Greene King

I visited a Greene King pub for a change, meeting up with a whole lot of friends from my youth at the Old Garage, Replingham Road, Southfields, London SW18; unsurprisingly, this used to be a garage. 

The food wasn't bad, and they didn't have their IPA on, but the 3 ales that were on included Greene King Abbot Ale (5%), not bad, Morland Old Speckled Hen (4.5%), OK, and Ruddles County (4.3%)... None of these ales are like what I remember them from years past, and all brewed by Greene King now, sadly. Memories of drinking very good Ruddles County at the Crooked Billet come to mind, and much stronger too, like the Old Speckled Hen of the not so distant past, oh well...

Fings change, and not always for the best, but the craic amongst our quite large group was very good, cheers!

Thursday 25th October - an intermission, of sorts...

It was a strange day on Thursday, visiting 2 pubs that I'd be unlikely to, but for the circumstances; first, The Old Garage, Replingham Road, Southfields, SW18.  The reason to visit a Greene King pub? My stepdad was buying me lunch, and you should rarely turn down a free lunch!

I used to live down the road from here when I was a kid and into my teens, when it was a garage, the pub is pretty new in itself, and I have to admit to having a pint or two here before visiting my mum a couple of times before she died (RIP), but it is Greene King, and, quite frankly, I'm not their biggest fan, taking over other brewers and becoming a 'new national', and serving up a bland session ale, though I do like their Abbot Ale, a fine stronger bitter.  So, 4 ales, including their IPA (3.6%), Old Golden Hen (4.1%), Ruddles County (4.3%), and Abbot Ale (5%), all brewed by Greene King. I had a couple of pints, the 'County', not as good or as strong as I remember from my past samples at the Hand in Hand, Wimbledon Common, when it was a Ruddles pub (not the Youngs house it now is) and the Abbot Ale, which still lives up to it's promise, and has to be their 'flagship' ale, very good, and a decent meal too.

Then, in the evening, following his arrival back from foreign parts, the Routemeister and I went to see my niece, his daughter, receive her school award for music up in the West End. We arrived early, so dropped into The Golden Eagle in Marylebone Lane, W1, for a quick pint.  My outside photo, taken by a mobile phone, doesn't do the pub justice, so here's the bar, which is small, and within a small pub really.

 

This is a free house, with a quite mixed clientele, though mostly people on the way home from work, as you'd expect in the early evening up here, and felt convivial enough. There are 4 ales on sale, 2 regulars, Fullers London Pride (4.1%) and St Austell Tribute (4.2%), and 2 guest ales, today was Sambrooks Wandle (3.8%) and, from another new 'national', Marston's, Wychwood Hobgoblin (4.5%).  All reasonable enough ales, we each had a pint of the Pride, and I would definitely return, should I be in the area again, cheers!

Birmingham 14 April - mark 1

Mark 1 - with thanks to Stephen H, a visit to Birmingham, and looking forward to Kieran's 'Mark 2'...

The Trocadero, Temple Street, Birmingham.

Having arrived in Birmingham at just after 12 noon, for the West Brom match we set off to find a decent pub and were not dissapointed. Our first stop was 'The Hill' in Bennetts Hill, just off New Street, where we started off by having a pint of Sharps Doom Bar but moved quickly onto a pint of Mad Goose 4.2% by the Purity Brewing Company. Mad Goose was new to me and I found it to be a pleasant light but very flavourable beer. We then moved onto the 'Trocadero' in Temple Street where I sampled a pint of Marstons EPA at 3.6% again a light ale but very tasty but my favourite of the day was a pint of Old Leg Over brewed by Daleside of Harrowgate, which at 4.1% proved to be the best of the day.

Matt at the Square Peg... From the Trocadero, we moved onto to join up with some of the R'sss fans who had set up base camp at the Weatherspoons, 'Square Peg' in Corporation Hill, a bit of a mistake as it was packed with QPR and Bristol City fans but we managed to get a pint of Abbot Ale but that was about as good as it got.

Cheers Steve!