Walking in Norfolk - Never Turn Back and Jolly Farmers

I was in Norfolk last week for a few days, staying in a cottage in the Scratby area with the wife's family. I enjoy it there - the beaches are quiet, the walks are flat, and the weather was on my side. The only bad thing about the area is that there isn't much beer variety in the many pubs - I was usually stuck with a choice between Adnams or Woodforde's. Even at the Wetherspoons in Great Yarmouth, the aptly named Troll Cart, I ended up having a pint of Woodforde's Nog, a straight forward old ale from the reliable if dull Norfolk brewer.

One pub highlight of the trip was the Never Turn Back, nestled between two holiday home parks in Caister-On-Sea. My father-in-law and I enjoyed a pleasant hour long walk along the beach to enjoy a refreshing pint here. The fun begins outside the pub, which is built in the typical 1930's style of pubs owned by the Lacons Brewery who were (and now thanks to a recent resurrection, are) based in Great Yarmouth. The striking building looks more like the control centre for some ominous 50's British technology than a pub, although it is has a certain charm about it and there's a lovely large beer garden out the front.

The landlord was busy on the lawnmower when we arrived at 12pm, and told us he'd open up at 12:30pm, so we had a look around the caravan parks, playing on the two penny pushers inside the on site arcade, where I failed to win any additional beer tokens. We duly popped back at 12:30pm and the pub was ready for business. It's in the Good Beer Guide and the pint of Adnams (sigh) Bitter was in excellent form, and very much needed after the long walk along the beach in the hot sun. Still feeling a bit thirsty I had probably my sixth pint of Adnams Ghost Ship of the trip, which again was in very good nick. When it's well kept Ghost Ship is an refreshing, hoppy pint that I have a bit of a fondness for.

A selection of food and bar snacks was available and we settled for a hot dog and cheesy chips - it ain't fine dining but it fills a gap. The interior of the pub is very cosy, with plenty of comfortable bench seating, nick nacks scattered about the place, and a small exhibit on how the pub got its somewhat unique name. On reporting on a botched lifeboat rescue in 1906, where nine men from the Caister lifeboat team lost their lives, the phrase "Caister men never turn back" was coined. Model lifeboats scattered around the pub set the theme, and the lifeboat station is only a five minute walk away from the pub. This excellent seaside boozer is well worth seeking out if you're in the area.

Another pub to get an honorable mention is the Jolly Farmers, an Enterprise tied house in picturesque Ormesby St Margaret. With a traditional wood paneled interior, selection of well kept ales (including the inevitable Adnams Ghost Ship and Woodforde's Wherry) and decent food, this would be an excellent stop for refreshment if enjoying a walk through the area. There's even a pool table.

There may not be all that much to do in this area of England, but sometimes fresh air, a long walk and welcoming pubs is just what is required from a short break. Looking forward to returning to Norfolk next year.

Leeds: The Return

The Lovely Jemma and I were recently up in Leeds for a couple of days. Jemma was getting a new tattoo from an excellent tattoo artist who works up there and I came along for moral support. It would of been rude of me not to visit a few pubs as well while I was there. I first visited Leeds last year and enjoyed some good beer in excellent pubs, and I was excited to go back and try new entries in the Good Beer Guide, visit a couple of pubs I'd missed on my last visit, and return to a couple of favourites.

While waiting at Kings Cross station for our train we stopped for a couple of drinks in The Parcel Yard, a large Fullers pub next to the tourist ridden Harry Potter shop. This is a large, two floor pub, and it was disappointing to see the top floor closed during peak evening travel time. This meant the downstairs was much more busy and cramped than usual.  My halves of Fullers Front Row and Windsor and Eton World Cup Drop were both in good nick but pricey at around £4.50 a pint. The high prices don't seem to faze most of the punters who hand over there money with dead eyed acceptance of being fleeced. Despite the wallet busting prices this is a nice enough pub to enjoy a drink.

We made a quick stop across the road at Sourced market in St Pancras station, a little gem of a place that sells an extensive (and expensive) range of canned and bottled beers. I got a can of Five Points Pale, and it was delicious,with none of the metallic flavours that can sometimes be associated with canned beer. We hopped on the train and just over a couple of hours later we were in Leeds and checked in to the glamorous Travelodge hotel.

The next day while Jemma was getting ink stabbed onto her arm, I took the opportunity to visit a couple of the less glamorous pubs in Leeds featured in the Good Beer Guide. First up was the Stick or Twist, a larger Wetherspoons opposite the Leeds Arena. The interior is identikit Spoons - brown-red carpet, sticky wooden tables and chairs, and a long bar with plenty of cheap booze on offer. The customers were identikit as well -mainly  single older men but there were a few groups of students popping in for a cheap lunch. The Wetherspoons real ale festival was on but sadly the special collaboration brews that were on weren't very exciting. I ended up with Oakham Owl & The Pussycat, a hoppy treat to start the day off with. To be honest the place was nothing special and I was quick to move on to the next pub.

The Templar Hotel is a handsome looking pub from the outside with gorgeous tiling, and inside was like stepping back in time. Warm oak boarded walls, old fashioned pub furniture and cosy bench seating at the back made this a pleasant retreat. Serving bells were still on the wall at the back of the pub, I wasn't brave enough to press one to see if they still worked. On a Tuesday afternoon the customers were just as old fashioned as the pub interior and I imagine some of them had probably been there since the pub first opened. There was a decent selection of ales and my half of Devils Advocate from Three Kings Brewery wasn't bad, although it went a bit wonky in the finish. The pub was a pleasant little time warp but again it's not somewhere where I would want to spend a lot of time, the main reason being I was skewing the average age of the punters by about forty years.

I met up with Jemma with her new and excellent tattoo, and headed for lunch at Friends of Ham. I'd heard very good things about this place, and sadly it was closed for refurbishment when I tried to visit last year. Walking into the bright airy space I was pleased to see three blackboards with details about the three things I love most in life (apart from The Lovely Jemma of course) - meat, cheese and beer. We went for the Spanish Meat and Cheese platter, and I also enjoyed a pint of Iti NZPA, a big hoppy fruity treat from Hawkshead, with plenty of flavour considering the 3.8% ABV. It was superb and the best beer of the trip. The food was also excellent. This was a lovely little place and well worth visiting if you're in Leeds.

Last pub for the afternoon was the Crowd of Favours, a former chippy converted into a pub. Owned by the Leeds Brewery, there was plenty of their brews on offer. A pumpkin ale was the seasonal special but I wasn't feeling brave enough to try it and I stuck to the Leeds Pale Ale, which was very tasty. The place has a studenty vibe, with retro consoles set up in one area, and plenty of activities throughout the week such as quiz and cinema nights. Jemma and I settled down for a few matches of Mortal Kombat 2 on the SNES, and after I won ten matches in a row we retired to a comfy sofa. The place was bigger than expected (it must have been a spacious chip shop) and I would be quite happy to pop in on a busy Friday night and enjoy a couple of pints here.

We headed back to the hotel for a nap before preparing for an evening of eating and more drinking, including the trendsetting North bar. But I'll tell you about that next time. Hope you can join me then!

