THE OLD FOURPENNY SHOP

May 2022. Warwick.

Pub three on the “curated Warwick pub exploration trail”,

though my notes suggest “most of Warwick is completely p****d”, which just shows that in middle class middle England there’s still parts of society who value pubgoing over a bottle of Malbec at home.

Warwick really surprised me, nowhere more so than the Old Fourpenny Shop, a small hotel opposite the racecourse with all the trappings of gentility (and a particularly naff sign).

Those toilets smelt gorgeous.

I remember this from CAMRA’s “Stay at the Inn” guides 25 years ago, and can’t imagine this reception desk has changed much since Susan Nowak stayed here.

Rather old-fasioned. BUT…the place was bursting with life, smokers nipping out and back, fag in hand, while “Summer Nights” played, and a beer range only diminished by the jam jars.

In a rare burst of common sense I’d moved on to halves, just as well with the call of a beer called XX Strong too strong to resist.

Another cask winner, cool and chewy (NBSS 4), but, despite the orderly queue heading to the dining room,

it was the irreverent banter at the bar over Bananarama’s  “Cruel Summer” that made this a winner.

“I was too pissed to read the time on the dashboard, doing 141mph down Birmingham Road“.

Blimey, who knew Warwick was SO exciting.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

16 thoughts on “THE OLD FOURPENNY SHOP”

  2. I’ve never been to Warwick, but I’ve been meaning to break my duck and now you’ve talked me into it.

    I won’t be drinking any tasters though. (Sorry, that’s the previous pub. I’m on a two-posts-in-one economy drive in an attempt to save polar bears.)

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    1. I think you might be disappointed in the pubs visually, but they were rather earthier than expected and beer was good. Actually, I’d scored beer quality well on previous trips too. There’s no classic pub, that’s probably the New Inn down the road in Leamington Spa.

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      1. This is one of the pubs that when you read about it you decide to pub crawl somewhere else. It just doesn’t look that great. Warwick always looks a bit clean on the pub front. Really interesting how great you found it.

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      4. “Clean” might describe the Wild Boar, but my assessment here was just “refurbished in poor taste”.

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      6. I’ve quite recently been somewhere that reminded me very much of Northampton, or rather one pub did with so many “bargains”.

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      8. I will now tell you not only that I thought the pub had no proper beer, ironically because the pumpclip had been stolen, but also that I was as astonished by the “bargains” as Richard was outraged by them in Northampton.

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  4. Glad to see that the Fourpenny is still going strong. I stayed there a couple of times many years ago when I had to go to Leamington Spa on business.

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    1. Yes. it was the recommended stop in Warwick for people wanting to stay in a pub, Jon, perhaps it still is. I’ve only ever stopped in the Travelodge (and campervan) in Leam.

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