My gig was in half an hour at Gullivers, so a chance to do some of the Manchester pubs that would be GBG shoo-ins if they were in Carluke.
Following on from the Unicorn, a pint of Unicorn would have been nice, but it was packed with youngsters pre-gig, all demanding that pint of Old Tom that had floored BRAPA recently.
So it was back to Swan Street and a sudden urge for Bar Fringe, a longstanding Belgian cafe bar place that only dropped out of the Guide when competition from the Smithfield and Mackie’s kicked in.
The truth is, I followed an Old Boy into the Fringe.
It was one of my better decisions.
A bit like Cambridge’s legendary Elm Tree, you know it for the Belgians but it’s more of an allrounder.
There were four pumps of the sort of stuff considered exotica in Paisley, but I always follow the steer of the Old Boy in the youngsters’ pub.
Wow. It looked great.
“What’s that ?!”
Lilley’s Gladiator rustic cider, 8.4%, £4.10 a pint served from the jug. Just like Bass.
I drunk a half, slowly, but still much quicker than the Old Boy at the bar.
“The Sun Always Shines on TV” (a UK number 1, Mark), “Fake Plastic Trees” (“TURN IT UP”) and folk on their way home to watch Corbyn v the Clown “on HD”.
It was a magic moment. I hope BRAPA gets to doit.
WhatPub recommends the Ducketts of Burnley urinals. SodoI,but I find that taking photos of blokes (or ladies, sexist) taking a leak can offend.
So here’s the football stickers, headlined by the sexy Sutton United sticker (top).
Oh, and one of those Pub Crawl posters that make Old Mudgie feel nostalgic about the loss of Dry Bar.
On to Gullivers, where I skipped the Lees in favour of a double espresso, a wise move.
David Thomas Broughton was, as usual idiosyncratic,
but was as Coldplay compared to Bell Lungs;
I believe Duncan had the pleasure of this art the very next day, as (very nearly) did I.
retiredmartin 
Two things. One. Did the old geezer have a Geordie accent?
Two. I am technically barred from the Fringe. It was about 5 or 6 years ago when two of us complained about manky beer. No great loss. Have been back once of twice but not that fussed about it.
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Possibly, on first point.
And politely complaining about manky beer is essential to improving it.
I wasn’t drinking the cask do no view on that, but I might well go back and try it.
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Bar Fringe was ejected from the GBG because the beer wasn’t very good.
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Always a better reason than because they ejected the Tand.
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Can you actually be barred from a pub for that?
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Stafford Paul got barred from Wolves Spoons the other week for “speaking too loudly”. We’re being targeted.
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Some acquaintances of mine were forcibly ejected from a pub for answering “could I possibly have a bowl of cornflakes?” to the question “what will it be, lads?”.
I assume that a ban was included in the package.
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Ah, “A bowl of cornflakes” DIPA, one of Cloudwater’s finest.
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Went in The Old Monkey, Portland St recently. Excellent Holts Bitter.
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Good to hear, Andrew.
Several of us had excellent Hydes, Robbies and Tetley in the GrEY Horse and Circus recently, so there’s plenty of good beer outside the GBG.
The Old Monkey was the first Manchester pub I used, 23 years ago. Holt Mild was 95p a pint.
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Cider looks bloody lively! Great old boy picture
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Food in the Pot of Beer was great. Sad loss of a different sort of pub.
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