Random news of the day

[Thuck Phat]

"A pub has been crowned best in the country"
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan...shire-67949548

Interesting how impressions vary.

I've visited several times since it opened and am still impressed by what they've done with the building to make it warm, convivial and "pubby".

I've always found the welcome generous from whoever is behind the bar and it's usually at least one of the governor or his family and the atmosphere jovial and fun.

The beer has been invariably excellent in terms of both choice and quality with the associated brewery having provided my 2022 Beer of the Year.

It's a straight 10 for me and I'll revisit whenever I have the chance.

[sheffield hatter]

I've visited several times since it opened and am still impressed by what they've done with the building to make it warm, convivial and "pubby".

I've always found the welcome generous from whoever is behind the bar and it's usually at least one of the governor or his family and the atmosphere jovial and fun.

Whereas I found it difficult to navigate, with a bottleneck at the bar counter, which is squeezed for room, and people always trying to get from the front to the back, or vice versa, past the queue - more like a scrum at times - that forms at the pumps. The staff - on both occasions I was there - seemed too pressed for time to be friendly or welcoming. (And my first visit was long before it won any awards)

I don't know the family that run the place, and I'm pretty sure this would not be a consideration in awarding pub of the year.

Interesting how impressions vary.

A lot of the differences in our perceptions are about how often you go there and what time of day or week you are there, I guess. This affects how at home you feel, how the staff feel about you and how much time they have to interact with you.

I've seen reviews of the Kelham Island Tavern where people say how horrendous and impersonal it is (and certainly my description of a scrum forming at the bar at the Tamworth could apply equally at the K.I.T.), which is not my experience at all, but then I'm never there on a Friday night! Or if I am, I share a sympathetic grin with the staff who recognise me and move away from the bar quickly.

Impressions vary, as you quite correctly say.

My argument is not so much against how the Tamworth Tap has come to repeat the feat of the Kelham Island Tavern in being selected as Camra's National Pub of the Year two years in a row, it's more about whether there should be a pub that is proclaimed the best, while everyone else is - by definition - deemed to be hopeless.

I know that the owner of the K.I.T., now retired, hated what the consecutive PotY wins did to his pub, and was glad that it never won a third time. (One could almost say he made sure it never won a third time, with hand-written signs about throwing people out for swearing a definite and perhaps deliberate no-no!) No doubt he made a lot of money out of it, but I don't think it's hypocritical to decry what the excess of success did to the pub.

It's a straight 10 for me and I'll revisit whenever I have the chance.

It's down from 7 in 2021 to 6 last year for me, but I guess I'll have to revisit to give it a chance to change my mind!

[Thuck Phat]

I don't know the family that run the place, and I'm pretty sure this would not be a consideration in awarding pub of the year.

I wouldn’t profess to understand how or why CAMRA award a pub of the year and have no interest but was simply giving my own experiences of the place.

I’m shocked that you don’t agree.

[sheffield hatter]

I was simply giving my own experiences of the place.

I’m shocked that you don’t agree.

I agreed that impressions vary. And your experience and impression of a pub are just as valid as my own.

Even if I were stood next to you at the bar, I couldn't experience the pub exactly the same as you, but I certainly don't mean to deny your experience!

[Mobyduck]

it's more about whether there should be a pub that is proclaimed the best, while everyone else is - by definition - deemed to be hopeless.

I'm not sure hopeless is the the right word. Obviously they would be deemed not as good by definition, but I'm sure anyone nominated in the later rounds are not hopeless,plus any pub reaching the last 16 would be pretty good in my book, not that I hold CAMRAs views to be definitive by any stretch.

[Thuck Phat]

I agreed that impressions vary. And your experience and impression of a pub are just as valid as my own.

Even if I were stood next to you at the bar, I couldn't experience the pub exactly the same as you, but I certainly don't mean to deny your experience!

“Feel free to have the last word, I know you like to.” Old Boots 09-11-2021, 16.26

[sheffield hatter]

I'm not sure hopeless is the the right word. Obviously they would be deemed not as good by definition, but I'm sure anyone nominated in the later rounds are not hopeless,plus any pub reaching the last 16 would be pretty good in my book, not that I hold CAMRAs views to be definitive by any stretch.

I'm pretty sure hopeless is not the right word. But you don't see many banners on pubs saying "last 16 in Pub of the year 2023", etc.

[sheffield hatter]

“Feel free to have the last word, I know you like to.” Old Boots 09-11-2021, 16.26

That was pretty rude at the time and it's certainly good to be reminded of it.

Apologies for seeming to want to have the last word. Also known as being happy to continue the discussion. Can anyone tell the difference?

I'll shut up now.

[Thuck Phat]

Also known as being happy to continue the discussion.

No discussion here.

As others have, without the response,

I was simply giving my own experiences of the place.

[Tris39]

A lot of the differences in our perceptions are about how often you go there and what time of day or week you are there, I guess.

Very true. Crawls aside, I never leave for the pub until I've eaten supper, so that's 7.30 at the earliest and it now takes me a good one-and-a-half-hours to find a new pub, so that's a 10.00pm arrival. The Albert is probably a good example, where Steve's visit on a Tuesday pre-4.00pm is unlikely to compare to my gone 9.00pm arrival on a Friday; and my review is a bit restrained.

“Feel free to have the last word, I know you like to.” Old Boots 09-11-2021, 16.26

Initially I thought this was a quote from the Bible.