Guest blog from The Routemeister

I've been talking about visiting the Sussex Oak in Warnham, West Sussex, (website) with my brother, Dan, The Routemeister, for ages, and he went and done it without me! Oh well, he's become a 'guest blogger' for the trouble, cheers Dan, and many thanks for the photographs too! 

The Sussex Oak has 6 real ales served from handpumps on the bar, including Fullers London Pride, Harveys Sussex Best, and Timothy Taylor Landlord, all well known and regulars at the Sussex Oak. Dan, though, tried one of the guest ales, the Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale, a 3.8% golden ale, that he enjoyed, and recorded its flavour as "lemony and zingy!" They also had Dark Star Partridge and Hophead, both reviewed by me in the past, as people will be well aware, NB the Hophead...

Dan also visited The Scarlett Arms (website), a fine 16th century pub in Walliswood, just over the border in Surrey, and somewhere I have been to before, and reviewed in an earlier blog. This is a Badger (Hall & Woodhouse) house, and Dan tried a pint of their seasonal ale, Badger Holy Moley, a light golden/pale amber bitter made with spring water from this Dorset brewer's own spring (I presume). He said it was very agreeable, though he believed it to be a "bit thin" for a stronger ale at 4.7%. So there you have it, The Routemeister's debut blog.

Cheers Dan!

On the way... to Sheffield via London...

On the way to Sheffield, I had stayed the previous night at Dan the Routemeister's residence in Putney, ie with my brother and niece, and, before tea/dinner/supper (depending on your social or territorial grouping), we walked along the Surrey bank to Hammersmith Bridge, crossing to reach the excellent Fullers pub, The Dove, Upper Mall, W6 9TA.  

The Dove (website) was built in the early 18th century in rural, yes rural at that time, Hammersmith, overlooking the river; indeed, its balcony at the back of the pub is a pleasure to sit on, when not too busy, and warmer. On this day, however, we sat near the fire, which is in the main bar that you walk into when entering the pub. If you decide to go through the door to your right when you immediately enter The Dove, you will enter the "smallest bar room in Britain" (Guinness Book of Records) at 33 sq ft in area. If you had ignored the pub and walked further on, you would  have soon reached Kelmscott House, that was the home of William Morris and is now the site of the William Morris Society and museum (website). Indeed, The Dove has had an impressive number of historic and literary figures visiting over the centuries! 

The Dove has been a Fullers pub since 1845, serving good food as well as good ales, and you can't get much more locally sourced! You'll usually find their Chiswick Bitter (3.5%) and London Pride (4.1%) as regular ales, and the stronger and full-bodied ESB (5.5%) is often available too as one of the 2 guests, as it was this day; the fourth ale was the seasonal Jack Frost (4.5%). Dan hadn't tried the Chiswick before, so, as it is quite hard to find, even in Fullers pubs, we went for it; this having been the favourite ale of the famous beer writer, Michael Jackson, RIP. A lot of people may knock the Chiswick, and, if you've drunk something with lots of hops, or lots of flavour like ESB beforehand, you may find it lacks a bit. However, as the first drink of the day, and if you carry on drinking it, it is superb, consequently, Michael's love of the beer! A lovely bitterness comes through a nutty flavour, with a hoppy dry aftertaste, the result of, I believe, each cask being dry hopped before sealing, nice one!  

We then came back along the Middlesex bank and crossed Putney Bridge, and visited another excellent pub, The Bricklayers Arms, Waterman Street SW15 1DD, a freehouse, much visited and written about by me. The Bricklayers (website) is a regular CAMRA (and other) award winner, and has up to a dozen real ales on sale. I've gone on about this many times, as Dan reckons it's MY local in Putney, but they tend to bring in many ales from a specific brewery, this time from the local Twickenham Fine Ales, including the excellent Naked Ladies (4.4%), which I've written about quite a bit before, Redhead (4.1%), Sundancer (3.7%), and the seasonal Winter Cheer (4.4%). 

I drank the Sundancer first, pale and dry, with a nutty flavour coming through, and nice and bitter, yes, nice one. Then I finished off our pub drinking with a half of the Winter Cheer, a darker chestnut coloured ale, a bit thinner than I'd expected, nutty, with a hint of spices and a roasted malt finish, and quite bitter, not bad at all! 

We then wandered back to Dan's having luckily missed a shower, cheers!  

