9th March 2020
I’ve spent this morning hoovering my laptop keyboard, and am pleased to report the return of the letter “a”. The exercise also recovered half a pound of Scottish oats. It’s always the Scots.
No new counties completed in March yet, but plenty of opportunities in what we call the “sleepy counties” (but only after we’re safely out of them and never to their face).
Broadway in (just) Worcestershire is very Cotswolds, just far enough from the neighing crowds heading to Cheltenham.
Half the size of Waterbeach, one of the lesser known Cotswolds villages but deep in the heart of National Trust garden land.
One main street with no obvious shops except those selling Barbour, pashminas and banana bowls. Pauline will explain what a Banana Bowl is.
No obvious places to buy a cob, and five yards from Sue Parkinson’s “Lifestyle” shop you’re in open fields.
It took two minutes to walk the High Street, and not just because it was drizzling.
A small confession. I was here a year ago, having failed to cross-tick the new GBG and pink out the Crown & Trumpet, making an unnecessary return visit.
At the time I noted the Broadway Hotel with its 16th century timber, “Jockey’s bar” and brasserie and thought to myself;
“That’ll never get in the Beer Guide”
Lo, here it is in the Guide, a mere four years after winning the coveted Pub of the Season for Spring 2016. Even Shakespeare (if he existed) worked quicker.
Cotswolds pubs have the advantage that they’re ALWAYS open, as Costswold folk have nothing else to do except peer in shops and queue for a table.
It’s an impressive, high ceilnged place, the sort that Coalville specialises in.
Lots of handpumps, like you expect in Guide pubs,
I take a seat by the fire, silently cursing the Mums and babies stopping my surreptitious snapping. There are more dogs than people; everyone greets Maggie.
“Victoria” plays; the Kinks not the Fall, of course.
The Hooky is very creamy, a decent NBSS 3 given everyone else is on Sauvignon and lager.
A young South African couple approach the bar.
“What lagers do you have ? Peroni ?”
The amiable barman (they always are in posh pubs) gives a conspiratorial spiel about the superiority of Moretti over Peroni that is the best example of upselling I’ve heard since McDonalds offered to supersize me. Heineken should be proud.
Two pints of Moretti were £10.90, before you ask.
To carry on a theme, the Indian restaurant in Broadway is called The Broadway Indian Restaurant. If you didn’t eat there then you missed a treat, however.
Yes, the prices at that hotel are er, hotel bar ones, but it is comfortable when it’s not too crowded. We rented a place up the Snowshill Road, past the C&T a few times, and your post brought back some pleasant memories.
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Loved Snowshill when I visited with Dad. Yes, Broadway very pleasant.
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Martin, did you manage to track down any Donnington Ales during your brief visit to Broadway?
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I avoided them like the plague. I mean, at all costs, Paul.
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I may have said this on here before, in which case apologies, but I remember drinking Donningtons in pubs in Snowshill and Moreton-in-Marsh with great pleasure. Mind you, this was over 20 years ago. I wonder what happened to make the beer so vile. (I trust your opinion, RM)
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I wouldn’t trust my opinion.
Could be personal taste, it’s one of very few beers (Langham is another) where I think the beer is the problem as opposed to the pub.
On the other hand, the pubs themselves are very pleasant.
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Bill,
I was in the Snowshill Arms and Brown Bear six years ago – both good pubs with good beer.
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I noted the faded glory of the Flowers sign at the Horse and Hound too – did you venture within?
We found it to be a safe space for assorted locals, but with little pleasant or interesting to say, yet who wished to publicise the fact by shouting all the time.
It seemed to be the only such pub in the village like that though, happily.
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I wasn’t tempted in 🤔
Always hard to tell
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At 2½ months old the Crown and Trumpet was the first pub our daughter stayed in.
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A mate of mine coined the phrase ‘oatmeal savages’ for our friends north of the border.
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Some of them are quite domesticated.
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Broadway is good for pints outside in the Summer, not so good inside with the posh families and day trippers in my view. The C&T is problematic, it was my ‘local’ during the cidermaking months and I liked it a lot, but the tables laid for dining have multiplied to the point I’m only really comfortable there outside on the benches. The beer has always been a bit tired to my taste, the ciders too sweet and commercial, and it was perhaps a indicator of how bad the rest of the village pubs were that it always got in the guide.
The Cotswold Hotel bar thoroughly deserves its place I think, there’s even usually a pale hoppy one from Goffs on, highly unusual for the Cotswolds. A pub crawl from the patio of the Swan to the Jockey is how I spend my day in Broadway whilst the missus trawls the incredibly expensive charity shops.
The Horse & High-nd changes hands regularly, but never gets any better. For Donningtons you’ll want to avoid the excellent New Inn at nearby Willersey. You’ll find it a nice walk ruined on a sunny day…
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No idea what a banana bowl is although I did once acquire a banana hammock from work .Love the Cotswolds but as you say it can be fiendishly expensive !
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Broadway was the day trip destination for all us Brummies in eighties and nineties. Gorgeous but not a fat lot going on although Coalville will be happy with the comparison 😄
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