You left me in the middle of Barnsley, wondering where the toilets had gone.
No, I didn’t head down Dog Lane; I’m not a savage.
Instead I headed to one of a paltry number of town centre pubs with a garden. Note how Google Maps obscures the photo of William Shakespeare on the Craft Union sign, as taking photos of people is wrong.
Regular readers will know that Craft Union have taken over from Sir Humphrey as the provider of £2 pints to the masses, and where they serve cask they do it very well.
Their pubs are clean and cosy, and if they have one downside it’s that the people who use them aren’t the sort of people the camras want to drink with.
They look a bit bare without blokes shouting “George Field !” (don’t ask, I don’t know why), and it’s an assault course to reach the garden when you’ve had six pints.
But the rectangular garden is a joy, and I forget for a brief moment I’m in an enclosed space with 56 boozed-up blokes in the Covid capital of the North.
Yea, I will fear no evil, as a pint of John Smiths Smooth for £1.90 can defeat all viruses.
My fifth pint of Smooth since the Glorious 12th, and the best yet. Who needs CAMRA ?
On my way in I’d spied a Doom Bar pump, and look closely and see how the Shakespeare makes excellent use of old Purity barrels, so this may be a future GBG entry in a parallel universe.
But in the John’s capital of the world (or it was in the ’90s), the Pride of Burton brewing now reigns. Carling not Worthington White Shield, obvs.
A chap tells me he’s been there since 11am, which by my watch (Argos £44.99) is 6 hours.
“Gotta make the most of it” he says, and I nod, sagely.
On the way out, I spot the bunny, and with Greta in the news that afternoon I realise the potential for a topical photo.
“Oi, who you taking a photo of ?” ask the barmaid. Have I been nabbed ?
“Only the bunny, do you want to see ?“
She believes me.
retiredmartin 
John Smith’s Smooth appreciation looks like
Y
R
E
B
B
O
N
S
to me.
“Nah mate – ‘e laaahvs it”
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? Yellow Rebbons ? Like the Dawn song.
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That’s pretty funny that William Shakespeare gets his face blurred like that. “Rules are rules. We mustn’t invade the man’s privacy until such time as we have his written consent.”
We Yanks have clearly never learned the proper meaning of the word “lane,” since over here we’d commit the grave error of calling that a narrow alleyway. 😉
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That would be a grave error.
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“Gotta make the most of it”….exactly!!!! That is the point of pubs
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“BUNNYHUGGIN’”
Did you post two photos because they’res some sort of ‘spot the difference’ between them?
And as for the bunny, blimey. I know it’s just the folds in the costume but he/she looks like they’re tied up.
(goes for a quick lie down)
“You left me in the middle of Barnsley, wondering where the toilets had gone.”
They’re still there; just too far out of reach.
(unless you’re Ron Jeremy) 😉
“No, I didn’t head down Dog Lane; I’m not a savage.”
Took me a second. (slow golf clap)
“Note how Google Maps obscures the photo of William Shakespeare on the Craft Union sign, as taking photos of people is wrong.”
The Japanese do something… similar. 😉
“Their pubs are clean and cosy, and if they have one downside it’s that the people who use them aren’t the sort of people the camras want to drink with.”
There’s that fabled sarcasm again?
“and it’s an assault course to reach the garden when you’ve had six pints.”
Si can confirm trying to reach anything after six pints is a bit of a doddle.
“and I forget for a brief moment I’m in an enclosed space with 56 boozed-up blokes in the Covid capital of the North.”
Beer breath kills all sorts of nasty things!
“Yea, I will fear no evil, as a pint of John Smiths Smooth for £1.90 can defeat all viruses.”
See! 🙂
“My fifth pint of Smooth since the Glorious 12th, and the best yet. ”
Blimey. That’s settling like a Guinness!
“Carling not Worthington White Shield, obvs.”
Ah, Carling. Good Canadian brew that. 😉
“and with Greta in the news that afternoon I realise the potential for a topical photo.”
(slow golf clap)
“She believes me.”
You have most of us fooled on a daily basis. 😉
Cheers
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I always post the same photo twice when I run out of pics !
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