August 2026. Bath.
I’d opted for a couple of nights down in Bath,
a little luxurious but the student residences on the edge of town were cheaper than a Doncaster Travelodge, Twerton Mill’s riverside rooms near Bath City FC spotless and (most importantly) with high-speed Wi-Fi.
OK, they’re also half an hour’s walk from actual Bath, but I’m here for the train to Frome the next morning and a lone new Beer Guide entry.
For many years Twerton has meant the Royal Oak,
which I remember as a great pub near the football ground, though I now see it has an on-site microbrewery (ugh) and no Wi-Fi to “encourage conversation” (ugh, UGH!).
Folk who know Bath seem a bit surprised by the arrival in the Guide of the nearby Charmbury Arms,
yet more evidence that CAMRA folk pick pubs on quality not variety.
Every time a “beloved” (ugh) pub appears in the clickbaited press we’re told it’s popular for its “wide variety of ever changing cask ales” or similar twaddle, when what 98.7% of pubgoers want is beers they recognise that taste nice.
Proper Job and Doom Bar will never be exciting, but they are tasty when the pipes are clean, the cellar is cool and the beer flows through the pumps on a regular basis.
I’ve probably campaigned for Doom Bar more than anyone over recent years, arguing it’s the best example of a good beer often served badly, and this was a cool, chewy, VERY GOOD pint.
Jon from Frome had said I’d enjoy the Charmbury, and I did. Friendly, comfy, lively, an education in suburban life to a soundtrack of Radio Twerton (mainly Pink). Most of the trade was Thatcher’s, mind.
I’d also been warned “They only take cash“, and sure enough that was the first thing I heard at the bar, but I like a pub that expresses a preference.
I’d picked Happy Garden as the best rated Chinese takeaway, a 10 minute walk deep into flowery South Twerton,
but they were on holiday, so I had to make do with Bamboo Garden’s rather inconsistently rated crispy beef and Singapore rice.
And here’s the issue with Google ratings of takeaways. No matter how good the food, and this was superb, turn up 10 minutes late with your home delivery to a student on Friday night and your ratings plummet.
retiredmartin 