On the way back from Sheffield you have to travel 90 minutes through 4 counties before you arrive at a pub restaurant you’re actually allowed to enter. There might have been a couple in Rutland but 20 minutes researching the posh ones just off the A1 failed to find any details of opening times.
Not a new tick, the Prince of Wales Feathers in Castor has graced the Guide since BRAPA Duncan was in shorts. Instead of GBG stickers here’s the actual good books (1975 edition probably stolen).
The village is so charming I’ll do a separate post on it so Dave gets his regulation two posts a day, but you can guess what to expect from the charming brickwork.
Less charming is the barrier at the entrance, which impedes my progress just long enough for the long-standing Landlord to patiently read out the rules and make sure I understand I have to eat something and not move or talk.
He sounds a bit wearied with it all, particularly when he has to go through the same spiel with Pete the regular 5 minutes later, even though Pete has heard it all every day since Wednesday.
I’m shown to a nice seat in the lounge by the redundant fireplace with a view of the redundant bar.
While he pours the local Castor Third Man, having patiently explained the Adnams and the other local one with a comic Lockdown themed name, I read the disposable menu.
“There’s cheaper SUBSTANTIAL MEALS on the back” says the Landlord, who’s obviously reassured by now as to my level of Covid compliance.
But homemade soup and sandwich for less than a fiver in posh Posh sounds bargain enough, and I’m fairly sure the beer wasn’t much over £3 a pint, either.
The Castor may be homebrew (i,e. brewed in a factory making less then 10million pints a year) but it’s marvellous (NBSS 4); cool, rich and bitter. But then you folks stuck in Tier 3 knew it would be, didn’t you ?
The soup and sarnie is beautifully matched, if you ask me, and suddenly all is well with the world. Half a dozen diners, the only sound the crackle of the fire, the laugh of a local, and Reading v Forest on the TV.
The chap behind me is brought “Complimentary cheese and biscuits“, which seems a nice touch. It is, and a sensible one too, as the chap stays for another pint.
What a BRILLIANT idea, hopefully made irrelevant if Cambs can get into Tier 1.
Nice loos too.
retiredmartin 
One thing jumps out on my first post of the day. I can have a coke without a meal, but not a pint? Absolutely awful rule implemented if that is true. Are coke drinkers less of a threat?
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Exactly right. The logic unravels, doesn’t it ? If I’d had a coke I could have just had a coke and been out in 5 minutes. Because I have a beer I have to have a meal as well and I’m there for an hour (literally). Much riskier being inside that long.
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And you could sit and have a coke for an unlimited amount of time? Our rule factored in distance, who was in the group, number of people and time in place. Much more consistent to the goal of fighting the virus.
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Yes, no obvious rules around soft drinks, though few would linger over a coffee in Costa or coke in McDonalds, let alone in a pub. It’s all about an assumption that imposing food will ensure that the only visitors to pubs are the ones who don’t get rowdy. Have YOU ever seen rowdy behaviour in a pub (Joan excluded).
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Never. And I really think the rules are missing the forest for the trees.
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It’s being seen to do something, anything, when you know you can’t tackle the real problem (schools) and won’t enforce the rules. Google “Oxford Street” or “Regent Street” or “Nottingham” and weep.
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So that’s how it works??
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“COMPLIMENTARY CREAM CRACKERS IN CASTOR”
That is an amazingly alliterative appellation to activate your anecdote. 😉
“the Prince of Wales Feather”
Had all of the other feathers been plucked?
“has graced the Guide since BRAPA Duncan was in shorts.”
Didn’t he wear some this past summer?
“The village is so charming I’ll do a separate post on it so Dave gets his regulation two posts a day,”
I was beginning to wonder!
“but you can guess what to expect from the charming brickwork.”
And they nicely point out where the ‘entrance’ is, so you don’t wander around for five minutes looking for it!
“Less charming is the barrier at the entrance, ”
Blimey!
“He sounds a bit wearied with it all, particularly when he has to go through the same spiel with Pete the regular 5 minutes later,”
Couldn’t he just put it on paper and leave it on the barrier for everyone to read?
“I read the disposable menu.”
You weren’t kidding about ‘substantial’.*
* – at least price wise!
““There’s cheaper SUBSTANTIAL MEALS on the back” ”
Ah. 🙂
“The Castor may be homebrew (i,e. brewed in a factory making less then 10million pints a year)”
Not quite the same, but I try to do that with the beers I buy to drink at home… in my underpants. 🙂
“What a BRILLIANT idea”
Agreed! (thumbs up)
“Nice loos too.”
That looks… familiar.
Cheers
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That loo does look familiar, Russ. Somewhere this year ? I should do a quiz. Mark C would win.
Interesting point about writing the rules on a piece of paper. I sense no-one would read it and he’d be liable. I got really depressed by all the signs at the entrance in Cornwall.
Good spot on the rogue singular !
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– I tried doing a search but came up empty on the loo pic
– with regards to writing it down, combing track and trace by having everyone sign that they’ve read it! 🙂
– with the s’s’s’s in my name, I can usually spot when one is missing. 😉
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Greetings from Tier 3. Yes, it does look cool and rich and I’m not bitter.
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But are you mild?
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No, just old. Now is the time for the stout and porter jokes.
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The logic of these rules is pretty hard to comprehend. As you say, forcing people to order food encourages them to be indoors with strangers for a prolonged period of time; from what I’ve read not ideal, regardless of how far apart everyone is. As you said, for a swift half you could be on your way quite quickly by comparison.
But I gather that when I say “these rules don’t make sense” around here, I am definitely preaching to the choir! 😉
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You are, Mark !
The problem is that the politicians and media assume folk who just want to have a beer go to get drunk.
They’d simply never understand the concept of a quick half!
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I was expecting Cream Crackered from a ‘substantial meal’ with very pint.
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