Category Archives: Pubs

Life, Piers, Public Transport, Pubs

Eastbourne II

We went back to Eastbourne, after 17 years.

This time, it wasn’t Sovereign Harbour, as back 17 years ago we could walk more, so being out of town wasn’t an issue, but this time we wanted more facilities.

So, the Old Town was the place, on a busy bus route, with a park, cafes, pubs, and a huge Waitrose within our much reduced walking distance.

Recent events that I’m not going in to here and now meant we’d considered not going, but it was paid for, our wonderful nibling was lined up to cat and house sit, and at the end of the day, it was in the UK and I was driving, so we were in control, so off it was for the delights of the M6T, M42, M40 with a brief pitstop for a slash and a sandwich, M25, M23, A23, A27, encountering the outskirts of Brighton.

So, with about a 4hr 30min journey time (M25 LOLs!) we arrive, and unusually don’t hit the pub straight away, leaving that for the next day. Just Eat to the rescue (and a superb but pricey curry)!

The next day saw us wander to Gildredge Park, dodging the rain in a cafe, and later excellent food at The Lamb Inn.

Weather overall was a bit changeable and cooler than we might have hoped, but we did get sun in Eastbourne itself, in Bexhill, and in Brighton, where we rode the i360, and I got asked to zip my coat over the “Sample it, loop it, fuck it and eat it” T shirt 🙄 “because there’s kids about”.

Remains of Brighton's West Pier
The remains of Brighton’s West Pier: Not much left now. At the foot of the i360.

This holiday made a contrast to last year’s trip to Southwold: less sunshine, a lot less expenditure, even given this was the south coast. More facilities: all those things my soft,metropolitan elite ass whinged about Southwold lacking existed easily, the taxis, multiple buses, takeaways, wide range of restaurants and supermarket all existed, and made life easier. The cashless transactions abounded- all buses took them, and the De la Warr Pavillion expressed no preference over cash or card for £2.50: Brighton Palace Pier were actively promoting taking cashless admission charges by card (it’s £1!), and generally, cash was the less popular choice.

The one tech fail was Uber, which had poor availability, but even if you had to call a taxi like some Neanderthal, you didn’t need cash to pay, even if I actually did use cash for that- probably the only cash transaction all week.

This made for an easier time for food, drink and getting about, even with the car staying parked all week and the limited walking range and general tiredness, which was nice.

Pubs over here at PubBlog.

Return journey saw more M25 fun, with a brief (as brief as possible) pistop at Beaconsfield Services once the M25 was dispensed with, and nearly 5 hours, not including that stop…

cats, Pubs

Catalogue of Errors

You might have noticed that I quite like pubs and that I also quite like cats.

I also quite like Black Country Ales, the local pubco that do a fantastic job of traditional, real-ale biased pubs that are the kind of place I like to drink.

Which made this story all the more disappointing:

Save our cats poster from The Wellington
Save our cats poster from The Wellington

Report from the BBC here

Blog from The Sandwell Skidder here

The Wellington is one of the older BCA pubs and something of an institution, with the typically 16 handpumps, the TV screens that display beer, not sport, and the pubcats.

Previously, there was Welly, the pubcat, now there’s Malt and Hops– but basically, there is a long, long tradition of cats at The Wellington.

The reason for their proposed eviction isn’t clear, but there is speculation that it relates to this review:

Screenshotted review from tripadvisor
Screenshotted review from tripadvisor

It is unclear what possession belonging to cats the pub is for 😉 , or is that just me being a grammar nazi?

Black Country Ales aren’t commenting, or responding to emails, and it’s now right across social media, the news, and the web. It’s not a good look lads, the Internet loves cats. Lots of pub goers love cats, and it’s not unknown for cats to be a prominent feature.

[edit 2024-07-25]

From Black Country Ales’ Facebook:

We at Black Country Ales would like to thank all who have expressed interest regarding the rehoming of The Wellington’s cats, Malt and Hops. We assure everyone that the welfare of the cats is uppermost in our own thinking, and that of the licensee whom we met today and who is in agreement with the plan.
In readiness for an extensive refurbishment and correction of significant building issues, the cats will be permanently rehomed in a safer and more fitting environment. Whilst we understand that many people enjoy the independent nature of cats, which do exactly as they please, it does mean that their confinement indoors has raised challenges in maintaining good hygiene and tidiness. And, of course, many people do not want the unsolicited company of a cat with their pint or sandwich.
We hope that this clarifies what will be happening at the pub and reassures everyone of our commitment to a happy and safe rehoming for Malt and Hops, and a comfortable, newly renovated pub for all our customers.

