Lelant, near Hayle, Cornwall:
One pub? On holiday?
Yes. Something went wrong, we were ill. We’d ventured out, and time was getting on, so we needed lunch. The one thing that went right was I spotted this place, serving food until 3pm.
It really is a watermill, with wheel inside, some machinery inside.
Staff were great, food was good, AF bottled beer was OK. It was a bit cold inside but they provide blankets and the atmosphere was nice.
Emery Down, Lyndhurst, New Forest, Hampshire:
We were heading off in search of pigs (which we totally failed at), got stuck in traffic, and took a diversion. We needed lunch, and were passing.
It’s a pleasant roadside pub, now a free house. Traditional inside and out. Very pleasant landlady, decent food, a real fire, good beer including cask and AF.
Aldridge:
It’s been a while since we went here, and it’s changed a fair bit, it’s become a Desi Pub, and a quick poke around the web suggests a connection with both The Fourways and The Island Inn.
Inside, the pub itself isn’t so different; the layout is the same, but it’s been panelled, re-ulpholstered, and generally tidied. There’s still some ale, and a choice of decent lager too.
What is different is the original function room at the back is now a sizeable restaurant, and has been extended out as well, making a huge space.
We didn’t take to it. To be clear, it’s smart looking, the food was fabulous- really good..
However, it felt a little like a canteen- partly because it was very busy, I think. You have to order at the bar, understandable given the size and throughput. The place was noisy– hard surfaces, lots of people, too-loud music (even in the toilets!), and TVs made for a bit of an assault on the senses. It was Friday night though.
Cannock:
This is a bit craft bar more than pub, but it reminded me of The Black Isle Bar on a smaller scale, so it gets in.
Craft beer, no cask. Interesting food menu with a bias to pizza. Pleasant staff, OK prices. Liked this far more than I expected to.
Cannock:
We had to wait until 4pm for this to open, but we’re glad we did, as we’d been meaning to visit since it opened in 2016.
The first surprise was the landlord: Tony, late of The Wheatsheaf and briefly The Drunken Duck, and a man that knows how to run a pub well.
He’s doing that here. It’s big for a micro, the inside is clean, tidy, and pleasant, the beer is ace, and there’s snacks (sausage rolls from “the centre of sausage roll production” in Chuckery). Worth the wait.
Lowestoft:
From the outside, this didn’t look that inspiring, on Lowestoft’s South Pier (which is more of a jetty, really) but The Harbour Inn nearby was shut, and we needed lunch, so we dropped in.
Inside, it was pretty pleasant, with great views over the seafront. The food was decent, and prices were good too, especially after Southwold.
Hockley, Birmingham:
Quite typically Hockley- craft beer as well as cask, a little trendy and hipster, card payments only. Heading backwards looked a bit food-dominated (to be fair, their Sunday lunch seems popular), so we went forward to the window. Great beer, friendly staff, and a nice relaxed vibe. I’d been meaning to come here for a while, and I’m glad I did.
West Kirby, Wirral:
Lovely traditional pub near the town centre: traditional inside, good seating out front and a beer garden at the back, great beer, great staff, and usually there’s food, but not when we visited.
Glasgow:
Another stripped-out craft bar. No cask ale, but a slection of craft bollocks. Food, which was apparently decent (we bumped into colleagues who had eaten there).
Music was on but at a sane volume, the place ws sbusy enough to have a buzz but not rammed.
Glasgow:2
We went in here because it’s opposite the restaurant we ate in that night.
Inside is nicely traditionalish, exposed brick vaulting, leather seating, and the place is best described as “gastropub”, in that it is a pub, just, and describes itself as such, but there’s a heavy food bias (which looks good, TBH, even with the cardinal sin of writing “£4.50” as “£4.5”, the pretentious fuckers).
As it was, it was nice. Staff were pleasant, the beer and wind was fine. They even lit the candles on request (for some reason one colleague wanted this).