The Cask (Pub and Kitchen) at Pimlico, DO NOT GO!

The last Monday in May: The Bank Holiday

Lord Clive organised a splendid travel ticket that would cover the train from Crawley to London, and all forms of transport in the City and our return to Gatwick. This was for a price which makes one wonder why people pay the rip-off return fares from the airport. The rip-off we could not avoid was the left-luggage at Victoria. At £8 per bag, per day, the service could at least be efficient. One chap was decidedly officious.

At Victoria, Marg and Hector said a temporary farewell to The Chaps who were heading off to some famous London pubs. The Cask at Pimlico was to be the focal point of the day.




We did the walk to Buckingham Palace, Her Majesty did not invite us in for a Bier, or even a cuppa’. We then walked through Belgrave Square past many embassies before arriving at Wellington Arch. Somehow instead of Piccadilly, we ended up walking towards its continuation, Knightsbridge. This meant a visit to Harrods.










Afternoon tea at Harrods, how many brownie points can one man earn on one trip?
Traversing back along Piccadilly we revisited the workplace of Lord Clive, and after a mosey along Carnaby St ended up at Oxford Circus.
It had taken us two and a half hours to get there, it took ten minutes on The Tube back to Victoria.



Pimlico here we come : Passports at the ready


It is only a stop beyond Victoria to Pimlico. We found the Cask using Google. It was closed. The chaps did say 16.00. So did the sign on the door. Why would a pub not be open all day?

We went for a long coffee. Back at 15.55 another couple were waiting. They had phoned to verify opening. They had been assured that not only would The Cask be open, it would be open all day.

Misinformation


The Chaps had been there earlier and of course were disappointed to see the opening times.
We were there at 16.00.
A phone call had been made to verify opening.
Not one person involved in the running of The Cask had considered doing the decent thing and put a sign on the door to state that the place would not open, at all.
It was a bank holiday, in a basically residential area. This is simply ridiculous, and exceptional bad manners.

There was a fallback


The Priory Arms (83 Lansdowne Way, SW8 2PB) had been recommended. It was ‘near Vauxhall Station’. Well that was not true. Mr Google took us in the right direction and we achieved what few seldom do in The Big Smoke: we met someone we knew, by chance! Johnny, an ex A Level student.
It was a fifteen minute walk to The Priory. The range of Bier was not as extensive as one had been led to believe. Summer Lightning, again. We left with the intention of making a rendezvous at Victoria; we did not know how long it would take to collect our luggage.

Curry-Heute

The rendezvous was never made; we ended up having Curry-Heute at a restaurant called the Victoria.
On the train to Gatwick we did meet up with Craig and Yvonne. Craig was very emotional about the fact that our afternoon had been ruined by those… at The Cask.
easyJet delayed us by 40 minutes on the flight back to Glasgow. Craig has resolved that he will never fly again internally in the UK.

Brighton Beach Memoirs

The last Sunday in May



After a hearty breakfast of Square Slice Sausage (‘What is that?’ asked a son of Maggie), Tattie Scones and the stunning Stornoway Black Pudding, not to mention yesterday’s rolls (thanks to easyJet), it was time to emerge from the Maison de Maggie.
Most went to see if the bluebells were blue, raise a head of steam, and no doubt put another 5 litres of water in the ‘people carrier’.

Hector and Marg went to Brighton.



This is what Marg enjoys most. Not sitting in a pub all day consuming the best of Bier. Who on Earth would live their lives like that?
The Shopping Lanes were visited and then a walk along the beach before the famous pier.

A very different venue was discovered for lunch: ‘Bill’s produce store @ the depot’. This had benches not out of place from a Deutsche Bierfest, walls lined with food displays and a very original menu of snacks and healthy eating. A month’s supply of brownie points had been accrued by the time we left.




The main event

Hector and Marg were first to arrive at The Evening Star, and it was straight into the American Pale Ale.


The rest arrived and the evening’s festivities began. There was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale available on draught too, so this had to be considered.


Lord Clive had a cunning plan





We were going on to Shoreham-by-Sea where more quality establishments awaited. The Lazy Toad was a major disappointment. Many ales were sitting racked behind the bar. Few were on, and the jackets were linked to no cooling device. Warm Bier? No thank you.
After a fast single fish next door it was back to the best new discovery of the weekend (for us anyway).



The Buckingham Arms went down a storm. There was a ten/twelve ale taps, plus a Helles, Kaltenberg, to make up for the English desire for lukewarm beer. On the wall were themed photos of trams: ah, Bridgeton Cross!









Back to The Swan




And there was more Bier…

easyJet cancel Hector’s third consecutive flight ...

or the tale of a Beer Festival missed…

The last Saturday in May.

