Top 20 pubs Part I

What pub is my favourite? I was recently asked! How to answer, as I've been to so many great pubs over the years? So, I thought, which pubs do I want to return to before I die? Then, I thought, OK let's think of 10, no 20... but I kept thinking of more! Anyway, I've decided to go for the first 20 that came to mind, excluding any where I currently live in Hastings, though I could immediately add the Swan & Rushes in Leicester or Ye Olde Black Boy in Hull, indeed, I could carry on adding, so I've decided to leave it to the first 20 I thought of. In order of merit, starting with numbers 16-20...

At number 16 is the Peter Tavy Inn (website), a 15th century pub on the western edge of Dartmoor, and, as found in many small village pubs, close by the church. The Peter Tavy Inn has been in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide for many years, and is just one of the 5 Devon pubs that came to mind for my top 20; I do have many great memories of visiting and living in Devon. I'm not sure when I first discovered this wonderful building and public house, I certainly visited here in the 1980s, when I lived in Exeter, but may have visited when staying with Devonian friends, Steve and Jude, in the 70s! Up to 5 real ales on at a time, with the latest 3 regulars being Dartmoor Jail Ale (4.8%), Tavy Ideal Pale Ale (4.8%), and Branscombe Vale Summa That (5%); you'll notice, all Devon ales, and brewed close by too. Guest ales can also come from nearby, or sometimes from further afield. 

This is in a tiny wee village, usually driven to, but I have walked there when I lived in Tavistock. Why do I chose this Inn in my 20? Well, I've many happy memories of visiting, it sells crackin' ales, and good food too, lovely building, and good to sit outside too. Strangely, I remember once visiting and seeing, for the first time ever, a tight sparkler being used to dispense Tetleys Bitter! If you are in the area, the Peter Tavy Inn certainly is worth visiting, and I do want to re-visit here before I die...   

At number 17 is the Dolphin Hotel, down near the water at the Barbican in Plymouth, so another Devon pub, and one that I did first visit in the late 1970s! This is another CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular for years, and my first memory was of the many kilderkins of Bass stillaged behind the bar, serving the ale straight from the cask, and always in crackin' form too. I have been back many times since, including most recently before a match against Argyle, and sincerely hope I haven't had my last pint there. They sell other ales from handpumps too, with up to 7 guests, plus St Austell Tribute (4.2%) as a second regular ale.

The Dolphin is often described as a bit basic, which it is, but it's also very clean and well-lived in, however, the walls are adorned with many original works donated by Beryl Cook, who used to frequent the pub; as the picture here shows! Also nearby is Cap'n Jaspers (website), renowned for good value food, particularly visited after a few pints. I remember it as a caravan type stall when I first ate there, but it is more static now in a purpose built unit. Whatever, The Dolphin's close proximity to the Barbican, and involvement with the local fishing industry, makes this a very special pub to visit when in Plymouth, I look forward to my next pint there! 

My 18th pub is the Honest Lawyer in Scunthorpe. Amusingly, Adam, of the FILO brewing businesses in Hastings, recently asked how many of the pubs I write about on my website (www.beer-meister.co.uk) I have actually visited? Of course, it's not all, though quite a few, but I do get recommendations from friends and other people I meet too. My brother, Dan, asked Adam to quiz me about any town and I'd give a suggestion. Adam thought he'd done me with Scunthorpe, so was amazed when I immediately replied with the Honest Lawyer, which I have, indeed, visited and wish to do so again, particularly as the landlord retired recently, so I'd like to compare how it changes after a year or two more. 

I've been here before and after football matches at Scunthorpe, and Alan certainly kept a tight ship with up to 8 excellent ales, and very good bar grub too, indeed, the pub had a well known restaurant upstairs too (The 'Gallows'). It is surprisingly roomy for such a narrow building, going back quite a distance, and used to have some of the best barmaids, and fittest, I'd ever met, quite a number being from Europe. Alan even used to phone up for taxis for people going to the match, I loved the place. Apparently, the ownership hasn't actually altered too much, though the new publican only has 3 real ales on sale now. An up-to-date report would be most welcomed, but, whatever, I do wish to return here before I die!  

Number 19 is a pub I have regularly reported on, as regular readers will be well aware of, and is The Bricklayers Arms (website), built in Putney in 1826, and a regular winner of the CAMRA London Pub of the Year. The Bricklayers is another 'basic' pub, I don't go in for frills so much, but like to see that pubs are clean and tidy, 'traditional' if you like, and who keep ales in excellent condition! Consequently, The Bricklayers comes into the reckoning, and I call it my 'Putney Local', it has regular beer festivals, as can be seen from its website, and the landlady, Becky, is regularly off on a charity fund raising adventure, cycling the Great Wall or whatever, but the pub stays true to her wishes when she's away. 

I first drank here at the start of the 1980s, when I still lived in London, and seem to remember it selling Fullers London Pride in those days; since then it's been a pubco pub, a Timothy Taylors pub, and now as a genuine 'free house' sells up to 10 real ales from microbreweries. Typically, there will be 6 different ales or so from a single brewery, followed by 6 or so from another, at a time, eg recently from Twickenham, Dark Star, Blackjack and Oakham breweries, with other ales from here and there. I am sure I shall return here many times, and very soon, and am amazed myself that I've placed it down at number 19, but that just shows how many great pubs there are in this country, and I hope to find many more before I die!  

