April 14th 2023.
Next up, a genuine pre-emptive tick just north of Snow Hill. Not that I believe in that GBG ticking nonsense anymore, of course.
Funny how I’d never heard of the Queens Head , (formerly the Queen’s Head, What Pub helpfully tells us, though oddly there’s an apostrophe on the sign), as you’d think that a new/re-opening from a famous name like Davenports would be big news.
Now the one thing I care even less about than royalty and rugby is brewery history, so you’ll have to read Kentish Paul’s report on the recent history of Davenports.
All I’ll say is, it’s a classy place (rather like the Nicholson’s Old Contemptibles, I thought), some decent lunchtime food trade, tasty if slightly thin beer, and a chap with a rather fetching hat at the bar.
Oh, it’s Paul, who insisted on having two halves for “research purposes”, rather than a pint like the rest of us.
Oh, looks like I had a half of mild too. Obviously taking it leisurely. Will that approach last ?
Oddly, halves served in dimpled mugs, like we’re still in the 1970s, when mild was still 3/6d a pint.
Perhaps we are, based on the “mild smut” in the Gents that Nick gleefully sadly reported back to us.
I nipped in the Gents to see what the commotion was about, and spotted this;
Nice place, we thought, and set off towards the centrepiece of our day via the amazing balloon art outside the Children’s Hospital.
And then it started to rain.
retiredmartin 
Renaissance of mild? Too soon for a renaissance as it’s only been around a couple of years – since Boxcar invented it as a new style: a post-ironic craft session BBB; and a fat lot of good it did them, now they’ve gone out of business.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Who ?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Precisely! But worry ye not, as in about 40 years someone will resurrect the brand and then the renaissance of mild shall begin. Until then we’ll have to put up with crafty copycat knock-offs from the likes of Batham’s, Holden’s, Sarah Hughes and Greene King!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Brains Dark never went away, Bobby.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d completely forgotten about those balloons!!! I love the Queens Head…great memories of when I worked as a journo and that was a regular haunt. Possibly my favorite pub of the day
LikeLike
“Beer at home means Davenport’s
That’s the beer, lots of cheer
The finest malt with hops and yeast
Turns a snack into a feast”
There was one Davenport’s pub in Bristol, The Scotchman and his Pack. Nice pub but closed years ago.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Well, I suppose that some people voted Leave in the expectation that we’d return to having BBC sports programmes with military music signature tunes, and Sandhurst voices telling us that “Beer At Home Means Davenports” on TV ads, so it’s only to be expected, perhaps.
Green Shield stamps, anyone?
LikeLike
Etu,
Yesterday I had my first Wetherspoons breakfast for three years and don’t know if Brexit is to blame for them no longer including mushrooms and tomatoes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think they’d been on a downward spiral for a while.
LikeLike
Tsk. Even Tupperware’s to be a thing of the past we’re told…
LikeLike