Our evening in delightful Dereham (hands off TIC, I’ve trademarked that) concludes with a return trip to your new favourite pub chain, now that Sam Smiths have gone upmarket.
I haven’t wrote much about the Covid impact on pubs of late, as quite honestly I’ve hardly noticed it, 46 pubs in.
Hand sanitiser, name and number, sit well apart and outside if you can, don’t lick the pump clips. Not hard, is it ?
The Red Lion impressed us greatly a year ago when it switched from “unprepossessing boozer” to “boozer” in the time it took United to go a goal down in the Camp Nou (not the New Camp, fool).
Without the football and with a slightly more mature crowd it reached Sam Smiths proportions, particularly when the Old Boys turned out to be chatty on almost every subject except the cask.
Taking a calculated risk that we wouldn’t get wheezed on if we stayed inside, I shouted “Landlord please, Charles” and too the premium seat.
“How much was it ?”
“Er,£3.75”
“Not bad for a pint”
“No, For a pint and a half”
It was good in The Cock, it was even crisper here (NBSS 3.5). Better glass too, obvs. We saw more wine than cask drunk, but that’s the sign of a Proper Pub.
I’ll leave you to work out the price differentials on TT’s finest two pubs yards apart in a small Norfolk market town (and remember the Cock had beer for £3.20 a pint).
The Town Crier banged the gong to signal Curry Time.
I’m afraid we both had a bottle of Bangla, the beer of the night. It’s probably brewed in Keighley.
retiredmartin 
God, that curry looks good
LikeLiked by 1 person
Top 10 in my experience, Bill 👍
LikeLike
Wait. Now you can’t even lick the handpumps? Health and safety gone mad.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Nicola have different rules for the Scots. Check with your local bar.
LikeLiked by 2 people
You can’t lick the founts (a minor attempt at beer humour that would have worked better 40 years ago)
LikeLiked by 1 person
No, over my head.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Founts (or fonts) were the traditional Scottish way of dispensing real ale before being gradually superseded by handpumps. Still a few around though.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I find Craft Union much better than some other chains I could mention.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Do all the regulars yell “Charles” when the legend walks in?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, and “Oh no here comes the bloke who asks for tasters”.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bottled beer always best 😄 I am a big craft Union pub fan…
This one used to be my local for a few years
https://lifeafterfootball839.wordpress.com/2018/03/30/estate-pub-thriving-in-cheswick-green/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Liked this line: “We saw more wine than cask drunk, but that’s the sign of a Proper Pub.” Sounds like my kind of place.
I remember reading about one of these really old completely unchanged pubs, one of quite a small number throughout the entire UK that had survived absolutely intact as it had been many many decades ago, and apparently the preferred drink there was cider.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Several of those in Somerset area, and the famed “Monkey House” in Defford. Oddly, never done them.
I like a pub with civilised elder wine drinkers. Comforting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, elderflower wine’s not for the hipsters.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes the “Monkey House” is the one I read about, I think. Sounds like a really interesting one.
LikeLiked by 1 person