May 2023.
Let’s finish Essex for another year.
Mid-Essex has some corkers, both in the county town and salty Maldon.
A brewery tap to finish ? Not ideal but at least it’s open Thursday, not like some places I could mention that open the first Saturday of the month or close for Winter and Spring. Nice to see the Taproom hours so prominent, too.
Nice attractive frontage in an industrial estate filled with old cars and barrels.
But at 3.15 pm, no sign of life.
I re-check Facebook*; there’s a separate page in the About section;
Almost the same, except open Wednesday apparently.
But it’s definitely shut. Then I see the handwritten sign on the door (top).
It’s a bit like that notice posted in a basement by the Vogons advising Earth it was to be destroyed, I guess.
Oh well, us tickers are used to this, and it’s only 45 minutes to wait in a lovely suburb of Chelmsford.
I can admire the Coronation tat.
Great Baddow is lovely,
and I finally find a random board with motivational words. I bet they have one of these in Carluke.
I DO stay strong, even when the Tap is still shut at 16:02, but then a cheery chap emerges to open the door, seem surprised to find someone waiting outside, and pour a pint almost immediately.
And that Session IPA, all the better for being my final tick, is quite wonderfully cool and rich (4) and I forgive them for the social media inconsistencies. After all, aren’t signs attached to a door the ultimate social media ?
* And yes, I now know their website has the correct hours, but who uses websites ? The issue is more the inconsistency. Bing Maps told me it only opened on Saturdays !
retiredmartin 
Good name for a micro: The 95 Opening Times, with a clever pun on 9 to 5. (I’ll get me coat.)
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Yes indeed, and especially as it’s on the “Easton” side of England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_3vZYOYNYU
youtube.com/watch?v=S_3vZYOYNYU
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Never thought I’d see Luther’s 95 Theses referenced in a pub/beer blog
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Somewhere with such restricted opening hours shouldn’t be getting in the Good Beer Guide, however good their beer is. It’s supposed to be a guide for the everyday drinker rather than just dedicated pub tickers like yourself (although I suspect its continuing publication now is solely on commercial grounds, grabbing a slice of the lucrative “What can we get Dad for his birthday/Christmas” market).
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It’s a tricky one. Patrick from Scotland said his branch require a minimum number of days open, but a lot of micros only open Thrs to Sun and I can see a number of non-food Proper Pubs going that way soon.
I agree CAMRA sees the Guide as more of a commercial enterprise to fund campaigning, whereas I still see the book as the actual campaigning, as we should be promoting the best places and encouraging others to improve. But then I reckon the GBG is still a remarkably effective guide to the best beer quality.
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Thank for the heads up. Not sure how those times were still up there, those were our lockdown/coming out of lockdown hours.
I have double checked my Facebook google app where it shows different hours to those above, so I don’t know to change that.
On my side I have put in a bit of text to say please double check Google. I can easily update our google profile and it’s always updated in 10 mins. Facebook is another mission in itself.
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Thanks Hans. I’ve learnt not to trust any times on Facebook as I believe they’re hard to change from what other pubs tell me !
CAMRA have been wrestling with the issue of whether to give opening times in the Good Beer Guide, and I think the advice “Check Google” might turn out to be the best one.
Nice to get time to finally explore the village before getting a pint, which as mentioned was superb.
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That was the planning permission to demolish Arthur Dent’s house, “In the bottom of a locked filing cabinet, at the back of a disused lavatory, with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard.”
The plans for the demolition of Earth were on Alpha Centauri.
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Are you sure ? That’s a crucial difference.
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