from the wall, didn’t it. Actually the PP wasn’t even listed on the board from memory, I just saw the pumps behind the bar. Complicated display of beers is a big feature of 2018 pubs, particularly micros & beer bars. Must go back and inspect yours ;-0
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Well one man’s complicated is another man’s simple! You’d be surprised (horrified!) how many people can’t cope without jam jars…
It’s taken 3 years but our regulars and most new visitors can cope with our lack of hand pumps and the beers on the blackboard & pump clip pole, but Susie still occasionally gets people in with a tell tale look of confusion. I guess the population of the Tap is more transient, perhaps that’s why they’ve given in. Had some great Adnams last time I was in.
Twit me when you’re next in the North East and fancy a preemptive tick in Seaham or Bishop Auckland…!
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Some people can’t cope without pashminas or cashmere scarves, but it don’t make them right, as David Thomas Broughton would say ;-0
Adnams is a bellwether pint, isn’t it ?
Will definitely say hello in the new year.
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WHAT! Not yet the 1st of January and the Urinal shots have piddled out.
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Wow! Plum Porter & prawn cocktail that’s some combination.
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Beer and food matching is the mark of an expert beer sommelier, Paul ;-0
More Bass and cob matching coming up soon.
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