2 Riverside pubs. Back to London and the Thames, again...

Back to London, turning up at Clapham Junction, on Friday 21st June. Gave the Youngs pub, The Waterfront, a miss, poor quality overpriced beer, but the Routemeister, my brother Dan, insisted we visit the Wetherspoons pub by Putney Bridge, the Rocket.  This is situated by the historic St Marys church, on the South bank, and seems to have a decent clientele, not what you'd usually expect; indeed, a very interesting couple of fellow clients shared interesting discourse about the merits of limes over lemons with G&T. Anyway, we had a very good pint of Youngs Special (4.5%) each for just £2.29 this time, giving the Youngs pub next door a miss, and I got the 50p reduction for being a CAMRA member, so just £1.79 a pint!

We then crossed Putney Bridge and walked to the Dove at Hammersmith, a great riverside pub, and, where, thanks to Matt the manager, though he assured me it was just a stock email from Fullers themselves that issued the invitation to me to enjoy a free pint of London Pride (4.1%).  Anyway, Pride was enjoyed, by the Routemeister, actually, I enjoyed the more bitter seasonal ale from Fullers, Wild River (4.5%).  There were also Fullers ESB and Summer Ale available. 

We then crossed Hammersmith Bridge and returned to Putney via the South bank, cheers!

Mickleham and Leatherhead, Surrey (Thursday 16th May 2013)

The Routemeister and I had decided to walk from Box Hill & Westhumble station, via Box Hill (a fair old climb!) to Mickleham and Leatherhead, quite early on passing Denbies Wine Estate (site), which we shall visit on another trip to include Dorking.

We then pushed on to Mickleham, first visiting St Michael's church, which originally dates back to Saxon times, but is now built up from Norman times with added bits here and there, and always some addition from the Victorians, of course!  Opposite the church is The Running Horses pub, Old London Road, whose website is currently being worked on, but for future reference is at www.therunninghorses.co.uk 

The food here looked pretty good, but not cheap, and Ringwood ales were served up, so not too bad for us; we would have a part of our packed lunch after we'd left the pub, back in the churchyard.  There were also Fullers London Pride (4.1%), well documented, and Brakspear Bitter (3.4%), but we wanted something a bit stronger. From Ringwood were their Best Bitter (3.8%), and the 4.2% "blonde ale" Boondoggle, which we definitely each enjoyed a pint of; a pale full-bodied bitter.

We then walked cross country, passing another vineyard, which appeared to be allowed to fall fallow, to Leatherhead. As soon as we entered town there was another 'Running Horse', this time a Shepherd Neame pub, and the Penny Black in North Street, an old Post Office, built in 1895, and now a Youngs pub (site), which we did visit.  In addition to the Youngs ales were Portobello Star, which I have mentioned in the recent past, and their own Waggle Dance, Ordinary (Best) and the 4.5% Special, which was a very nice pint indeed, and friendly bar staff too.

 

Looking forward to returning to this part of Surrey, but for now, cheers!

5th December and The Tower, London Road, Hastings

I get a bit confused if this is St Leonards up the hill here in London Road, or Bohemia?  Whichever, I visited the Tower and Louisa, and had a few ales. The photograph below is from a few months ago, but I forgot to take a photo this time, and it's quite nice and sunny in this picture, anyhow, I did take a photograph of the beer pumps and fire, further below:

Louisa is great company, keeps a friendly house, and serves up well-conditioned ales at some of the lowest prices in Hastings.  The 4 ales on offer today were Fullers London Pride (4.1%), I hadn't drunk a pint of Pride for a few months, so had to taste it, still a good ale, no doubt about that, despite my tastebuds now going for more pale and bitter ales, and at £2.40 a pint, had some mates of mine, I bragged to by text, very envious.  Similarly, I bragged about the excellent 5.9% Thornbridge Jaipur at £3.00 a pint to another set of friends; I'd forgotten how good Jaipur is, so I can only imagine what it would have been like to be drinking their Kipling!

 

Louisa also had two Dark Star ales on, the American Pale Ale (4.7%) at £2.40 a pint and Rock Star (6%), an "American Brown Ale" that was a collaboration with Magic Rock Brewery, at £2.90 a pint.  A Christmas visit could well be a priority for me, as for the week from 18.00 hrs on Christmas Eve, until 18.00 hrs on New Years Eve, she will be selling Sharps Doom Bar (4%) at £1.99 a pint!  As the pub is also open on Christmas Day from 11 to 3pm, I may just pop in on Christmas Day, just to wish everyone a merry Christmas, whatever, I will be there at some time during the festivities...

