Cheltenham Fire and other good tonics...

In Attendance: +John Urquhart +Iain Stuart +Golfyball +Chris Sheppard +Martin Hatfield and a very special guest appearance from our international member: +Patrick Chatterton  
Weather: Cold... No... It was colder than that...

So after last week when we completely forgot to select a pub, a hurried mid-week draw left us with "The Old Restoration" in Cheltenham.  The evening started with a bus ride for +Iain Stuart , +Martin Hatfield , +Chris Sheppard and +Golfyball into town on the hunt for something to eat, with a longer term plan to meet up with +John Urquhart and +Patrick Chatterton around 9-ish.

We settled on "The Slug and Lettuce" which is always a reliable spot, with reasonably priced food and slightly expensive beer. This is nicely tempered by the fact that they regularly appear on "VoucherCloud" with a 25% discount on food - so a worthwhile stop for that reason alone.

A couple of steak sarnies did the trick, washed down with a couple of pints of non-descript larger. There's always plenty of people in here too - so it makes for a good atmos' generally.  Suitably fed and watered, we decided to head out in the general direction of "The Old Restoration" but with a stop off in the gastropub that is "The Swan" on the way. I shouldn't go into too much detail here, because obviously "The Swan" wasn't the selected pub this week, and it's sure to come up again during the summer months - save to say that it's a lovely place and an enjoyable stop-off.  Two pints later and +John Urquhart and +Patrick Chatterton  appeared and joined us in a beverage or two before we set off for the main event.

One of the more well known faces about Cheltenham and a proper English Eccentric to boot is that of "Dancing Ken Hanks" and of a Thursday evening, when there's a bit of live music on, The Old Restoration is his watering hole of choice. So it was no surprise to see him in here, and a delight to watch him dance - well, jig about a bit. A funny old geezer who has done a lot of "good work for charidee", he adds a certain ambience complete with a few raised eyebrows. God alone knows what our Canadian member must have thought of him.

One of the things "Pat the Chat" has brought to our little group is a favoured drink of the colonial commoner, "Prairie Fire". This consists of a shot of Tequila with a dash of Tabasco to give it some kick. With this in mind and in his honour  we strived to get a round in of said beverage, only to be stymied by the complete lack of Tabasco behind the bar.  Not to be outdone, or downhearted, and thinking on our feet, in a spark of genius "Cheltenham Fire" was born. Like it's cousin from the village of Stadacona (look it up), it too consists of a Tequila base, but the magic ingredient is a nip of Louisiana Hot Sauce. To be fair, it's pretty disgusting, but it has a similar effect to the Prairie equivalent and is almost certainly, entirely unsuitable for drinking on a school night.

All very entertaining stuff. Stories were told, the world was generally put to rights and as always, a good time was had by all involved. We were all particularly pleased to hear the following day that +Chris Sheppard took an inordinatley long time to recover - which only goes to show that practice makes perfect, and if he showed up more often he'd be able to handle it.

And there we have it.  Next week there's a another musical venue - not least because it will feature the keyboard skills of +Alex Stevens

A sneaky inbetweener...

In Attendance: +Golfyball +Iain Stuart +John Urquhart +Jon Clark +Martin Hatfield +Brian Rees +Chris Sheppard +Jason Brown +Rod Wilcox +Terry Anderson +Alex Stevens
Weather: Cold, Tired and Hungry

So as we'd completely forgotten what the hell we were supposed to be doing this coming Thursday, and as many of the WTC members were present at a golf event on Saturday - and while we were sat in "The Lansdown Bar" we did manage to have a re-draw to select this weeks location....

And as if by magic, out of the hat cam "The Old Restoration"...   Always good for a laugh, and likely to feature some live music and an appearance by Dancing Ken.

The #LongLevensPubCrawl for Stan's Birthday

In Attendance: +Iain Stuart +Golfyball +Jon Clark +John Urquhart +Martin Hatfield +Brian Rees +Rod Wilcox @dbccyart (who clearly needs to get on Google plus)
Weather: Even Colder than last week.

So it's Stan's Birthday. Great to see one of us finally make it to 50... errm... hang on....  maybe not 50....anyway.

