Blimey! A pre-crawl quality-control crawl!
Blimey! A pre-crawl quality-control crawl!
As it happens I can do Friday the 15th now as we don't actually fly until Sunday the 17th.
Booked into the N-U-L Travelodge for £36 per night.
Ms CAMRA may even join us.
A pub is for life not just for Christmas
That's an excellent job done!
I think we've already discounted Freebird and I wonder what bearing the late opening of Hopinn will have.
I'll still be going for a Lite version as I only drink pints and would like to stop for a few in Wellers.
I'm not at all surprised about the extra micropub as I spoke to someone who was from Stoke a while ago and he said "there's loads of micropubs in Newcastle". That didn't ring true with just the two I knew about.
It seems to me the major decision that needs to be made is whether to start in the town centre at 11:00 or in the Greyhound area at 12:00. I'm not fussy as I'll be around early anyway.
It seems a shame about the Freebird, as it's one of the GBG 2018 entries. It's only a few minutes from the Bridge St and Hopwater at the northern edge of the town centre, so would be easily doable. It's just that 5pm opening time...
The landlady of the Hopinn did say that she might be amenable to opening early, but I got the impression she would prefer something not too much too early - say 3pm rather than 1pm. She asked me to phone nearer the time to negotiate, so we need to develop a clear idea of when we might arrive and how many of us there would be.
My initial thought was to start at the Greyhound, but perhaps finishing there might be better. The No.11 bus passes close by, or if anyone still wants to do the Sanctuary after my damning review, the No.25 stops not far from that one.
I thought that a finishing stretch of
Boat & Horses (wild card)
Castle Mona
Cask Bar
Museum (wild card)
Greyhound
...might be quite good.
I really fancy doing the Holy Inadequate, and this can be fitted into the schedule by taking a bus out there, a bus back to the Hopinn (plus Victoria (wild card)?). Arriving at the Hopinn at 3pm would mean a bus from the town centre around 1:55 if doing the Holy, or 2:55 if not. So not doing the Holy gives more time in the town centre.
Given a choice of around 10 pubs in town (plus 'Spoons), and a maximum of five mins walking between neighbouring pubs, it's certainly doable, depending on arrival times of trains and buses.
Come On You Hatters!
If the Hopinn are prepared to open early than that's a double incentive for me to get to the Greyhound area along with the Cask Bar. It mrans that starting in the centre makes more sense but I really think that Freebird is best left for a Saturday visit or for anyone staying in town.
Personally I've no interest in out of town extras as I'll be going Lite anyway. Obviously that doesn't mean I'm against others having a go!
I'm beginning to detect the semblance of a route. On the only occasion I've been to Newcastle I went to the JDW, what was a Hop Back pub up to the North, The Lymestone Vaults, The Old Bulls Head, the Cupinn and the Greyhound.
One small point, I'd rather do the furthest micro in Bridge Street then walk back rather than the other way round.
I've no interest in visiting the Spoons although it's not a bad one. I'll be having breakfast in the Wolverhampton one. In the likely event that I return to Newcastle on a Saturday I will go there early.
I can do the Friday as well and as luck would have it Virgin trains, who were clearly missing me since the last time I used them for Stockport, sent me a personal discount voucher that I have now utilised to arrive in Stoke at 10.48AM on the 9.20AM out of Euston. As Mrs Gann is busy on the Saturday and doesn't want to make a weekend of it (somehow I don't think the retail delights of Newcastle Under Lyme were viewed in the same league as Brighton) I will be training it back down on the 20.52PM... And also all Plusbus upped.
I havent done Newcastle Under Lyme or Stoke for getting on for 30 years , since the days when I used to have to work a couple of times a month out of my then company's "Northern" Office in Nantwich. And even then our visits were fleeting as I used to go with a guy who lived in Stafford and couldn't be trusted to not refer to the locals as "mudchuckers" after a couple of pints.
So any itinerary will be considered as virginal for me and I have no burning ambition to go off piste to far flung parts to capture a particular tick , and would rather stick around with the masses and enjoy the ride, especially as safety in numbers means I've got more chance of making it back to the station for the return..
Work is the curse of the drinking Class - Oscar Wilde
I am on the same trains as Gann,arriving at SoT at 10.48am and departing on the 20.52pm. I will therefore be able to join the early doors drinkers at whichever pub may be open at that time.Like Gann I would like to stick to the main crawl route around town,which if well defined will allow those that want to go off piste a reasonable chance to know where to rejoin the throng.Will's pre crawl research has been very useful and has added to the options available in NuL,thanks.
"Good people drink good beer" Hunter S Thompson
Can we agree to leave it to Will to devise a route that includes all wild cards and optional extensions? I'll assume a lack of response means a YES!
Alcohol doesn't solve problems .... but then again, neither does milk.