 

 

...and another real fire!

Cheers Louisa :-) 

Thursday 22nd November - Another real fire + new pub

First, a new pub for me in Hastings, just to prove I like to carry on searching out the ale and pubs, and another, very unique, real fire to boot! 

 

First, I climbed up Hastings West Hill, past the castle and admired the view from up there, before heading to the only pub open up there at the moment, The Plough.  It has a big airy room with the one bar, and, important to me, 2 real ales on, the ubiquitous Harveys Sussex Best, and Fullers London Pride at £3.20 a pint, competitively priced for Hastings, and in good form, my preferred drink of the two, nice one. I'll be back, cheers!

I then sauntered downhill to the High Street in the old town to the First In Last Out for a second Thursday in a row, and great to see the ebullient Elina behind the bar again, a very good signing for the FILO!  From the 5 ales on offer, I drank their own Crofters (3.8%) and Gold (4.8%), at 10p shy of and 10p more than £3 a pint respectively; a good session ale and a fine full-bodied golden ale. In addition to enjoying the ales and the lovely Elina's company, Tony, the manager and brewer, sat next to me, and we enjoyed good banter; nice, because it's been a long time since the two of us had a chat.

Also, the FILO has one of the most unique fireplaces I've ever seen, again, my photograph doesn't do it justice, but, here it is anyway.

 

Enjoyable day, 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!

23rd October - SW6 and W6

Two blogs about Tuesday, one covering Parsons Green and Hammersmith (this one), and one to come to cover Stamford Brook and Turnham Green (tube station), ie W6 and W4. I'm starting at The White Horse on Parsons Green for this blog, a pub with good memories, particularly when I popped in before visiting my mum (RIP) many years ago. At that time, they regularly had Traquair House Ale (7%) served as a cask ale, not an easy ale to find as it's usually only available in bottles and still available in bottle here. Anyway, the gentleman behind the bar at the time said "Sorry, it's not on yet, but, if you don't mind, I can bring it up from the cellar", I snapped his hands off! I'm always happy to have ale straight from the cask, and it was absolutely gorgeous, so I had 2 pints; this pub has always been one I like to visit, sadly, not often enough!

Good lad behind the bar today too, very interested in his ales, and good chat. Can I get away from it though?!? Sussex Best was here! Anyway, a number of other ales too, 6 in all, including one of my old favourites, Oakham JHB (3.8%), and they'd just had Dark Star Smoked Porter (5.4%) on too. The White Horse is having an Old Ale festival on 23-25 November for those lucky enough to be in the area, with the restaurant being converted into a 'festival' hall bearing over 60 ales! See the website for more information.

 

2 excellent Fullers pubs in Hammersmith, as you'll be aware of by now, down by the river, The Dove, with the usual London Pride and ESB on, plus Gales Seafarers, which appears to be regular here now rather than Chiswick Bitter, and one of my favourite Fullers' ales, the 5% Bengal Lancer, excellent! Great service from Blake behind the bar, I just escaped as a coachload arrived (well, it seemed like it, though you'd never get a coach down here), met the manager, Matt, very briefly too, and Blake suggested a pub I'd never been to before in Goldhawk Road to visit, The Raven, cheers for the specific info Blake.

I then went on to Stamford Brook, more in my next blog, but towards the end of the day, also visited The Salutation, Kings Street, Hammersmith, my second favourite Fullers pub, and both in Hammersmith! The above photograph is of the entrance hall, it's certainly a building with interesting architecture, and particularly wonderful tiling outside and here.

 

Sadly, Amy has moved on, and is now managing elsewhere, good luck to her, I'll miss her! The manager is now Mary-Francis or Fiona, I believe, but the manager wasn't around today, not sure about my notes, but I think the other name is of the person who is now her deputy! Anyway, ESB, London Pride, and the crackin' Bengal Lancer on here, and, yes, I drank the Bengal Lancer, have to take advantage whilst it's in season, cheers!  

Friday 12th October - Hastings, and a new pub too!

Below, posing outside the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings in my alias as 'Snoopy' on the facebook 'Steve the Beermeister' page (link), Friday was a foray into a few central Hastings pubs too.

 

 

The Dolphin had the usual Hophead, Sussex Best, Youngs Special and Dark Star APA; together with guests 1648 Britannia, a pale, dry and fruity 4% ale, which early in the barrel was almost apple or cider like, but as it carried on conditioning, was even better, maturing into a very good bitter; ale doesn't fail to surprise me at times!  The other ale was Long Man Old Man, which has since been replaced by Long Man Sussex Pride, what I would call a very decent traditional bitter, 4.5%, and very pleasant, it has certainly improved since I first tasted it, Long Man are fast becoming a very consistent brewer, excellent news for Sussex.

 

As ever, great company in the Dolphin, Mark the landlord in fine fettle, mostly on our side of the bar, and the landlady's daughters, Laura and Louise, behind the bar, always pleasant, cheers!

From the Dolphin, in the 'Old Town', I walked back into the town centre and, at first the General Havelock, which lies between Cambridge Road and Havelock Road; in fact, there's an old 'right of way' through the pub, indeed, there used to be an alleyway, which can be noted quite easily! 4 ales on, and Westons Old Rosie, the real cider available. Ales included Hophead, Doom Bar, Landlord and the ubiquitous Sussex Best; I of course, chose to drink the Hophead, tasted good, as it should, and well served by the lovely Ellen, who has worked behind the bar since the pub reopened (not literally). Food looks good, especially the paninis, and the chips looked excellent, only £1.50 a bowl (LARGE portion) and £1 as a side dish, good value. 

 

I then ventured round the corner/across the road to The John Logie Baird, Havelock Road, the 'spoons of Hastings, which also features Old Rosie as it's real cider, and millions of ales, well, quite a few, including London Pride, Abbott Ale, Youngs Special, Bishops Finger, Deuchers IPA, Hook Norton Old Hooky, and my choice today, Elgood's Greyhound.  The Greyhound is a 5.2% bitter, pale, it was slightly hazy, not as great as I'd expected, but not bad, certainly at £1.45 a pint (priced £1.95, but with my CAMRA 50p off voucher, thank you Mr Spoon). Very happy to see the interestingly adorned Tash working behind the bar again, always a pleasure. 

Finally, I visited a new pub, for me, under new management, which has been a Shepherd Neame pub, The Fountain on Queens Road.  I believe it is now a freehouse, but still getting their beers from Sheps; a bit confusing the status! The only ale they had on was Shepherd Neame Master Brew, though there are 2 handpumps, so room for variety as they develop their new regulars.  The ale was very good, actually, well conditioned, and much better than I remembered, though I hadn't drunk it for a while.

 

The barstaff were friendly, though it was very quiet for a late Friday afternoon, and the pub was quite bright and 'airy', ie quite large and well served by good sized clear windows.  I got the feeling of a bar for younger people as my first impression, and they do have live music at weekends.  Good luck to the new management, we could do with better ale houses in this part of town.

 

Cheers!

Wednesday 26th September, West London W6

Train from Hastings to Victoria, 211 bus (passing the Royal Brompton Hospital, where my Dad died many years ago) to Hammersmith, a stroll down to Hammersmith Bridge, walk westwards along the north bank of the Thames, and you reach The Dove (see website), built in the early 18th century and originally a 'coffee house', I believe. Also, the 'local' of a hero of mine, William Morris, who used to live just yards further along the river, a few years ago though (in a big house).

This is one of my two favourite pubs in Hammersmith, a much visited by famous people Fullers house, sadly though, no Wild River on now as it is a seasonal ale, and the Summer Ale that was on, is also near the end of its season, being replaced by Red Fox for the Autumn. I really like Wild River, nice and bitter, meets my love of bitter ales, however, not being on, I thought I'd try the Summer Ale, not having drunk it for a few years (Of course, they had London Pride and ESB too, 4 ales in all)... Very easy drinking, but lacking the hops to suit my palate, oh well, as ever, friendly discourse at the bar and an enjoyable visit.

 

Incidentally, it has the smallest bar room in the World, Country, London, or whatever, cute little 'snug', some would call it, and also a wonderful balcony at the back, overlooking the river, which can be gorgeous, but also can get very busy, thus noisy in good weather, or for the Boat Race!  I also met the manager, Matt, but later on at the Salutation... 

