The Goat In the Garden and further Farnborough Pub Explorations

I set out on a sunny day to tackle Farnborough, Frimley and Camberley, for a two-county, three town, eight pub jaunt.
Farnborough is famous for it's airshow, Camberley is famous for it's military history and concrete lion, Frimley is famous for...erm...Johnny Wilkinson?

First up, Farnborough - one change at Reading on my route from Oxford to the Hampshire town's North station.  Frustratingly, it was too early for the nearby Prince of Wales pub, so I strode down Rectory Road and into elegant tree-lined avenues to the west of the centre.  Roads which seemed to be exclusively used for driving lessons on a midweek lunchtime.

The Goat in the Garden is somewhere I've wanted to visit for a while now. 
If only I could find it.
Behind there somewhere...

Through the car park of Melford House, then round the back on a path between the kitchen and garage that feels like it's taking you into someone's utility room rather than to a Good Beer Guide tick.
But there it is...

The Goat in the Garden (21 Church Avenue, Farnborough, GU14 7AT)
This didn't feel like somewhere that would open at midday, so even with the gaffer pottering around with a cup of coffee in his hand, I still slid the door open tentatively and asked "are you really open?"
He was a lovely chatty fella, giving me the lowdown on what times the regulars tended to come in and quizzing me about what had brought me from Oxford and where else I was heading.

There were three cask ales to pick from.  Church End from Nuneaton, Skinners from Truro, Stardust from just over the border in Berkshire, their 'Zestar' brewed in collaboration with Oxford's own Grapes and Oranges and Lemons pubs.

The Church End 'Sunshine' for me, on a bright sunny day, a hazy tropical pale in great condition for the first served of the day.
The décor is musical instrument, breweriana, aviation and goat themed.

"I can put some music on, if you'd like," the gaffer told me, "Just let me know what you like to listen to, or if you prefer the quiet, no problem."  I kinda would have liked some music to break the silence, but couldn't handle the pressure of having to pick.
Asking for Sunn O))) or Psychedelic Porn Crumpets would be almost as weird as selecting the throne in the corner, out of all the seats to sit on. 

  

So, a very quiet visit to a pub in a garden that I'm pleased to have eventually made it to.
A short walk took me onto the main roads and into the commercial hub of Farnborough.
"Uninspiring" appeared to be the word most frequently used in descriptions of the town centre.

The Tilly Shilling (Unit 2 to 5, Victoria Road, Farnborough, GU14 7PG)
It looked a little bit like Wetherspoon's was the big draw on this day - lots of custom of all different ages and only a handful of empty tables.
Opened in 2011, I knew not to expect an architectural gem beneath the Travelodge, although it was comfortable enough, decorations including an airplane propeller at one end, which is something a bit different.
It's named after Beatrice 'Tilly' Shilling, who was an engineering whizz and improved the performance of WWII planes whilst based at the nearby RAF base.

I picked a cider on this occasion, being as they had some unusual options in boxes in the fridges.  What harm can mixing a 5-point-something percent dry cider from Purbeck with all the rest of the day's beer do?  We'll see later.

Interesting lamp shades.
I was thinking steel drums. 
Mrs PropUptheBar suggested something ruder.

Farnborough isn't somewhere that folks who like their beer guide pubs within close proximity of one another are going to be happy with.  It was a fifteen minute walk north to reach the thatched roof and timber frame of my next destination.

The Thatched Cottage (122 Prospect Road, Cove, Farnborough, GU14 8NU)
A great-looking pub with a mustard coloured Mini that had parked in a spot that ensured it was in the way of every angle I could take a picture from.
Entering through the side door took me to a rather spartan bar with a couple of locals propped at high tables.
The cask line was a sturdy big brand one, with more of the Stardust 'Zesta' as a local option.

It's been a while since I had a Robinson's 'Trooper', so that's what I went for.
There are various areas within the Thatched Cottage, several obviously geared up for dining. 
But this is the bit you really want to be sitting in...

Moving on, I walked through Queen Elizabeth Park, providing a bit of greenery to the long treks between pubs, then along Highgate Lane back to where I started by Farnborough North station.
Only this time, the Prince of Wales was open.

