Another day, another trip down to Dorset, another chance to walk through timeless Shaftesbury without BRAPA whining he needs the loo.
I see the locals have already erected a statue of the angelic Simon after his February visit.
No red carpet for me on my quick stop for flat white in ever excellent Coffee #1, but some lovely contours on the map and classic shop design.
Angola 76 may come a bit too soon for the tweedy residents of North Dorset and the handful of visitors asking the Town Crier for tea shop recommendations.
I could hear Si scream “Go back to the Ship” from his Cornwall Premier Inn (we were so close, sigh), but I was on a mission.
Goodness, Gold Hill is steep. I wouldn’t want to cycle up that with a loaf of bread like they did in the ’80s.
Sometimes a place just clicks.
From the foot of Gold Hill I wandered aimlessly for half an hour through fern and along winding lanes from St James’ to St John’s, and it was marvellous.
Underpubbed it may be, but Shaftesbury was for a while the best place on earth.
Till those beardies come down the A303 for the music festivals and spoil it all.
A bare hop,skip and a jump so to speak from the place Mrs PP-T consummated our burgeoning friendship all those years ago.
A lovely part of the world that fortunately most West Country second-home owners seem to find unfashionable.
You’re never far from a New Ager offering to sell you decent weed.
Praise the Lord.
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By consummated I believe Prof means shared a bag of chips and curry sauce.
No idea about “weed”.
The quality of readership is on a rapid decline.
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Not so much that the wider one-million plus readership is on a rapid decline, but just the fraction of one per cent of the readership who actually comment on here.
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So what does Mr. or Ms. Bargain sell in their shop?
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Hovis.
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Hovis was much better when it was only baked in Stone, not far across from the proper old Joules Brewery.
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Shaftesbury is lovely. Had a couple of decent pints of Young’s in the Mitre a few years ago and bought a book about Shetland from the charity shop over the road, bizarrely as Mrs B is from Shetland and that’s where I live now.
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Mitre seemed the most upmarket pub when in GBG a few years ago.
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Yesterday the Mitre was one of the best Brighton pubs I got to.
I thought I was due a rest today but Mrs TSM suggested lunch in the Bull and Bladder – and then it was Holdens in Cannock and Ringwood in Lichfield on the way home.
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#PubMan
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I can state with my customary confidence, that the name “Hovis” was coined in eighteen ninety, by one Herbert Grime, then a London student, in a national competition set by S. Fitton and Sons Limited, to find a trading name for their patent flour, which was rich in wheat germ. Herbert won twenty-five pounds, when he coined the word as a contraction from the Latin phrase “hominis vis”, meaning “the strength of man”.
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Well I never!
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“another chance to walk through timeless Shaftesbury ”
But that’s nowhere near Macclesfield (original home of Hovis?).
“Not a micropub”
Yet. 😉
“I see the locals have already erected a statue of the angelic Simon after his February visit.”
Using the look on his face after he’s found the loo.
“and the handful of visitors asking the Town Crier for tea shop recommendations.”
I see a fancy mobility scooter. We sure that isn’t a fancy micro?
“I wouldn’t want to cycle up that with a loaf of bread like they did in the ’80s.”
Using a loaf of bread as a bicycle. I’d like to see that! 🙂
“Road to somewhere”
I’ll take your word for it.
“but Shaftesbury was for a while the best place on earth”
Love it when everything comes together like that.
Cheers
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Gold Hill is a beautiful street! I bet the water really runs down it during a hard rain.
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I bet it does!
Glad you’ve been there. I go to a music festival just east of there but hard to visit Shaftesbury in a campervan.
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Don’t you carry a special large potted plant for his exclusive use when on official BRAPA transporting duties?
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Now there’s a great idea! Multi use pot plant.
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Isn’t the basket on the front of a mobility scooter designed to fit a plant pot?
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I can confirm the pot plant Martin carries around is fully equipped for all eventualities. Superb pics, especially liked the ‘daisies forward’ one.
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As a one-time resident of Wandsworth, to which I moved in 1982 for the Youngs, I was intrigued to see one of their pubs so far west (I know they are only a pubco now). Did you get to try that pub, and if so what was the Youngs like? I last tried it in Cambridge, in the pub under the new Ibis by the station and it was just bland and boring. It was lucky that I didn’t even have to cross the road to get there.
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I had Youngs there in 2013 and it was average. Youngs had a reasonable estate in Bristol and around in 90s, and some connection with Smiles that someone will explain!
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Smiles went bust a couple of times, in the 90’s they tried to expand a bit too much and had to flog off most(?) of their estate to Youngs about 20 years ago.
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Thanks Scott.
I remember the Highbury Vaults in Bristol going from Smiles to Youngs around 20 years ago.
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