9th March 2020
Writing about Cotswolds gastropubs is a bit dispiriting, if I’m honest, but I guess I shouldn’t complain.
But I was glad to get to scruffy but interesting Gloucester.
The Spalite B&B sounded like it was run by a 2nd rate Chesterfield fan,r but our host turns out to be the Guest House equivalent of Bessie at the Dyffryn Arms, only with a more astonishing accent.
“That’s alllllroooiiiight” came out in about 5 steps in response to my proposed arrival time.
Anyone fancying a trip here after reading the next 3 posts may also be interested to hear I’ve found a free parking spot (remembering my earlier trauma with a crane). Usual rate for the coordinates.
Gloucester is very much two halves these days. The trendy bottom half of Brewhouse & Kitchen, Tank and Spoons in the refurbished docks and the northern half below the Cathedral, a sea of closed shops, charity outlets and unexpectedly closed micros (later, later).
But there’s bright sparks.
New to the GBG is the Turks Head, an early frontrunner in the 3.2020 Pub of the Month Stakes. BRAPA will love it. If he ever gets to “G”.
Oooh. Lots of rules. Must be a micro.
Not sure what scares me most there. The sheep, the absence of twats or that weird font.
WhatPub says “micro“, but I say Proper Pub, and my word is final.
There’s music (1979 classics fromThe Motors and The Cure), lager and irreverence. It could be a sister pub to Ilkeston’s Burnt Pig, I immediately think.
On second thoughts, I might be in a pub version of Snowshill Manor.
The barman is keen to give me a tour. As long as there’s not a brewery I’m happy to have a tour.
Here’s the edited highlights.
All pointless if the beer is rubbish, you say.
It was great, cool and foamy. NBSS 3.5.
Beer was being drunk, but it wasn’t a “Beer Pub”.
Two blokes at the bar were keen to get their photo taken, just not at the moment I took it.
We discussed the cobs on the bar, nice chunky ones.
“Do you call them cobs, or baps, or barms here ?”
“They’re rolls”
Let battle commence.
Of course BRAPA will get to “G”, he’s already 9 letters ahead of that.
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Oooh. Wicked.
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The Spalite was our hotel of choice for rugby away matches (there weren’t one cheaper), way back before the modern Tank Bar and Pelican years. It was as basic and alrighty as it is now, but back then was run by a German lady called Gerda who after a long day on the Arkells, if you weren’t careful, would beckon young lads like us into the mini bar area and ply us with schnapps. I mentioned Gerda last time I stayed there and the current hosts rolled their eyes in a very knowing way. I hated the Turks Head…
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Nice. I’ve not been a fan of micros, but I’ve been in a few over the last year and I may have to reconsider. They lack the cosiness of a proper pub, but beer is good, affordable, and who can resist a menu made up of pickled gherkins and eggs, scotch eggs, and pork scratchings?
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MW,
Yes, I agree.
Tim might tempt me to his venues if pickled gherkins were added to his extensive menu.
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Your map reminds us that Gloucester is about midway between Cardiff and Birmingham but not everyone will have spotted the link between the two in your photographs, “Allbright a great bitter” being a 3.3% keg beer brewed by Hancocks in Cardiff from 1963 and Tony “HANCOCK” on the album cover having been born in Birmingham.
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It’s the first thing that came to all our minds, Paul.
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No Morris dancing…but they’re OK with incest?
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Aren’t they the same thing?
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Of course they’re rolls and where is the line drawn between a “trendy” beard and a beard ?
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The Eternal Question.
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An enigma.
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It’s cobs. My dad reckoned atmosphere was one of all time greats and if anyone other than Russ had sung it then it would be feted.🙄
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