 

So, I wandered back past Hammersmith Town Hall to King Street and the Salutation Inn (see website), my other Fullers love of the Borough!  To give my taste buds a bit of a wake up call, I had ESB here, always a blast of malt and hops; they also had London Pride and Gales Seafarers, Gales ales being brewed by Fullers now.  Amy, the manager was behind the bar, and I remember her from just over a year ago, on her first day here, when she gave me 2 free pints (a story for another day, but there was a good reason, not just my warmth and charm, lol), and I have seen her since, obviously.

 

Anyway, I had a good chat with Amy, and Matt from The Dove, when he arrived too.  These really are the best 2 pubs in Hammersmith, as far as I'm concerned, not just for the beer and food, but also the histories behind the pubs, and their individually unique architecture. So, I was in good cheer when I moved on to my third pub of the late afternoon, The Duchess of Cambridge, on the roundabout at the Stamford Brook end of Goldhawk Road; thanks to Paul for his advice about this pub.

The Duchess of Cambridge is  a 'sister' pub to the Bree Louise at Euston, similar set up regarding real ales and ciders and perries, food, though from a slightly different perspective, and 50p off for a pint of ale if you're a CAMRA member (I knew there was more than one good reason to re-join CAMRA); I believe they also give discount to students, go to their website for more information.

So, up to 15 ales on, 6 from handpumps and 9 gravity fed (14 when I was there) and 9 ciders and perries gravity fed. Also a selection of craft bottled beers and lagers, positively brimming with good cheer!  I was very ably served by Alice, the friendly barmaid, for most of my visit, and I met the landlord, Simon, before I left.  I shan't mention every ale, particularly as they regularly change, but just the ones I drank on Wednesday, though you'll get the idea from this photograph.

I met a group of Reading fans who were going to the QPR League Cup match too, who seemed reasonably happy with the pub, so welcoming to away fans as well as QPR fans.  I will add this pub to my website very soon.
 

I started with, gravity fed, Close Brewery Castillo, 3.9%, pale and dry session bitter, a pleasing start to my visit, though could do with a few more hops for me (you will be aware of my love of bitterness and dry ales). Then I had a pint of Westerham Summer Pearl, 3.8%, not quite so pale, but a real bitter in taste, probably my favourite drink of the day, again, gravity fed (notes for those who love frothy pints and live in the North, you probably wouldn't be happy with the gravity fed ales here). My final pint was from Pontypridd's Otley Brewery 07 Weissen, a 5% European style beer served from a handpump, dry and full bodied, pretty good; I will return, cheers!

 

 

Saturday 8th September - Happy Birthday to me ;-)

Dan and I walked along the Surrey side of the Thames from Putney to Richmond to have lunch at the Waterman's Arms, and a lovely Thai meal it was too ( Pad Ki Moaw, stir-fried noodles with chicken, chilli, garlic and vegetables), Happy Birthday lunch! Also, in addition to the usual Youngs Special and 'Ordinary', the landlord now sells Twickenham Three Naked Ladies, an excellent 4.4% pale bitter which is as good as you'll get it here, and their ales never seem to disappoint me, plus this landlord is the 'real deal', having run the pub for years now, quality.

 

As we walked out of the Waterman's, we met up with an old mate, Colin, who joined us for a large amount of the continuing walk and pub trip... From Richmond, we walked back a wee while eastwards and crossed the Thames to come in from the west, and Middlesex bank, to Isleworth and The London Apprentice! Now, I've discussed the Apprentice before on this blog, so I'll just mention the ales available on Saturday, plus the Westons Traditional Scrumpy (6%) and Country Perry (4.5%).  We were served by the admirable Cat, who, whatever she professes, should be Irish (she'll appreciate what I mean when she reads this, I trust, because it is a compliment from me) and pulled 3 pints of the excellent Purity Ubu for us, 4.5% and a slightly darker than usual ales for me!

 

They also had old stalwarts, Pride, Doom Bar and Thwaite's Wainwright, a great old historic pub,  with a great view across and down the Thames, a West London favourite.

 

 

We continued eastwards along to the Bulls Head, Strand on The Green, Chiswick, a Chef & Brewer pub, so a bit food dominated, where we drank Fullers London Pride; they also sold Tribute, Doom Bar and Landlord, fairly trustworthy ales, if a little lacking in interest for me anymore, but the Pride was in decent form! This is close by the "Beatles' pub", but I've written about that not so long ago, and I really wanted a 'new' pub to visit on my birthday, ie one I'd never been to before, so this was it... 