The plan - as laid down last week - was to start off in the pub that Stan had his very first beer in when he was a wee nipper.  Well, it turns out that this just happens to be very near to +Golfyball just off of Elmbridge Road in "The Cross Keys".

Clearly every pub in every town and city up and down the land "used to be" the place to be, and this one is no exception.  Like all the rest of them, this one is also in need of some love, care and attention.  It serves a few people who are no doubt regulars, and it's not terrible - but it feels more like you're intruding into someone's house, than a warm and friendly pub.

That said, we all piled up around a couple of the 1970's original round bar tables whilst sat in the bay window (To be honest, we really could have just wandered into 1974) and dished out the birthday boy's presents. As is tradition, he happily received the disgusting aftershave, and equally happily enjoyed some FP headgear to keep him spritely looking in his old age as he stumbles around the golf course.

Beers were consumed (you have to have 3 for it to count) and Sniffer's well thought out Stan related quiz was partaken of. Much fun was had and suitably, Stan won.

Next up and a short walk away is "The Double Gloucester". Another one of those housing estate pubs that used to be fantastic, and is now dishevelled, and struggling. It's a huge rambling building of a pub that seems to go forever. It has the best part of three bars (two of which were open) and a skittle alley, which to be fair was doing a roaring trade - and in point of fact, the place was busy.  A youthful bunch intent on getting bladdered on a school night it would seem - but then again - we're all getting older.....

We took the preverbial three in here, and then somehow managed to loose our latest new member (@dbccyart) and pick up Dicko (only available on Facebook) before moving off to our last stop of the evening was "The King Teddy".

This is a bit of a classic in this neck of the woods.  It's been here for ages and is well maintained and a generally very good pub. The food is completely reasonable and not at all bad, and the beer is possibly slightly overpriced but the atmos and general feeling of the place make it more than bearable.

Good Old Gunny (without his Jumper)

Of course by this stage of the proceedings, things start to go awry. Crisps and nuts were ordered for our "dinner" and more beer and wine helped the rest of the night slowly slip into a blurry end.  A couple of cabs arrived - one of which was driven by the birthday boys daughter - having recently passed her test, and I managed to rescue Jugs' jumper for him....  which (I musn't forget) is at my house and will have to be returned to him.

We also selected next weeks pub of course....   but can I recall what it was??  Can I hell....
Worse still - is that Next Thursday is Valentine's Day and so that provides all sorts of complications.
My suggestion is that those that can - should plan for something on Friday (a travesty really - but needs must)

Until then then...  adieu.

The Pint Sized Plan for Stan

In Attendance: +Iain Stuart +John Urquhart +Martin Hatfield and a guest appearance from the long lost +Chris Sheppard

Weather: Cold, Damn Cold

This week saw us planning for Stan's Birthday Bash in a place of significance to +Martin Hatfield 

The birthday is next week - and will consist of a longlevens pub crawl - but for now we have the entertainment that is "The Famous Pint Pot"...

Who is that??  Not that bloke off of "Come Dine With Me" surely?

This is a strange tardis like pub situated right outside the sports facility that is "GL1" in the almost center of Gloucester.  I'm told that in days gone by it was a-heaving and a-thriving sort of place that you'd struggle to get served in through the throng of individuals packed into the now non-existent garden in the summer months.

Now - it's a bit sad and dejected.  It still gets busy-ish - but like all city pubs it's struggling to keep going under the weight of the financial burden placed upon it vs the lack of income due to the financial burdens placed upon their patrons.  We at the WTC do our best to fix this problem but it's an on-going battle that even we may well loose in the long run.

Regardless of all this, The "pot" still holds a special place in the heart of one of members - that of Claude...  It was on this very spot just over two years ago, that the WTC visited the "Pot" on a cold December evening. Not expecting much, we got involved in the beer - and were confronted with a "Christmas Do" as well a couple of ladies who were clearly "out for a quiet night".  As I recall (through the fog of alchozhimers) +Jason Brown was with us - and he was (as he does) dancing around like fool and generally disturbing the ladies who didn't want to be disturbed.

