Not much GBG life in the Milton Keynes area.
Even the great beige hope, Draft House, lasted barely a year before the cruel BrewDogisation that will surely keep it out the Guide.
So Keynesians are left with dogeared Spoons and a shiny Brewhouse & Kitchen in the centre, and seemingly endless Ember Inns and such in the burbs.
So in that context, I’m glad they’ve got the Fountain in Steeple Claydon on the edge of their CAMRA patch, even if it looks a bit like Buckingham to me.
What a gorgeous picture postcard of a place.
Not a micro
“Steeple is derived from Saint Eeple, the Patron Saint of Brick workers and heavy drinkers.”
Says Wiki. So it must be true.
The Fountain looks a heavy drinking sort of pub for an old industrial village, and a rare food free survivor.
Its simplicity is gorgeous.
The pumps are on the left, (all your favourites)
but there’s more life to the right, where two Old Boys have beat me in at 4pm and are racking up for pool.
I sense this could be quite fun, but I also sense that getting in the way of septuageraian elbows is bad form, so I head back to the left.
It’s peaceful and quiet, for ten minutes, before the 4pm crowd arrive.
Then a smiling Old Boy emerges from the back, comes over to me, and says “Hello“. He’s the Landlord.
It’s that simple, folks. Pleasant becomes classic in the course of 20 minutes.
He’s thrilled to be in the Beer Guide, first time since I’ve being visiting pubs, and enthusiastic about the local branch members, who clearly drink pints in his pub.
I compliment his unspoilt, unfussy pub.
48 years in the pub, most as Landlord, and he still runs a lively wetled boozer. He’s been to eight funerals this year though, which is sad on a number of levels. The incomers don’t always bring replacement custom to the village boozer.
The Pride is decent though I note the Old Boys are drinking Staropramen.
It’s worth coming just to hear the pronunciation of Staropramen.
retiredmartin 
The only references on the entire internet according to my search engine, to a Saint Eeple, appear to relate to your post and to the wiki article to which you refer, Martin, it appears.
I conclude that it’s good, old-fashioned, English mischief, therefore.
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Well that doesn’t sound like me, and I have Wiki a fiver this week so I expected absolute accuracy from them.
Makes you see the village in a new light, doesn’t it.
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I like it.
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It’s mischief alright. There were a few examples repeating of this bit of nonsense cut and pasted (without checking!) on the net a couple of years ago, but they’ve all gone now and the Wiki page has been edited.
Duff information certainly predates the internet. Not far from Steeple Claydon is Botolph Claydon. Locals (I’m one) called it Bottle Claydon, and the way we pronounced it, by accident had got it nearly right. As far as I can work out there’s an Old English word for a building, “bōthl” which gave the village its name. But if you look on a early 1800s map, the place is named Claydon St. Botolph; you can’t trust anyone…
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You can trust the Government, Mr Bradbury. If you can’t trust the Government, who can you trust ?
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is “The Pride is decent” another way of saying “the Pride’s drinking well”?
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When I use a word, I want it to mean exactly that, no more, no less 😉
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Nice to see a wet-led survivor. These days how many of them do you encounter, I wonder, as a percentage of pubs visited– 1 out of 20? 1 out of 50?
Naming a beer “Staropramen” seems designed to produce interesting pronunciation attempts, with or without a few pints under your belt!
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In new entries to the Guide, food often seems marginal, because they’re often micros and tap rooms.
A lot of pubs on the crawls I write about seem either wetled or not really relying on food e.g. Preston and Rugby recently.
So certainly more wetled than in New York 😉
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Old boys playing pool… two cask options…no food…pub bantz…could be Coalville
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Or a huge number of pubs which never appear in GBG and don’t care a jot that they don’t.
I’d suggest that wet-led and no food are still the mark of most local boozers in Britain.
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I would agree…
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My local, the Sun, theoretically offers pub food but I’ve only ever seen folk eating a couple of times, an old couple who pop in every Friday.
If you don’t employ a chef it’s much easier not to rely on food.
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Actually it could well have been Coalville. Bar the golly.
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How do you pronounce Staropramen?
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Staropramen. Silent a, r and o.
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Both ‘A’s and both ‘R’s ?
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