We have all done it, arrange to meet in the pub and hold onto a table waiting for friends to arrive but come on…. trying to hold onto two tables for over two hours waiting for your friends to turn up is not on.
You do not ‘own’ the tables or chairs and quite frankly if you are trying to hold onto tables without booking the area with the landlord then it is tough luck when people sit at the other table ignoring your moans and whines. You aren’t entitled to the area after all and it is quite anti-social to do it.
If you all really want to meet in a busy pub for a drink then how about the main bulk of you turn up together? It’s not hard to do, heck even I can manage to herd cats..er..friends into turning up roughly at the same time.
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
Well, That’s My Birthday Present List Sorted!
Pub and book vouchers only in my cards this year please!
Rather than reading about it I actually overheard this on the television last night as I was reading and a brief look-see on the interwebs has revealed I wasn’t going mad but it is a real promotion. I have long been a fan of book tokens as a big reader ever since my first one at the tender age of about eight years old, so the thought of pub vouchers sounds a wonderful idea to me.
This is one of the better ideas I have seen for helping pubs increase their trade. I can see a few people buying these vouchers for relatives or friends they have no idea what to buy for as vouchers always seem a little better than just giving money in a card.
From the 12th of November this year ‘over a thousand’ pubs will be accepting these vouchers, although at the moment I can’t find a list of the breweries or pubs actively involved. However the reports do mention Tangle Foot beer so fingers crossed that means Hall-Woodhouse are doing the voucher scheme.
I look forward to seeing how this goes.
Rather than reading about it I actually overheard this on the television last night as I was reading and a brief look-see on the interwebs has revealed I wasn’t going mad but it is a real promotion. I have long been a fan of book tokens as a big reader ever since my first one at the tender age of about eight years old, so the thought of pub vouchers sounds a wonderful idea to me.
This is one of the better ideas I have seen for helping pubs increase their trade. I can see a few people buying these vouchers for relatives or friends they have no idea what to buy for as vouchers always seem a little better than just giving money in a card.
From the 12th of November this year ‘over a thousand’ pubs will be accepting these vouchers, although at the moment I can’t find a list of the breweries or pubs actively involved. However the reports do mention Tangle Foot beer so fingers crossed that means Hall-Woodhouse are doing the voucher scheme.
I look forward to seeing how this goes.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
I'm Getting Married In The Morning
Well, not quite……
However by the end of the year I will indeed be a Mrs and this leads me to the beer related point. Our wedding whilst the ceremony is not being held in a pub nor a brewery (although that would have been pretty cool) the reception is a pub. Years ago folks thought it was a bit down market to have a reception in a pub but this is not the case anymore. There are pubs to match budgets and styles of any kind; this is especially true in London. Pricing can vary so much depending on brewery, location and whether you have exclusive hire. The pubs themselves can vary a bit too; you have the choice between a simple countryside pub and something a lot grander depending on whereabouts you look.
In London some of the pubs in the banking areas are shut on weekends yet are happy to open for your wedding if you guarantee a minimum spend. And this great for credit-crunched brides & grooms out there, you can really come up trumps by looking at this option. One of the best parts of pub receptions are you can do a spot of “do it yourself mystery shopping” if you like. You will know that the food quality is going to be good and the drinks a good price because you can try them at different times by wandering in there for a meal together as a couple. Staff appearance and attitude can be seen and general goings on looked at. This is different from venues where you can get a small idea but not in so much detail as you can with a venue that is open to public.
Fullers are the brewery which got my vote as did many of their pubs in London. In the end only one place could win and as it is a week day opening pub it meant we could claim the whole pub for our reception. The landlady has been very helpful and offered us some ideas we hadn’t thought of before, so far she has really made the process a lot smoother for my partner and I. To be honest I am looking forward to having fun and merriment with my family and friends with a glass of something special at a reception which is personalised to us. It will be a great day!
However by the end of the year I will indeed be a Mrs and this leads me to the beer related point. Our wedding whilst the ceremony is not being held in a pub nor a brewery (although that would have been pretty cool) the reception is a pub. Years ago folks thought it was a bit down market to have a reception in a pub but this is not the case anymore. There are pubs to match budgets and styles of any kind; this is especially true in London. Pricing can vary so much depending on brewery, location and whether you have exclusive hire. The pubs themselves can vary a bit too; you have the choice between a simple countryside pub and something a lot grander depending on whereabouts you look.