Norfolk Part 3 - Great Yarmouth

I love a trip to the seaside. The sea air, the amusement arcades, the shops selling every kind of tat imaginable, the bad but delicious food and of course a relaxing pint once the sea and sun has become too much. As part of my Norfolk break The Lovely Jemma and I had a day out at Great Yarmouth. I'd never been before but was looking forward to it, and it didn't disappoint. The shops did not let me down on tackiness, there was plenty of trashy food available, although we chickened out and ending up eating at a Spoons, the arcades were plentiful and there was even a surprisingly thrilling wooden rollercoaster to ride at the far end of the prom.

The aforementioned Spoons was The Troll Cart - despite the original and amusing name the pub was sadly an identikit Spoons with the usual grubby floor, sticky tables and solid range of ales and reliable food.  Once settled in the pub I ended up going for a Southern Fried Chicken strips and chips, which was a glorified chicken nuggets but despite being a meal clearly designed for children it filled a gap. To continue the American theme of my lunch I enjoyed a SixPoint The Crisp which went down a treat and was included with the meal - bargain. I really enjoy the SixPoint beers and am glad that Spoons are still selling them despite rumours of poor sales. The pub was packed when we arrived at noon but soon emptied out once the lunch time crowd were down and we left sitting amongst typical Spoons "characters." A less reputable blogger than I would make a comparison between the name of the pub and its weekday afternoon customers but I'm better than that. It was soon time to move on to the next pub.

There are two Great Yarmouth pubs in the Good Beer Guide and we only got the chance to visit one of them. The GBG can be a bit hit and miss - sometimes the pubs are pretty grim but because they serve a good pint the CAMRA beardies are happy to put it into the guide. Luckily The Mariners turned out to be a bit of a gem. An impressive stone facade outside, and a cosy two room interior made this a cosy and welcoming pub. There was a good selection of ales on and my half of Slap in the Face from Totally Brewed was in great condition and tasted hoppy and delicious. Only one of the rooms seemed to be open. As I'm a nosy bastard I couldn't resist opening the door to the second room where I was greeted by a large dog looking at me inquisitively before deciding he didn't like me and barking his head off. I quickly shut the door, the barmaid had a good laugh and all was well in the world. Located off the beaten track this pub was a nice place to enjoy a quiet pint.

We headed on down to the Pleasure Beach, stopping at the Lacon Brewery along the way. They have a shop at the brewery which was supposed to be open until 2:30pm, but was firmly shut when we arrived around 2pm. Luckily the head brewer saw me looking forlorn at the shop and took pity on me. As they were very busy he'd taken the staff member who usually mans the shop on to the production line, but he got him back in. The brewer also had a chat with me about the history of Lacons and led me into the small museum that they had. Founded in 1760, the brewery had a illustrious history until it was bought out by Whitbread in 1965, and they sadly closed the brewery in 1968. InBev, who make Budweiser, subsequently bought out Whitbread and the Lacons trademark was passed over to them.

After lying dormant for nearly 50 years, in 2013 a drinks distributor tycoon bought back the Lacon brand and brewing returned to Great Yarmouth. There's clearly a bit of money behind the operation and the museum and shop are in great nick, and the branding is very smart. I bought a few bottles in the shop. I've only had the chance to drink the Legacy so far, and it was a decent bitter with pleasant floral notes in the finish.

Overall I had a great time Yarmouth and North Norfolk overall. The weather was on our side, the pubs and beer were excellent, and the scenery was lovely. Well played Norfolk, well played.

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.

Croydon

After a splendid afternoon in the comfy surroundings of Carshalton, it was time to head to the grittier climes of Croydon, a half hour bus ride away. Croydon has the air of a place that was built with great intentions, in this case an attempt at being a New York style city of business, but the time and money wasn't really invested into it to pull it off so it got left behind and forgotten about. It's a real shame the council can't do more with the place as there is huge potential with its decent transport links and plenty of office space available. Apparently the monstrous American shopping "mall" experience Westfield will be moving in, but judging by their soulless labyrinths in Stratford and Shepherds Bush, I'm not expecting much from them - it will likely end up being a glamorous playground for bored scummy kids to hang about in.

Despite Croydon falling far short of what it initially promised, it does have some decent pubs. I'd written about two of them previously and this time I tried out a few pubs mentioned in the Good Beer Guide that I hadn't been to before. First up was the Skylark, right on the outskirts of town. This is a large Wetherspoons, and probably the most generic Spoons I'd visited in a long while. No excitement here, just the usual muddy brown/red carpet, slightly sticky furniture, dim lighting, collection of bored single elderly punters and a long bar serving a big collection of ales. Their beer festival was on and I tried a Bedfordshire Clanger from Banks Brewery which to be honest was a bit of a mistake. It was ludicrously bitter and a chore to drink - it was if they'd messed up the quantity of ingredients during the brewing process and couldn't be bothered to fix it. I tried the new burritos Spoons are doing now and it was fine - a bit like having a Tesco ready meal but tasty enough.

After this lacklustre experience I was looking forward to the Green Dragon, a popular pub that gets good press. This large centrally located pub is right next to the Tiger Tiger and Reflex nightclubs, so no doubt a good place to load up on booze before attempting to have a dance. Five ales on handpump were on offer, plus a barrel of Black Sheep was being gravity dropped. Nothing really stood out as exciting from the ale selection, and I went for a Dune Raider from the Sunny Republic brewery. Sadly this was another disappointing ale, with a limp watery flavour - it needed more oomph. There was a smattering of young and old customers in on this dreary Thursday afternoon, and while music was being played when I walked in it cut out shortly after, leaving a bit of an odd atmosphere. I have a feeling this place might be more fun in the evening.

The last pub on my tour is owned by the former landlady of the Green Dragon. The Oval Tavern is a surprisingly large pub in the middle of a largely residential area. The Lovely Jemma works nearby and I had no idea this pub existed until I saw it mentioned in the guide - I thought it was all houses in the area! The decor inside is a little shabby and studenty but it has charm, there's also a large beer garden accessed by a flight of stairs. I was the only customer in but it was a comfortable enough place to enjoy a quiet half. Sadly I was lumbered with another beer that wasn't too great, although it was my fault for not reading the label correctly. Blue Boar from Everards is a standard bitter but with honey and mead chucked in, and unfortunately I didn't realise this fact until it was too late. I was basically drinking boozy Lemsip. Luckily the amusing posters dotted around the pub and the good music being played made the drink go down easier.

With a lot of live music events on as well, The Oval is having a good stab at being a community boozer, and I wish them all the best. I look forward to returning. Next week I'll be telling you all about Helsinki which I visited over the weekend, hence why this post is a few days late. Hope you can join me!

SE London Pub of the Year nominees

Being a paid up CAMRA member I recently received an email from my local South East London branch about nominations for the branch Pub of the Year. Depressingly I had only been to one of the pubs on the shortlist, the excellent Park Tavern in Eltham. I had been meaning to visit the other pubs on the list and the email gave me the kick up the arse I needed to go out there and give them a go. Of course a single visit isn't enough to get a true feel for a pub and nominate it for the award, unless the place serves free pints of perfectly conditioned real ale served by dazzlingly beautiful bar staff in a opulent Grade II listed interior. But at least I could say I'd visited these pubs, and I get a blog post out of it as well.

First up was the Blythe Hill Tavern. I'd heard good things about this place but I'd never visited even though it's only a 30 minute bus ride from my house. This is probably because it involves going to Catford - an area that always seems to be on the brink of "gentrifying" but the hipsters and professionals just can't bring themselves to do it. The Blythe is a good looking traditional street corner boozer from the outside, and I gingerly went to one of the three entrances hoping I wouldn't have to face the locked door of shame. Luckily I chose wisely and walking in I was greeted by a small seating area and bar. Initial looks proved to be deceiving, as there was another room behind the bar and a further room around the corner, making the pub surprisingly spacious - and also explaining the numerous entrances.

Five ales were on offer including firm favourites Harveys Best and Dark Star Hophead. I went for Whitstable Centinneal, a single hop beer which was very pleasant. I took a seat next to a telly showing the (Irish) horse racing, and was amused by the posters advocating temperance dotted above the bar. The pub was very quiet with only three other punters in - but it was a Thursday lunchtime, or perhaps those temperance posters did have an effect. The beer was good, the pub was good and I imagine on a Friday evening quite an atmosphere gets going. A decent boozer.

Next up was a pub that wasn't up for nomination, but as it has received a lot of good buzz and was nearby I thought it rude not to drop in. The London Beer Dispensary is the tap for trendy brewery Late Knights. Even though I knew that this place didn't have a traditional "bar" I was still amused by the set up. In one corner of the pub there is a wall with some handpumps, a barrel with a keg dispensary stuck on top and a rack with some cask ales lined up. This is all out in the open, so you walk up, the friendly bar staff pours a beer for you - as this place is "on trend" only jugs are available - and you enjoy the beer. I went for a Late Knights Penge Porter which was really rather good, but unfortunately the keg delivery meant it was served far too cold. After a few minutes to settle the pleasant mocha and chocolate flavours starting coming through a treat. I also enjoyed a half of Crack of Dawn, also from Late Knights, which was on cask and was very good - an easy drinking, hoppy pale ale.

The place had the feel of a craft beer take on the micropub - with the focus on ale and the tables close to each other to encourage conversation it shared some of the same ethos. A food menu of burgers and, inevitably, pulled pork was available, plus some bar snacks. Sadly they were out of black pudding pork pies. A second room at the back of the bar was done up like a posh living room, complete with stately leather sofas, and an impressive fireplace with a stags head looming above. The cheery staff made me feel welcome, and overall I was impressed with the place, although I imagine it gets a bit cramped on a busy evening.

My final stop on this mini pub tour was the one I was looking forward to the most, a pub with a heart-warming history and a splendid interior. The Ivy House is a barn of a pub nestled in a residential area of Peckham. Walking in you're first greeted by a small room with cosy furnishing and a serving area in the corner. Walk through the doors at the back though and you enter a much larger, and very impressive, main room complete with a stage. The fit out is very plush, all deep dark woods, and the stage area is very ornate. It looks absolutely fantastic. Being a pub in a rapidly improving area of London it was due to be converted to flats but thankfully a local campaign managed to secure around a million quid in funding and it was bought by the residents of the area. It is now run as a co-operative. A wonderful story for a wonderful building.

The beer selection was top notch with a good collection of traditional ales and more crafty selections as well. I enjoyed half of Cottage Brewery Aphrodite, a straightforward pale ale. The pub does food as well, a small menu with pretty much every pub classic represented - pies, fish and chips and so on. I went for the bangers and mash and they were superb, three plump meaty sausages on a creamy mash bed. Great stuff.

A couple of days later I paid a visit to the final pub on the nomination list, The Fox on The Hill. This is a very large Wetherspoons in leafy Denmark Hill. The first thing that struck me was the impressive size of the garden, and it was packed with drinkers doing the traditional British thing when the sun comes out for the first time in months - sitting outside and enjoying a beer even if the weather is actually a bit chilly. Inside the pub is split into several large rooms, with a L-shaped bar dishing out drinks to thirsty punters.

I had a few beers here, for research purposes of course, and also because the beer is keenly priced thanks to it being a Spoons. Clarence and Fredericks Cascadian Black was a highlight, a "Black IPA" that maintained the malty goodness of a stout with the hoppy madness of an IPA, a very solid effort, and a steal at £1.75 a pint after using my CAMRA 50p off voucher. I also enjoyed Wettons Golden Taff, a crisp pale ale from Wales that had a very pleasurable dry finish. Spoons full "craftwork" offering was available, and I enjoyed a Sixpoint Bengali with my chicken burger. You can't really complain about getting a well made 6.5% IPA free with a meal. I gave the Devils Backbone IPA a try as well, a good interpretation of the classic American IPA by the Banks Brewery.

I enjoyed my time at all the nominated pubs, and to be honest it would be difficult to pick a winner. They're all cosy, welcoming boozers that are an asset to the community they serve. Definitely worth popping into them if you're nearby, and The Ivy House is worth a special trip for the amazing interior alone.

Orpington Liberal Club

Orpington is one of those suburbs that nearly every Londoner has heard of but none of them have visited, and with good reason. The high street is mainly made up of coffee shops, cafes and charity shops and while it is somewhat nice to see so many independent businesses as a whole the shopping experience is lacklustre. It doesn't have any big anchor stores such as Marks & Spencer or even a Primark which makes it a bit useless for shopping, especially when there are better shopping options nearby such as nearby Bromley. The only reason anybody local may want to visit Orpington, or "Orps" as it is known by absolutely nobody, is that it has a gigantic Tesco, a sprawling shrine to commerce spread over two floors and selling just about everything you can imagine. Perhaps it's the cause of the death of Orpington's high street.

Orps is also lacking entertainment wise, with precious few pubs and no cinema or theatre. There used to be an Odeon but it closed - maybe the local chav population destroyed the place. Pub wise there isn't anywhere particulary good. Most are filled with "undesirables" - although I am a wuss so anybody wearing tracksuit bottoms and looking slightly shifty is considered undesirable to me. Even the pokey Wetherspoons, usually a good bet in scruffy shopping towns like this is a bit too shabby to spend much time in.

Luckily there is one place in Oprington for the real ale drinker, but you have to be a member to enjoy it. In an unassuming house across the road from the Tescos is the Orpington Liberal Club. I'd been meaning to visit this place for ages as I'd heard good things, and it has received plenty of positive recognition from CAMRA. Last week they had a beer festival on which non members could attend, so I took the opportunity to stop by for a visit.

The cosy little club has a comfortable lounge room and small bar, featuring six handpumps. For the beer festival an adjacent room was set up with around 30 casks - mainly local beers but also some from further afield, including Marble Beers from Manchester. I tried a fair few, and highlights included Clarence and Fredericks Single Hop Amarillo, a crisp and deceptively easy drinking pale ale from one of my favourite new breweries. Who knew something good could come from Croydon? The Tonbridge Union Pale Ale was another favourite, a rich, malty and slightly fruity treat. Outside there was a barbecue, although what appeared to be a logistics mess up meant there was no food served until 1:30pm. I was absolutely ravenous and a wee bit tipsy by that point so I purchased a burger as soon as they were off the grill, and munched it down while listening to folk and blues music played by an enthusiastic and very good local troupe.

All in attendance were invited to vote for their beer of the festival, and the eventual winner was Toujours from Gyle 59. I had a taste and I could see why it won - it was an accessible, easy drinking saison, a lovely introduction to the style. Overall I had a great time at this friendly little club - there was a lovely community spirit to the whole thing and the beer, food, music and atmosphere all came together very nicely indeed. I had a brief chat with the owner who clearly cares about the beer and his club. Well worth a visit if you do somehow end up in Orpington - perhaps you really like visiting gigantic branches of Tesco.

Birmingham Part Two and The Cronx Brewery

My main reason for going to Birmingham was to visit a friend who lives in Moseley to celebrate her birthday. Moseley is a suburb on a hill looking over Birmingham city centre. This way my first visit there and I wasn't sure what to expect. It's actually quite a well off little suburb, apparently popular with factory bosses back in the day because they could look down at their industrial paradise high up from their grand houses. These days it's more doctors and solicitors looking down at the city while counting their riches, and The Guardian did an article on the area claiming that the Russians might move in once High Speed 2 is up and running. Somehow I don't think the Oligarchs are going to schlep it out to Birmingham but stranger things have happened.

The party was excellent although I'm starting to feel my age as I was nodding off by 3a.m. I don't think the ales I had consumed before hand helped matters. The next morning I felt surprisingly chipper and me and The Lovely Jemma headed off into Moseley centre for that finest tradition of hangover cures - the Wetherspoons Breakfast. The Elizabeth of York is a modern two floor 'Spoons inside, with the downstairs a little dark and claustrophobic because of the  overhanging second floor. The breakfast was fine and although I didn't get to try the beer, the typical early morning elderly clientèle all seemed to be enjoying their morning pints of Fosters and Stella. I didn't see anybody supping a whisky chaser with their pint though - they're not as hardcore here as the Manchester Wetherspoons breakfast customers.

Suitably refuelled from breakfast we had a look down the high street. We counted five pubs in the area - clearly the citizens of Moseley enjoy a drink. We popped in to the Prince of Wales at the end of the high street as we had heard good things about the place. At 12p.m we were the only customers in there so we got to enjoy the well kept and impressive interior in peace. This is a fine looking pub with two very comfortable snugs, one with a small serving area. Follow the fine tiled corridor to the outside area and you'll find a hut selling cigars, and also one of these:

The snug that nearly killed me

Yes there's a tiki bar in the garden. It was amazing - a huge space with all the tacky tiki crap you'd expect - masks, washed up boats, and cocktails with terrible tiki theme puns in their name served from a beach hut. Me and TLJ made a vow to come back one evening in summer to try this place - I imagine it's a blast. Back inside I enjoyed a Oakham Bishops Farewall in one of the snugs. It was a relaxing, quiet pint until the fireplace started belching out smoke and the fire alarm went off. The staff sorted it out pretty quickly and we left shortly thereafter. You know a pub is good when I'm nearly asphyxiated there and I still look forward to coming back.

Returning to Birmingham city centre we went to The Old Contemptibles for a relaxing lunch before heading back to London. This Nicholson's pub follows the standard formula - dark oak furnishing, comfortable pub classics on the food menu, varied if boring selection of well kept ales. I tried a Vale Longitude, which was in good condition with a delicate fruity flavour. My fish and chips dinner was filling if uninspiring. In fact uninspiring describes this place pretty well. It did the job but I wouldn't be rushing back. Well fed and watered we headed back to London. I enjoyed my time in Birmingham and I didn't spot one "craft" pub while on my travels - the pubs we visited just seemed to concentrate on being welcoming and serving a good selection of beers rather than trying to impress with fifty different types of IPA.

Happy punters enjoying their beers

Just a quick mention of the Cronx Brewery open day last weekend. What a pleasure this was, and it actually gave the rather grim Croydon estate of New Addington a reason to exist. This young start up brewery organised an entertaining open day with good beer and great BBQ food. While munching on a delicious pulled pork sandwich I enjoyed a Cronx Single Hop Cascade which was a well hopped and very yummy tipple. Fellow Croydon brewery Clarence & Fredericks had a guest beer on and their Cascadian Black was superb, well hopped and a hint of sourness in the finish giving it an edge. The only disappointment was the Entire Chilli Porter which apart from the chilli tingle at the end didn't taste of much at all. Sadly I didn't get to see any of the live bands but overall it was a great day and with the warehouse setting, trendy BBQ, live music and craft beer I felt I was more in Hackney rather than the cultural void that is New Addington. Good to see Cronx can organise a piss up in their own brewery.

Where the magic happens

Birmingham - Part One

Me and The Lovely Jemma were in Birmingham last weekend. It's been a long time since I was last there, and my only memories from my last visit was the terrifying shopping experience of the Bullring and walking around for nearly 90 minutes trying to find the Birmingham Academy to see some "up and coming" local bands attempt to win some award. As is the case with any "faces of the future" competitions I attend none of these bands went on to future success.

The first thing I noticed after getting off the train was that Brum seems to be taking a page out of nearby Coventry's book and is knocking everything down and starting again, although Birmingham hasn't had a helping hand from the Nazis in the demolition.. The area around New Street station in particular is awash with building sites, and although I'm sure it will all look great when it's finished it's a bit of a mess at the moment.

I wasn't going to let the sound of drilling, mixing and sweary builders get me down though. Two minutes walk from Birmingham New Street is the Post Office Vaults, our first stop on a mini ale trail I'd devised. Things got off to a good start when the blackboard advertising the pub just had "beer" written on it over and over again, like the insane ramblings of a pissed up madman. Inside the place is nothing remarkable. They haven't really disguised the fact that it is a former post office vault but there are a couple of minor attempts at decoration with some empty beer bottles along the walls and hops hanging from the ceiling. Free Wi-Fi was avaialble courtesy of the Greggs bakery next door. I'm not sure why Greggs even has wi-fi as I imagine most patrons want to get away from the stench of stale pastry and hot fat as quickly as possible so they can gobble down their overpriced and not very good sausage rolls, but there you go.

A small serving area belies the tremendous amount of drink on offer, including a fine selection of foreign beers. Naturally I avoided these as I have no idea about beers from abroad except for some Belgium Trappist offerings and a smattering of American beers. I couldn't find a beer menu to help guide me through the bottles so instead I went for a selection from their cask ales. Hobsons Mild was nothing special but a decent sup, getting correct all the elements of a mild with a slight chocolate and mocha flavour but not attempting to push the boundaries. Rat Brewery's The Rat of Khan was much better. A hoppy treat with nice floral flavours but not overpowering. Really terrible name for a beer though.

The Lovely Jemma requested a cider and I asked the friendly barman what was on offer. "We have a sparkling cider on draught" replied the friendly barman. "Oh" I replied, a bit disappointed and thinking they don't really care about cider here. "Oh and there's the twelve ciders here" he remarked as he moved out the way revealing a cannily placed blackboard listing the ciders on offer. I then noticed all the certificates from CAMRA lining the walls awarding their real cider selection. Clearly this is a place that cares about the disgusting boozy apple drink so well worth popping in if you're demented and like cider.

Next on the list was the Wellington, affectionately known as "The Wellie" according to the Good Beer Guide and "The Welly" according to Twitter. Next to the large serving area there was a plasma screen listing the beers, and a message politely asking patrons to order by pump number. The beer I wanted to try was second on the list and I decided to order it by name, because I would have found it weird and even a bit unpleasant asking the barman to provide me with "a pint of number two please."

I opted for the Black Country Ales BFG and me and TLJ departed upstairs to enjoy our booze. There was a collection of games including both Jenga and a knock off "stacking wooden blocks game" stashed in the corner looking unloved so we opted for a game of chess. While I was loosing horribly I couldn't help but think that the upstairs of the pub had a vibe that reminded me of The Harp in London, but on a larger scale. Good ale selection, mix of young and old clientèle, and similar traditional furnishing. The pint of BFG was great, and kept in good condition. Overall this was a lovely place, but as a Pub of the Year winner I wasn't wowed by it the same way as other winners have done.

The final pub of the evening was The Briar Rose, a Wetherspoons which I thought was in the Good Beer Guide but turns out it's not - the one in the guide was across town. Still it was OK in here, and it provided the basic Spoons function of providing a pint and a quick meal. It even goes one step further and offers rooms to sleep in as this is a Wetherspoons Lodge. The ale selection was pretty decent and the Titanic Full Steam Ahead was in good nick. My steak and kidney pudding had been reheated professionally and promptly and went down a treat. As it was a Friday night the bar was packed but the place is massive and we managed to snag a table at the back. It was a low key end to a pleasant if low key mini pub crawl.

Next week I'll be talking about the Prince of Wales in the "upmarket" (for Birmingham) suburb of Moseley and The Old Contemptibles back in the town centre. I also had the pleasure of visiting the Cronx Brewery open day this weekend so I'll probably write a few words about that. There will even be pictures! That's something to look forward to.

Lady Ottoline and The Shakespeares Head, London

As unbelievable as it sounds, my life doesn't only consist of complaining about pubs and being disappointed by the condition of beer. In my life away from the adrenaline rush of beer blogging, I am a IT manager at a law firm, which is about as exciting as it sounds. One downside of being a manager is that I feel obliged to take my team out for a Christmas dinner. This is a problem because although my team do work hard and they more than deserve a delicious dinner in lovely surroundings, I don't really like spending money. This is not good when living in London as nearly everything is twice as expensive as you'd expect it to be. Even the Evening Standard newspaper at the low price of free is too expensive, as they should be paying me to read that toss. So finding places to eat that serves really good food, has a lovely atmosphere but is also reasonable is a bit of a nightmare.

After much indecision searching through the SquareMeal website trying to find a restaurant where the prices didn't make me fall off my chair in shock and awe, and convincing myself that I probably wouldn't get away with treating the team to a KFC family bucket, I took my team to a gastropub in Farringdon called The Lady Ottoline. I'd been here previously with a vendor who treated me to a pretty decent lunch. I remembered the food being very good, but I wasn't paying and everything tastes better when it's free. Would I enjoy it as much when at the end of the meal I would have to pry apart my dusty wallet and hand over my Visa debit card while desperately resisting the urge to weep?

The short answer is yes. We had a lovely meal at the Ottoline. I'm going to avoid going into much detail about the food because I can barely talk about beer coherently let alone pretend I can string together sentences describing dinner. But all the dishes, in particular my pork belly main, were well prepared, looked great and tasted delicious. Best of all the bill didn't cause me to have a heart attack, just maybe a bit of mild angina.

"Gastro" wise the Ottoline is a success. But for the "pub" side, I think outside of the Christmas season this would be a nice place to pop in for just a drink, which is unusual for a gastro. Although food is the focus there is a area set for drinkers in the atmospheric ground floor room and it doesn't make you feel isolated. But during December, with all the Christmas parties piling in, this place is pretty much just a restaurant. It's a shame it's not really possible to stop in for just a drink at the moment as  they do have a nice selection of ales, and my Dark Star Winter Meltdown and Purity Mad Goose were both in good condition. I did find the Winter Meltdown to be a little bland, but it seemed to be kept OK. Maybe it's just the way the beer is.

One place that is definitely catering to drinkers this Christmas season is The Shakespeares Head in Holborn. I came in here for the first time in a long time on Friday. This massive Wetherspoons outlet was absolutely heaving. I was fearing the worse as past experience has proved that 'Spoons staff in their Central London pubs seem to have trouble coping with pressure (e.g more than three customers waiting at the bar.) However I have to give credit to the team here, they were absolutely spot on. Despite a busy bar they were keeping things going smoothly. They even managed to smile and be polite, I had to pinch myself that I was actually in a London 'Spoons on a busy Friday night.

The beer was also in very good form. Apache IPA from Portobello was a hoppy, boozy treat and it sold out deservedly quickly. A half of India Pale Ale by Devils Backbone, a US brewer, sadly wasn't as good with a watery, limp flavour. Greene King's Abbot Reserve was on, and as I'd never tried this I gave it a go. I found it quite good, and I enjoyed its warming, fruity richness. Santa's Darkside from Naylor's Brewery was a standard dark ale but pretty tasty, and JHB from Oakham Brewery was a solid brown bitter to finish with. It's a credit to the staff that I was able to enjoy these beers served quickly. Food wise this is light years away from the classy Ottoline but my Wethernachos were edible.

Sadly the general atmosphere was the usual 'Spoons, bland, joyless and overlit. The crowd seemed to be even louder and annoying than the usual Friday night 'Spoons punter, probably because the Christmas season is in full swing. It wasn't really a place I'd want to spend a long time in. But if you're nearby and looking for a place to kill time with a pint or two, you could do worse than pop in.

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!

Park Tavern and Bankers Draft, Eltham

I've now been in South East London near the Eltham area for three months. Living down here has its advantages - it's affordable, fairly safe and it's near the M25 for a quick escape. There is one glaring problem though - a lack of decent pubs. Most of the pubs in the area aren't particularly appealing, with the "eclectic" customers mainly sticking to lager or Blue WKD, from what I can tell when I hurriedly walk past the pubs desperately trying to avoid eye contact. Sometimes they're drinking both, resulting in them leaning against a lamppost puking up liquid that's the colour of every Skittle mixed together. As a skinny, white, and slightly snobbish gentleman of 31 years old, I don't really want to drink in these places in fear of my face being punched or glassed in.

However there is one nugget I've found in this sea of crap. One pub trying to turn the tide of sub-par pubs in Eltham is the Park Tavern. This little boozer just off the high street is a welcome respite from the grim lager dispensing pubs/cattle markets, including the Old Post Office just across the road. Walking into this small, narrow pub I was warmed with the sight of several handpumps with a selection of tasty ales on offer. This is such a rare sight in Eltham that for a second I thought I had actually been glassed to death by one of the patrons of the Old Post Office and I was having a delirious hallucination while doctors frantically tried to save my life. I soon realised I was in fact still alive and firmly in reality when I was charged £3.75 for a pint of Rudgate Ruby Mild. There is no way I would charge myself that much for a pint in my dreams. The pint was very tasty though, in good condition and the subtle chocolate and mocha flavours coming through well.

Despite all the good things the Park Tavern had going for it, including a warm buzzy atmosphere, friendly staff and a very well kept pint of mild, I just found the prices to be too much for a pleasant local. I haven't returned since my first visit because if I'm going to pay high prices for beer I may as well do it in one of the many pubs in Central London after work, which offer a more exciting selection, rather than in the wilds of South East London. It's just too high a price to tempt me out for a couple of pints.

After my one and only visit to the Park Tavern I thought I may as well stop by the nearby Wetherspoons in Eltham before heading home. The Bankers Draft is tiny for a Wetherspoons, in fact it is rumoured to be their smallest outlet. A decent selection of ales were on offer and I went for the St Davids Ale from Brains. The beer was in OK nick, and it was stunningly cheap compared to the Park Tavern. But this is a odd Wetherspoons with many a "character" to be spotted. Despite the pub being very small, everybody was keeping to themselves and there wasn't much mixing amongst the clientèle. To be honest I felt this was a blessing and me and The Lovely Jemma were able to enjoy our drinks in relative peace without having to strike conversation with what appeared to be the local crazies.

Apart from these two pubs I haven't found anything nearby worth drinking. In fact since I moved to the area in February two pubs have closed down and one was nearly bought out by a local developer. Somebody please come to the Mottingham/Eltham borders and build a nice, welcoming pub with a decent selection of ales. You'll be guaranteed at least one customer! I'll probably stop by as well.

Whitstable and Herne Bay Part Two

I wasn't too sad to leave Herne Bay and head back to Whitstable to continue my ale jaunt by the sea. Seaside resorts are never much fun in the off season and Herne Bay was no exception, with shuttered arcades, rusting Ice Cream signs swaying in the wind and bored kids skateboarding over a Victorian bandstand. Thankfully the buses in the Herne/Whistable area are pretty frequent - presumably everyone is as desperate to get out of there as I was.

As the bus trundled into Whistable I alighted near the harbour and ventured in, where I treated myself to a bowl of mussels, cockles and whelks. Very tasty, and even though it was now approaching 3pm they tasted fresh and juicy. I headed on down with my seafood bounty to the Pearsons Arms, or as it says on their website, The Pearsons Arms by Richard Philips. Presumably Mr Philips built the pub from scratch himself using his bare hands and determination. Richard Philips is a celebrity chef although I've never heard of him, although to be fair I haven't heard of a lot of people who claim to be celebrities these days. His pub was rather nice - an airy, relaxing space and the classiest pub of the ones I visited on the day, but this class also meant it was the most expensive. There was a solid selection of ales on offer. I went for the Whistable Brewery East India Pale, because being in Whistable I felt I was obliged too. This was oddly disappointing, a rather flaccid, watery brew with underwhelming flavours. Luckily it was only a half as I was getting pretty tipsy by this point of the day. To go with the ale I had a Black Pudding Scotch Egg from the tempting bar snack menu which was absolutely delicious. The Scotch Egg that is, not the menu, I was drunk enough yet to start eating paper and card.

I also opted for a half of the Gadds' Number 7, another pale ale and a much better show than the Whistable Brewery offering. Light and refreshing, with good hoppy flavours, this was a perfectly serviceable brew. The pub was quiet while I was there but the lone barman was happy to serve and very efficient. The restaurant upstairs looked like it served a nice selection of food, which I'll be sure to try if I ever make it back here.

Staggering onwards, I popped into the Ship Centurion, a much more old fashioned, traditional boozer than the Pearsons.  Straight forward wooden tables, chairs and floor was the order of the day here. The place was lively as the after work drinks crew were stopping in for a quick drink. I enjoyed a pint of the Elgood Black Dog Mild, a solid example of a mild with decent chocolate and coffee flavours, which I always find enjoyable. I parked myself into a corner and enjoyed the banter and ambiance. This welcoming pub seemed to be serving its purpose as a community boozer well. Good beer, good chat and a friendly atmosphere - what more could you ask for?

The final stop was the The Peter Cushing, a rather imposing Wetherspoons pub which has been converted from a cinema, and the only pub I visited which wasn't in the Good Beer Guide. But I had a bit of time to kill before catching the train home, and a bit of change in my pocket, so why not pay a visit? This big, vast establishment had the least charm of the pubs I had visited on my ale trail but the beer was on good form. I gave the Whitstable Brewery a second chance and tried the Kentish Reserve, a best bitter which was much better than the pale ale. It wasn't spectacular but it got the job done with a pleasant bitter finish. The interior of the pub was impressive, as you would expect from a converted cinema, with large pictures of Sir Cushing behind the bar. But this was a cold, soulless place with the usual Wetherspoon trappings of crammed together tables and some rather "undesirable" customers - I think one of them may have had a tattoo. With the other pubs on offer in Whitstable there's not much reason to come here unless you're after a cheap pint or Jaegarbomb. 

My journey at a end it was back on the train and back down to South London. I enjoyed my day out and I felt all the pubs, except perhaps the Prince of Wales, were worthy of their place in the Good Beer Guide. The Butchers Arms was something special though, and if I was a braver man I would consider opening a micropub myself. But I think instead I will just settle on visiting micropubs instead and writing pithy remarks about them online - it's just as noble!

To make up for the lack of pictures in this blog post here's a sketch of an indecisive pony in a cheese and ham shop mulling over his purchase while a crocodile tries to help, as drawn by The Lovely Jemma. Enjoy!

January blues and bottled ale

I find January a difficult month to do any visits to a pub. Because it's after Christmas I feel like a fat bloated mess, even though this year I was actually pretty good and barely put on any weight at all. I just can't seem to scarf down chocolate coins, "Christmas" wine and fourth helpings of roast potatoes like I used to. The heady days of having a third helping of trifle after finishing a Chocolate Orange are behind me. In fact the days of receiving a Chocolate Orange at all for Christmas appear to be over as I didn't receive one of the spherical faux fruity treats. Luckily for me my poorly wired brain lets me feel all the guilt and worry of putting on a few pounds anyway.

Another reason January is difficult for a pub visit is that nobody has any cash after Christmas, and with beer prices going up and up with no sign of stopping it's getting harder to justify a night out at the pub. Having starting to hit the limits on what they can tax on cigarettes and petrol before the public hit the streets and lynch an MP it appears some sections of the government have targeted booze as the next easy money maker. Luckily most MP's enjoy getting sloshed so I'm not sure how far they will take thesetax rises. Still you know things are getting bad when the Wetherspoons in Victoria Station has reached £3.30 a pint for the guest ales. I might as well go to a proper pub for those prices.

The poor weather isn't helping pub custom either, with our ever reliable transport system effectively making sure I can't visit any decent pubs. I also don't trust myself with a belly full of ales and a pavement full of  ice.

January has probably been even more difficult this year for pubs due to the Dryathlon campaign. I have mixed feelings about the campaign. I understand the sentiment of asking people to give up drink for a month for Cancer Research, and holding it in January means people can feel better about their new years resolution by donating to charity. But it seems a bit unfair to me to hold it during the most difficult month for pubs. With pubs closing down at the rate of two a day they need all the help they can get. Of course many of the pubs closing are flea ridden, vomit soaked pits of violence and despair, but plenty of good ones go as well.

I'm aware I'm being a terrible hypocrite by bemoaning that pubs get no custom in January when they really need it, and I've barely visited any pubs myself. In fact the only couple I've been to this month have been Weatherpersons. However I have been supporting the ale industry in my own little way this month by enjoying some good bottled ales. With Winter here in full force a warming Sneck Lifter from Jennings hit the spot perfectly. This is a full bodied strong ale with subtle raisin notes that is always a winner. I also enjoyed a bottle of Victory Ale from Bateman's which was another solid strong ale this time with caramel undertones. There's nothing more pleasant than a sturdy strong ale on a chilly Winters evening and I can recommend both of these for such an occasion.

While at the Wetherspoons in London Victoria Station I tried a half pint of Hopslinger Red Rye, from the fledging By The Horns brewery based in merry old London. Their brews are a bit of an acquired taste at the moment and I get the impression they're still finding their feet. The Red Rye was an OK attempt at an American Red Ale, but it got a little sickly and I was glad I only had a half.

With payday coming soon I think a lot more visits to pubs are going to be on the horizon. Maybe next year I'll make it a resolution to visit more pubs in January, if only so I don't feel guilty when I inevitably berate Cancer Research for holding Dryathlon a second time. See you in February.

The George, Croydon and Nellie Deans of Soho

If you've been wondering where I've been for the past few weeks, then I truly am touched but there are probably more important things you should be thinking about such as are you sure you turned the iron off this morning, or that the cat was definitely fed? For those still interested I spent a very relaxing two weeks in Ibiza. It was my first time visiting the island, and to be honest I was excepting boozed up Brits parading the streets, slapping their lobster pink bellies while chugging a bottle of Vodka as they march on to the next sweaty nightclub. At Playa Del Bossa I did get that but generally my ignorant expectations were completely wrong and it was a really pleasant place to visit. Ibiza Town in particular was a highlight with the quaint, quiet fortified old town and the vibrant, bustling new town with its expansive harbour. I had a wonderful time and I drank enough Estrella to last me a few years.

Although I had a great time it was nice to return to Blighty and have a few proper beers. The lager in Ibiza was fine but it all starts tasting the same after a while. A few days after returning to London I visited the Nellie Dean of Soho. This was actually the first time I'd popped inside this pub despite walking past countless times. It has always looked so busy from the outside that I've always just walked on and end up at The Ship.

Soho is a strange place for pubs because all the good ones are really small and all the terrible ones are large barns. Nellie Dean is a small pub which is a good sign but it also means it's difficult to get a seat, particularly in the cosy downstairs main bar. There is an area upstairs with a pool table and a jukebox, and some additional seating. There's also, unfortunately, some "art" from aspiring artists. When we visited the art appeared to be the product of a mad man but the price tags clearly confirmed my suspicions that the artist was due a trip to the funny farm - £500 for a warped drawing of a depressed naked lady with all the subtlety of a punch in the chops.

The afore mentioned jukebox had a music selection which was satisfyingly naff as any good pub jukebox should have, with no music past around 2005. Much to my disappointment the jukebox only played music upstairs so I couldn't annoy the patrons downstairs with my fine selection of ZZ top "Legs" and Phil Collins "Easy Lover."  Me and the Lovely Jemma were the only ones upstairs for a long while (maybe everybody knows about the art,) but when some people did come upstairs they left halfway through my selection of "Welcome to the Jungle." Perhaps they were disappointed that there wasn't snakes and crocodiles supping a pint surrounded by several species of endangered trees in a humid environment and that Axl Rose had lied to them. Or they just didn't have decent taste in music.

The whole pub has a easy going  vibe which is different for Soho were most of the pubs are filled with jumped up trunts. As for the ale, I enjoyed a fine pint in there but I can't for the life of me remember what it was I was drinking. I really, really must start taking notes at these things. At least I remembered to take one photo of the place. I'm going to chalk it up to being out of practice after returning from the holiday.

I've walked past The George in Croydon many a time but have never ventured in, mainly due to the Wetherspoon "clientèle" who are huddled outside smoking a fag in the harsh Croydon light. However I'd recently discovered that it had won pub of the year 2011 so I ventured in for a pint. This is a large pub with two bars. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar in the back had a decent collection of Dark Star ales on, and I enjoyed a fine pint of Meltdown to go with my Wetherspoons curry. The spiciness of the ale complemented my reheated Chicken Bhuna nicely. The front bar had a great selection of local and more well known ales, with plenty from the Surrey area.

I enjoyed a couple of pints here and all the ale was in tip top condition. They clearly care about beer and selection wise this was probably the best Wetherspoons I've visited. The only problem with this pub is that it seemed to attract even more stereotypical Wetherspoons characters than usual. There was a mix of families, young couples and workers to soften the atmosphere a little but there were a fair few folk who you probably wouldn't want to bump in to in a dark alley, or even a floodlight one in the middle of the afternoon. But I guess that's the chance you have to take when you go to a pub in Croydon. At least I didn't have to suffer any terrible art.

Farringdon walkabout

Now that I'm working in the Farringdon area it would be rude not to visit the pubs nearby for research purposes. There are certainly worse areas to be in for an after work drink. Indeed there is a pub located practically across the road from our new offices, The Blue Lion. A former tied house this is now a indepenedent pub with a decent rotating selection of four ales. Sadly the frontage does not include a picture of a lion looking a bit depressed. Despite having a large bar there only ever seems to be two bored staff members pouring pints and glasses of Pinot Grigio for the ITN journos who work nearby. The beerintheevening review promises a goth barmaid with mammaries of appreciable size but sadly she must have left because I've never seen her - believe me I've kept a lookout. The place gets very busy on Thursdays and Fridays and frankly the staff can't cope but it's a nice enough place to pop into if it's not too manic. The ale is well kept and there's usually something pleasant to try.

Next up is The Gunmakers, a quaint little pub tucked in the arse end of nowhere. Nearby are grimy warehouses, some kind of grotty factory, and worst of all, the Ben Sherman headquarters. Inside however this is a welcoming little pub. I've only visited once so far and unfortunately it was during a Tyneside beer festival. I say unfortunately because every Geordie beer I tried had the taste of what I imagine water gathered from a freshly wet and muddy dog would taste like. The Geordie Pride from the Mordue Brewery was the best of a bad bunch and it still wasn't great, with a rather weak hoppy taste. The pub itself is a pleasure to drink in though, even if the beer was not great, with a conservatory in the back that had a friendly beer tent feel to it. I'm looking forward to returning when they aren't selling beer from our Geordie friends.

On Leather Lane is the Craft Beer Co, a well known mecca for ale lovers, with a tremendous selection of booze. Countless handpumps deliver well kept ale and a mind boggling selection of largers. On my last visit I was greeted with the pleasent sight of five Thornbridge ales on handpull, and a splendid pint of Crux went down very well indeed. Reminiscent of Kipling but with the tropical fruit juice flavours toned down a bit, I actually enjoyed this more than Kipling. A great pint. The only downside of Craft is that they choose to charge £5 for half a slice of pork pie. This is absolutely ridiculous. For that kind of money I would expect a pork pie made from REAL GOLD although I imagine that would be disgusting. The pork pie they do serve is inevitably delicious but the high cost does sour the taste.

