June 2023. Rochester.
Still an hour till my new Beer Guide target opens, an hour to rest and contemplate in the Cathedral, or a leisurely lunch at a Dickensian tavern ?
Obviously not, when there’s the Coopers Arms to pop in for the first time in 20 years.
Four entries in the GBG, but three of them are micro/small bars, leaving the Coopers as the lone trad survivor in town.
A couple of minutes off the High Street where the tourists congregate, I wondered if this gorgeous ancient inn (1199 says What Pub) had kept any lunchtime trade under the beams.
I really must stop being the first in the pub. No-one to judge at the bar, that fear of a first pint out the pumps.
But the sight of Youngs Special, still resident after all this time, is oddly comforting, particularly when served by the cheeriest landlady in Medway,
though I ALWAYS regret not having the Landlord when I see those Tim Taylors Ale Club things on the wall.
I have the pub to myself for 10 minutes, so pick the seat nearest the bar and wait.
It’s a gorgeous pint of Youngs, cool and rich (NBSS 3.5), and I imagine a) how much many posters on CAMRA Discourse would hate that beer range and b) how much the Southworths would love it.
The soundtrack is Absolute Radio, tinny and too quiet but I still get a little thrill when this comes on.
I go for a little tour of the main bar as the first lunching gentlefolk come in. You can see my unfinished pint right there.
I like the division between tables for drinkers and tables firmly set for diners.
OK, the place mat with history and poems may be a little naff, but naffness has a place and if reading it keeps you off your flippin’ phone checking Facebook for 10 minutes that’s a bonus.
Simon and I take much delight in reservation signs. I loved the level of precision in David’s “6.15 ish OR 6.30” (top) as much as confirmation that Tigi is still an acceptable name in 2023.
A total joy, and just noseying around the various fireplaces is as entertaining as any museum.
“Mind the step !” shouts the landlady as I take the glass back.
I didn’t, did I ?
retiredmartin 
“1199 says What Pub” but the internal beam and brickwork look more like 2019. I’d expect to see only “Joules” beers on sale there.
“I ALWAYS regret not having the Landlord when I see those Tim Taylors Ale Club things on the wall”. Maybe you should’ve been in York. Most (54%) of my thirteen pints there last week were theirs, with nearly a third (31%) from Humphrey.
“It’s a gorgeous pint of Youngs” which just proves what Marstons can do with a beer.
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Did you drink any Landlord last week, Paul ?
Always keen on quality reports.
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All “scored between 3 and 4” by Will.
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But I think Will had noticed that ‘other beers are available’.
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That first pint out of the pump, is always something of a lottery, which is why I tend to hold back a bit, and allow some other poor soul to experience that “joy.” Mind you, it’s not that often I’m the first customer in a pub, especially at lunchtime.
Those place mats meet my approval. They’re not at all naff, and as you say, they keep people off their phones – for a short while, at least!
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Paul,
All too often that “other poor soul” is me.
We should take it in turns !
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Someone has to be first ! Often I’ll go in a pub mid-afternoon and it’s clearly the first pint pulled since noon as the staff pull it through ! I suppose I should just go in at 9pm.
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But too many people nowadays wait for someone else to be first – and then they have the audacity to moan when the publican tells them that he doesn’t open before 5pm because there’d be no customers.
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