So when I tell you that the Rutland Arms in Grimsby is one of the world’s greatest pubs, you know I’m not pissed. Well, actually I am, but whatever.
After crafty Dock Beers I did the grim in Grimsby and walked Freeeman Street toward Tick No.2.
Blimey.
This is the England the Americans come to see. See you in 2022.
It’s a long time since there was anywhere on the trudge from flashy Freshney Place to blustery Blundell Park in the Guide, or even open.
And as I turned the corner to where the Rutland was supposed to be, I sensed an elaborate hoax.
But there were smokers outside on benches, and at the door, at 3pm on Thursday, the unmistakeable whiff of PUB.
But a Beer Guide pub ? No way.
But there were handpumps, a rarity enough in Grimsby, and I plumped for an Old Mill Bitter (£2.50). It was nectar (NBSS 4.5).
I often tell you about magic moments in pubs. This was a magic, magic moment.
Life, love, laughter, and lacings.
Next time someone tells that the GBG doesn’t pick pubs on beer quality, bring them here.
Must be a nice feeling when you find a “diamond in the rough” like this– or at least I gather it felt that way, after the inauspicious looks of things on the exterior. Speaking of which, had to chuckle at the “This is the England the Americans come to see” line! 🙂
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Yes ! “Diamond in the rough” – great description, Mark.
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Top 100 and a dig at us not visiting until 2022. Just mean.
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ALWAYS kick a man when he’s down. I’ll drive you there in 2022.
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I’m holding you to that. And we want Tom there sucking down a black current.
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Won’t that electrocute Tom ?
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I was last here in 2017, when Luton Town were still in tier 4 of the football pyramid and we had to play Grimsby Town, whose ground is just up the road from the Rutland, in Cleethorpes. I didn’t write any notes for a review as I was meeting some of my Hatters mates, so have no recollection of how good the Old Mill Bitter might have been. My experience of this beer is that when it’s good it’s ok, when it’s less good it’s pretty awful. So you must have been there on one of its very rare “Superb” days.
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I think that’s right, it’s been good in the Dove in Barnsley which is traditionally another “volume” pub.
I remember a couple of busy pubs on the walk to Blundell Park but the Rutland is almost hidden.
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Some of my friends from Luton are keen GBG followers, and it was they who alerted me to the Rutland, and I think also the Nottingham House in the centre of Cleethorpes.
As far as I know there’s only one pub left near the ground now, the Blundell Park Hotel – keg and lager only. For my first game at Blundell Park I can remember going into one of the two pubs that are now gone – either the Imperial Hotel (opposite the church – demolished and replaced by flats) or the Leaking Boot (whose name you’d think I would remember, but this was before I started to obsessively log the pubs I visited – gutted by fire in 2009: https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/gallery/dramatic-night-cleethorpes-leaking-boot-5575503).
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I blame the smoking ban for that fire.
The Nottingham House is in my Top 100 pubs.
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How many pubs are there in your Top 100?
Or perhaps I should ask more pertinently (or at least, less impertinently), what do you do when you find a pub that you think should be in your Top 100 but there are already 100 pubs on the list. Is the list in date order, with pubs dropping off automatically, or are points scored for the quality of conversation with Guinness drinkers and deducted for being told off for ignoring the one-way system?
Only asking because I’m not that organised and wondered if it was too late for me to become so. (I’m inclined to think there’s an imaginary Top 100, but I’d be delighted to be proved wrong.)
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Do you mean my “Official” Top 100 or the Fringe ?
Pubs are automatically deleted from my Top 100 when they get discovered by visiting Beer Twitter dignitaries e.g. the Marble Arch, which keeps the list below 350 which means you don’t need a Covid passport.
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The Marble Arch would struggle to get anywhere near my Top 350.
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On beer quality or because it’s so self-conscious of its perceived status ?
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The latter would be an immediate disqualifier, but I’m not a huge fan of their beers either. No doubt this is my loss rather than theirs.
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I’ve definitely enjoyed their beers (Dobber particularly) in excellent condition, and the food was really good a few years back. So I was being a bit precious. Best ask Dick and Dave for an authoritative opinion.
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Almost worth the trip to Grimsby alone.
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