I’ve given Surrey short shrift over the years, it was No. 93 in my Top 75 GBG counties, but there’s no doubt that it’s not all Brunning & Price and slow-moving Ranmore Ale.
Our mystery pub is in a small town which rotates its GBG entries based on the quality of the jukebox and CAMRA discount.
This one scored a (checks GBG spreadsheet) NBSS 3.5 when I visited in 2014, a year before the blog. Google maps makes it look rather charming, though I thing our Old Codgers would struggle with that open door so close to the bench seating.
7 years, but I have NO recollection of the modern art,
or the modern beer range (top), but it must have been good.
The most famous person born here as nicknamed after this fella;
and was very unpopular with Derby fans in 1976.
The other sporting clue to our location is more recent.
Oh, and here’s a bloke getting a good view of the pub.
As for the pub name, probably in the bottom 5% of pub names, I see it shares a classification with this bird.
Not one for the twitchers, though.
retiredmartin 
I recognised the racecourse and there is a pub nearby, with a terraced garden leading down to the river, and having the requisite art on the walls. I’ll leave it un-named for now so that others can have a go. Its name does feature on the Pubs Galore list of the 250 most common pub names.
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Sunbury On Thames, is it The Admiral Hawke ?
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Or more likely The Magpie having just read Wills comment.
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Sorry, Mick. The Magpie doesn’t make it onto the PuG list – I make it just six of them, or 17 if you include closed ones (which of course PuG doesn’t). If “Magpie and AN Other” were included, it would be a different story.
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“Not one for the twitchers”
Nice, Martin!
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But one for Harry’s owner, as they say in the East End?
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Got it! Thanks to Etu.
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I didn’t notice until after I’d got it anyway, but did Martin mean to leave the road map thumbnail bottom left in his second picture?
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Of course. It’s there for Dave.
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When people get this, and I didn’t without Will’s help, can they explain the Merlin and B-50 clues?
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Merlin was the nickname for Gordon Hill, a footballer with Manchester United who scored two goals to defeat Derby County in the FA Cup in 1976. (So called because there was wizardry in his feet, I guess.) He was born in Sunbury on Thames.
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I like it when other people explain the clues.
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Maybe?
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The Phoenix.
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I think you win. Mrs RM has finished the Doom Bar Reserve so it’ll have to be the Buxton Coconut Pastry Stout. Sorry about that.
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“I’ve given Surrey short shrift over the years, it was No. 93 in my Top 75 GBG counties,”
(slow golf clap)
“though I thing our Old Codgers would struggle with that open door so close to the bench seating.”
‘Think’ dear boy!… at least before you type. 😉
“7 years, but I have NO recollection of the modern art,”
Blimey, some big names have been skilfully imitated on that wall.
“The most famous person born here as nicknamed after this fella;”
Aesop?
“The other sporting clue to our location is more recent.”
The annual Santa race?
“Oh, and here’s a bloke getting a good view of the pub.”
Does the ‘X’ on the water indicate the best place to stop for a view of the pub?
“I see it shares a classification with this bird.”
Bomber, so… Bombardier? 😉
Cheers
(yup, not even going to try and guess) 🙂
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I’m intrigued by that aircraft picture, as the only ones I can think of with that general configuration like the B-29 and B-50 had single vertical tail fins. Do you have any more information?
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Ooh, I’ve found it. Prototype of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator, the production versions of which had a single tail fin.
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And can you link the B-32 to the pub ? Russ is in torment.
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“And can you link the B-32 to the pub ? Russ is in torment.”
Please! All I can think of is bloody C-130 Hercs, since I’ve ridden in those, and they were 9 hours trips in mesh seats with horrendous decibel levels!
Cheers
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No, except maybe in the sense that the plane had a rather Phoenix-like career.
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“In the Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, a tool used by folklorists, the phoenix is classified as motif B32.”
Says Wiki. No. me neither.
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I think that must be the world’s most obscure clue 🔎
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Why thank you Sir.
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