Screenshot from Black Country Ales' Facebook- text is above
Screenshot from Black Country Ales’ Facebook

The post originally read like this, as can be seen in the edit history:

We at Black Country Ales would like to thank all who have expressed interest regarding the rehoming of The Wellington’s cats, Malt and Hops. We assure everyone that the welfare of the cats is uppermost in our own thinking, and that of the licensee whom we met today and who is in agreement with the plan.
The licensee’s original three kittens arrived during Covid, and after the sad death of one of them outside the pub, the remaining two have since been confined indoors 24/7. In readiness for an extensive refurbishment and correction of significant building issues, the cats will be permanently rehomed in a safer and more fitting environment. Whilst we understand that many people enjoy the independent nature of cats, which do exactly as they please, it does mean that their confinement indoors has raised challenges in maintaining good hygiene and tidiness. And, of course, many people do not want the unsolicited company of a cat with their pint or sandwich.
We hope that this clarifies what will be happening at the pub and reassures everyone of our commitment to a happy and safe rehoming for Malt and Hops, and a comfortable, newly renovated pub for all our customers.

Original post
Original post

This is untrue. The cats were present in 2019- my blog linked above mentions them, and other Facebook posters state that the third kitten, Chip, lived happily at The Woodman until its closure and is alive and well.

Life, Piers, Pubs

The Adnams Family

We’ve been away to Southwold, home to the Adnams brewing empire, a lovely pier, and a lighthouse.

So, a Friday morning start, East again! M6T, M6, A14, A1120, A12, A1095. A stop for lunch, a slightly tedious drive following a jeep braking at every corner on the A1120- which is an interesting road in itself (and a nice drive through rural Suffolk)

Southwold Pier
Southwold Pier from the seafront.

Southwold, we knew before going, is a bit posh. It’s a “nice” seaside town, with few amusement arcades (one on the pier) or tat shops, and more posh shops, delicatessens, and gastropubs. You won’t find a Wetherspoons, or a fast-food burger chain- you’ll generally find none of the stuff that people over 40 whinge about: there’s no kebab shops, a few fish & chip shops, a Chinese takeaway notably out of town, no Uber, Uber Eats, or Just Eat, no Greek, Thai, Indian, or indeed almost any non-gastropub style restuarants. It’s an interesting few holes in the local economy, compared to what you might expect given this is the south-ish east and very affluent.

There seems to almost be a monoculture: most of the pubs are operated by Adnams, the menus are similar, the beers identical, the atmosphere similar, and while not unpleasant, it makes for limitations: if you want anything spicy, the Red Lion and a Thai green curry is your only offer.

Adnams are interesting, they clearly are not a bad company, they have good environmental credentials, they have established a charity to support local causes and their beer is great, but they have almost a stranglehold on the town, and it makes for a drinking and eating experience that leaves you craving something that isn’t slightly posh pub food. Nearly all the pubs in the town fit the same model; with similar decor, the posh pub food, the same beers.

They also have a cashless policy, which is interesting, and for us, convenient, but it triggers some fucking nutjobs people. It makes a lot of sense: it’s faster and more efficient, but of course, it’s just part of the Great Reset. It’s interesting that the one aspect of tech that really has taken hold is this, to the degree that the businesses that are cash-only put up large signs to warn customers.

Outside of Southwold itself, we managed trips to Aldeburgh and Thorpeness (by car), and Lowestoft and Beccles (by bus). Aldeburgh is, if anything, posher than Southwold, but has decent takeaways, Lowestoft is distinctly less posh (but has great takeaway choice, taxis, etc), Thorpeness is small. Beccles is the sort of town you could live in, comfortable, and “nice” but still operational.

Overall? Southwold is nice. People there are nice. The town is historic, the pier lovely (and the Under The Pier Show is ace, featuring the work of Tim Hunkin), the beach lovely, but it damned well needs a bit of pub diversity, more takeaways, to embrace modern tech. We had a great holiday, but if we’d stayed in Lowestoft, and gone to Southwold for the day, it might have been better, and cheaper: we had the unusual experience of having a holiday property that was considerably smaller than our own house, but it still wasn’t cheap.

Edit: Here’s the pubs over at PubBlog.

Architecture, Life, Public Transport, Pubs

Jewel

I had some time off work, and we decided to do something with some of it.

Last year, we went to Coventry, this year, even closer to home, with Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. In one way, it seems daft to stay overnight so close to home, but the hotel was a good price, so the increment over a taxi was less than you’d think, and the bonus of being able to just walk back is worth noting.

Also, we had a number of targets in mind: a bit of sightseeing, a few pubs, and a new dining experience, so we found ourselves on a train to New Street again, and went in search of our first target:

"Ozzy" the bull
“Ozzy” the bull, made for the Commonwealth Games, in his new home.

In what they’re now calling Grand Central, the confusingly laid out resurgence of Birmingham New Street and The Pallasades, “Ozzy” has a new home, after public pressure saved him from being dismantled, and he’s quite a magnificent sight.

