I should firstly apologise to young Citra. My unplanned and unannounced drop-in to the foothills of Hook denied him the opportunity to join me in a spot of home-brew tipping. He didn’t miss much. Except for a rare outing for “Chiquitita” in a Hampshire gastropub.
By the same token, I failed to drop in on my Aunt-in-Law (if such a thing exists) who’s lived in Hook for decades, and might actually have enjoyed the Old House at Home. Last time we visited for her 70th birthday it was the Mill House, a Blubeckers pub that shortly after suffered the indignity of conversion to a Brunning & Price.
The approach to the suburb of Newnham takes you through that greenery we keep hearing has long gone in Middle England.
Yes folk, it’s Christmas lunch time.
Andwell competes with Doom Bar and a.n.o. for the attentions of the turkey munchers.
Though of course, it doesn’t. Pineapple juice, Prosecco and whatever passes for Peroni here.
The little bubbles probably tell you a lot.
Seats all taken by diners bar one, which a highly efficient Landlord shows me to. It’s the best seat in the house.
Posh people speaking loudly with long drawn-out words and reading out the whole menu takes some beating.
“We’re flying to Genoble for Crimble”
“We can carry on tal-king or we can order”
“Oooh, we’ve got THREE menus to choose from !”
The waiter brings a Christmas menu to squeals of delight.
“Now we’ve got FOUR”
“I’M having fish and chips. On-ly because it’s Friday”
“Are these local eggs ?” NO.
“Are they from Waitrose then. I’m not having Tesco eggs”
If only I was making it up, but you’ll know I’m really not.
The Andwell wasn’t off, but it was drab and undrinkable, and I spent a tricky ten minutes waiting for the barman to vacate the bar so I could sneak to the the Gents without being noticed.
And here’s the money shot. Well, a video, actually.
retiredmartin 
Well you’d pass any flow test.
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Writing on outside pub walls bad-ish thing. Writing on inside pub walls VERY bad thing.
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Ha, spot on, Bill.
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What, even if it says “Will customers kindly move away from the bar after being served? Thank you”?
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Reading out the whole menu is a favourite habit of elderly dining gentlefolk 😠
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Yes, often octogenarian (as with my parents, for whom lasagne is a mystical new discovery).
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My mum would do it to my dad, who had perhaps become a bit slow on the uptake, but she also did it to me.
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I can understand your reluctance to complain Martin, but unless substandard beer is brought to the attention of the bar staff, the pub will carry on serving crap.
If you weren’t feeling confrontational, then why not just leave the half full glass on the table, and then walk out. Even better, leave a short note explaining why you left that glass of Sarsons finest.
We would have missed your “spectacle of the pour,” of course, but the dim-wit running that food-led B&P outlet, might just have cottoned on to the fact that his cellarmanship skills leave much to be desired.
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Fair points but as I wrote, Paul, it wasn’t off, there was no reason to take it back.
It was just dull and flat, as frankly the majority of cask is these days.
Greater turnover (i saw one other cask drinker that lunchtime) would help, and I really should have had the Doom Bar like that chap did. Many would have drunk that half, but life’s too short.
I have, of course, scored the pub on WhatPub.
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I understand what you are saying Martin, but too many dull and flat pints doesn’t bode well for cask.
CAMRA’S percieved preferance of quantity over quality hasn’t helped matters either, in this respect.
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Spot on.
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There’s a large grey area of beer that is just dull and lacklustre but not really in practice returnable. I can be quite fussy about returning beer, but in general I won’t do it unless the beer is obviously cloudy or vinegary. The average bar person woudn’t be too impressed if you told them you thought it was tainted by diacetyl or butyric acid.
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“to squeals of delight” –This had me laughing out loud, as did the quotation (verbatim, no doubt) about the Tesco eggs.
The truth is the little bubbles don’t tell me a lot, but that’s because I’m an ignoramus. But you’re right, seeing that in the glass just doesn’t look right somehow.
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I distinctly remember how excited they were to get a FOURTH menu to peruse!
BRAPA would have been in meltdown. At least talking so loudly I could hear every word for a change.
The reason you don’t recognise the significance of bubbles is because that’s what 99% of American beer and bottled beer looks like, not because you’re ignorant.
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I’ve not read any beer blogs for a few days,( just a pre -Christmas refreshing of the mind). Then I find this….
“Young Citra” , are you taking the p*** sir?
“”He didn’t miss much”, I know.
“Don’t take your camper van down here”. You didn’t, did you?
Andwells, best place for it, brilliant video.
Was the Chiswick Hophead on? When this pub reopened 18 months or so ago after 3 or 4 years of closure, the landlady enthusiastically told me that they were tied for a year to Heineken, who paid for the new cellar gubbins , after this she was keen to get a more expansive range of Hampshire beers in, nothing has yet changed as far as I can see. Food is king as far as this pub goes.
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Looks like it could well have been the Hophead on the 3rd pump. I’d been urged by someone who reads this blog to try the homebrew for a while so that’s what I did. Of course, no-one actually drinks the local beer, they just like the cache of having it on.
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A relatively poor pub and pint by the look of it!!!!!!!!
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