It’s getting late in the year now. We’re into week 42. That means we have an absolute maximum of 10 weeks left. Of course in reality we won’t have anything like 10 weeks, so something has to be done. As you may have seen else where it emerged yesterday that we still have 30 pubs on our list to get visited.... A conundrum.
Not that difficult to deal with for men of our ability though and so we came up with a cracking plan. The WTC Crawl!! This involves visiting as many of these establishments as possible in one night. Now, that is a little reckless it’s true. So to be a little more sensible, lets just stick to four or five and make them one’s that are in fairly close proximity to each other.
After 20 seconds deliberation the chosen boozers were: England’s Glory, Baker Street, The Tall Ship, Robert Raikes’ House & Cafe Rene. All well and good, but things didn’t go exactly to plan.
First job is getting to “England’s Glory” using our favourite method of transport - the Number 10 bus. Simple. England’s Glory is a very nice suburban pub who’s main draw is skittle’s.
The Alley out the back (ooo errr missus) is actually two alley’s and on most Thursday’s is full of rowdy skittler’s playing skittles. This particular Thursday though, the place was dead. Hardly a soul in sight. A nice cosy pub, with a good pub-grub menu, but at 3quid a pint for Carlsberg, the beer is very overpriced.
Sadly, Rodder’s wasn’t with us, but as chief taster of the fish & chips, we did manage to collect the menus for him. Here’s the one from the Glory.
Regular readers will be aware that there was no WTC last week due to the Smithy Open being played on the next day. One of the outcomes of that event was a prize for Claude, who had to nip off in a hurry to go mountaineering for old folks... what you and I would call rambling. Anyway, Stan brought Claude’s winnings along this evening, and this served as both an entertaining way to take pictures and as a defensive weapon should Claude have been set upon by any unruly types during our journey.
So that was the first pub. On our way here we had noticed that The York (just next door) had re-opened, and not be fella’s to pass up an opportunity for a drink, we decided we’d nip in and sample the larger here.
Not a bad little boozer. Friendly staff and nice beer at a reasonable price. One would imagine the beer prices will make for some proper competition with the neighbours. We noted that Triple has a second job, filtering Stella Artois. Now, we all knew he did it, we just didn’t know it was advertised. Stan also educated us in the ways of the modern english language with the new word “Poogle”. This means: “To sit on the bog and surf the Internet”. Awesomeness.
Two down... where next?? Ah, so the plan to go all the way across town to “Baker Street” actually isn’t such a good plan. If anything we should have started that side and worked our way back, but never mind. We are fairly grown-up, and we can deal with such obstacles in our path to drinking enjoyment. On that basis... Varsity.
Like all Varsity’s across the country, it’s a student pub. The name comes from thse two words Var and Sity, meaning “to be a drunken student wasting your student loan in the pub”. It’s heavily into the social network scene with a facebook page and a twitter account and god knows what else. Watered down and over priced best describes the place. Oh and on a Thursday.... Dead.
So we’re still vaguely trying to get in the direction of the docks if for no other reason than to knock the “Tall Ship” off the list. On the way through the middle of town, a quick stop at a cashpoint made us stumble upon the “Cross Keys Inn” down exactly the sort of back alley that Claude may get mugged in. However, he’s got his golfing trophy to defend us all with, so undeterred we figured we’d give it a go...
To our surprise and delight, Thursday night in here is “Live Music Night”. There was a band and about 7 people stood around watching them. We hung out, partook of a pint, and help to boost the numbers for a couple of songs. Actually a decent pub as it goes. Music is it’s thing with “Open Mic” on Wednesdays, Friday & Saturday DJ sets and Sunday Karaoke. Beer wasn’t too bad, although by this point in the evening, it starts to taste like the last one tasted. Nice....
Next!
Onwards down Southgate street and the beautifully restored “Robert Raike’s House”. This pub is stunning. The Oak beams and slabbed floors make for a really great pub and we had a fascinating conversation with the staff.
It turns out that it wasn’t restored by English Heritage, The local Council, a Government Grant or the National Lottery Fund. Oh no? It was the hard work and dedication of one man - the owner of the Samuel Smith’s Brewery, Mr Humphrey Smith. We owe him a debt of gratitude, if only more people were aware of the finished product which looks fantastic. Four and half million quid well spent Mr Smith.
Ever onwards, we doffed our caps to the nice Canadian lady, and left a practically empty folly in search of the elusive Tall Ship. But wait!! What madness is this?? It’s 10.30 and it’s shut!!! WTF!?!?!
Well, this is a disaster. We’ve come all this way, had planned a game of pool, and have even worked up a good thirst. What are we to do?
Luckily, just across the road, is the Whitesmiths Arms. That’ll do. One in there.
Unfortunately, the pool table was busy. The place was packed for a Thursday down this end of town, with at least 5 or maybe even 7 people crowded round their pints. We did however manage to donate some loose change to the RNLI and fix the sinking boat at the same time.
Well, it’s getting late. Time to move on. So our last pub of the evening is Cafe Rene. This place stays open all night it seems. We had a beer. I remember that much... hmmm.. and I vaguely remember Stan trying to dump his beer too.... all getting a bit fuzzy from here on in though.
You what we need? Pizza & a Taxi!... Without a shadow of a doubt the best pizza of all time was had while waiting for the taxi. Now that I do remember.
Night all...
