A local pub for local people....

In Attendance: +Iain Stuart  +John Urquhart +Jon Clark +Golfyball and fleetingly, +Jason Brown
Weather: Cold, but not wet.

This evening was somewhat marred. Sadly I've seen the passing of my grandmother - she was 93, so she'd had a good run at it, but it's a sad day to be sure (as the say in Ireland). On top of that, Mr Brown senior is non too chipper, so the general mood was that of some sort of depression. What better way to lighten the mood than to go and get some quality largers down your neck in some top quality pubs in the city. So instead of doing that, we went to a couple of rubbish pubs on the London road for some nasty beer.
Ok, ok, so I'm doing one of them something of a dis-service, but only one.

"The York" was our first port of call. There is a similarity here to "The Nelson Inn" in that its a bit of a dive of a pub, and mostly forgotten about. It has the feel of someone's front room, with a slightly chillier atmosphere and for the first time in a city pub, I actually felt like this was a "local pub, for local people" and "that there was nothing for us here"..... To coin a phrase.

It was quiz night and there was football on, so you could be forgiven for imagining a happening and warm sort of place, but not a bit of it. There are small signs dotted around about the place, asking you not to swear, and to mind your language and so on and so forth. Now, I occasionally have been known to drop the odd f-bomb (for emphasis and openly showing my lack of a university education) as have some of my comrades of the WTC. That's not to say that we necessarily approve of bad language, but there's a time and a place, and late at night with a few beers on board and in the company of sinners, that is both the time and place. My point is, that the signage is a little "off putting" and reeks of a nanny state of mind. (See what I did there?)

Furthermore, the quiz situation. We ensconced ourselves in the large bay window, only because that was the only table that wasn't reserved. The pleasant bar staff informed us of the upcoming quiz and apologised that it was on (a little odd) to which we responded "not at all, perfectly all right, we'll join in" and we should have realised something was amiss when this was met with a stony silence. 10 minutes later, the place was heaving. Every table was full and no doubt the bad language police were out in force. First prize was to be 100 pounds, so naturally we thought "Hello, we could be onto a winner here..."

A further 10 minutes passed and we procured further beverages to oil our aged minds in anticipation of a "big win" and the pub promptly emptied. Hang about. What's occurring? Every single person in the pub bar two buffoons watching the football at the far end of the bar and us, walked out the back door. Very odd. Especially as the quiz is about to start. We continued our banter undeterred as realisation dawned. It would appear that as "non-locals" and "not from round 'ere" types we'd been blackballed! It was apparent that the entire quiz had relocated out the back and left us for dead. Now to be fair, they sent a man back in 5 minutes later, to sheepishly ask if we'd like to play the quiz, along with a look that said "I shouldn't if I were you" and "keep off the moor, stick to the path, it's a full moon and you never know what might be out there". We finished our beer and left, looking for the safety of anywhere but The Slaughtered Lamb The York. Most disappointing.

Luckily just next door is "England's Glory", another pub full of neatly printed little signs telling you what you can and can't do. "Don't sit here, it's so and so's seat" or "Any smoking anywhere on the premises results in an instant ban" or most bizarre of all on top of the fruit machine (slot machine for our American friends) "Local's Only"... I mean, really.... What the hell is going on round here?

Regardless of whether we were allowed to or not, we ensconced ourselves in the corner and bought the overpriced beer ("Cash only, no cards" according to the sign) and carried on as usual. Not sure if it was the beer, the company or just the general mood but in the end we actually quite enjoyed it - even if we were permanently instructed on what was and was not considered acceptable - "only consume food and beverages purchased on the premises" - four packets of nuts please, and so on and so forth.

Even with the sad news of the day, it's great to know that when you need a friend, the WTC a there to royally take the piss and make you feel better about the world. We even raised a glass of sherry in the name of the departed "Aud", and greatly she would have approved.. Fingers crossed for the senior Brown.

Next weeks thrilling instalment - "Imperial Inn"