A resume of our trip round North Wales as we approached the crucial part of the day where we had key decisions to make;
-Stay in the campervan in a layby on the A55 or book a nice hotel with fluffy pillows
-Chance a Chinese takeaway in Bangor or just eat the rest of the chocolate stash from Bala
– Climb Mount Snowdon or find an excuse, any excuse to just have a coffee in the campervan and admire the view from Rhyd Du.
Dear reader, I ask you to guess our decisions.
The Cwellyn Arma at Rhyd Ddu troubled me. Can you really trust a place with three (3) “d” s in a row ?
And surely, surely I’d been here before when Mrs RM and co last conquered Snowdon from this very entry point.
Apparently not, though nearly 4 years on memories start to fade at my age.
The Cwellyn presumably gets busy in the summer, which in Gwynedd runs between July 28th and August 4th I believe.
We were the only custom this Thursday afternoon, outnumbered by the hand pumps (pic from their website so don’t blame me if there’s only four on and you’re disappointed).
Their sign says “Nine Real Ales Nine Days A Week” or summat, as if the first of those is a good thing, and I think you know by now it isn’t. The Welsh Pride was chilled (a note on the bar said “Bewared, our beers are chilled” and tasteless.
Whether the decorations are tasteful is a matter of your taste, I guess.
The only event of note was when I spotted the orange juicing machine and asked for a glass.
The barperson looked nervously at the contraption and said “It’s very expensive you know”. Whether she had me or Mrs RM logged as a penniless ner’do’well or couldn’t be bothered to press the button, I’ll never know, but given the price of a half and coke I probably dodged a financial bullet.
Anyway, here’s your view from the layby.
retiredmartin 
It was similarly very quiet in all the pubs yesterday (Saturday), except the peerless Paletto Lounge in Corby which was rammed. A rare example of a bar that could do with having ‘more’ cask beer on, currently none (0). Not sure what this says about the state of pubs, bank hols weekends are always hard to judge, and there’s a lot of crucial sport on at the moment, perhaps that’s keeping pubs quiet.
Oh, and don’t call me Surely!…
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Shirley (None) (Nil) then, surely ?
Is Paletto Lounge one of those chain of places called Mercado Lounge, Loafer’s Lounge etc I see everywhere these days ? Have they taken over the smart casual market from Craft Union ?
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“Lounges was founded in 2002 by a trio of long standing friends, Dave Reid, Alex Reilley and Jake Bishop. Having spent years in the restaurant and bar trade – not to mention just as many propping up the bars in Bristol (all of course in the name of research) – they decided it was time they did their own thing. The motivation was simple and very selfish; they wanted somewhere to drink themselves” and there are many of them including the Verso Lounge in Stafford which the GBG will never trouble you with and the Mercado Lounge In Market Harborough.
I think they are the smaller down-market version of the same company’s Cosy Club venues.
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20 years old, blimey.
Ah yes, it was Mercado I was thinking of. I think they fill a gap in the market. Cosy Clubs may have cask (they did in Stamford) but I wouldn’t rely on it.
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Yes, I’ve drunk in the Birmingham Bennets Hill and Bournemouth Cosy Clubs and found them better than their name suggests.
I think there are 32 Cosy Clubs and 166 Lounges.
“Can you really trust a place with three (3) “d” s in a row ?”
And can you trust bookkeepers with three (3) double letters ( oo kk ee ) in a row ?
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The funny thing about Wetherspoons is that the public think they’re bigger than they are, when there’s only actual c.900 (and falling) Spoons, about 1.7% of our pub stock, though they’re obviously busier and bigger than most.
So James O’Brien refers to “the biggest pub in the country” and for many Spoons is synonymous with breweries and pubs.
They punch well above their weight.
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Rhyd Ddu doesn’t really have three Ds in a row, as it’s pronounced (approximately) Rid Thee.
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Don’t ruin my blog young man.
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Can I claim a record for quickest “Like” on this blog? I’ll forgo the prize, thanks all the same.
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OK, the prize was a cask of barrel aged Pliny the Elder, but never mind.
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I find Lounges are a safe if unexciting national chain if you can stomach the Brewdog, the Tewkesbury branch saved me from food indecision hell a few years ago. Of course the Corby Lounge is elevated simply be being such a great additional bit of choice in Corby, and it’s always busy with younger drinkers and women who find it a much ‘safer’ environment than the Candle, though to be honest the Wetherspoon also fills this gap in the town centre. I like it because whilst it’s not really ‘for’ the likes of myself, it’s always such a pleasure to sit there with some fizz and soak up the buzzy atmos’
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Never been in one but guessed it was Punk IPA or Elvis Juice. Never realised there was so many. It’s a 21st century All Bar One I guess, a bit more family friendly.
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For a man of your advanced years, I’d have thought double DD’s would be more than enough trouble to deal with.
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