Worst real ale drinking town.

[Spinko]

...Apart from local institution The Shoulder of Mutton, described by Roger Protz as 'one of the best pubs in the country', the nearby Eagle,a new ale venue, which was recently mentioned in a CAMRA newsletter for the quality of its beer. Finally, the much lauded Junction which has up to six pumps featuring local micros, including beers from Ridgeside and Five Towns served from the wood.

I'm not sure the Junction was around when I last visited although it'd be my first destination now - my main knowledge to Castleford pubs is the town centre, and primarily the route from the station to the rugby league ground.

Sports venues always seem to me a perfect launching pad for real ale, a high throughput - so why is it they always end up serving the same rubbish. There's one, I think Harlequins, who have regular real ale festivals 3 or 4 hours before kick-offs. With a ready made venue and the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, it's a great idea. More places should do it.

[Oggwyn Trench]

Dawley is pretty bad with only the Elephant and Castle (decent) and Wrekin View(ok) serving real ale out of 14 pubs , just up the road Madley is nearly as bad with only the All Nations(great) and Foresters(decent) serving anything other than the odd pint of Banks Mild/Bitter or GK crap , South Telford is realy dire

[Thuck Phat]

Wantage - largely ex Morlands pubs now GK there are two worth while pubs, Abingdon is almost but not quite as bad

The changes here may help Wantage out of this group.

Daventry is pretty poor with the only real option being a mediocre 'Spoons and the last time I visited Chertsey, albeit some years ago, it was dire with no options for a decent pint at all.

[Bucking Fastard]

My slow progress around the inland waterway network has thankfully only thrown up a handful of really bad real ale towns but here are some black holes



Waltham Abbey. After demolition of The Old English Gentleman,whats left is a lot of McMullen's tied houses and several keg only outlets.

Uxbridge. Lots of pubs,nothing to write home about on the real ale front.

Wolverton Milton Keynes is not blessed with many good real ale pubs,and none of them are based here.

Market Harborough Attractive looking town ,but never found any decent ale here.

Goole Lots of characters in the pubs,especially around the docks,but no pubs with character,or decent beer.

Blackburn My heart sinks when the only GBG listing is for a 'spoons and I am not keen on Thwaites either.

Chertsey As mentioned by Mr Phat,the mere mention is enough to cause a panic attack, so I've avoided it like the plague ever since.


This may be all very unfair,places change and although it might be frustrating to discover that I missed a gem,I would dearly like to know if there is a decent real ale option in any of these places.That's what Pubsgalore is all about.

[Grailhunter]

The changes here may help Wantage out of this group.

I suspect this (the Shoulder of Mutton) was one of the two worthwhile pubs Old Boots was alluding to. The other being the Royal Oak. Those 2 though are both excellent pubs which IMHO save Wantage from winning this award.
Now Abingdon, I'm with you on that one Old Boots. A dire town for pubs and I should know I live there.

[gillhalfpint]

Chertsey may have changed a bit as we were there last month, and the pub Thyme at the Tavern was good. They had 2 run of the mill type beers on 2 pumps, but the other 2 were good and changed regularly. In the couple of days we stayed in Chertsey we had Ascot Alley Cat, Tillingbourne Evolution No 1, Surrey Hills Shere Drop, Windsor & Eton Eton Boatman, and Twickenham Sundance. Not bad, so as you say, things do improve. The pub was voted CAMRA Pub of the Year 2012, and is in the new 2013 Good Beer Guide. We are back to Chertsey November 15 - 18 for the Egham beer festival, and will certainly be back in this pub.

[Bucking Fastard]

Thanks for that Gill.Next time I am floating down the Thames ,I will give Chertsey another go.Sounds like it is now worth making the long walk from the river.

[Al 10000]

I am happy drinking in any town i hav'nt been to before as long as there are about 20 pubs to go at,if i get 60% of pubs on real ale then i am even more happy.

Regarding bad towns i found Watford to be very short on pubs and Colwyn Bay had very few pubs, me and the Wife were well fed up trying to find pubs in both of these towns.

One of the worst towns i have been to for real ale was Leigh 18 pubs done and only 7 had real ale on.

[RogerB]

Are we looking for the town that has the worst selection/choice of Real Ale (in which case many of Kent's Shepherd Neame strogholds such as Sittingbourne and Faversham are prime contenders) or the worst towns for actually getting a Real Ale given the number of pubs around (several chunks of London fall into that category).

[PaulOfHorsham]

Basingstoke is pretty grim, not a decent place

Fixed that for you, Moby.

Agreed, though, the Queens Arms is pretty good and saves having to venture too far from the station for a fast exit.