retiredmartin

I may have abandoned Cambridgeshire, but it’s still the first county I look at in the new Good Beer Guide, a bit like I’ll always look to see if Cambridge United have attempted a shot on goal this week (A : No).

Three (3) new entries in the GBG this year; the Fen Ditton gastropub I probably had done before, a small hotel in Chatteris (calm down, calm down) and a Working Men’s Club in Godmanchester, the posher neighbour of Huntingdon.

Well, I’d never been there, but I knew where it was, and strided confidently to the door just after the 7pm opening time.

Pitch black. No sign of life, not even a GBG sticker.

Typical. I got my phone out to call and do my best passive aggressive “Excuse me, are you supposed to be open today ?”, then saw a light down an alley to the rear.

Oh. Entry to the rear, typical Hunts. Embarrassing phone call averted.

Now, apart from the risk of being refused entry, there’s rarely anything to say about clubs, unless you’re Life After Football.

You always feel a bit left out as everyone else knows each other, and once you’ve been asked if you’re a member and said “I’m, I’m a CAMRA” you’ve outed yourself as a beer bore.

Talking of beer bores, What Pub says “It often stocks beers from the North of Endlnad (sic) as well as national favourites.“

National Favourites. That’ll be this one…

I took a seat at the only spare table (top) and realised what a good beer Doom Bar is when the club steward lets it mature in the cellar for a few days (NBSS 3.5), but perhaps someone may have mentioned that to you.

This one came on;

“Oooh, who was that ?” said the lady to my left.

“Black Lace” said her bloke.

“Are you SURE ?”

“Yeah, Black Lace“.

“It’s Black Box” I hissed. What do they teach at school these days.

Then the bloke started to sing along to this one, first time I’ve heard it for 40 years.

It’s a classic.