Possibly my last takeaway pint before the big pub reopening on Saturday. You might have heard about that.
Beer always tastes better in a straight glass, sat on bench seating, discussing pub life with someone called Paul, doesn’t it ?
Well, yes, of course.
But needs must, till Saturday. On my little trip to enjoy sunshine over the Backs tonight my choice was limited.
I really should learn to appreciate Cambridge before I leave it forever.
This little street (Malting Lane) between Newnham and Ridley Hall really is gorgeous.
Mill Lane down by the punts on the Cam is still where the youth (under 55) turn to in Summer, once the undergrads have headed home to Berkshire and Surrey.
No punts, just the odd canoe and this hipster heading for Silver Street.
In common with all the Greene King pubs in town, the Anchor looks a bit forlorn.
But The Mill has been milking it for a while now, serving socially distanced pints with that all-important plastic lid to folk lounging by the river.
Last time here it was all keg to take out. Tonight they had the Southwold Best.
SO friendly, thrilled to be back on the 4th (“YES WE ARE“) and prepared myself for an NBSS 3 pint of your 7th favourite BBB.
Reader, it was a 4. These things matter to people who put quality over choice.
I was transported back to a time in in the late ’90s when you went to Southwold for beer rather than sourdough and pashminas.
Rich, full-bodied, complex.
I told you that thin Adnams glass ruined their beers.
retiredmartin 
What about plastic Adnams cups?
LikeLike
That Malting Lane looks glorious. Even without a Sam Smiths.
I laughed at the “your 7th favourite BBB” line, thinking it was a reference to no one being particularly enthusiastic about their devotion to Adnams. But then the following sentences made me think you might be reevaluating them now?
LikeLike
It’s quite a rarity for me to stumble on a previously unexplored little street, though I don’t explore the University quarter much. “Wow” I thought.
You’re right on Adnams. A bit like Landlord or London Pride, it’s ubiquitous in a certain sort of pub restaurant, rarely at its best.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, but when it is on form it really takes some beating.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, Adnams Southwold Bitter is one of my favourite beers.
I never drank it as often as I should have done in the Holly Bush at Salt not far from me. Licensee Geoff Holland, 67, died earlier this year and his son Geoff, who had been the youngest licensee in the country, died three years earlier.
LikeLiked by 2 people
67. That’s no age. Won’t even be state retirement age soon.
You’re right, the Adnams in Salt was excellent.
Take my word for it, it’s rarely that good. Even their own pubs in Southwold serve more wine and lager than Bitter.
LikeLike
I think we should start a “Where’s retiredmartin moving to?” sweepstake. My admittedly small wager would be Maidenhead, obviously.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sevenoaks or Tunbridge Wells!
LikeLike
Only if turned out my inlaws had a giant cache of ancient Bass bottles buried in their garden and needed help getting them out of the ground !
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was wondering if he’d become one of the Surrey gentlefolk……
LikeLike
“sat on bench seating, discussing pub life” – yes, I remember it well, an hour after being accused of “shouting” in Wolverhampton ( I’ll get over it ) enjoying a pint of Banks’s before Codsall Station opens and then it was t’other Mudgie, t’other Paul and a few others from the Beer and pubs forum on a Proper Day Out in Shifnal.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I don’t think you WILL get over it Paul.
I imagine you’ll be accused of being overdressed or walking too slowly by a Stonegate pub next.
LikeLike
Oh, you can get over most things.
Why, when I was seven, my blonde, perfumed class teacher put me over her thigh, and spanked me, for karate-chopping pencil crayons, and I got over that. So there you are.
Well, I think I got over it…
LikeLike
Did you keep the crayons ?
LikeLike
No, but I’m perhaps just slightly wary of ladies with blonde hair to this day. Completely lost it, she did.
LikeLike
Etu,
But did it teach you not to karate-chop crayons ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
It taught me a very wide range of things, Paul.
LikeLiked by 1 person
…but if, on the other hand, I had been caned by the headmaster, then I might have ended up in the ERG.
LikeLiked by 1 person
pavement bitter will be something you tell your grandchildren about. they will rush to your feet asking “grandpa, tell us about the summer of pavement bitter again”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cookie,
And before long someone will think up “street beer” and it’ll be heard as much as that “street food” I don’t understand.
LikeLike
When all outdoor drinking is banned and we live in the land of eternal sunshine, we’ll look back on this as the golden age.
LikeLike
I remember the Golden Age opening in Chadsmoor during 1972 I think to replace the Crown and having a pint of M&B Mild on the first evening.
LikeLike
Why the inconsistencies in how prices are shown on “THE MILL MENU”?
£6.00 £5.00
£6 £5
£4.10 £3.10
£6.1 £5.5 £4.5 £2.5
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’re just winding you up Paul.
LikeLike
You know that problem, that Martin has with the letter ‘A’, Paul?
LikeLiked by 1 person