In London some of the pubs in the banking areas are shut on weekends yet are happy to open for your wedding if you guarantee a minimum spend. And this great for credit-crunched brides & grooms out there, you can really come up trumps by looking at this option. One of the best parts of pub receptions are you can do a spot of “do it yourself mystery shopping” if you like. You will know that the food quality is going to be good and the drinks a good price because you can try them at different times by wandering in there for a meal together as a couple. Staff appearance and attitude can be seen and general goings on looked at. This is different from venues where you can get a small idea but not in so much detail as you can with a venue that is open to public.
Fullers are the brewery which got my vote as did many of their pubs in London. In the end only one place could win and as it is a week day opening pub it meant we could claim the whole pub for our reception. The landlady has been very helpful and offered us some ideas we hadn’t thought of before, so far she has really made the process a lot smoother for my partner and I. To be honest I am looking forward to having fun and merriment with my family and friends with a glass of something special at a reception which is personalised to us. It will be a great day!
Monday, 8 March 2010
The Fog - Earlsfield
Hidden in a back street nearby Earlsfield station there is treasure disguised as a pub, The Fog is one of those places that you don’t ever seem to find out about unless it is by luck. It is a Jack Beards which I don’t find a problem unlike a few people, when they are run well they are good pubs. They had on two beers on pump which were the usual Youngs Bitter and the unusual Theakston’s Mild, the last one was a bit of surprised and a pleasant one. The beers were all well kept which is better than the Half-Way House manages these days.
The pub itself has a weird design, with a public bar, saloon bar and a meals room which contained the pool table. Apparently there is, according to Beer in the Evening a private bar, which can’t be reached though the others but goodness knows where that one was. It is one of the oddest pubs I have been in, almost like stepping into a time warp in a way, prices are more like the ones in my local outside London rather than a pub sitting in zone three. You do get a sense of this is a pub for local people when you first walk in but this is soon gone.
A charming place to visit, bizarre but certainly worth going back to.
The pub itself has a weird design, with a public bar, saloon bar and a meals room which contained the pool table. Apparently there is, according to Beer in the Evening a private bar, which can’t be reached though the others but goodness knows where that one was. It is one of the oddest pubs I have been in, almost like stepping into a time warp in a way, prices are more like the ones in my local outside London rather than a pub sitting in zone three. You do get a sense of this is a pub for local people when you first walk in but this is soon gone.
A charming place to visit, bizarre but certainly worth going back to.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Mad March’s Brews
Lovely weather we are having this time of year so far… rain, snow, wind and sunshine often in the same day. So this is my round up of some of the seasonal beers that are out for this time of the year;
The Loddon Brewery’s Hare Brained 4.0%
Greene King’s Hare Raiser 4.1%
Little Valley Brewery’s Pontus Hebanus 4.0%
Hook Norton Brewery’s First Light 4.3%
Arundel Brewery’s Sussex Giant 5.0%
Brakspear’s Henley Bridge 4.0%
Tom Wood’s Lincolnshire Legend 4.2%
Harvey’s Porter 4.8%
Wychwood Brewery’s Paddy’s Tout 4.3%
Surprisingly there aren’t too many hare ones although at the moment any hares will be using armbands to keep their heads above water!
Edited to add we found another last night, Downton's Mad Hare, which my partner tried.
The Loddon Brewery’s Hare Brained 4.0%
Greene King’s Hare Raiser 4.1%
Little Valley Brewery’s Pontus Hebanus 4.0%
Hook Norton Brewery’s First Light 4.3%
Arundel Brewery’s Sussex Giant 5.0%
Brakspear’s Henley Bridge 4.0%
Tom Wood’s Lincolnshire Legend 4.2%
Harvey’s Porter 4.8%
Wychwood Brewery’s Paddy’s Tout 4.3%
Surprisingly there aren’t too many hare ones although at the moment any hares will be using armbands to keep their heads above water!
Edited to add we found another last night, Downton's Mad Hare, which my partner tried.
