Blackpool

Last weekend I was up in Blackpool or the "Vegas of the North" as it's known by absolutely nobody. My nan lives in nearby Cleveleys so I have had many visits to Blackpool over the years. Three or four years ago things were not looking good for the town - they missed out on the "Super Casino" bid, development plans had stopped and the tourist attractions were outdated and slowly crumbling away. But in the past few years it has gone through a bit of a renaissance - Merlin (who own Alton Towers and Thorpe Park) have come in and bought up the Blackpool Tower and the hilarious Louis Tussauds, whose waxworks were so bad that I once had to ask a friend why Paul Merton was on the Titanic, and they had to point out it was actually Leonardo DiCaprio. It's now an official Madame Tussauds and both it and the Tower are looking much better for themselves.

With Merlin throwing money at the resort and the council also starting to wise up and continue developing the town, the town centre is now looking much better, although the area around the Blackpool Pleasure Beach is looking a bit forlorn and forgotten. Hopefully the cash will start to make its way there. Along with Merlin another company making its way into Blackpool is Wetherspoons, who now have three blockbuster pubs in the town. In a way Spoons are a perfect fit for Blackpool, as their giant pubs serving cheap booze and food make it perfect for hungry families and the thirsty stag and hen do's.

The first Spoons of the weekend was The Velvet Coaster, a short walk away from the Pleasure  Beach. This is by far the biggest Spoons I've ever visited, spread over three floors and featuring a roof terrace and a glass lift. Each floor has a bar and they were serving different ales at different bars, which got a bit confusing. The location used to be an amusement arcade, and the decor is designed to evoke memories of fun at the seaside fair. For my first beer I went for the local offering of
Lytham Gold from the Lytham brewery which is only a 15 minute drive from the pub. It was a solid pint once it had time to settle. While ordering my second beer I noticed that New Zealand craft beer superstars Yeastie Boys had a beer on cask. I was initially excited but a little bit of research revealed that the beer was actually made at the Wadworth brewery in not so exotic Wiltshire, although the pump clip didn't indicate this. Bit disappointing but it's nice to see Spoons continuing to try and cater for the craft crowd, although I didn't see anybody order it.

My second drink was the Gold from the Ramsbury brewery which was a very refreshing and hoppy sup. On a Saturday afternoon the pub was in full swing with an eclectic mix of couples, parties and families and the barn like acoustics meant the downstairs was very noisy, although things were a bit quieter upstairs. Staff were friendly and serving as quickly as they could, the toilets were clean, the atmosphere was typical Spoons and quite frankly I liked the place. It's a great option for families who want a decent value lunch away from the expensive Pleasure Beach eateries.

Next up was the Spoons outlet in the centre of town, the Layton Rakes. Not as big as the Velvet Coaster, but still boasting a roof terrace, this was a more traditional Spoons experience, with slightly worn carpet and somewhat sticky table and chairs. Music was being played on a Saturday night which was unusual but actually welcome in this Spoons, as otherwise the atmosphere would have been pretty dead. The place was rather quiet punters wise, and I thought more would be coming in for a cheap drink before hitting the clubs. Although to be fair Blackpool clubs tend to be quite reasonable with their drinks prices, probably because there's so much competition.

I initially ordered a Bengali Tiger from SixPoint, but after the confused barman bought me back a bottle of the Singapore Tiger beer I had to point out in the cabinet what I wanted. Turns out they were all out of Bengali anyway, so I settled for SixPoint The Crisp at a wallet satisfying £1.99. Curiously the "premium" lagers such as Heineken were priced at around £3.40 which I found a bit high for a Spoons - maybe that's why there weren't many punters in. I find The Crisp to be the weakest of the SixPoint offerings but it's still a well made and very tasty pilsner. After a drink me and The Lovely Jemma headed on down to Funny Girls, an amusing drag cabaret and Blackpool classic that has to be experienced at least once by every visitor. I stayed away from the beer their though - I wasn't in the mood for a fizzy lager or Worthington Creamflow.

