IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, AND ALL CANNINGS FEELS FINE

I loved the next pub.

Classic setting in the shadow of Ashley Alton Barnes White Horse,

20 minutes bus ride from Devizes,

tucked away in a village comprised entirely of thatched cottages,

Admit it, it’s pretty
Not all Wiltshire is this good

in a little lane actually called Pub Lane. Yes really.

Trust a pub with that much foliage

In a place like this the village pub goes one of two ways.

Full-on gastro with reservations all over the shop, or refuge for quirky retirees using it as their second front room.

Well done, King’s Arms, you chose right.

Unfussy as an art form.

Yes, I could have had butternut squash risotto, but there was no “Are you dining” or “Is that all“.

At one table an Old Boy was cashing up the takings, either for the pub or the Kangaroo Air Force Ventilator fan club.

“End of the month, Bert ?”

“End of the flamin’ world”

And then proceded to regale us with a note perfect version of the 1987 R.E.M. classic (12″ version).

Beermats on comnunal tables

The 6X was rich and foamy and resinous, whatever that means. NBSS 3.5+.

Scummy head

A chap in his 70s came back from an attempt to buy drinkable non-alcoholic beers from Sainsbury (Spoiler : there aren’t any) and wrote off the Stokes wonder catch.

“I caught plenty like that. In my youth”

“Yes. Back in the days life was black and white”.

I’m sure they went on like that for hours.

Unpretentious games room

If only all Waddies pubs could be so unpretentious.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

26 thoughts on “IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, AND ALL CANNINGS FEELS FINE”

  1. You do realise that you may start to get an interesting new demographic visiting here, once google searches for Kangaroo Air Force Ventilator list this blog as the first suggested webpage?

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  4. Spot on. Just up my street. Why have they spoiled it with the extraneous mongrel brand beer OTB? Surely putting Sharps shite alongside Wadworth’s actually devalues the traditional brewers beers. Interestingly Sharps Atlantic, like Marston’s products, is another brew which claims to settle and be serveable within 12 hours of cellaring; real ale my arse.

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    1. Agree on diluting ranges with other brewers beers. Stick to your own, and have a team that go round your pubs and taste them. Like Cloudwater do (smaller scale but same principle).

      No-one is going to avoid that pub because it only sells Wadworths beers.

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      1. I think people would actually go because it was Wadworths and if it was my pub and I thought an alternative were needed it wouldn’t be pseudo real ale from an American Mega brewer

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    2. But on the other photo, not Martin’s, it’s a Black Country Ales and a Bath rather than two Sharps beers.
      Having other than Wadworths in Devizes is probably as daft as having other than Bass or Pedigree in Uttoxeter.

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      2. Not just the Tiger but there’s Tim’s Greyhound where I had a decent pint or two with my breakfast that included experimental fried potatoes rather than the usual hash browns.
        We then still had plenty of time for the Palmers pubs.

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      4. Etu,
        Yes, I vaguely remember that but Tim’s recent experiment involved each chip being cut into at least a dozen pieces before being fried.

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  5. Is that sign of the two women a new product from the factory on an industrial estate in wherever that makes all those reproduction Bass mirrors ?

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      3. Bill,
        Yes, horses in Wrexham which is Wales’s most English town but elsewhere in the principality it’s sheep
        https://www.google.com/search?hl=EN&biw=1600&bih=720&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=PBwPXZv_JdLF8gLJlZ3IDA&q=wales+shepherd+statue&oq=wales+shepherd+statue&gs_l=img.12…8861.10722..13124…0.0..0.72.335.6……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0i7i30.MFXlqLIjcUg#imgrc=SDP9Gg-scUbKwM:&spf=1561271362442
        https://www.google.com/search?hl=EN&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1600&bih=720&ei=LhwPXa-IHLLBlwTK7Yn4Bw&q=wlaes+town+centre+sheep+statue+&oq=wlaes+town+centre+sheep+statue+&gs_l=img.12…4079.13840..15837…0.0..0.81.1592.31……0….1..gws-wiz-img…..0..0j0i10j0i10i24.zNcUdhPNGzA#imgrc=dSO4Gq3Ziu_rDM:&spf=1561271589931
        except Tenby with its goats.

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  6. I spent many happy years in Wiltshire – an underrated county quite happy slipping by under the radar for London’s second home owners spending their weekends in a traffic jam on the A303 at Stonehenge.
    Land-locked and pretty ( not another word about Swindon ) it has great pubs,my favourite city in the world ( Salisbury ) and the place where I first set eyes on the gorgeous young future Mrs PP-T and announced to her half an hour after our first meeting that we’d spend the rest of our lives together.
    You see,I’m not a complete bastard.

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    2. P P-T,
      And I’m quite sure that you wouldn’t have wanted the gorgeous young future Mrs PP-T going off to the Holy Land with her mother for a week or more straight after that first meeting.

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  7. “I loved the next pub.”

    I’m actually at a loss for words.

    “Classic setting in the shadow of Ashley Alton Barnes White Horse”

    Did he run away from that giant fellow in Dorset?

    “tucked away in a village comprised entirely of thatched cottages,”

    Local ordinance I’ll bet.

    “Trust a pub with that much foliage”

    Even if it appears to be mainly tropical foliage?

    “Well done, King’s Arms, you chose right.”

    (thumbs up)

    “either for the pub or the Kangaroo Air Force Ventilator fan club.”

    I’d never heard of the Kangaroo thingy until this month and now they’re everywhere! 🙂

    ““End of the flamin’ world””

    Every third Thursday, weather permitting.

    “Scummy head”

    So it must be good! 🙂

    “I’m sure they went on like that for hours.”

    With a pint every so often to keep the throat unparched. 🙂

    Cheers

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