Mrs RM is a world traveller these days. Greenwich, Brighton, Maidenhead, Aberdeen, Southend and now Winchester, the place England half-backs retire to run coffee shops and insurance brokers. BRAPA will hate and love Winch in equal measure.
A snap decision; would I like to join her on Wednesday night ? My liver said no, my heart said yes.
The cheapest option in town was this place, at £109 with shared bathroom. £109 would buy you a week in en-suite in Newport (Gwent).
Luxurious
It took me 20 minutes to park without scraping the BMWs, by which time dusk was falling.
I really wanted to sod off and do the micropub in Southampton (another one !), but Mrs RM gave me those doe eyes and I succumbed to a tickless night in town.
What, apart from Mrs RM’s wit and the loveliness of the cathedral town, could make a night in Winchester worthwhile ?
A whole town of chain Italian restaurants, that’s what.
Mark, because he reads this stuff, will recall the Eclipse as the place we had sea shanties last year.
But it also had Doom Bar.
Not just any Doom Bar. The best Doom Bar I’d ever had, before the Sawbridgeworth Bull, anyway.
I’m sure Mrs RM would have preferred a G & T in the legendary Spoons, but I was making her partake in my beer experiment. She can slag me off on her on own blog.
“Try this! Guess what it is”
No response
“Well? Well?”
Not a word. If only pubs banned mobile phones, eh?
Who could find Brexit more interesting than talking to me about the cellar conditioning of Doom Bar?
Folks discussing Doom Bar, possibly
The soundtrack of “Don’t You Want Me“, (you know, that one) perfectly complimented some vibrant middle class banter about the driving test in Quebec (is there one?) and Welsh rugger
Anyway, as wonderful as it was a year ago, flat and complex. Would I lie to you?
Don’t expect the same score in your local Spoons though.
retiredmartin 
In that pub rather than “Don’t You Want Me“ you might have expected https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsgWUq0fdKk
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Very good, Paul.
I was desperate to use that in the title.
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The Eclipse in the Heart of Winchester ?
And doesn’t “Mullet with headlights” towards the end of the song suggest Tim driving at night ?
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👍
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Eclipse, me old mukkahs? That’s what riders of them new-fangled electric bikes wear round their trouser ankles.
Looks a nice little rub-a-dub-dub mind.
Now, did you go for the Eye-Tie or for the usual crafty takeaway Mart?
Fine people, the Kitchen Sinks, trust me, I love ’em, but come on, over a billion of ’em and they can only come up with one pud, banana fritters?
What’s the morning glory there then?
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PSB,
“one pud, banana fritters” – but just as one beer’s plenty so too is one pud plenty.
Would those of us committed to a healthy diet really appreciate the ‘choice’ of a deep fried Mars Bar ?
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I should cocoa.
But not the same bloomin’ pint in every boozer, Gawd love us?
I hope those wonky crackers and cheese that you don’t like to mention are behaving themselves anyway.
Catch you further down the frog, sunshine!
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Are you the Prof, back under a fake identity, Pat?
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I think I last had a pineapple fritter from a Chinese takeaway in 1975. Pineapples were exotic in Waterbeach.
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Sweet-smelling petunia though that gentleman might be Mart, I am not he.
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Never seen in a branch of Home Bargains in Hull at the same time, though, eh?
Where do you live then? I need to be able to take the mick out of all my readers.
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Nobody shall know.
Said the bells of dear Bow!
Actually, I’m a bit of what that Jeremy Clarkson geezer would call a crumbs and crikey, know what I mean?
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Ah, Bow. Were you Pat in Eastenders?
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Here, lend us your shell-like, Mart.
Buller’s no mug. I ain’t no one’s pint jug.
So I’d never fall for a Joe Blake like Farage. These chancers like him are all a bunch of Norfolk Broads if you ask me.
Man of the people? What a West Ham scarf!
Does that answer your question, me old china?
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Question answered
(and put in file “questions not to ask again”).
What’s your favourite pub then?
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Haven Arms, Ealing, Mart. Always a warm welcome for the Cherry Hogg.
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Ah, isn’t that the pub P P-T was quite fond of ?
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“Mark, because he reads this stuff, will recall the Eclipse” –I do indeed! The pub that established the “we’ll need a second packet of crisps for this one” criteria for evaluating pubs. 🙂
But it begs the question, have you had a 2-packets-of-crisps pub since then? (Mind you, they’re half pumped up with air these days, you need 2 packets just to get a proper portion of crisps!)
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I knew you’d remember, Mark 👍
Not many is the answer , bar the Museum at Farnham which had no food 😊
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Doom Bar gets a bad press but, like GK IPA, when it’s well kept it’s a cracker
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