Was out in Liverpool City Centre today. Early start (10am) Ship and Mitre. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Was out in Liverpool City Centre today. Early start (10am) Ship and Mitre. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Went to two pubs this afternoon, one a spoons the other a Taylors tied house. First impressions; it's all a bit of a faff and service is slower and prices higher. In the spoons they hadn't updated the beer list on the App and after 10 minutes they came and told me the beer I'd ordered wasn't on, the replacement came quite soon with apologies, basic real ale price is £2.10 with the next tier at £2.25 then £2.35. This spoons was quite slick at table management and cleaning (!) but not so good on the contact tracing (none existant). The other pub was more of a faff as they took an age deciding where I could sit but then the beer arrived in a reasonable time, not quick but reasonable. I had to remind them on the way out about contact tracing. Overall not the best drinking experience, it may settle down in time but today I was glad to get home and pick up a faff free can, pour and drink it. Table service might have been the norm in the past but I can see why it fell out of use.
Well that is a pain because it occurred to me it'd be interesting to see how quickly casks of guest ale were being drunk according to the app.
Excellent. Great afternoon, superb beer and good company. A delight to be back.
Bit busier than a usual Saturday afternoon but not mobbed. All the systems worked well, table service, large outside area, one way system and social distancing. Made for an easy, laid back and thoroughly enjoyable few beers.
Unexpected new behaviour - people going to the pub and buying takeaway draught ales then congregating in gardens to drink it.
First pint served to our table was Rat - White Rat, the Vocation Bread & Butter having already sold out. :(
Sadly the White Rat went the same way, so Strata Fram (chicken soup) was next, followed by RedWillow Shameless
After a visit to our local tapas bar a couple of pints of Pictish Nugget were consumed in the Pint Pot.
Slow service to start with but overall a reasonable experience.
Time to get on to Brewers Wholesale to get some interesting beer delivered for next week! :cheers:
A third attempt to get into the Southampton Arms last night - no room at the Inn, so two very good pints of Purity's Mad Goose in the Lady Hamilton last night.:cheers:
Today I called in at the Crow Inn soon after 4pm opening (it'll be 12 noon from Thursday). Fairly quiet, with several staff members adding to the atmosphere rather than working. Lovely beer though.
Atom Retrogade Motion 6% on cask – so good I had it twice – and Wander Beyond Dark Drift Barrel Aged (is that even a name?) 9.7% on keg at just £8.70 a pint (a third was enough for me). It was absolutely gorgeous – like mixing the dregs of red wine and Guinness the morning after a student party, but in a good way. It was good to be back.
Many pubs are requesting advance booking and / or table seating deposits, up to £20. This deters casual drinkers popping in spontaneously and only wanting a few pints - less than £20 worth. Good for large groups (not socially distanced from one another) but the solitary drinker loses out
Had a wander around town to find most pubs were open but many with adjusted opening hours and the more food orientated closing by 8pm.Sadly the best real ale pub ,basically a micro ,is still only doing evening takeouts and no immediate plan to reopen.Cafe Rouge has gone.:evilgrin:
So it was the 'spoons which got the custom.Well organised,much less furniture,one member of staff constantly cleaning surfaces and both guest ales priced at £2.10.I may have got used to the carbonation of bottled and canned beer,but it was a joy to slip down some real ale .I assume they can trace me from my app usage,I didn't bother leaving a filled out contact card.
The Tapping the Admiral was open so popped in to see the inviting sight of 11 out of 12 pumps working but alas no space other than the drizzle in the rear concrete fag patio.
Next, went to Lady Hamilton and the discipline was pretty good and with 22 people, was operating at about 75% capacity. However, one of the barmaids was sitting at a table chatting to her customers. Worse, the pub had run out of real ale so I had to go for a pint of Toast APA; cold fizz.
Passing Southampton Arms and the place was essentially rammed so off to The Dartmouth Arms which was about 75% full, but again no ale left so plumped for a pint of some fizzy rubbish from the Camden Town Brewery.
So I suppose I'll have to risk The Pineapple and hope for a seat and all five pumps working.