Onwards. In previous times, we’d have taken a walk out of town down Livery St, but that’s a bit far at one stretch, and rather convienently, the West Midlands Metro runs from Edgbaston “village” (wankers), through the city calling at BHM before rejoining the original line at Snow Hill, handily passing our hotel near St Pauls, and dropping us on Vyse St by the ornamental pissers.

A short walk took us to The Button Factory for lunch, handily dodging the worst of the rain. Onwards to 1000 Trades for another drink, then a quick weave through the backstreets, emerging near the magnificence of The Gothic.

The Gothic, Birmingham
The Gothic, ex pub, now apartments.

The Gothic is now apartments, having been refurbished by Cordia Blackswan, and now a much better sight than nearly 10 years ago:

The Gothic
What was The Gothic pub in Great Hampton Row, Birmingham, in 2013.

Then, we went to church again, went and checked in to our hotel for a nap.

Then, we had a new dining experience planned. The Blue Nile has been on Great Hampton Row for some time, and we finally got there. It’s Ethiopian cuisine. A new one on me, and the food was delicious and the owner welcoming.

In all, a pleasant day and evening, a comfortable night’s sleep, and a new experience, all pretty close to home.

Life, Public Transport, Pubs

So, the buses are still shite, then.

We took another trip to Willenhall- almost a year after the last one.

We wanted to go and see a good friend, and we had in mind a few pubs: The Robin Hood, The Noah’s Ark, and the refurbed County, but that all got fucked up by NXWM: the 529 didn’t pitch up, and we got on a 41 for a “delightful” tour of Bentley, Short Heath, and New Invention. This, after finishing with a tour of Willenhall’s least attractive sights, dumped us the wrong end of town, an awful lot later than planned, so we only managed The County before going to see said friend.

Once again, we gave up on the concept of a bus home and booked an Uber, because, well, it’s pointless.

Life, Pubs

North of the Border

Today saw us heading north of the (Staffordshire) border, and into Lichfield. It was a day off work for me: I’m back at work but still a bit range-limited for walking, we didn’t fancy hours on a bus, and anyway, bus services here are still shockingly bad, thanks to a driver shortage.

We considered options, and I suggested Lichfield. Sure enough, the NXWM 8 was looking unreliable on my phone app, but a taxi comes in at 12 quid, and as it’s a city, most of the pubs are open on a Monday, even if we have to forgo the excellent micros that aren’t. The city centre is flat and compact, there’s a good pub selection, and whereas public transport takes a while, a taxi can see you there in 15-20 minutes door to door, so off it was to La-di-dah Lichfield.

Out of the taxi, and into the George Hotel for lunch. The George, I decided back in 2018, makes it into PubBlog, just, and it’s a favourite spot for lunch. Drinks are a little pricey, but the food isn’t and the surroundings are nice, provided you’re OK with a few middle-class ladies who lunch being present.

From there to the Horse & Jockey, a pub we like, but usually it’s just too damned crowded. On a November Monday afternoon, it’s quiet enough.

On to The Queen’s Head, a recent discovery for us, then back to the Brewhouse & Kitchen to wait for a taxi back. A miniature pub crawl within a small area, and some decent food and beer on a pleasant afternoon out.

Life, Public Transport, Pubs

A Series of Unfortunate Events

It was Saturday, we had no specific thing we needed to do, and somehow, we both independently thought:

Willenhall.

As I mentioned to a friend by message:

Now, it’s not that mental an idea. Willenhall still has a good pub density, even if one of the best has now gone. It’s well served by bus, and not too far if NWWM don’t manage to run a bus service.

It started to go wrong when we missed a 10 in Walsall Wood. This isn’t a huge problem but it was a poor omen. Still, we made the next one, and found ourselves on a 529.

Which is where the annoyances really started, with a young, but not that young, lady playing 3 second long excerpts from every shit song on her mobile, then conducting a loud speakerphone conversation, then watching some vacuous makeup video, while we all got to share in the audio of it all. I was polite, if not charming.

Off the 529 and into the ‘spoons. We needed lunch, and it’s right by the stop.

Kids running around. Someone smelt of piss. Lunch was shit, as was my beer (which wasn’t my first choice anyway). We left for another nearby pub and sat outside, with more speakerphone action, if not so bad. Onwards, and we visit a new, if unexceptional pub– or at least, it’s been renamed and the last visit was c1991. No complaints here, except the lack of wine.

Final disappointment of the day: The County, a pub I fondly remembered for its atmosphere and several real ales, but in the intervening years seems to have become just another run-down urban pub with football and mediocre beer.

