retiredmartin

After two nights happy camping it was time for a hotel with a shower and posh biscuits.

I surveyed the options on Booking.com.

Only £38 for a night in Slough. And “very poor” isn’t THAT bad, is it ?

In truth, nothing appealed, so we stuck the van in the riverside car park overnight and hoped Her Majesty wouldn’t be able to smell us from the Castle.

The Queen’s train was parked up in Windsor station, but I sensed a decoy tactic.

Windsor is a bit underrated, oddly, but then so is Slough. Covid has hit the Royal Berkshire tourist pound hard, as hard as the deluge that sent us scampering into cafes and pubs along Peascod Street.

In contrast, A Hoppy Place looked a bit bottle shop with tasting rooms.

Now, you’ll know I find enjoyment from almost any type of pub. In fact, it’s the sheer variety of humanity in the Guide that makes ticking so appealing.

But I’m not generally a great fan of LCD screens with beers on, particularly if there’s more than one,

or conversations about beer preferences (“Are you a hazy person?”).

or high tables and plastic stools,

or enthusiasm for beer*. The rather lovely proprietor came over and told us all about the blokes who’d brewed our beers in a backwater of Berkshire. “Stop talking beer at me” I thought.

Mrs RM just wanted her feet to touch the floor, and got irrationally irritated by Blounce.

“I’m staring at a f*****g Blounce with ribbons. Write that down” she said. I wrote it down.

The beer was really good though, and they played “Run to the hills“, and it’s all very classy.

So I can heartily recommend A Hoppy Place, just as I can vouch for the meze at Best Meze, which is as it should be.

Never drink on a full stomach, I tell you. But of course we did…

*joking, honestly. Enthusiasm and chattiness are wonderful attributes for pubs