The Prince of Wales (184 Rectory Road, Farnborough, GU14 8AL)
This pub was one of the 32 recipients of a Golden Award to celebrate CAMRA's 50th anniversary in 2022, having featured in the Good Beer Guide for some 40-years.  It's also a regular regional Pub of the Year winner.

There were a handful of blokes dotted around the three rooms, each and every one looking like a CAMRA member.
Seven ales to choose from - the common sight of Fullers fare alongside beers from Hopback, Triple fff and Bowman.  The prices varied a fair bit, with 'Summer Lightning' six quid, whilst the Bowman 'Swift One' was £4.90 (my pick - what a penny-pinching surprise!).
A lovely traditional pub that I'd have loved to have seen when it's a bit busier.

The four GBG pubs of Farnborough complete, I decided I could walk to Frimley from here, with a handy refreshment spot at a midway point.

The Ship Inn (162 Ship Lane, Farnborough, GU14 8BE)
The Ship lays claim to being the oldest pub in Farnborough, dating back 400-or-so years and is reputedly to have been one of Dick Turpin's stops, although it doesn't jump out as an historic inn from outside.
Or within, really, despite having some wooden beams.

The front and back halves of the pub were distinctly different - pot plants, wooden floor, functional dining tables in the front, pool table, jukebox and high tables in the back.
This was the first pub of the day with a bit of music in the background - something which was quite welcome with The Cure and Creedence playing, a bit less-so when Starship's 'We Built This City' came on, whilst drinking in silence would have been preferable once we got to the piano cover version of 'She's Like the Wind'.

I think we've crossed the border into Surrey at this point, so I could at least get the half pint of the obligatory Surrey beer, Hogs Back 'T.E.A' out of the way.

Onwards...following the pavements of a busy, twisty road junction that eventually took me onto Frimley High Street.

The Railway Arms (78 Frimley High Street, Frimley, GU16 7JE)
When Frimley got a railway station on the new Ascot to Ash Vale line in 1878, they also got a Railway Arms pub.  It's undergone a relatively recent refurb, but has retained a proper High Street boozer feel - proper carpet, brick-fronted bar, wooden beams, dart board, pool table.

Easy decisions at the bar, the Railway getting into the Beer Guide on the strength of its Wadworth '6X' and if you wanted a different ale on cask, tough luck.

The beer was on good form, the lady who served me super-chatty and friendly, the customers a varied bunch, the game of pool tackled in sleeveless vest and dusty shorts.

I'd notched up plenty of steps by this point, so let the bus take the strain for the next leg of the journey to Camberley.

Go back a couple of hundred years and you'd find lots of open countryside where Camberley now lies.  Back then it was known as Bagshot or Frimley Heath, waiting for the arrival of the Royal Military College and Staff College to create a building boom, before the railway and the shopping centres enticed the commuters.
Whilst it was still heathland, this was a notorious haunt of highwaymen, one of whom Wetherspoon's have decided to name their High Street pub after.

The Claude Du Val (77-81 High Street, Camberley, GU15 3RB)
This is of the typical big rectangular room Spoons variety, very open-plan, set over two levels with an outdoor space to the back.
More great lights...

The Beer Guide "We're In It" adverts celebrate 11 years in a row. To be honest, there isn't much competition in the near vicinity to entice CAMRA beer scorers away from Spoons.

An 'Angry Bird' from Nottingham's Magpie Brewery. was my pick.  Red ale may not be my favourite, but it had a great pump clip and this hoppy flavoursome 4%'er wasn't bad at all.

I didn't loiter in Spoons, heading back to the main road and cursing the lack of buses before deciding to set off on foot for a dull walk down the A30 that at least provided me a close-up look at the elephant.
I narrowly avoided getting run-over with cars coming wickedly fast around the Meadows roundabout.  Then tried again by pottering to the central reservation to get the pub picture...

Mr Bumble (19 London Road, Blackwater, GU17 9AP)
I was really excited to find a pub named after a Mike Patton band, but then realised that was Mr Bungle and this is, much less excitingly, named after an Oliver Twist character.
Prior to the mid-1980s it was more conventionally The Red Lion.  A one-time coaching stop, there appears to have an inn on this site since the 17th century.