Also, is it my imagination or are pubs getting progressively more full?
OMG So good I went back there today and had the same beers: Atom Retrogade Motion 6% on cask – two whole pints this time. What a very good beer this is. And got a bit carried away and had a half (not a third) of Wander Beyond Dark Drift Barrel Aged (still not really a name) 9.7%. Good grief.
I was in the Crow for about two hours, during which time most of the (I guess ten) tables were occupied, but anyone who went instead to the garden/back yard was soon called back in when a table became vacant. If I'd been at home drinking beers as strong as this, I reckon I'd have taken four or five hours to get through this much alcohol. Never mind. You only live once.
...and tomorrow I've got a choice of watching Luton Town on the telly at whichever pub is going to be showing our inevitable heavy defeat at Huddersfield Town (6pm onwards), or back to the Crow Inn for more of the same delectable stuff (I didn't see anyone else drinking it).
Any advice would be welcome.
Went out for drinks for the first time yesterday to a wet led village pub. Besides a sensible queuing system at the bar it largely felt like normal. Convivial atmosphere and busier than a usual Saturday. Couple of real ales on (it used to be 3), Atlantic and Proper Job, both well kept. Enjoyed it.
This establishment was pushing Rocking Rudolph in mid Feb. it would have been knocking around for a good six weeks.
Today I made my first visit since lockdown to the Fat Cat. There's a one-way system of sorts (enter by front door, leave by garden gate) and there's a list of names and contact details to add to, just inside the front door. (Should have washed my hands after using pen & paper but forgot, and nobody reminded me.) All beers bar one were from the Kelham Island Brewery, I think five of them plus a guest from Ashover. No sign of the normal regular Timothy Taylor Landlord - presumably they're not so quick off the mark in Keighley.
My pint of Kelham Island Best Bitter was in superb nick, so I had a second. When it's on song, this is one of the best beers of its type in the whole country, bitter but well balanced, but one of the reasons I don't (didn't) go in the Fat Cat as often as some of the other pubs in my walk-to area is that the beer can vary quite a bit from week to week, or from brew to brew perhaps, and then I tend to find there's not much else to my taste and end up on the Landlord. Anyway, today was a good one, so it was good to be back.
A visit to the Cutlers Arms in Rotherham today for a few pints of Chantry beers with a couple of mates. Still just £2.50 a pint, and the tram/train is free now that I've got my bus pass. A good few people in just after 2.30pm opening time, apropriately distanced but having a bit of banter too. What a good pub this is, and Iron & Steel is an excellent bitter. It's good to be back.
Been to a lot more pubs this week, mostly in and around Southport, and the COVID regulations are very much a mixed bag. Some asking for contact details, some not. Some enforcing hand sanitiser, some not. Some doing table service, some not. All, though, have been sensible and relaxed, in fact the pubs feel friendlier than they ever have been before. Fingers crossed for the next few months.
My first pub visit yesterday, I had a pint at the Claret and then met two others at the nearby Cricketers for a few Harveys. Both took contact details and had hand sanitiser. It was ok but, aside from needing to provide them with business to stay afloat, it did leave me wondering what's the point? The Crick had an attempt at one-way foot flow and all the doors open making me regret not having a jumper, it bounced down in London yesterday. All in all, I'm not sure whether to revert to the Garden Arms until a dangerous two-dayer in Nottingham/Beeston next month...
I wonder how long it will be before many bar staff figure out how to do table service. Any waiter worth their salt will be able to reel off what beers are on, what sorts of crisps there are, and so on. Basic stuff but it seems to beyond many. To be told they have, say, Hook Norton isn't helpful if they don't know which one. A couple of times a request for a packet of cheese and onion has required a trip back inside to check if there are any.
I'm not asking for consummate professionalism, eg memorising tasting notes for each product line. But it does show up the amateurish nature of much of the Trade.
Or maybe the low expectations of us punters.
British bar staff are the ones who say "who's next" when there are two people at the bar, including the person they just served so are you surprised? Peanuts and monkeys comes to mind.
Written notes might defeat them, but something on their phone might work, they're always checking the bloody things when I want serving. :moremad: