Several of you have expressed concern about my exposing young Matt to Proper Pubs in Oldham.
Well, he seems unscathed, and tonight sent me this pic from the Manchester Craft Beer Tour, which sounds legit.
My own tour last Monday with Sheffield Hatter was a more trad affair, though Will kindly allowed me to see his “London’s Beautiful Pubs” list over a half in the Tap so I could argue about the various questionable inclusions with him.
Not much chance of the Winter Green making the list, or the GBG, but Will has made it his life’s work taking photos of estate diners for Pub Galore.
Expect samples of festive craft beer served by an elf,
and the sort of cask line-up that folk on Discourse dismiss as dishwater.
First pints pulled, I expect, but pints we had.
Could we drink them in the attractive bench seats near the pool table please ?
No, those were reserved for actual pool players (professional and amateur) resting between shots. Honestly.
Will had already bagged the outside seating, one of the most attractive smokers huts you’ll see outside Norfolk.
It wasn’t very promising, was it ? No Bass mirror, no mobility scooter, no Old Boys complaining about deteriorating bodily functions.
BUT.
The beer was astonishing. If it was just my take on a cool, sulphurous Pedigree, my best since the Holly Bush, you’d scarcely believe me. It started 3.5. and reached 4 before I swigged the last third.
But Will, hardly the biggest advocate for BBB, was making appreciative noises at his pint of Bombardier, and within 20 minutes would be telling the landlord of the Chantry just how good it was. The guvnor at the Chantry seemed doubtful.
But those Proper Brewers like Marston’s make sure they clean the lines before they serve their pints you know, and keep the barrels in the cellar rather than on a table behind the bar, and they get enough Old Codgers to sell the beer before it goes off. It’s not hard.
It’s harder to design a play area for children that won’t be pounced on by 56 year old pub tickers, but luckily Will was calling me to run for a bus that really didn’t want to stop because there wasn’t an official stop built yet.
ALL pubs should have a designated bus stop right outside the door. Named after the pub.
retiredmartin 
You don’t want a bus stop, that just helps BRAPA too much. Preferably the closest public transport is a minimum of 3 miles away, through a peat bog.
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In our dreams we went through that peat bog – up to our knees in it, you should have seen us – and therefore deserved those delicious pints of Pedigree and Bombardier. After that, we were really grateful that the bus driver stopped where Google Maps shows there should be a bus stop and accepted our ticking off with good grace.
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Less peat bog, more post-apocalyptic wasteland.
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