retiredmartin

August 2023. Ely.

Literally next door to the Royal Standard, up the little lane from the car park that used to lead magically to a Woolworths which a podgy pre-Retired Martin used to frequent in the ’80s, sits a craft beer bar.

Looks more like a tea shop, but that’s Ely for you. Ely was invented specifically to house emerging tea shop businesses in the late 17th century, as locals had previously had had to live on the embankment of the Cam and eat eels.

I’d been to 3 At 3* once before, on Mrs RM’s birthday (forget the date), when it was just a bottle shop/cafe.

Controversially (and I DID declare this at the Annual GBG Ticker Conference) I treated that visit for a bottle of beer as a pre-emptive tick, now the 3 At 3 races into the Beer Guide with its Key Keg/real ale/fresh beer/whatever offer.

It was wonderful. Not just the murky Space Junk by Atom,

but a cheery landlady and even cheerier customers. Not surprising, as these both originate from Stoke (on Trent, not by Nayland), and were biking mates. We bonded over a love of the Coachmakers arms while regaled of life-saving interventions and cups of tea with James Bolam.

It’s what you get in pubs, and as a quick shower brought the drinkers in from the garden with triple vodkas in hand, the 3 At 3 suddenly and unexpectedly seemed a Proper Pub.

So good we stayed to share a bottle of Ivo Porter, which may explain the terror evoked by the shark door knocker on the way back to the station.

*Search for it on What Pub under 3 at 3, rather than 3 At 3, and you’ll never find it, which is clearly an indication of all that is wrong with CAMRA.