May 2024. Witham.
A bonus post for you from Witham, as I suddenly remember it’s nearly 10pm and I haven’t eaten. (In fairness the pub I was in served food till then but I reckoned an order of burger and fries at 9:50 might be pushing my luck).
And Witham at 10pm on Thursday night isn’t buzzing.
Though you can see its appeal in these quieter moments.
I gently moaned about pubs closing early the other day, and Bill sagely noted;
“This is where Spoons cleans up. They open when they say they’re going to open and close when they say they’re going to close. You know where you stand with a Spoons.“
Yep, you know where you stand with a Spoons,
though look beyond the (GBG) Battesford Court‘s timbered interior,
and you get a scene of devastation and uncollected pint glasses I rarely see in a JDW. I’m surprised Essex folk put up with it; this is a county of high and consistent standards.
The filthiest pub I’ve been in since that place at Manchester Airport after a 6am visit from Celtic supporters on their way to Madrid.
It’s not even that busy, just seemingly understaffed, but at least the staff they do have are an exemplar of friendliness and hospitality.
No beer, just the 8″ Margherita pizza, which looks terribly small and woeful, more panini than pizza, on the plate.
but I guess I should be able to work out that 8″ means exactly that, only 1″ bigger than a single. You remember singles ?
In fairness, it’s hot and tasty and all I need for £5.91, and I get to admire the CAMRA mirror on the way out.
And then I head towards the old part of town, especially darkened ahead of the next sighting of Northern Lights.
The first pub by the church is long closed at 10:30, the GBG Woolpack shows signs of life,
but even that bottle collection can’t quite tempt me in tonight.
retiredmartin 
Have to say that, while I welcomed the idea of Spoons pizzas in theory, in practice I always find there’s something not quite right about them.
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I know what you mean. I guess our expectations of pub pizza quality have gone up after decades of decent if increasingly overpriced chain pizzerias. The Blind Monkey near me does excellent pizzas under a tenner.
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Likewise Tim’s breakfasts with them no longer including any fresh produce such as tomatoes or mushrooms and, as in Glasgow last month, arriving barely lukewarm on a cold plate – but I enjoyed the one I had last autumn in Stone, probably the only one of Tim’s venues I wouldn’t mind returning to.
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Spoons breakfasts took a turn for the worse after COVID, but I’m not the only one to think that in general the quality of food there has improved this past year or so.
If they apologise for the ban at Wolves would you forgive them ?
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Irrespective of any half hearted apology, ridiculously being denied a pint and a breakfast made me question how much I wanted to use Tim’s venues and I realised only very occasionally for a distress purchase which has meant slightly less than 1% of my beer so far this year.
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I suspect they make up a similar % of my beer too, Paul.
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Stone Spoons had Lymestone Stone Faced at £1.99 last Monday. Top beer at basement prices.
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Basement toilets are all too likely in Tim’s venues.
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“Lymestone Stone Faced at £1.99” should have made Brad a few pence.
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This lunchtime for Lymestone Stone Faced in Hogarths I paid £2.50, content that Brad should be making a few pence more than if I’d bought it in one of Tim’s venues.
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My allergy to hypocrisy prevents me using any of Tim’s establishments.
(Also wet hands at motorway service stations)
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