It's great to see Blackpool doing a bit better for itself and I hope the regeneration continues. The town centre is looking much smarter and they've even got a Pizza Express and a Nando's - things are truly on the up! If you find yourself there it's well worth a visit to the Coaster or the Rakes - to be honest there's precious little else you can go in town to get a decent pint of ale. On the way back home we stopped in Preston to enjoy lunch at The Continental, a fabulous pub nestled on the banks of the River Ribble. The food was excellent and my pint of Brewers Gold from Pictish was a superbly refreshing session pale. An excellent pub and a very pleasant end to an entertaining weekend.

Preston Part 2

Preston is never going to win a "prettiest town centre" award, or even a "town centre which is slightly pleasing to the eye" award. It's looking a bit shabby and run down, with a depressing amount of closed down stores, including the aptly named "Bankrupt Books." The town centre has a brown and grubby feel to it, even on the sunny day I was there. But take a short stroll away from the high street and you will stumble across the fabulous Avenham Park. I don't often gush but this park is absolutely gorgeous, with the River Ribble flowing majestically through the middle accompanied by pretty tree lined banks. Well kept and beautifully presented gardens await as you stroll along the river. My awkward pictures below don't really bring across the beauty and majesty of this park. The amazing scenery would be pleasurable enough, but even better there is an excellent pub to be found in the park.

The Continental is perched alongside the bank of the river and boasts a pleasant, modern beer garden overlooking the river and railway bridge. As trains trundled by I enjoyed a half of the house beer, Continental by Marble Brewery. I've never had a bad brew from Marble and this beer was no exception, a hoppy floral treat that matched the high standards of the park and pub. Sadly I didn't have much time to stay at The Continental as there were other pubs on the list before catching the tilty Virgin train back to London. But if time wasn't a constraint I could have spent a good few hours in this charming, comfortable pub. It was my favourite of the pubs I visited in Preston and I look forward to going back.

The Market Tavern was a bit of a jolt back to reality, an old school boozer nestled near, funnily enough, a bustling market. Comfortable booths line one side of the pub and a small serving area dispenses a tantalising selection of hand pumped ales and a good selection of bottled beer, with boozed up regulars propped up against the bar chatting about everything and nothing. I sampled a Bohemian, which appears to be Greene Kings attempt at a "craft" ale. It wasn't a bad effort, with a good hoppy flavour, but it wasn't anything spectacular. To be honest I still don't really know the difference between a craft ale and a real ale. Surely they're both "crafted" unless real ale is actually picked fully formed from trees or dug up from the ground? It seems the main thing that differentiates craft from real ale is about £2-£3 for the price of a pint and about 3-5% more ABV, plus about ten times more hops.

The last pub on my jaunt around Preston was the Old Vic. Handily situated across the road from Preston railway station, this pub looks a bit nondescript and run down from the outside, but venture inside and it's also a bit nondescript and run down . This is a big pub with a large central bar, and what appeared to be a faux wooden beams on the ceiling. It was quiet but comfortable enough when we visited. The first beer sampled was Doff Crocker from Three B's, which was a bit of a disappointment. It had a slightly watery flavour although a decent dry finish salvaged things a little bit. The Priory Gold from Burscough was better - a pleasant and refreshing hoppy ale with good floral flavours.

The Priory Gold was to be my last tipple at Preston before sauntering across the road and heading back to London Euston on a Virgin Pendolino. I've been travelling on these trains for a good few years now and they've finally fully fixed the issue with stinky carriages. This was due to a fault with the toilets which meant the ventilation system basically pumped everybody's bodily emissions back into the carriage. Not pleasant, especially when riding with a coach load of boozed up, kebab filled passengers, with the tilting of the carriages adding to the nausea factor.

Next up is a trip around the pleasant pubs of Bath. Hope you can join me. Cheers!