Sunday, 28 February 2010
King William the Fourth/Sweet William
On a bus journey to Walthamstow on the number 20, looking out the window to the rainy morning it was a surprise to see a pub with a sign boasting a microbrewery. So once my partner and I had achieved the purpose of the shopping visit to the market we decided to head back. Sadly the bus went a slightly different route on the way and after a brief discussion (or better known as an argument where I was forced to admit that the iphone gps system is useful after all) we were soon seated inside the pub with the first (of many) drinks in front of us.
The staff are frankly wonderful, the landlord was unbelievably helpful as when I went up to get a bottle of Pink Pride he asked if I wanted a pint as it was ready to go on but they were waiting for a spare pump. He happily went off to the cellar to get me a pint and this is unusual in my experience to get such a helpful landlord. Bottles of their beers are £2.90 but a pint from the pumps cost £2.00, this is not a pub or brewery which is money-oriented at all, instead they seem to enjoy a pub which has happy customers! And here is the other part of this place’s charm; the microbrewery is Brodies which I know a fair few people have heard of. Their beers are the prices mentioned before and they do sell their beers for take out which we did. Other drinks such as Guinness and lagers are a bit more but still cheaper than usual London prices.
They do food which is well done and tasty with good prices to match the drink prices. Again thanks to the staff, my partner ordered me a rare steak which they admitted they didn’t like doing…. fair enough! I have no problems with people saying that from the outset rather than just serving me a medium with glares if you suggest you ordered different. The steak was very nice, good cut of beef which was prepared very well and tender as medium, I prefer rare or blue for steak but it was good so no problems here. My partners chicken was good too and I only wish for the meal he ordered me a jacket rather than chips to go with the steak as his was lovely. He snaffed some of my chips so confirmed they were good too.
The beers are well kept and they are varied, whilst I wasn’t keen on the honey beer (my partner was though), the Pink Pride a hint of raspberry beer was spot on. This was a lovely pint with a kiss of fruit, not too sweet and the right touch of dry. We were both impressed by the sheer selection of beers that Brodies brew and for those of us who like lagers they do a London Lager although we didn’t try it this time. Don’t know if Cooking Lager would drink this lager but at two quid a pint surely he would try it? :) The Porter was gorgeous, I enjoy dark beers and this was brilliant although potentially lethal as it did not taste the 7.8% ABV rate it is! We brought the stout to take home and try as that was over 12% and from a home tasting it was gorgeous too. There will be beer reviews to follow I am sure this week, extensive testing on site was done and I have bottles to do follow up testing as well.
The pub itself is a Victorian type affair with the usual mounted animal heads and walls filled pictures. Clean and charming bar with two bars with the unusual bended bar in the main which(I assume) the original purpose so you can fit more pumps on and to get more people to the bar. My partner was happily surprised by the Holy Trinity of gent’s loos which is to say; door with lock, loo seat and loo roll. You may laugh but terrible toilets are the bane for pub goers and unfortunately the usual experience but not the case here.
Other put offs for myself is mainly loud music and sport, yet even though this pub has both they weren’t an annoyance, the TV screens are well placed so that there are areas for non-sports fans to sit and enjoy a chat and pint even if their partner is jumping up to watch their beloved Chelsea be trounced by Man City every so often. :)
This is a fantastic gem of a pub (and brewery) and I recommend that people do try it. We noticed from their website that they are doing a beer festival on the same weekend of the Wandsworth one, I think I will have to force myself to attend on the Sunday. Hard life but someone has to do it!
For more information: http://www.brodiesbeers.co.uk/
The staff are frankly wonderful, the landlord was unbelievably helpful as when I went up to get a bottle of Pink Pride he asked if I wanted a pint as it was ready to go on but they were waiting for a spare pump. He happily went off to the cellar to get me a pint and this is unusual in my experience to get such a helpful landlord. Bottles of their beers are £2.90 but a pint from the pumps cost £2.00, this is not a pub or brewery which is money-oriented at all, instead they seem to enjoy a pub which has happy customers! And here is the other part of this place’s charm; the microbrewery is Brodies which I know a fair few people have heard of. Their beers are the prices mentioned before and they do sell their beers for take out which we did. Other drinks such as Guinness and lagers are a bit more but still cheaper than usual London prices.