Arriving to meet Craig and Yvonne at Glasgow Airport for the 08.55 to London Gatwick, the board informs us that the flight is cancelled. No volcano, no snow, the reason? Operational. What does that mean?
We are given the opportunity of rebooking on to the 15.55 flight. Charming, eight hours at Glasgow Airport.It was a long breakfast. At 11.00 when the Wetherspoon’s breakfast menus were issued it was declared time for a Bier. We were allowed to check-in at 13.30, did so and went through to the Wetherspoon’s on ‘the other side’. We would have been better staying where we had been, no Bier of merit, we left.
The Surrey Oaks, Newdigate Beer Festival had been our objective for the afternoon. We never made it.



We were met at Gatwick Airport by Lord Clive, Dr Stan and Maggie in the famous 'water carrier', sorry:‘people carrier’, and were soon at the Swan in Crawley for a Bier or two before the excellent curry at the Lal Akash.





Back at the Swan we had been promised a special Bier: we had to settle for Dark Star Hophead, Dark Star Summer Meltdown and resorted to Old Rosie, a scrumpy! What?

Things to do in Sussex when you're...

...waiting for the Glasgow plane!

Friday was spent travelling from Cambridge to Crawley, then meeting Maggie and Clive for a few pints - a quiet night as we were expecting to meet Hector, Marg, Craig and Yvonne at Gatwick Airport the next morning...

Plane travel being as reliable as always, the plane was cancelled "for operational reasons" - although at least the Glasgow 4 were able to re-book a later flight. I'm told they had fun filling in 8 hours at Glasgow Airport.

Of course, we also had to fill in the same time... Selflessly, we decided to follow the original plans, so, in the world-famous people carrier, we headed for the Royal Oak, Friday Street. This is a former King & Barnes pub, now independant. It also was runner up to the Kelham Island Tavern in the 2009 Pub of the Year contest, so not too bad then! The Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale was surprisingly tasty for a 3.8% beer - Craig take note! I'm told that the other beers were in equally fine form.

Crossing the county line, we next visited the Surrey Oak, Newdigate for its beer festival. The weather, sadly, was against us - imagine it raining on a bank holiday weekend! However, we (by now Dr Stan, Colin, Clive and me) managed to spend the afternoon here quite happily. Maggie was taking over driving duties, so I was able to sample a few of the 20 or so beers on offer.

Eventually, we had to leave to go to Gatwick to collect the Glasgow 4 - the evening was spent at the Swan, then a curry at the Ram before returning to the Swan.

Pinting on the Cam...

Thursday saw our second visit to the Cambridge Beer Festival. Before meeting there, I took the opportunity of visiting some of the other Cambridge pubs - or so I thought! Coming from Scotland, I am used to sensible opening hours - it seems that, despite a large student population, and indeed a large beer festival, all day opening does not exist! Because of this, I managed to see the outside of the Kingston Arms and the Cambridge Blue before finally finding an open pub (the Salisbury Arms).

Having been refreshed by a pint of Oakham JHB, I then found myself at the Live and Let Live - I had to try the Oakham Citra before making my way to the festival.

It turns out that the festival does not stay open all day either! During the afternoon break, we visited the Mitre for a pleasant couple of pints.

We returned to the festival, again staying until it got too busy. Predictably, we re-visited the St Radegund en route to the Elm Tree, where most of the evening was spent trying to persuade the manager that he should stock some Munich biers...

What is it about Fat Cats?

Regular followers will be aware that one of my favourite pubs is the Fat Cat in Sheffield. This is not Sheffield (although there are some parallels)!

Taking advantage of our trip to the east of England (or the west, as Hector might try to argue...), Dr Stan and I decided to do a day trip to Norwich. After spending the morning wandering around, we made our way to the Fat Cat (described in the GGB as a 20 minute walk from the centre of town). It is worth the walk! My reading of the board disclosed 28 real ales available, including Kelham Island Pale Rider. I had to try this, if only to commemorate the other Fat Cat. Sadly, it is still not the pint it used to be.

Despite the number of tempting biers on offer, after a few pints we decided that we should try some other pubs. The Alexandra Tavern was next - a short walk from the Fat Cat. A friendly wee pub, worth a visit if you can drag yourself away from the Fat Cat!

After this, we walked back to town and visited Take 5, the Ribs of Beef and the King's Head. All are GBG listed, and were good pubs in their own rights.

Our last Norwich pub was Ketts Tavern. Unfortunately, time was pressing, so we were unable to order a curry (to be delivered from the local takeaway!) The bacon sandwiches filled a gap.

Returning to Cambridge, we made it along to the Devonshire Arms to have a last few pints. This used to be a pub to avoid, but was taken over in January and now serves Milton beers. The pub has been turned around, and is one I will go to again!