Preston Part 1

Ah the north of England. Despite being a soft southern lad I'm a seasoned visitor to the north, having spent many a summer holiday visiting my grandparents in Blackpool. At first I was scared of Northerners and their bizarre ways, such as wishing a good morning to strangers, wearing next to nothing when it hits 12 degrees, and serving massive portions of food but now I'm used to it and don't break down crying when an old man tries to have a conversation with me on the bus.

I recently went up to Blackpool with my family to celebrate my nan's 90th birthday, and we stayed in Preston. I'd only visited Preston a couple of times before and all I could remember was a bus station with fins and how windy the whole town was. Now that I had a couple of evenings to kill I thought I may as well have a good look around the place and also visit a few boozers.

First up was the Dog & Partridge. I actually visited this pub twice over the weekend. The first time was with my parents in tow. As we walked in a DJ was cranking out the Pixies at room shaking levels. As much as I enjoy listening to "Debaser" at ear splitting volume I thought perhaps this wasn't the place for my parents and we decamped to the Wetherspoons across the road (more on that later.) The second visit, with just my brother and The Lovely Jemma in tow, was a bit better. The pub is quite a shabby place split into two rooms. The front room was basically a God's waiting room with crusty Prestonians enjoying a quiet pint, while the back room had a younger clientèle attempting to dance along to dodgy rock music. Certainly an odd mix of but it was actually rather nice. Sadly the pint of Tetleys Mild that I sampled wasn't the best, suffering from the same watery flavour that all InBev ales seem to have these days.

Next on the list is the Black Horse Hotel, which I visited with my family. I must admit I was aprehensive of going into this pub, as it wasn't in the Good Beer Guide and there were leary lads standing outside. But then I remembered that everybody in Preston looks a bit leary so it was probably nothing to worry about. A Robinsons pub, this had a good selection of their ales on hand-pump including Old Tom, a knockout at 8.5%ABV. Apparently they'll only serve this in halves, presumably to avoid killing all of their potential repeat customers. I wasn't brave enough to try the Old Tom in front of my folks. Nobody wants to see their son as he slurs and stumbles down the windswept streets of Preston before collapsing into a bin. I instead opted for a pint of the reliable Unicorn, and as ever it was a solid best bitter with a good crisp finish. This small, charming pub was packed to the rafters and although enjoyable we moved on to somewhere where we might get a seat.

That place ended up being the local Wetherspoons. The Greyfrair is a barn of a pub and there was no trouble finding a place to sit, even on a lively Saturday night. I had to step in and order a pint of Burning Bails before my dad ordered a "Burning Balls." This was a perfectly average beer from the Acorn brewery, nothing special but it got the job done. Like the beer the pub itself was perfectly average and stereo-typically 'Spoons. The décor was bland with that maroon carpet that Wetherspoons owner Tim Martin must be getting a good deal on, the tables and chairs wooden and slightly shabby, the bar staff a little dozy and the customers looked like they'd come straight out of the "Big Book of Pub Caricatures." If you've been to a 'Spoons before you'd know what to expect and as a frequent visitor I felt pretty comfortable.

The Old Black Bull has won many awards and seemed to be the most respected pub by CAMRA of the ones we visited. This was a good old fashioned boozer with a large main room and a fairly long bar with a tempting selection of ales on offer. Again this is a place we had to visit twice. The first time there was live music on, and although the band sounded excellent the place was absolutely rammed with no standing space and no hope of getting to the bar. The second time was quieter apart a large rowdy group standing at the bar. I tried the Gold by Tatton Brewery which was probably the best pint of the weekend. Subtle fruity hops led to a superb dry finish, and overall a very enjoyable pint. Good stuff.

Part 2 will cover The Continental, The Market Porter and The Old Vic. Why not stop by and see which one was my overall favourite? Unless you've got something better to do in which case do that first then stop back here when you're done. Cheers!