They do food which is well done and tasty with good prices to match the drink prices. Again thanks to the staff, my partner ordered me a rare steak which they admitted they didn’t like doing…. fair enough! I have no problems with people saying that from the outset rather than just serving me a medium with glares if you suggest you ordered different. The steak was very nice, good cut of beef which was prepared very well and tender as medium, I prefer rare or blue for steak but it was good so no problems here. My partners chicken was good too and I only wish for the meal he ordered me a jacket rather than chips to go with the steak as his was lovely. He snaffed some of my chips so confirmed they were good too.
The beers are well kept and they are varied, whilst I wasn’t keen on the honey beer (my partner was though), the Pink Pride a hint of raspberry beer was spot on. This was a lovely pint with a kiss of fruit, not too sweet and the right touch of dry. We were both impressed by the sheer selection of beers that Brodies brew and for those of us who like lagers they do a London Lager although we didn’t try it this time. Don’t know if Cooking Lager would drink this lager but at two quid a pint surely he would try it? :) The Porter was gorgeous, I enjoy dark beers and this was brilliant although potentially lethal as it did not taste the 7.8% ABV rate it is! We brought the stout to take home and try as that was over 12% and from a home tasting it was gorgeous too. There will be beer reviews to follow I am sure this week, extensive testing on site was done and I have bottles to do follow up testing as well.
The pub itself is a Victorian type affair with the usual mounted animal heads and walls filled pictures. Clean and charming bar with two bars with the unusual bended bar in the main which(I assume) the original purpose so you can fit more pumps on and to get more people to the bar. My partner was happily surprised by the Holy Trinity of gent’s loos which is to say; door with lock, loo seat and loo roll. You may laugh but terrible toilets are the bane for pub goers and unfortunately the usual experience but not the case here.
Other put offs for myself is mainly loud music and sport, yet even though this pub has both they weren’t an annoyance, the TV screens are well placed so that there are areas for non-sports fans to sit and enjoy a chat and pint even if their partner is jumping up to watch their beloved Chelsea be trounced by Man City every so often. :)
This is a fantastic gem of a pub (and brewery) and I recommend that people do try it. We noticed from their website that they are doing a beer festival on the same weekend of the Wandsworth one, I think I will have to force myself to attend on the Sunday. Hard life but someone has to do it!
For more information: http://www.brodiesbeers.co.uk/
Wednesday, 24 February 2010
Meer Not Meh!
Yes I have had a few awful pints but I won’t moan about it until it has been followed up with the same again. If a beer is brewery awful or a pub can’t manage a cellar for toffee then I will moan about it here but for one offs I really can’t see the point. It is easier to order another pint and enjoy my past time.
This is the point of this blog for me, I enjoy drinking good beer and going to pubs. Part of my whole enjoyment is sitting in the pub with a good pint (or half) and people watching, occasionally I actually talk to folks but usually I will sit at the bar and enjoy a pint and the surroundings. And this ladies and gentleman of the internet is the reason why I started this blog, to share my enjoyment of something with others.
If you enjoy something there is no reason why not to share and let others who like similar things find new beers and places to try out.
I admit my tasting notes for beers are foody but that is because I do compare things with tastes I have experiences of (ie food and drink). Maybe one day I will lift a beer to the light and describe the appearance with ‘spring like meadows’ and then take sip and compare the beer to ‘earth-scented loam’ but it is unlikely. Sadly the children’s book is unlikely as well although it was tempting to write a post/story on Bully Blogger I just can’t write that way either.
Even when I have more experience and find more stuff to negatively meh about I still hope this blog will be primarily positive meer!
This is the point of this blog for me, I enjoy drinking good beer and going to pubs. Part of my whole enjoyment is sitting in the pub with a good pint (or half) and people watching, occasionally I actually talk to folks but usually I will sit at the bar and enjoy a pint and the surroundings. And this ladies and gentleman of the internet is the reason why I started this blog, to share my enjoyment of something with others.
If you enjoy something there is no reason why not to share and let others who like similar things find new beers and places to try out.
I admit my tasting notes for beers are foody but that is because I do compare things with tastes I have experiences of (ie food and drink). Maybe one day I will lift a beer to the light and describe the appearance with ‘spring like meadows’ and then take sip and compare the beer to ‘earth-scented loam’ but it is unlikely. Sadly the children’s book is unlikely as well although it was tempting to write a post/story on Bully Blogger I just can’t write that way either.
Even when I have more experience and find more stuff to negatively meh about I still hope this blog will be primarily positive meer!
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