My friend John often declares he "hates beer bloggers (apart from Roger Protz)" which always strikes me as a sweeping statement so I wonder what he makes of me, underground newbie "pub blogger"? When I Google "pub bloggers", the majority of blogs are still more concerned with beer/real ale/craft with a bit of pub thrown in so I'd like to think one day, I may get close to cornering this niche market.
Early days of course, now on 449 pubs I'm still one off 450 which would be 10% of the guide. I think that will be in Baschurch on Saturday, a little village in Shropshire. I'll probably need to learn to a bit more critical but at the time, my immediate reactions to pubs are recorded on Twitter, with a limited number of characters especially if I take a nice picture!
I probably need to 'put my name out there' a bit more. I was frustrated with the lack of reaction to any of the posts in yesterday's West Yorkshire BRAPA trip so have added local and national CAMRA societies on Twitter and deleted all the chaff! I basically need to start whoring myself a bit more if I really want /care for the recognition. BRAPAing alone, i love of course, but only gets lonely when you feel no-one's listening.
So, that was all boring. Here's the latest pubs ticked off:
446 - Lord Collingwood, Poppleton - Finally, finally, been meaning to get here for ages and immaculate beer garden and great quality ale (and it's one of those tied Marstons houses) meant it really did live up to the hype I'd had to put up with for the past year. I'd been at a beer festival so the only minus point was being a bit too drunk to totally, fully appreciate it's many charms.
447 - Bowling Green, Otley - A Wetherspoons, a nice smart one at that with a typically Wethers crowd if that doesn't sound too snobby! I was lucky a real ale man stood at the bar warned me against getting the ale i wanted (it was cloudy and going off), barman admitted they were having problems keeping them in this heat! So does it deserve it's guide place? Well, my pint of Naylor's was fine and felt nicely sunburnt in the large suntrap front area. But questions have to be asked.
448 - Hunters Inn, Pool in Wharfedale - Spiced up the midweek BRAPA by adding this pub, technically in North Yorks because North of the river Wharfe. After a bus and traumatic country walk, I was rewarded with a beautiful pint of Black Rat in a lovely pub that might have recently had an extension. Nice pub with great views and outdoor front area despite busy main road location.
449 - Junction, Otley - My manager at work isn't a fan, her husband is. I sided with him, really liked the old fashioned beamed interior and was happier indoors than out. Good interesting beers, friendly community feel despite central location and even got fleeced by some dodgy raffle where the winner then had to pick the right set of keys out of an envelope to properly win. No surprise they didn't, rollover for about the 100th week in a row, hmmm.
So a good night and use of taxi on my own made me realise how valuable (but expensive) a means of transport this can be. Back from Hunters, there was no way I was walking back into Pool down THAT road again.
The nearest place in that West Yorkshire North/Central corridor now is Bradford. Loads of pubs to tick off, so thinking about the 3 beginning with a C next week. Not sure which day because Grandma is visiting but knowing me I'll squeeze it in.
We are well above our June quotas, with more to come in Shropshire on Saturday. Cannae wait for that, despite the early start and long wait for pub openings!
Si
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