THE QUEUE FOR A HOLLAND’S PIE

Just to prove I’m a cultured creature, I now head deep into West Lancashire for a Holland’s steak pie and a pint of Bank Top Mild.

Eccleston blotted it’s copy book by claiming as its own a Belgian biker who won a race round Box Hill at the 2012 Olympics.

Tidy little place, nice northern Italian restaurant by the lake and a new micro that’s just reopened after having a good, long think about the impositions of Covid compliance.

Not that you could see much difference. Micropubs seem to be making a fist of it, and since it only takes half a dozen regulars to fill it up a lot of them seem to be doing OK.

The friendly regulars in the GreenHaus included the inevitable licking dog and an enthusiastic lady trying to remember the lyrics to “I’ve got a brand new combine harvester”.

“I’ve got a brand new combine harvester” I said, helpfully, adding “The Wurzels, Number 4, 1976” to little interest.

The Bank Top was superb, a rare 4.

It then started to drizzle lightly, so I joined that queue for the village chippy, called something like “La Pommery” I guess.

A lady who’d lived in Eccleston since before craft, gave me her views on changes in the village, and a set of views on Covid from the Van Morrison songbook.

Yep, I should have had gravy, Jane, but I wasn’t hanging around to give special orders. Not with an R rate of 1.0366 in the air.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

29 thoughts on “THE QUEUE FOR A HOLLAND’S PIE”

  1. Is this the edited version? Guessing I have go to your pay site for the unexpurgated one. Holland’s are the best pies in foot all. Madame L always wants to come to Burnley for their steak and pepper pie. And talking of Belgium, one of your pictures would have any Belgian choking into their beer. Not the postbox.

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      2. Yes, I assumed that was your point ! Unfortunately I’d have had to take away six sachets to add the sort of volume of mayo I prefer and it’s not as good, is It ? Dutch chips and mayo are the best, surely ?

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  2. Those chips look NCSS 4+, slightly short measure though (was it a lined tray?).

    The only good thing about the absence of lovely dark mild like that these days, is unlike the olden days, it’s generally only found in pubs where there’s a demand for it and therefore it’s usually a decent bet for being in good condition. The Leics/Northants/Rutland triangle I’m currently lost in was officially declared a ‘Mild-free Zone‘ last week. sniffle…

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    1. It was a short measure, but from memory it was £1.20 worth and it did the job.

      That’s a very good point about beers being sold by folk who care, rather than because it’s on the brewery list (like Hatters Mild of old) or because CAMRA demands it in May. Same logic applies to Bass outside the heartlands.

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      4. Maybe next year it’ll be ‘NEIPA in May’, a whole month of rigorous campaigning for a beer style in real trouble. Let’s get pale over-hopped murk back on the bar…

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      5. I was amused to read on Discourse a famous beer writer (and top bloke) say he’d paid £49.50 to attend the Bristol Craft Beer event last week (unlimited thimblefulls) to “show solidarity with the local” brewers who provide so much variety in the world of beer.

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      6. And I was amused to read that there he had a “beautifully delicate session pale ale that I think was from Signature” that if from a big brewer would surely have been dismissed as “bland”!

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      7. Honestly, Paul, people assume I’m joking when I speak about the subtleties of Doom Bar in the Eclipse or Dizzy Blonde in Lytham Taps (or the 6X in High Offley) but I’m really not. Folk really don’t get the importance of a good Landlord, proper cellar control and fast turnover.

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      8. Yes, indeed.
        It might take years of practice to properly recognise the subtleties of good beer but then there’s no longer the need for the bold flavours equivalent to the large print books for youngsters learning to read.

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  7. “and an enthusiastic lady trying to remember the lyrics to “I’ve got a brand new combine harvester”.”

    *cough* Google. 😉

    “helpfully, adding “The Wurzels, Number 4, 1976” to little interest.”

    Blimey. You could replace Google!*

    * – in certain areas at least.

    “Not with an R rate of 1.0366 in the air.”

    But surely wearing any old sort of mask would bring that down to under .0004? 😉

    Cheers

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