A report from Lofthouse.
No, not that Lofthouse.
The little one in the middle of Nidderdale.
You know, the one with a 1 in 7 descent.
Isolated Yorkshire pubs are a bit hit and miss.
Either modernised to exclude the casual drinker, or so resiliently basic you wonder where the lunch custom is coming from to keep it open another 5 years.
The Crown looks resilient.
On a quiet Tuesday a foursome of gentlefolk were settling in for a lengthy debate about soup and crisps and soda, leaving me the sole ale idiot.
Luckily, only two.
Black Sheep in a Theakston glass, just to confuse me. Black Sheep may yet become my favourite beer, you know. Cool, rich and leaving the lacings of your dreams (NBSS 3.5).
It was the bants of BRAPA dreams too. Beside the usual septuageraian diary of visits to Dr Duggleby, there was also concrete evidence of what we Brits will put up with in a B & B.
“They were funny eggs at breakfast, weren’t they, and she could have offered us cereal, and the bed was hard“.
“But she was nice, so mustn’t grumble“.
In contrast the Crown was efficient and served good beer, then directed you to the outside toilets.
At least, I thought it was their Gents. The lack of any running water may suggest I’d inadvertently stumbled into someone’s back garden.
They’ll never catch me.
retiredmartin 
You’d’ve been fine. I’m pretty sure BRAPA would have slept in their garden after one of his “Eight Tick” days.
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There’s a sycamore sapling at the left of the toilet picture that a century from now will remind us of the Combermere.
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Might I acquaint you with the fact, that in Birmingham during the nineteen thirties, a competition was held, to choose names for the two Bisto twin characters, those of a boy and a girl smelling Bisto’s gravy? The competition was won by a Mr. and Mrs. Simmonds, who named the twins after themselves, calling them Bill and Maree. They were awarded a china doll.
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Reg,
And not many people know that forty-something years later Bill and Maree started opening discount shops and now B&M are one of UK’s fastest growing variety retailers.
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and before that a brewery? or was M & B someone else?
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Clive,
I think that was a different Maree and Bill.
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I thought from the first picture you were about to tell us that you had finally found the ideal location for your own micro.
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I love that Theakston still have an ale simply called “Best Bitter.” Would have been an awfully common name decades ago, right? Seems we’ve reached the point nowadays where it almost qualifies as an unusual beer name. 🙂
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