Horsey racing. The sport of kings, apparently. Hmmm.
Quite why I chose Cheltenham Festival Week to attempt to complete Gloucestershire GBG is a mystery. In truth, I’d dropped Matt back at Milton Keynes Station and just kept driving west. The A421 does that to you.
So I ended up paying premium rate for a Gloucester Guest House and had to endure two Leeds fans already celebrating their promotion and their certain big win on Our Merlin in the Arkle Chase later that day.
The lone new Cheltenham GBG entry is actually in Charlton Kings, which is virtually contiguous (nice word) with the big town, though I’m sure it had its own heading in the GBG before.
Not much to say about Kings, though the two standout bits of architecture are very varied.
The Royal is your regulation upmarket neighbourhood dining pub for places too posh for a Marston 2-for-1.
BUT. There’s a few Old Boys drinking Thatchers at the bar, the talk is of liquid breakfasts for racegoers, and Butcombe Rare Breed is a rare treat. Normally.
For 3pm, it’s pretty lively. Emily will be popping in at 3.30 and no doubt finishing off this singular drawing of Wonder Woman.
Four pumps, I didn’t see another half of cask pulled while was there and sadly that meant a second 2.5 in a row. But it was worth £3.70 a pint to admire the royal theme throughout,
and just hope it’s not Tom Irvin that can’t make it this Friday.
The car on the lawn is pretty daring for a town of this type isn’t it? I can’t imagine it being left there for long.
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It was in someone’s drive so not much anyone can do about it bringing down the tone.
Odd, though.
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Are you searching for an appropriate new chariot?
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The car is reminiscent of that belonging to Hyacinth Bucket’s sister. Was there are dog living in it.
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Not that I recall, Tom.
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Not everyone knows that Reliants are from Staffordshire, the county that also gave us Wedgwood, JCBs and Draught Bass.
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and Paul Mudge.
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Ha! We were in Cheltenham this weekend, managed beers in the excellent Adam & Eve, and hops’n’Thai in the alright-ish Railway (could be a pre-emptive if they can just get some customers in!).
Jewel in Charton Kings crown now is the Dunkertons Cider tap, NBSS score 0 though. The London Inn is my choice in the village, skittle alley, sky sports, locals, huge bowls of roasty spuds on the bar Sundays.
The Royal looks like everything I don’t like about Cheltenham tbh, though the beer range looks decent, and is pretty much improving everywhere in town now. Even the Arkells pub had an approximation of a hoppy pale.
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Cheltenham festival week is superb, but you fetch up drinking Guinness because that’s what everyone else does. Just a few days when the normal rules don’t apply.
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“paying premium rate for a Gloucester Guest House” – so no change out of £30 ?
– and were you tempted to kip in that Reliant ?
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Could have bought that Reliant for what I paid.
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I must agree with your view that it “Doesn’t look 1830”; do you often come across pubs that have been modernized beyond recognition like this? If there’s an 1830 structure still in there somewhere, they have succeeded in fully camouflaging it, inside and out!
I love that name “Rare Breed,” and the pump clip design. Shame this particular place didn’t do the beer justice, apparently.
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I think the windows and roof there looks more regency than Ye Olde Trip To Jerusalem looks 989 AD.
But anyone can put any date on the front of any building. I know of a prisoner who did voluntary work restoring a building in the Peak District and, from his forgery skills that put him inside, incorporated a date two or three centuries too early but that was not with bad intent.
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Less is more!!
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