I really quite liked the place.  It reminded me of pubs from several decades ago, right down to the throwback carpet, dark woods, green ceiling, and 90s soundtrack.

I enjoyed a pint of Tiny Rebel 'Dunk', sat in the corner of this big pub with few customers.
It was handily just across the road from Blackwater station and the lure of the train home.

An intrepid day out with a bit more treading the pavements than I'd intended and a real mixed bag or pubs.

FA Cup Magic

Friday 6th November - Oxford City were hosting Leicester City under the floodlights on a bracingly chilly evening.

There was absolutely no need for any more pictures of the M Group Stadium on the blog.
Until, that is, the first round proper of the FA Cup saw Oxford City draw Leicester City (I think there's a rule I need to preface this with "former Premier League winners..." or "2021 FA Cup winners...").
Leicester's visit had been called, in various places, the biggest game in the Oxford club's history and was set to draw a record breaking crowd of over 3,400 folks.  So I think it's an evening that warrants a mention here.

I opted to walk from the city centre to the ground, picking a couple of spots on the way for refreshment breaks.  Starting at The Star on Rectory Road.

The Star (21 Rectory Rd, Oxford OX4 1BU)
In my humble opinion, this is currently the best pub east of the city centre... Moondog pizza, good keg, two, possibly three, well-kept cask ales, a fine garden and always a good crowd in.
Not so many as usual, though.
"Everyone's going to the football, aren't they?" reckoned.  Everyone?
"Who are City anyway?  They're like Abingdon United, aren't they?"
No disrespect to Abingdon United (they let me paint their picnic benches once) but no!  That's a different level of non-league.

 

The Augustiner is always tempting in the Star since the big authentic Munich beer tap arrived, but I stuck with the cask and a pint of Beak 'Bampa Best Bitter' (Loose Cannon's spooky seasonal 'Franken-Stein' the alternative).
The Bampa was a smooth, caramelly bitter that disappeared from the glass super-fast. 

A quick hop around the corner onto St Clement's took me to the Port Mahon.

The Port Mahon (82 St Clement's St, Oxford OX4 1AW)
This is a pub that has had good, if not great, spells since I've been in Oxford.  They once served a cracking Sunday dinner in front of the footy on telly; you once used to be able to hand over a fiver to watch local bands in the upstairs room.  But the venue is gone and the pub styles itself as a gastro now, pushing Rotisserie Mondays and £5 happy hour Negroni's rather than Sky Sports and noisy music.
Still, the cask is usually decent, provided it's on.  Two Hook Norton ales on this occasion: 'Old Hooky' or the autumnal 'Flagship' with home-made clip.

'Flagship' in a dimpled mug - £5.90 for the pint, despite it being Mon-Fri 4-6pm Happy Hour.  I should have had the Negroni and saved 90p.

With kick-off time drawing nearer, it was time to move on...trudging up the road with fireworks lighting up the sky, the Up In Arms tempting me in with it's bright lights, pizza smells wafting from the kitchen, the sounds of cheery conversation and eighties prog rock. 

This bit of town is woefully under-pubbed.  The Up In Arms is the sole place to get a beer on the mile-long Marston Road.  So no surprise that it was busy, the front section full of Leicester fans, none of whom looked like 'Owner of a Lonely Heart' would be their pick for Friday evening background music.
The Dodo 'APA' wouldn't be my pick for Friday evening beer (especially at £6.70), but the cask ale pump clips were turned around, so a cold, dull APA is what I ended up with.

A final 15-minute walk took me to the ground, the first upgrade I spotted being the 'Away Fans' signage.
Here's the old the A4 printer design from 2025... 

And here's what FA Cup money buys you...

Through the turnstiles, the place was unrecognisable - not just because of the extra 2,500 people milling around.
The flat concrete in front of the clubhouse had acquired a temporary seating stand since the cup draw was made.

Behind that stand the bar was doing a roaring trade...

Through the back door of the clubhouse, the car park was half taken up by TV vans sporting satellite dishes, the other half turned into a fan zone with food and drink and a DJ.
I queued for a pint of 'Icebreaker' in a plastic pot, missing Robbie Savage conducting the TNT Sports pre-match interviews on the pitch.
"We can go and shout at him if we get served fast enough," said the chap behind me in the queue.