 

 

OK, Colin had had enough of us by now, so left us, and we carryied on towards Hammersmith, past the Fullers Brewery at Chiswick, past William Morris' Kelmscott House, and we reached The Dove, one of my 2 favourite pubs in Hammersmith, both Fullers' houses... 

 

 

Again, I've written about this pub before, about its history, its overlooking the Thames, its rear 'balcony', it's crackin' bars, the Fullers ales, decent food... What more can I say? Well... In addition to the usual Pride and ESB, they had the seasonal Summer Ale and, one of my favourite Fullers' ales now, Wild River, a crackin' 4.5% bitter!  Enjoyed it here as usual, a Happy Birthday was enjoyed, and we went back to Putney to enjoy a curry...

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

More than 20 miles...

Tuesday 14th August started off with a very long walk along the Thames from Putney to Brentford and up the Grand Union Canal/River Brent, first stop, and very thirsty we were too, was The Lamb in Norwood Green, which only sold one ale, Fullers London Pride, but we were in West London after all! Crackin' pint, lovely friendly barmaid, Doulla (a Greek name, I think), who managed to either ignore my flirting, or just didn't realise I was, love it!

Doulla pointed us towards 2 other canal side pubs nearby, but a combination of them not looking great, and being too close anyway, meant we carried on... for ages!

...to Greenford and The Black Horse, as you can see, a Fullers house! Here, the very lovely Valerie, who had a great knowledge of West London pubs and Fullers ales, served us up a few pints of the refreshing Gales Seafarers, very welcome indeed... 

We then walked on to Scrubs Lane, Wormwood Scrubs, and caught a 220 bus back to Putney, a welcome relief after walking over 20 miles, thank you! 

Before ending our rather long pub crawl, we dropped into The Bricklayers Arms in Putney, a previous CAMRA champion pub of London, and certainly a great real ale oasis, with loadsa ales on sale!!  OK, I can't be bothered to name them all, but suffice to say over a dozen ales served up by the lovely Sarah, including bitters and stouts etc; nb Moorhouses Pendle Witches Brew, which the Routemeister had a couple of pints of, and Fyne Ales (all the way from Scotland) Jarl, a crackin' dry, pale and hoppy (very) bitter, at only 3.8%, but what flavour!

Great day, great walk, great ales, great pubs and barmaids, loved it :-)

Cheers!





Dripping down the Bohemia Road...

Bohemia isn't just in the West End of London, no... Bohemia is in Hastings too!  I first visited the Tower, 251 London Road TN37 6NB (01424 721773) - I literally mean it was my first visit ever here, hence the details. 

Chatted to Louisa, the landperson/landlady, who has convinced me that I need to visit here more often, not sure she was even trying, but, decent ales on, and at VERY competitive prices (no real ale more than £2.40 a pint at the moment).  4 handpumps that have developed to providing 4 different ales now, which, today, included Dark Star APA and Hophead, Batemans Triple XB and Wells Diamond Jubilee Ale at 4%. 

I drank the Hophead, much as I'd have loved to drink the APA, but too early in the day for a 4.7% ale. For the short-term, they also have a 2.8% English Ale from Tolly Cobbald coming on (forgive me, but I believe it may now be a part of one of the new 'Nationals', Wells?) at £1.49 a pint, not a lot of alcohol but crackin' price, and I am told it is quite hoppy, sadly, not on again for a couple of days!  I will be back ;-) 

Just along from the Tower is the Dripping Spring, and, well, fings change very quickly!  The managers are now... not there! Indeed, there has been an 'interim manager', for a week in the interim, from my last visit, and now a babysitting manager, Astra, who appears to have the job of keeping the pub going until the new publicans take over on 10th June, and getting rid of stock in the meantime! Not an easy job, but good luck to her, and her only colleague in this period, the always present and lovely Laura.

Real ales will, consequently, run out within the next few days, I'd imagine, so, if you cannot make it here before the end of the extended 'bank holiday' weekend,  they're unlikely to have much real ale on until after the new people take over on 10th June.  Today I had Wye Valley HPA (as I like it) and, the more local, Beachyhead Legless Rambler (5%) a medium coloured bitter. Also on sale was the ubiquitous Sussex Best, Broadside and Hopdaemon Skrimshander IPA (4.5%). 

