A few short bitty posts now as I rush back and forwards between the laptop and the annual charity sale, where I attempt to sell tat to folk at deflated prices.
So bit of a rush through the pubs. Which will please some of you who think I should always be in a pub.
This is my Southsea Guest House. Not as scary as it looks, except for the lagers.
I had two targets west of Pompey, in Swanwick and Fareham.
But first, a two flat white top-up in the Fratton Spoons.
This is where your writer bravely tried Prosecco a year ago. Not sure the locals have recovered from the shock.
Twenty minutes to Fareham, as dull a Southern town as you could dream of.
Only two previous trips here. On the first I spent an hour in Fareham reading “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix“, one of the great books (honest). Then I went to the Spoons and drank Brew Dog’s Edge, one of the great beers.
Apart from two Spoons the only pubby highlight is the Golden Lion in the old part of town. Nothing of note happened there.
Now the Delme Arms hits the GBG, tucked a mile or more from the station near the pond.
It’s festooned with “Pub of the Year” banners, possibly an award from Fareham Conservative Association, and is a classic quality community pub.
No Fareham Town FC flags on the ceiling though.
Too many TVs, all showing a Katy Perry special for St Georges Day.
And all the ales from the barrel.
I always persist with Langham beers in the area, and this was a cool, floral NBSS 3+. But I wouldn’t say the ale was flying out.
I would say the Delme had that rare sight of dads drinking with their lads at the bar, and lasses drinking jugs in the garden, that you never get in a micropub.
But just what is this modern obsession with boxed ciders ?
retiredmartin 
Don’t get me started on boxed ciders.
I wanted a couple sent over last Christmas for my two lads who were coming home but I couldn’t find any company who would ship them.
Rang up a couple of them who said it was to do with Irish customs and excise which I found a bit strange because I though the free movement of goods,devices and people etc.
But then I remembered having to pay import duty ( vehicle registration tax ) on bringing a UK car into Ireland.
Funny that …
Anyway,you’re making the Pompey area pubs look very attractive young Martin.
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P P-T,
I used to get boxed cider from Wilkins of MUDGLEY, appropriately, and bring it back on the train from Temple Meads.
That was in the 1980s when it worked out at 16p a pint.
Happy days.
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For the most part, the modern obsession with boxed cider is just the old obsession with bottled over-sweet alcopops in a different ‘pack’. I’m a cider drinker, and occasional cider maker. I don’t drink cider in pubs as a rule…
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The sculpture is spot-on, for the State Of The Nation just now, I’d say.
Nice pic, Martin.
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“Fareham As dull a southern town as you could dream off”.
Does that include Bracknell and Maidenhead, or are they south Midlands ?
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Different universe. And you forgot Basingstoke.
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I’ve never been to Basingstoke, just through it many times on the train.
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Yes, I remembered to forget it.
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Long ago I stayed in Bracknell once from work, negotiating with a big computer company there.
What I remember most clearly is having some lovely Draught Bass there.
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Good grief.
Was Bass ever brewed outside Burton? Or just Courage up the road?
Bracknell still has some good boozers in the suburbs
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Was Bass ever brewed outside Burton? – no, not the proper cask version.
Or just Courage up the road? – not near me, and now at the Eagle Brewery in Bedford.
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Don’t hear much about the place, since the Met Office moved to Exeter. Don’t even know if it’s still there either, TBH. Every outfit has a Head Of Mucking About With Stuff, and he needs to be seen to do things I suppose.
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