Ye Olde Mitre is a charming little pub tucked down the most easy to miss side alley in London. A Fullers pub they usually have the full range on plus a couple of guests. I had a pint of Ilkley Black which sadly tasted a bit like coal but I don't think this was the fault of the pub. A taste of Fullers new Wild River went down well, a pleasently hopped summer ale, using American hops. It's a good attempt. The pub is small although you may be able to find a seat in the cosy upstairs room. The opening hours seem to be erratic, as being in Farringdon everybody leaves at around 9pm so don't be surprised if they've called last orders at 10pm. Pork pies are a much more reasonable £1.80 or so although they do appear to have been purchased from the nearby Sainsburys.

The One Tun is a strange beast. It feels like it should be a council estate pub but instead it's slap bag in the centre of London next to an incredibly busy train station.. It's got a lot of things I don't really like in pubs - TV's everywhere, sound deck and disco ball, Thai food and a snow machine(?!) But the ale selection is good and the beer well kept, and it has a weird feel of community spirit even though it's full of office workers. It was certainly a fun place to watch 22 men flail about on a grassy field for 90 minutes while desperately trying to kick a ball into the back of a net. I like the place but I can imagine it's a bit of an aquired taste.

I'm not going to say much about the Sir John Oldcastle except to say it's pretty much your bog standard 'Spoons and my lamb rogan josh was fine.

There are plenty of other places I need to visit in the area including the Jerusalem Tavern. A 10-15 minute walk away is the Holborn Whippet which I've been hearing great things about. There also seems to be a lot of places I need to avoid as well judging by the braying suits on their Blackberries standing outside. I shall no doubt keep you updated on any further pubs I visit!

A return to two old favourites

BrewDog Camden continues to impress.

Sadly I haven't been visiting too many new places recently. In fact I haven't really been visiting any boozers at all in the past couple of weeks. The pressures of work have meant that rather than going out for a nice pint I've been heading home to cry myself to sleep. I haven't written off pubs completely and have had the chance to visit a couple of pubs - one a old favourite and one that is rapidly becoming a new favourite of mine.

The Harp is a pereninal favourite in Covent Garden, an ale oasis in a area filled with expensive, soulless bars packed to the rafters with confused tourists and twats. The place is tiny which means it always seems full of happy punters, even when it's not actually that busy. A visit last weekend led me to have a tremendous pint of the Titanic "Nautical Mild." I love a good mild and this was one of the better examples I've had. A lovely, bitter coffee taste comes through with just the right amount of chocolate undertones. A fine effort. I also enjoyed a pint of Thornbridge "Lord Marple" a solid example of a traditional bitter. Very suppable. The problem I have with Thornbridge brews is that none of them match the mighty Kipling, which is probably the best ale I've ever sampled. Still the Lord Marple was excellent and well worth a pint or three.

The food at BrewDog. I highly recommend
the burgers.

I also paid a visit to the BrewDog Camden, which continues to impress. The wanky and pretentious scribblings are still on the walls but the friendly staff, great ambience and excellent beers make up for it. The food is still top notch and I enjoyed a great cheeseburger. This place is really settling in well and a pint of 5am Saint made for a great start to the evening. This red ale is a pleasure to drink with a pleasent bitter aftertaste. The Punk IPA was also in great form, a well hopped and fruity brew seems to taste better in draught form. The prices are expensive and penalise drinkers who don't fancy a lower strength beer as they all cost £3.95 upwards for a pint regardless of strength. This bar isn't the kind of place to have a session but it does make a great place for a few warm up drinks before moving on to the expensive shitholes that Camden has to offer.

Cameron != Churchill

One pub I've been visiting recently that I think that deserves a special mention is the Wetherspoons in Victoria Station. I usually end up here when I'm sending The Lovely Jemma back to leafy Bromley and I must admit that even though I'm dreadfully sad that TLJ has to head back, I do look forward to having a nice pint in there. This pub will never become a "favourite" as the ambience is pretty miserable and it's based in one of the more soulless London stations. However I've been impressed with the ale selection and quality over the past few weeks.  Well worth a visit if you happen to be in the station. Please rest assured I haven't sold out to Wetherspoons by the way. To prove this I'd like to say that I still think Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin is a loopy bastard although he has fabulous hair, and that Wetherspoons unique "Veto Ale" makes me feel slightly ill without me even tasting it thanks to the picture of David Cameron being compared to Winston Churchill on the clip. Terrifying.

Just look at those flowing locks. Amazing.

The Grafton, The Compass and a Lloyds

Holy crap I've just realised that's Rik Mayall!

Walking into a pub you haven't visited before for the first time is like opening an anonymous brown bag found in a park and looking inside. Will it be gold or will it be shit? The past week saw me enter two pubs for the first time, and both were different experiences. First up was The Grafton Arms near Warren Street, an area devoid of decent pubs. but plenty of mediocre ones. The residents are predominately international students staying at the UCL dorms, as they are the only ones who can afford to stay in London dorms. I guess the pub landlords are happy to palm them off with any old tat as they desperately work on a worthless degree which will guarantee them being told they're overqualified at every job interview they go to.

The Grafton Arms has been around for a while and its current owners are Greene King. It's a surprisingly pleasant two floor pub with a lovely outside terrace which is apparently often booked for parties. As it's a Greene King pub the ale selection wasn't spectacular. In fact it was so unremarkable I can barely remember what was available. I think IPA and another GK was on, plus a guest which is what I drank. Ashamedly I can't remember what the guest ale was called. But I do remember singing along loudly to "Wired for Sound" while pretending to rollerskate around Milton Keynes, followed by a horrific crashing sound as near 20 beer glasses fell of a table and down the stairs. It was that kind of night.

What the hell possessed me to go inside?
I couldn't even spot any hot goths.

We visited The Intrepid Fox after but I'm not going to comment on that.

Later on in the week I paid a visit to The Compass on Chapel Street, Islington. Although very busy the atmosphere was oddly cold and lacking. I tried a pint of the Adnams Spiced Winter Ale which was rather good, with a nice hoppy flavour and subtle spicy undertones. Adnams really seem to have improved in the last few months and I've been enjoying their new tipples. They're moving away from the processed, chemical taste which sometimes befell them and are starting to taste like decent, solid ales. Sadly the taste was tarnished a little when I was charged £3.80 for a pint. A ridiculous price and I ended up having to nurse my pint for a hour in fear of having to take out a mortgage for a second pint.

This was followed by a curry at the Delhi Grill, a rather good Indian restaurant that is a rare ray of sunshine on the windswept hellhole which is known as Chapel Market. I was also pleased to see the Elbow Room has closed down. What a miserable grim pit that was.

This chap is wondering whether to go back in
for another pint at 11am or just end it all now.

On the theme of miserable grim pits, we popped into the Glass Works, a Lloyds Number 1 based in the Islington cinema complex. Just kidding, it wasn't that awful, although the ale selection was dire. I ended up going for a pedestrian pint of Abbot Ale, which was fine but nothing earth shattering. At least I got a quid off my round thanks to the CAMRA vouchers.

Although I wouldn't make a special trip to return to the Grafton or The Compass, they're both good bets if you find yourself stuck in the area and require a pint. Just remember to stop by Nationwide near The Compass to take out a loan before stepping in.