So, still heading for home, and further down the Bohemia Road, I reached the Dripping Well for my last lunchtime ale (London Pride) and chatted to Nick, the landlord, and a few locals. Great pub, with a friendly atmosphere, selling 4 real ales, though the Pride may soon be a pump alternating between guest ales, in addition to the regular Directors, Henrys IPA and Southwold Bitter.  Please also note that the 2 weekly lunchtime (Sunday) jazz music sessions is being changed to monthly, so check up beforehand if you want to visit for the music.

Tuesday 15th May 2012

So, another day out walking with my brother, to start we walked up onto the East Hill above Hastings and up above the cliffs, heading east.  Surprise surprise, it rained, was windy, but not straight into our face this time, and not as heavy rain or strong winds, easy!

After 2 hours 30 minutes from home (11.00 hrs), we walked down into the Smuggler Inn at Pett Level (website), a great pub overlooking the sea.  The photo is from the roadside, looking slightly east of south, the beach behind the pub.

Usually 3 ales on sale these days, with Sussex Best and London Pride as regulars, plus a guest ale.  We had the Pride, and very nice it was too.  Good food here, lunches and evening meals, but the breakfasts from 09.30 are no more, sadly, not enough custom to continue with them!  This is a great stopover for us, used regularly, ie whenever we pass this way ;-)  

From Pett Level, we headed due east along the beach to Winchelsea Beach, up into the medieval village, which is built on a grid system and has an excellent church remaining from Henry VIII's vandalism of the Abbey during the 'Reformation'.  From here, we carried on back eastwards to Icklesham, with its own Norman church (website), and the Queens Head Inn. 

The Queens Head (website) is a 17th century inn, known for its good food and good ales, whatever day I've been in here has seen a large number of people eating, but don't let that put that off if you just want a pint or two, because it sells a good range of real ales too! Yesterday were Knots of May Light Mild (3%), Greene King Abbot Ale and IPA, Taylord Landlord, Rother Valley Level Best (4%), TSA (Traditional Scottish Ales) Red Bush - a 4.8% raspberry beer, fruity and like drinking liquidised alcoholic and beer flavoured raspberry ice cream! Finally, we also drank the Dark Star Sunburst, a 4.8% golden ale, not as bitter as some of the Dark Star ales we've recently drunk, but still very refreshing.

I wanted to show Dan the Robin Hood, but I'd forgotten it closes at 3pm, so missed that, we therefore headed back to Hastings by bus (£4.70! I won't be doing the single fare again when it's only 50p more for a return... I'll be walking back next time), where we stopped in the FILO for a pint of their Gold ale and a pint of Hophead at the Dolphin.  Cheers!

Dripping Well visit and 'hot off the press' news...

"Hot off the press"? Yep, Tony and Carole have, sadly (for us, though not for them, I presume), retired from the pub-trade, yesterday being their last day in charge of the Dripping Well, 1 Dorset Place TN34 1LG.

Here's trusting any new ventures bring you happy times, Tony and Carole, best wishes to you.

So, apart from a rather emotional day at the Dripping Well, and for other reasons too, which included a plaque for a previous regular becoming a fixture, what happened at the Dripping Well yesterday?

The usual jazz Sunday, that occurs every second week, an even bigger buffet than usual with some great food being appreciated, an extra band playing more diverse music later in the day, I not only chatted to the new landlord and landlady as well as Tony, more chat and sharing beers with Chris and Steve the Fireman, and others, on this side of the bar, and I became a little bit 'merry' too...

The 4 ales on sale, all at under £3 a pint, despite recent tax increases, were Fullers London Pride (my choice for the day; my historic connections to West London mean I've drunk a fair few pints of this in my time), Wadworth's Henry's IPA, Adnams Southwold Bitter and Courage Directors. All ales, as ever, served up in great condition, good stuff.

So, if you're in the centre of Hastings and fancy a visit, carry on up the gradual hill that is Cambridge Road, first go past the Post Office on the right, and a couple of minutes up on your left, on the corner with Dorset Place, is the Dripping Well. Always friendly, and with a similar service to be continued by the new landlord and landlady, with a bit more music envisaged, so welcome to the previously described 'lovely' Pinar and Nick Brookes (I can't yet put such a friendly epithet for Nick as I've only just met him, and he is a bloke, but he certainly showed a friendly visage yesterday ;-)...

