“What pub are you most looking forward to visiting when the world is back to normal ?”

No, it’s not a poll. I’m really not interested in which pub you’re be back in first. Knowing you lot, when you’re allowed back you’ll staying at home watching “Pretty Little Liars” on Netflix in your underpants drinking Caribbean Chocolate Cake Stout (8.8%).

This question was posed on Blue Moon, the Manchester City Forum which has been my main source of 100% information since we stopped the subscription to the BBC Russia Today.

You can probably work out what name I post under on the forum. As you’ll see, Mancunians are missing pubs ranging from Holt boozers to the Cloudwater tap.

Assuming pubs open the same days (they won’t), I’d head for a close one.

Of course, if we restart our lives with substantial meals it means less pints in the Blake and more pizza in the Blind Monkey. While I could live with that, I’m not sure our Proper Pubs could do, for lomg.

Ambling round industrial Sheffield has made me curiously homesick for the plain boozers like the Normanton in Burngreave.

Always remember that folk who drink Carling love their local pub even more than the bloke who drinks Cloudwater at the Port Street Beer House.

And just think how much better the blogs will be here than in the micropubs.

Stay positive, folks.

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.

57 thoughts on ““What pub are you most looking forward to visiting when the world is back to normal ?””

  1. I think I’m most looking forward to pints of Bass and halves of Pork Pie by the stove in a rain-lashed George & Dragon, Belper.

    However, I’m also most looking forward to a ramble up the valley for crap Langton Brewery beer in the Fox at Wilbarston, the Waitrose man-creche Beerhouse for Citras in Market Harborough, Bass with Cheese & Onion at the Boat Melton and Unicorn Lutterworth, and of course a mini-Thai banquet at the Brewery Tap in Peterborough. That’ll be quite a day then…

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  2. Honestly….it’s the dullest possible answer, but the pub I’m most looking forward to visiting is…..

    ….the nearest one to me! The Fox and Pelican in Grayshott, Surrey…. full of southern softies and gentlefolk considering the virtues of truffle piled chips and some vegan avocado nonsense….

    But it’s warm, and friendly and nice and they have a fire and armchairs and do a cracking Guinness and Chips 🙂

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      1. Indeed…..it is a bit posher now, but hey local demographic and all that…On a summers day though I used to stop, pop the shopping on one of the tables out the front and have a reflective pint whilst watching the gentlefolk wander by….

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    1. Which is just as well as they’re likely to be the only ones in a position to reopen. I read somewhere the Wether-empire is looking to buy up struggling pubs at knock-down COVID prices. I imagine just one carpet from a closed Wether-warehouse could carpet half a dozen traditional boozers…

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    2. But you can’t use them on meal deals, nor when ordering via the app. So good luck with finding a member of staff willing to take your order for that second pint after your substantial meal.

      Has anyone on Discourse asked for a refund yet, btw?

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      1. Yes, if we re-open in Tier 2 all bets are off.

        Someone on Discourse said they’re cancelling their membership because they’re no longer getting any financial value from it, which says all you need to know about why many folk join CAMRA.

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  6. If its a night out with my wife it would definitely be the local micropub called Fuggle and Golding. If it was a trip out with the lads it would have to be the local Wetherspoons for a Breakast and a beer (Lister Arms) followed by a visit to the Craven Arms in Appletreewick.

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    1. I’ve been in the Fuggle & Golding! In my review on Pubs Galore I pointed out that “the name Fuggle & Golding is a little misleading, considering that those hops do not appear in a single one of the beers available.”

      They should have called it the Citra, Centennial & Chinook instead.

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  8. The Crown in Hastings for lunch followed up by an afternoon in the Jolly Fisherman preferably on a foul day,returning to the station via The Jenny Lind,very well refreshed.Misbehaviour on the train & a final tincture in Maidstone Spoons.A perfect day

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      1. Oh, I meant “things” generally rather than pubs – which I thought were on the whole getting better again in recent years.

        You can still find pubs pretty much as you describe though, and not always near a dog track either.

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      3. It seems that you catch my drift, Paul.

        Just think, France’s trains were run by a thing called SNCF in 1979, and they still are today.

        Does that mean that it qualifies as a Proper Country?

        (I defer to your rich experience in the use of the word “proper”)

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    1. BP,
      “The grease transfer from that kebab” reminds me that I spilt grease from a kebab onto my trousers during four days in Eastbourne in 2009.
      The previous day my trousers had got muddy from walking on the South Downs during rain.
      My lesson from that is to take two spare pairs of trousers with me if I’m away on a short break.

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  11. Ideally, Ma Pardoe’s, the Ship in Porthleven or the Laurieston. Realistically, it’ll be the Thule (pron. Thoo-lee) in Lerwick for a pint of Tennent’s finest. NB: The Thule’s claim to fame is that it’s namechecked in the liner notes for Elvis Costello’s album “Spike”.

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    1. I love “Spike”, his last great LP ?

      Those 3 would all be good places to waste an afternoon, though in truth I’d rather do a huge crawl, possibly the 5 GBG pubs on Kirkstall. Sorry, Lerwick, you’re a GBG desert.

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  12. When the world is back to normal, then I expect pubs as well to be back to normal. In which case the first pub I visit will be one I can just walk into – without having to sign in, or wear a muzzle on my face. I expect to be able to sit where I please, or stand at the bar, if I so desire.

    I don’t want to be forced into purchasing a “substantial” meal, just so I can buy a pint, and I don’t want to queue up to use the Gents. I want to be able to talk to others in the pub, without having to keep my distance, or hide behind a Perspex screen.

    Is this asking too much? Almost certainly, bearing in mind what we have signed up to, and the centuries old liberties we have lost – almost without a whimper. Am I being too harsh on what we’ve had to put up with, these past nine months? Quite possibly, but once the bulk of the population has been vaccinated, then I expect to be able to do all the things we could do (almost without thinking), prior to 23rd March 2020. Kentish Paul.

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      3. Yes indeed, there’s no nicer surprise than another Pub Man walking into the same pub.
        But there’s other times when for quiet contemplation only a Proper Pub can equal a church, a window seat on a train or the seaside.

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  13. For me, it’s going to have to be the Tyne Bar, closely followed by the Tynemouth Lodge and Barca in Tynemouth. A trip to Bar 38 in Newcastle for a 3am sesh won’t be long after, if late night venue openings ever happen again.

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  14. The Fountain in Walsall for a pint of Backyard and a pork pie, that will be a wonderful return to normality.

    Also hoping to get to Weymouth in the spring , blue skies a pint of something cold with the bridge down and the boats streaming through.

    Mind you at the moment I’d happily drink a pint of carling in the local whilst watching the oss racing.

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  15. Drinking at home I can almost put up with, but by God I need a decent gig. Combine the beer and music and I’d be in heaven; say the Musician in Leicester, or the Cluny, or Krakatoa, or that funny rock bar in the middle of Bristol.

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