“Grab a beanbag”. UNCOVENTIONAL PUB SEATING AT FROME’S SHIP

August 2026. Frome.

Finally, Frome finshed.

The mile back to the station from the Royal Oak has the odd closed pub,

but overall there’s a healthy mix of pubs left,

and our last one firmly in the “smart family pub” camp.

A rambling place,

with perhaps the highest age range of the day (excluding our dozen casketeers).

And one of the most exciting beer ranges, for folk who like “exciting” beer,

so when the young lady in front ordered a pint of the Hop Union peach pale in dimples jug (ugh) I followed her lead. I’m sure the Pauls would have loved it as much as I did (VERY GOOD).

Quite what Messrs Mudge and Bailey would have made of the room we’d commandeered I can only guess,

but the play room designated for Little Tikes had perfect surfaces for perching pint glasses, dimpled or straight.

“Grab a bean bag” says Shawn, while Mick unfortunately records the moment for posterity.

Who’d have guessed a group of twelve pub crawlers would spend more time discussing bean bags and toy kitchens than Brexit and cider definitions ?

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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.

24 thoughts on ““Grab a beanbag”. UNCOVENTIONAL PUB SEATING AT FROME’S SHIP”

    1. I read in the Grauniad that the blazing heat is “more dangerous for the over 60s than previously thought”, Will.

      Well, what with covid that’s another tranche of the 52% gone then.

      Every cloud and all that…

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      4. They’ve got to reduce welfare spending on pensioner benefits somehow.

        Also pleased to see that Tim has taken over the reins from Humphrey so that we can continue to enjoy tranquility.

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  2. I would have been forced to drag a chair into that bean bag room. There’s no way I could get out of one of those, what with my gammy knee (that I don’t like to talk about).
    I’m sure the peach stuff was as good as you say it was but I’d have been intrigued by the “modern best bitter”.

    Isn’t “tikes” supposed to be spelled “tykes”?

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    1. Siren Memento is pretty good, Bill. But I’m not sure I get what is “modern” about it. Apart from it being made by a brewery that Stafford Paul has never heard of.

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      2. Beer is made by brewing, meals are made by cooking, books are made by printing and bookbinding. It is not necessary to always state the name of the process.

        Memento is a beer made by Siren, a brewery.

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      3. This isn’t Fifteensquared, although Russ was trying very gently to edge it a little in that direction perhaps Will?

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      4. Beer not brewed must save a fortune in energy costs but I doubt that will be passed on to the customer.

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  3. Sorry, that should have been :
    An “exciting beer range” wasn’t what I was expecting in the Ship so I carried on to the railway station and boarded an earlier train than intended to Temple Meads.
    Being a bit cooler yesterday it was Burton by bus for three Pedigrees and two Basss, with the Oak and Ivy the undoubted Highlight of the Day and “the scorching heat” meaning no cask beer in the Leopard and sadly dreadful Bass in a former Burton Bridge pub.

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    1. I take it that’s Stafford Paul?

      It’s curious. Down here in Cardiff many pubs have done well with keeping their beer despite the heat. It’s our brewer Brains who – allegedly – have struggled to brew a decent batch, Paul.

      Apropos of nothing if I made tea then it’s a meal, but if I brewed it then it’s a drink…

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  4. Love you being captured on the bean bag highlight of the day but it is only 8.40am. Great you released the embargo on it :-).

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  5. Ahh fun bean bag memories. Until it came time to wash the covers and the polystyrene balls filled the bath tub, laundry basket and beyond. They are never the same again as you lose about a quarter of filling in the process.

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