It was somewhere around this point that our Claude played a very smooth card and interjected between +Jason Brown and the ladies (which in all fairness kept Mr Brown from any trouble) and at that moment he set eyes upon "Aunty Anne" - almost as if it were across a crowded room/bar/pub with a sticky carpet. From that moment forward they have been an "item" to use the parlance of our times, and as the kids say - they may well be "doing" each other (whatever that means).  We continue to ask if we need to buy suits, or hats for our other halves in the vein hope that there might be a wedding on the cards (after all it is a damn good day out - as both +Golfyball and +Jon Clark will attest to.... Still - nothing as yet - although I understand they do at least co-habitate now - which really is moments away from being hitched anyway.

...and so its for this reason, that even though the "pot" is a bit of a "bin" - it's a bin that we all quite like really - and as such, we can put up with it's lack of food, strange ambience (permanent hits of the 80's and 90's on the... is there a Jukebox or is someone playing a tape???), sticky carpet, and dodgy beer..

In the end - as always - a good time was had. Much beer was consumed and we staggered off into the darkness to nurse tomorrows headache.

Good Lord... Nelson!

In Attendance: +Iain Stuart +Golfyball . +Martin Hatfield +Brian Rees
Weather: Damp and Cold...

About two years ago, "The Nelson Inn" got pulled out of the hat, and having never been there, left me with anticipation of a place unvisited and therefore full of potential. However, the reality was far from the dream - and it secured it's last place on the full list of pubs with some gusto.  It really was a hovel of a pub - stank of somethingorother, had expensive and really crap beer and generally left you with the feeling you needed a bath/shower/ablution afterwards.

Needless to say, we weren't holding out much hope to be inspired....

It's one of Gloucester's very old pubs - presumably harking back to a time when the docks were in full swing and as a result a place likely to have been very busy in it's day.  With the redevelopment of the basin into a massive retail opportunity, that trade has passed, and the pub hasn't really moved with the times - it's tried, but it's not quite cutting the mustard.

It is blessed with a tiled frontage (one of only three in Gloucester) which in theory should be the catalyst for a pub full of character and charm (see "The Imperial" for how this can almost be done). Sadly, and through no fault of the landlord, it's owned by some property developers who appear to treat it as a revenue stream to it's own detriment.

That's not to say it's a complete disaster - if you're looking for cheap beer - and only cheap beer, with the promise of some DJ type music occasionally (at the weekends), then this could be the place for you. "Lewis the Landlord" is friendly chap and doing his best with what he's given. With a bit more support from the owners - and a decent re-fit - it really could be a gem of a pub. but these are dark times for publicans and money is tight.  It's fair to call it a reasonable "Dirty boozer"

"SeeeYrAtSkittlesSaturday. right?" was the greeting of one of the apparent regulars to Claude - and one things for certain, if there are people in here when you visit, you can be certain they will be "characters" - and that always makes for an entertaining evening.  I'm fairly certain that Claude didn't attend - although he could be interested in the future given the right sort of incentive.

We managed to run through 3 pints and then Reeser cabs hoiked us across town to the ever favourite and soon to be no more "Ridge & Furrow".  Here we were able to enjoy a further 3 or 4 in the company of local band and firm favourite of the WTC, "The Shy Teds" (see what they did there?).

The Shy-Teds @ The Ridge

Top that off with a kebab for the dodgy kebab van in the corner of the car park and a taxi ride home with Gloucester's driving equivalent of either Bernard Manning or Frank Carson (not sure which, but he had a joke rate of far more than one a minute) - all in all a good night was had - as per.

Badly named if you ask me

The one thing we failed miserably to do, was pull a pub out of the hat for next week...  so without further ado, I'll hand you over to the voice of the balls and this weeks draw.....

And the number is:  12 = The Pint Pot - famed for the watering hole (ooo-errr) of Aunty Anne!

See you there, when we get there.

Cheltenham in the Snow

In Attendance: +John Urquhart +Iain Stuart +Golfyball . +Jon Clark +Martin Hatfield & +Brian Rees
Weather: Cold & Snowing
Still Absent: +Jason Brown and +Chris Sheppard among others....

