22nd February 2020
Devizes seemed relatively unscathed by the floods cruelly limiting my western ticks, somehow appropriate for a town that’s a virtual arc of pub names.
We have a British Lion, a White Bear, a Lamb, another Bear, a Pelican, a Black Swan, a Dolphin, a Black Horse, Fox & Hounds, two Dragons, and a Conservative.
By the end of the evening Mrs RM was urging me to pick a final pub on the basis of the “cutest” animal, so you can guess where this ends.
It starts in a car park in Devizes where the railway station used to be.
A damp Saturday night, possibly standard for Devizes, with hardly a soul in the marvellous market square.
There’s a certain similarity about the central pubs, and I’m certain I’ve been to the White Bear before but actually that was the Black Swan, of which more later.
I half expect to find a horde of American tourists in here, fresh from their tour of Wadworths Lacock Abbey.
A pleasant, friendly three-roomer with a mixed upmarket crowd, if you can have such a thing. Bit like the Queen’s Head in Wokingham without the risk of John Redwood dropping in for a pint.
“The leading craft beer pub in Devizes”
says their excellent website. You can read that a couple of ways.
I really wanted a 6X, didn’t I ?
But I made do with the Good Old Boy and a Brentwood Falcon Punch for Mrs RM. Is it #CasualSexism that I end up choosing her pint for her, given only the instruction “Something like BrewDog, please“.
Still, she found the best table in the bar, by the window, underneath the breweriana.
“And some nuts” . Just in time for the special mix (two servings).
Nights that start with bowls of nuts often end badly, and that’s a fact.
At least she hadn’t eaten the cactus. That might come later.
A lovely buzz of unpretentious beer drinking, a couple of oval ballers watching Wales v France on a mobile phone at the bar, and “He drops for World Cup glory !” shouted at one point, which proves it’s always 2003 in Wiltshire.
The beer was great, particularly the hazy IPA from Essex.
“That’s lovely, tastes like” (pause) “BrewDog”
“You’re my meme” I told Mrs RM, whatever that means.
A great start.
Trowbridge and Swindon? You could have looked in at Chippenham, Martin
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Much too posh. Mrs RM did a day’s work there recently that felt like a year.
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You reckon? I spent a week there on a job, about ten years back, and whilst it looked like it ought to be, erm, genteel, the truth didn’t take that long to present itself.
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I know it well. Compared to Trowbridge it’s Monaco.
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I thought that Eric Burdon was christened by his mum and dad, by the way.
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I think you’ll find they called him Eric. What’s the long version of Eric, by the way?
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E r i c
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That’s not how the song goes RM…
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From the Slow Train Coming Outtakes album.
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Was that recorded in Wiltshire? Love the new vehicle.
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It doesn’t have a loo so you need to park next to a hedge.
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That only helps you😀
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It seems to have gone a bit more upmarket since we popped in there back in 2013 on our only visit to the Kennet & Avon Canal. It felt like a bog standard town centre boozer back then, fairly quiet on a Tuesday night!
https://pubsthenandnow.blogspot.com/2013/11/kennet-avon-canal-part-iv-newbury-to.html
Looks like the exterior has been redesigned a bit with new signage.
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Great photos on your post, Pete.
Yes, it was probably a Wadworths house then that has gone free and a bit upmarket but still very much focused on drinkers.
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So you finished the evening in a cute Conservative?
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Unpretentious drinking… particularly in the afternoon…is unparalleled
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“Paul will remember that one” reminds me that I think I’ve got one of them.
I know neither why I bought loads of different Silver Jubilee beers nor why I’ve still got them.
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They’re funding your retirement home in Stoke?
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I doubt if I could give them away.
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