August 2023. Stratford-upon-Avon.
Oh, you tease, Retired Martin. Obviously you’re not really going to recommend anything in the home of the Bard (or is that Prescot now ?).
Correct, Stratford is an irredeemable dump. Best get your Stratfords mixed up and head for east London.
Here, head straight out to the village of Loxley, near Charlecote Park, for the community-run Fox.
It’s not an unspoilt classic, just a cosy village pub for 399 untroubled souls with flowers on the tables. Very “community pub” chic.
So, is my recommendation based on the availability of Britain’s favourite cask beer ?
Er, no. Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong with the Doom Bar.
But the way they dealt with my duff Doom was an exemplar, and the replacement Slaughterhouse was gorgeously rich and cool (3.5), and I’ve rarely met such nice people.
And sometimes, that’s all that matters.
retiredmartin 
“Stratford is an irredeemable dump” isn’t far off my opinion.
Maybe best to get in Fullers’s third and fourth most northerly pubs – the Old Thatch Tavern and the White Swan – and check if the Pride’s drinking well.
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I may sometimes exaggerate to make my point, Paul, but it’s only been the eponymous micro in the GBG for a while now.
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Many years ago it was only the Davenports pub if I remember correctly.
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It’s five years since I last visited Stratford, and I went with an open mind.
That turned out to be a mistake, and simply led to a wasted half day.
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Stratford is awful. Know the fox well tho, helped them set the Celler up a few years ago. They seem to be ignoring my advice
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Ha ! Thanks.
The pint of Doom Bar was the worst looking and tasting pint I’ve ever seen, but the replacement Saddleback was excellent and they were so nice I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. Community pubs get a head start in terms of the GBG in my experience.
Some reports on Leamington coming up (all good).
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Let me know when you hit Warwick.
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That appears to be the longest pint glass ever recorded. / surely a double Pinter!
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It’s a half, you should have seen the state of the beer in the pint 😊
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Ah -a pub I know -we had a holiday in Stratford a couple of years ago & the Fox was our local -we enjoyed sitting in the pretty garden a few times -it seems to be a successful set up & as you say they are very friendly to “outsiders “
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A holiday in Stratford ?
What on earth did you do ? Was someone famous born there ?
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I can’t really remember what we did apart from mooch round Cotswold villages,National Trust properties & along &around the river.I can assure you we were not there for any reason regarding the Upstart Crow. Not the sort of ” gritty ” holiday you favour but we had a pleasant enough week
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“gritty” 😄.
We’ve just been to Petworth.
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Hiring a rowing boat for an hour might be the best option, sort of getting away from the town for a while.
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“Something had gone terribly, terribly wrong with the Doom Bar” but in another part of the country an Autovac would have had it looking like “a nice pint”!
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Oh, I don’t know about that, Paul. It looks beyond saving to me.
In another part of the cask beer universe, I had the last pint of Wensleydale Black Dub at the Scarbrough Hotel in Leeds at the weekend. You know, the beer that the Prime Minister pulled a pint of at the Great British Beer Festival. Anyway, I waited for it to settle down, but it was more like Muddy Dub than Black, so I took it back.
“Looks like it’s the end of the barrel,” quoth I.
“Oh yes! It’s just gone off,” said the friendly and helpful lass behind the bar.
“Thanks for telling me,” I responded (not). Because she hadn’t told me – I had told her.
The replacement, Leeds Yorkshire Gold was absolutely gorgeous (NBSS 4).
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“beyond saving” but with a proper thrashing and a bit of luck ?
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