Really stretching out these posts from the week before “Lockdown 2 : Only the Welsh may go to the Pub“.
With Doom Bar denied, I headed to the cluster of pubs in South Lynn nearest the football ground; bound to be a midday (or earlier) opener there.
I’ll be honest. I really should have explored the Lord Napier, as it’s now BOUND to be in GBG22, if there is one. That’s how life works for tickers.
Their new landlord had just posted these truths on his Facebook,
which rather endeared him to me.
But Facebook also showed Tim Taylor Landlord on the bar, and no Doom Bar barrels in the yard, so I rounded the corner to the Beer Guide entry I last visited before Colin the Cauliflower was a seedling.
TWO mobility scooters outside the Live & Let Live ! And cider awards !
Folks on the CAMRA forums say they’ve not been going to pubs because;
a) They’ll catch the ‘rona
b) There’s only six beers on and they want CHOICE
c) Masks, duh
d) Pub aren’t what they were
The Live & Let Live, murder scene tape, hand wash and check-in apart, hasn’t changed since my lone visit 25 odd years ago.
“‘ee’s off now” the first thing you hear as Old Boy 1 nips out for a fag, or to oil his mob, or take a call.
Coming and going is the mark of a Proper Pub. That and a highly proficient landlady who identifies you as a CAMRA and starts to reel off the ales before you sit down.
I rebel and order a perry, but it’s the end of the barrel so I get the Mild (Elgoods I guess) anyway.
At £2.80 it’s both bargain and bootiful*.
It’s before noon, but the pumps have clearly been turning for a while. The Black Dog is cool, rich and punches above it’s strength. NBSS 3.5.
Just the buzz of bar chat, and a clock striking 12:17 four times.
A real drinkers pub, and I wonder how it’s slipped in and out of the Guide over the years. It may be the pub of BRAPA dreams.
“Bob’s been stepping out with her. In shirtsleeves !“
I find that, by going to the loo and having to exit and re-enter the pub to finish my pint (by now up to NBSS 4), I can at least see the nooks and crannies of a minor classic.
I love that drawing of Lynn characters from before my birth. Doesn’t “Charlie” look like Neil Kinnock ?
Showing discipline beyond my years, I decline a second pint in the Live, and an Abbot in the Spoons, and catch the 12:44 back to Cambridge, stopping only to admire the outdoor urinal installed for a future BRAPA visit.
*Last Norfolk pub for a while so I can cut out the Norfolk accents now.
retiredmartin 
Sepia it up and distress the corners a bit, that first photo could have been taken any time this or last century. Timeless stuff, only the great Whin Hill Cider and face mask give the game away.
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Sometimes the colour photos really don’t work with the light pouring into the backstreet pub like that…
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Monochrome has a tendency to remove gaudy clutter (one of your great photographic strengths of course) and focus the eye on the composition, as here, which is the most important bit I think. Sometimes it just works better, though I haven’t actually shot in b/w since film days, and with software filters I can’t really understand why cameras even come with a b/w setting.
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The Live is a must visit when I’m in Lynn. Perfect for people watching (the odd drug deal, a few years ago now) and after watching the Linnets they hand out hot sausage rolls. 4/5 NPSS (National Pub Scoring System)
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Did Tranmere play there?
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We’ve never played there, but maybe tonight’s cup draw will change that. You sat in the same seats we did a month ago, a minor classic is absolutely the right description, let’s hope it stays that way.
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I’m rather pleased I never get publicans thinking I’m one of them CAMRAs.
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I was tempted to say you don’t look like one of them CAMRAs too, but I’d hate to cause inadvertent offence !
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What do they look like ?
The Real Ale Twats ?
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They LOOK at the handpumps, Paul.
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So keep out of my favourite proper one-beer-is-plenty and two-beers-are-plenty pubs ?
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“Only the Welsh may go to the pub.” Well, I am
(a) Welsh, and
(b) in a pub (albeit in Shetland)
So you must be right.
I’d never thought about it, but you’re right, coming and going is a mark of a proper pub. “Keep an eye on my pint, I’m just nipping out to the cash machine/get a paper/put a bet on/have a fag/whatever” Oddly comforting.
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That is the best example of proper pubbery I’ve seen for a long while. Top stuff!
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“Their new landlord had just posted these truths on his Facebook,”
Brilliant!
Makes you wonder why hardly any grocery staff have keeled over in huge numbers due to Covid. 😉
“TWO mobility scooters outside the Live & Let Live !”
Can’t ask for higher praise.
“hasn’t changed since my lone visit 25 odd years ago.”
In the second photo I see they have those funny octopus things on the wall just below the horse painting.
“or to oil his mob”
(no comment)
And that’s coming from me!
“I find that, by going to the loo and having to exit and re-enter the pub to finish my pint (by now up to NBSS 4), I can at least see the nooks and crannies of a minor classic.”
Cunning.
(and do you really have to exit after visiting the loo instead of going straight back to your table?)
“Doesn’t “Charlie” look like Neil Kinnock ?”
Dunno. But they all seem to have the ‘Lynn’ nose. 😉
“stopping only to admire the outdoor urinal installed for a future BRAPA visit.”
I think he’s more of an ‘in the woods’ kind of guy.
Cheers
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I think he’s an “anywhere will do” kind of guy when nature calls.
The Stuart House opens at 6pm every day so it’s likely to be BRAPA’s 6th pint of the day when he gets here 😕
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