Life, Piers, Public Transport, Pubs

Aberystwyth

I’d booked time off, and we’d been hoping I might have been driving again, but no dice (in fact, not a peep out of the DVLA), so the idea of going away, taking family members by car was off. Instead, my better half decided where we went, and convenient and cheap by train pushed Aberystwyth to the front (direct train from Wolverhampton at a decent price, affordable accomodation). Also: there’s a pier we hadn’t been to yet, the last time we managed that was 2019.

So then, a lift to Wolves, and on to a not-too-crowded train, and a surprisingly irritant-free journey later, we step off the train, and into our first pub for lunch.

Aberystwyth is a university town and it shows: many pubs are a bit studenty, and while there’s a few run down bits there’s affluence here too: new-agey lifestyle shops, delicatessens, and a cookware shop selling Le Creuset. There’s good restaurants, but also cheaper-end takeaways. The university obviously brings in money and also provides a decent supply of workers for the bars and restaurants now we’ve told a lot of non-student Europeans to fuck off.

Back to the pier: it’s not pretty, which is a shame as most of the seafront is quite attractive.

Aberystwyth Pier: Clevedon it isn’t.

It took us 3 visits to be allowed out on the “sun deck” at the back, and sun was in short supply. Odd fake trees, too.

The ier from the end of the deck
Aluminium tread plate and fake trees.

A bit of a sad image compared to times gone by, but then I suppose the changes give extra retail space that contribute to the upkeep, and to be fair, The Billiard Bar wasn’t unpleasant.

Other than the pier and all the pubs? Well, nice meals (Greek and Caribbean made a nice change), a nice view, a lovely trip out to Devil’s Bridge by steam train (no sign of the Devil’s doorbell 😉 ), and some well-needed R&R.

The return journey was pretty good too, and even the 529 didn’t completely foul things up…

Life, Public Transport, Pubs

Go West!

I used to claim as a joke that Wales started anywhere west of Gailey, which is of course untrue, but it does all change out west away from the conurbation.

The second of our short breaks following on from Burton took us somewhere quite different: Shrewsbury. They’re both market towns, of course, but Burton’s growth was the Victorian era and brewing, Shrewsbury’s growth was older and based in the fact that it is a easily defensible site that’s almost Wales and as a trading post and coach halt.

Our arrival was via Walsall and then the newly turd-polished Wolverhampton station: to be fair, the refurb has changed the station over the last few years from a dismal, cramped place to a much better place, good given the great connections there. Our last visit was just pre-covid, in 2019, and it is actually looking to be near completion now.

A short, but too crowded train journey (2 coaches on a train from Birmingham International to Holyhead? Really?) saw us in Shrewsbury by the rather magnificent station. A false start with a few closed pubs nearby, and we got a pint, then a pint and a cob, then we went to prison.

More pubs followed.

The next day saw us starting with a pub, but soft drinks only and breakfast. Tim Martin might be an utter prick as regards his staff and his fuckwit political views, but breakfast at a comfortableish table for about half the price of the hotel can’t be argued with. Also, the schadenfraude of them advertising shortages due to supply chain problems gave a bit of hollow “not really funny” amusement.

A brief sit in a park watching the au pairs with the children of Shropshire’s wealthy, then a boat trip around the loop of the river between the English and Welsh bridges took us to lunchtime. More pubs then, a bit of shopping (!), a meal, and bedtime. The next day saw us back at Wolverhampton sadly a bit too early to drop into any pubs there; it has been a long time since I saw the inside of The Posada.

Life, Public Transport, Pubs

Something in the Water

We had planned a trip to Scotland this September, but events knackered that, so with the leave already booked we needed to do something with some of the time.

We’d been planning a trip to Burton-upon-Trent, the historical centre of English brewing for some time: the combination of pubs and a restaurant we specifically wanted to visit gave us an excuse, so a hotel was booked, and we headed for Lichfield (from where there is a fast bus service to Burton that handily almost passed the hotel). We tried the X35 bus to la-di-dah Lichfield- further to walk this end (which is a bit painful and tiring, but avoids a change in Brownhills), but direct and fast, but then just missed the Burton bus as we pulled in, so had to go and find somewhere dry to wait (as Lichfield bus station has no undercover seating).

The X12(PDF) is surprisingly fast and frequent- using the A38 rather than minor roads for the bulk of its journey, so that found us in Burton shortly after mid-day, so we obviously headed to the nearest pub.

We managed an impressive pub count, some planned, some just chanced upon, but sadly didn’t manage The Cooper’s Tavern as the opening hours, location, and our increasingly drunken state by the time we got to The Devonshire Arms didn’t fit with circumstances: a few years ago we’d have walked miles around the town and fitted it in, but that’s not possible these days: the furthest out we managed walking was to Stapenhill Gardens via the viaduct and Ferry Bridge, which are both lovely. Other than that, we made it around some of the town centre pubs, got a look at some of the architecture, and (on our second day, when the rain had stopped), got to sit in the sun a bit.