Great to meet you both, Pinar and Nick, and a very warm welcome to the Dripping Well, trusting your tenure will be memorable for all the correct reasons. Cheers!

Pub of the Day - Dripping Well, Hastings

A lazy sunny Sunday afternoon...

... and every second Sunday lunchtime, the Dripping Well in Hastings has a Jazz gig, so this was my target today.

The Dripping Well is a freehold pub, near the centre of Hastings town, that serves decent cask conditioned ales, at a very reasonable price for the area.

I'm not a regular here, in the every day of the year way, but I always receive a decent reception with friendly discourse to be shared, and Sunday lunchtimes not only include the ubiquitous 'meat raffle' and great free Sunday grub, but jazz too, every second week.

Amongst others, earlier today, I chatted to Tony the landlord, Steve the (retired) fireman, Chris the ex-publican, and the very lovely Turkish barmaid, sigh...

... There are 4 cask conditioned ales on sale at the bar, all at under £3.00 a pint, which are very reasonable prices down here, if not too acceptable for people from up in t' North, but I don't live in Sheffield anymore! Indeed, Wadworth's Henry's IPA costs just £2.60 a pint...

... and very enjoyable free live jazz music is provided, from a less than the regular sized combo today (due to other Mother's Day demands!) This is a good session to be enjoyed, even for me in my knackered state, due to working a 13 hour night shift and no sleep for over 30 hours!

Cheers m'dears ;-)

Hastings 4 - Town Centre

OK, the town centre. Now, I've been down here a while, and the town centre isn't necessarily the place to take out your woman friends, or any friends for that matter, if they are of a nervous disposition...

Or so I was led to believe! Before I moved down here I checked up on the crime stats, as you can do that now on a special website. Now, I compared the stats between the area of Sheffield I previously lived in and central Hastings. Hastings came second with just a quarter of the reported crimes, so why do those living in more celubrious areas of Hastings have such a downer on us living in the centre of town? The real Old Town, ie, the Castle sits above US, although most of the buildings are Victorian or newer, this is where Hastings was when Willie the Conker landed a few miles away, and set up his HQ above this, the real OLD TOWN!!

So, I'm losing my way here... The Clarence, as you can see, work is ongoing here to refurbish the building, and I shall post further photographs when the work is completed. Mr Big of the FILO advised me The Clarence is selling real ales, and what a delight to discover in the town centre. It opens 10.00, or soon after, and serves up 3 regular ales and a guest. The regulars are the ubiquitous Sussex Best, Directors, and Landlord; the most recent guest was Brains Reverend James. I drank the Landlord, which, for pubs down here aside from Weatherspoons, was a bargain £2.50 a pint (they try to keep one ale at that price, others £3+), the cheapest ale in the centre of Hastings, apart from in t' 'Spoons'. They also sell a great selection of beers in bottles, eg Waggle Dance, Tanglefoot, 6X and Old Peculiar.

Had a good chat to the landlord, Mick, or 'Savage' to his mates, don't ask! Opening will be from 09.00 to midnight in April, when the work should be finished, and to 02.30 Fridays and Saturdays. This is a live music venue, and the place to be if you want a long night out coupled with real ale drinking. Good luck to Mick!

The Dripping Well, a freehouse, selling all its real ales under £3.00 a pint! Henry's IPA at just £2.60 a pint, Adnams Bitter, Directors and London Pride. The more I come into this pub, the more I want to return, friendly, and, well, good value too. Music (jazz/blues) every second Sunday lunchtime, I'll report back ;-)

Finally, Pissarros, OK, only 2 real ales, the uniquitous Sussex Best and, for now, Dark Star Old Chestnut, is the second ale, though this may change in the Spring (soon then!). Comfy, foodie bar, with live music for many evenings, late nights, and fun. Plus the 3 barmaids (including manager) today were in co-ordinated black and purple! Very fetching...

OK, so it wasn't quite finally, but the General Havelock hasn't re-opened yet. Jamie, the landlord from the North Star, will be the new boss here when it does reopen in April. He'd hoped to get the pub opened before then, but a few problems with planning permission have arisen, so you can expect it to be very sensitively refurbished when you do visit. There will be real ales, but, because of history (not the nicest place to drink at in recent history apparently) no children and no live music. Watch this space, as I want to give Jamie support for this venture. Good luck mate!