Down at number 20 is the only pub on this page that I've actually worked at, though for a previous owner 2 or 3 times removed, the summer before I went to university down in Plymouth, so another Devonian pleasure! The Boringdon Arms is in Turnchapel, the other side of the River Plym 'estuary' from the Barbican in Plymouth, and from where you can catch a 'water taxi' between the two. This 18th century pub has a garden at the rear carved into the cliff/rock face, and a lovely peaceful garden it is too, certainly early in the morning and before the pub opens. I worked here in 1992 when the opening hours moved to 'all day' and they used to sell Butcombe Bitter (4%) as a regular ale, and their other regular ale was brewed by Smiles Brewery, which closed in 2005, sadly, but which was then re-badged and called Golden Guinea and sold for just £1.05 a pint (get it? A Guinea). Now the regular ales appear to be from Cornish breweries Sharps and St Austell. 

The Boringdon Arms still provides good value B&B, I believe, and crackin' food too. In the 1990s they used to have curries produced using a curry paste that an older Jack Tar made up for them, and if you managed to finish the hottest one, you got it free and received a special certificate... It was hot! I loved the position, the building, the ales and the food, and I often stayed overnight following a late evening shift, had a great breakfast, went for an early morning walk up on top, then sat out in the garden once I'd finished preparing the bar for the day... Work the lunchtime shift, then catch the bus back to Tavistock via Plymouth, great memories, and I want to return! 

I'm looking forward to more anecdotes and Part II, cheers! 

Dolphins - 3 of a Kind.

I thought about writing this type of blog a while ago now, '3 of a kind', and pubs called the Dolphin was an obvious first choice for me, for 3 main reasons.  First, I have frequented 3 Dolphin pubs at different times in my life.  Second, they are all crackin' pubs and are in the 2013 CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Third, the most recent is my current 'local', so had to be 'Dolphins'!

 

The first is The Dolphin Hotel, down at The Barbican in Plymouth, which I first visited when I lived in Devon in the 1980s.  My earlier memories are of a pretty basic pub, but selling the best Bass I'd ever tasted, served straight from casks stored and cooled behind the bar, I think they were kilderkins, which is still the case. Plus, they now sell up to 7 guest ales, and St Austell Tribute as a regular.  I cannot remember there being ales served from handpump when I first visited, only the gravity-fed beer, but, as I only thought of drinking the Bass at the time, that's no surprise.

 

My most recent visit was a few years ago, before going to a football match at Argyle, and not a lot had changed, and, apart from a sensitive redecoration, the GBG suggests the same still.  The walls are adorned by Beryl Cook paintings, many are of regulars at the pub, as she used to live in the area and frequent the pub herself.  You are very close to the waterfront, from where you may catch a ferry over to Turnchapel, where lies another old favourite pub, and ex-employer, of mine, The Boringdon Arms. The Dolphin in Plymouth, though, is a must visit, if you like real ale and old pubs, and are in Devon... and their Bass is to be savoured. 

The second is Ye Olde Dolphin Inne, close by the cathedral in Derby, the oldest and, allegedly, 'most haunted' public house in the city.  The building dates back to 1530, but the pseudo-Tudor additions to the exterior were made about 100 years ago, but it's still a great little building to investigate, with nooks and crannies in the unspoilt interior.  I first visited here in the 1990s, as I lived in Sheffield at the time, and Derby is very close, and I obviously had to investigate this nearby city with its wealth of good pubs.  More often than not, subsequent visits were in connection with trips to Pride Park, or made in conjunction with visits from friends or family.

 

Coincidentally, the first pint I had here was of cask-conditioned Bass, though served via a handpump here, but still very good, I've even seen cask-conditioned Worthington E here, very rare; Marston's now brew Bass for AB InBev, by the way.  Ye Olde Dolphin also sells a good variety of other regular and guest ales, which I've always found to be in good condition, including a 'house ale' (that I haven't tried, since it wasn't around at the time of my last visit) which is brewed for them by Nottingham Brewery, ie a 4.4% bitter, Dolphin 1530AD.  Again, if visiting Derby, which does have a great selection of pubs, Ye Olde Dolphin Inne should be on the list. 

The third choice is my current local, The Dolphin, situated at Rock-a-Nore opposite the fishermen's net huts and Stade, below Hastings 'Old Town'.  The situation means you do get fishermen, and retired fishermen, frequenting this pub, a sign of the great continuity here. There are also a variety of other regular locals, and visitors to Hastings too, a true diversity of regulars, male and female, young and old, professionals and labourers, I shan't go on, you'll get the point.  It's a real family-run pub, landlord and landlady, 2 daughters, and good regular staff, who may as well be family!

 

The Dolphin supports Sussex breweries, with many local beers served here (5 out of 6 on my last visit), having 3 regular ales, currently Dark Star Hophead, Harveys Sussex Best and Young's Special, a seasonal regular, currently Dark Star American Pale Ale (soon to be replaced for the late Autumn and Winter by Harveys Old Ale), and 2 guest ales.  On my most recent visit, the 2 guests were the new local Isfield Brewing Co Toad in the Ale, a 4.8% dark bitter with roasted malt flavour, and Harveys Bonfire Boy, another darker 5.8% ale.  I can only add that, like the other 2 Dolphins, definitely worth a visit if in the area, cheers!