This week saw us journey into Cheltenham on the bus - other than Reeser, who joined us a little later and left a lot earlier.  The Number 10 from Gloucester has recently been upgraded to a Blue & Gold affair with faux leather seating, CCTV and free WiFi. All very nice and a very sociable way to travel. The snow was relentless, but not settling and throughout the evening there was much debate as to whether it would.

Our first stop was "The Suffolk" and the shout from Claude at the bar was "Can I have some Butt Cum"... Strange boy.

The plan was to Quiz and eat, but due to it's popularity we had to huddle round a very small table, and evidently dinner was not going to be on the menu. Still we managed to get two pints in and once Rocket arrived, the Quiz ensued. This weeks questions were set by Jugs with the theme being Golfy (based on his recent Birthday which he missed - see earlier posts).

Now you'd think, being the subject of the quiz would be an advantage - but not a bit of it. A poor performance, but thanks to Rocket's cheating ("I saw you look at Sniffers answers and Golfy's" said Jugs) his score went from 23 (I think) to zero, and Stan snuck in and stole the glory with 20 and a half points - Well done all round.

The Suffolk is a warm little boozer with ideas well above it's station - and judging by the number of people eating - realising some of those ideas. A Cheerful barmaid - who lent me some Sellotape to stick my 20 pound note back together - and a skittle alley out the back. I'd say it's the heart of Suffolk Road.

From here we marched the short journey down to "The Tivoli" which is really a gastropub. This place does proper sit-down food, and while it has a very nice bar and comfortable stylishly posh feel to it - it's not really a drinkers bar. Obviously we were after food - and the two courses for 11 quid deal suited me just fine. It's not for everyone though - and to be honest I only wanted a main course. Stan had my soup starter and he wasn't impressed. The main was stonking though - and Jugs appeared to thoroughly enjoy his sardines and sea bass.

It's reputation for food is well deserved - although it's service can be a little ropey at times. They're youngish staff - and may not have grasped the idea of servitude very well - as is the way with many of their generation - not all, but many.  All the same, it remains recommended - especially if you're looking for some good dinner. A couple of Posher beers later and some hearty discussion on the financial situation facing the nation and indeed all of us, and it was time to move on.

Final stop of the evening was "The Royal Union". We've been here a couple of times, and each time it seems to provide us with something to moan about. A great shame. It's got the potential to be a cracker as it really is a "real pub". Warm and cosy, with shabby-chic decor and an open fire - but it's let down by the Landlord.  He started off well enough - and offered us a 10 minute warning of his closure, but added that "There's no rush Lads, take your time" - all very pleasant.

And so taking him at his word - we didn't rush. We did pull next week's venue out of the hat - and sadly it's to be "The Nelson" - which previously was a truly awful boozer - but let's reserve judgement until then.

11 minutes later the hobbity boss was back and practically kicking us out of his shabby little pub (rathre less chic to be fair) with a right load of attitude to boot.  There was no "Come along then, haven't you lot got homes to go to?" for him.  More like "Get out. I'm closed!" No banter, No "Thankyou for your custom", not even a "Goodnight". Even the "Speccy-Beardy-Nerdy-Greebo Locals" (They're behind you Jugs) commented on what a miserable git he is - and so as a result we are in no rush whatsoever to give him anymore of our custom in the future.  It's off the list and romping away with final place in the league table to date.

We cleared off round the corner and in the general direction of the Taxi rank in the Montpellier area of Cheltenham - only to be greeted by the heart warming sight of the Golden number 10 pulling up into the bus stop.  Hopping on board we reflected on the good quiz, good food and horrendous Landlord having had - yet again - a bloody good night out full of banter and beer.

Until next time....

A crafty inbeteweenie...

In Attendance: +Golfyball . +Iain Stuart +John Urquhart
Weather: Cold - temperature dropping - Snow in the forecast.

A sneaky little beverage or two was hastily slapped together for a Saturday night in our base location.  From my perspective it was good to catch up with the lads having missed my birthday bash for a better offer....  and I use the word better in the "didn't have choice" sense of the word.

It did however afford us the opportunity to kick of the #WTCMods hashtag, thanks to the provision of my birthday present - Cheers lads...

There was no quiz - beyond "Who produced the recent documentary - Senna ?"