Naturally, I wouldn't complain about a cup upset, but realistically all I wanted was:
1. No rain.
2. An Oxford goal to celebrate.
3. Not allowing the Foxes to run away with it and look like Como.

From my vantage (well, sort of) point at the Shed End, Leicester didn't look like Como, but they did look like a team from three divisions above, with all the action at the end they were attacking.  Their goal on 16-minutes came as a disappointment but not a surprise.

Gradually, the Hoops began bringing the ball down our end and troubling the defenders.  Just after the half hour mark Scott Pollack swung a corner straight into the top of the net to level the score.  Pandemonium ensued in a stand where we're used to polite clapping.

My pint of Cruzcampo in a pop-up bar at half time was a mistake.
As was pre-emptive talk about extra time and penalties - things didn't stay level for long in the second half with Leicester going two ahead by the 59th minute.
Josh Ashby narrowed the deficit and gave us an excuse to jump around a second time, before Leicester came out eventual 4-2 winners.

Top marks to the Oxford City players who did the club proud.
And to the staff who oversaw a procession of deliveries of new stands, portaloos, beer supplies and souvenir t-shirts, and who've obviously been working their socks off to prepare for such a big match.
Turns out we're not going to Wembley, but what a great evening.

A Borough and Bermondsey Loop

On a rainy day in London, I headed down to Southwark and devised a rather neat loop from a relatively new Wetherspoon's to take in a few Good Beer Guide entries and some great-looking pubs.

My first stop of the day was Wetherspoon's where I was early enough for a plate of breakfast and a pre-noon pint.
The Sun Wharf is one of the latest additions to Tim's portfolio, opening last autumn. It's somewhere I've been keen to pay a visit to.

The Sun Wharf (50 Tooley Street, London Bridge, London, SE1 2TF)
Why?  Because I wanted to see the transformation of the one-time London Dungeon, somewhere I used to get invited to each time they opened a new exhibit, being as we used to sell Merlin attraction tickets.  It was great fun with good company and no entry fee.
The thing is, it felt HUGE wandering around the recreations of Pudding Street as the Great Fire started and Whitechapel as Jack the Ripper eyed up their next victim.  Yet exploring the pokey corners and various seating areas of the new pub and you realise how misleading those twists and turns and set designs were.

The London Dungeon was based here from 1974 until 2013 when it moved to County Hall.  Wetherspoon's spent £2.75 million converting the vacant space into a pub, opening in autumn 2025.
You'll find lots of brickwork, lots of little exposed ductwork, and lots of little seating areas hidden around corners.  The table plan must have been a headache for the staff on day one.

£4.05 for the guest cask puts this right at the higher end of the JDW pricing scale.
From a choice including a couple of Sambrook's, Windsor and Eton and Brewsters beers, I picked the ever-reliable Salopian.
'1000 Yard Stare'.  The pump-clip suggests it's named after warfare-induced trauma rather than the Slough shoegaze band who my perpetually stoned mate at Uni was a big fan of. 
The 5.2% ABV was bold for 11:30am, but I still think I made the best choice as this American hopped golden ale was thoroughly enjoyable. 

Despite the warren-like layout, I failed to find a cosy corner and ended up on a high table by the archway window where I could check for a break in the rain.

After a quick stroll around London Market - busy as ever - I made my way up Borough High Street to GBG 2026 newbie The Blue Maid.

The Blue Maid (173 Borough High Street, Borough, London, SE1 1HR)
I must have walked past this and ignored it dozens of times.  It's been around a while, first recorded as a pub in 1542 and receiving a mention in Dickens' Little Dorrit.
It hasn't had an illustrious recent past, spending time as a shisha bar and restaurant before closing in 2019.  It's the 2025 reopening which has whisked it into the Beer Guide. 

Being as I rocked up not long after midday, there were only a couple of customers who'd beaten me here, the barman with enough time on his hands to do a little jig to the The Cribs 'Men's Needs'.
Three cask ales from Pillars, Five Points and Burning Sky.  Loads on the keg list, Brighton's Unbarrd (who were involved in the reopening of the pub) featuring heavily alongside the likes of Anspach & Hobday and Kernel.
The intriguing 'Cold Porter' by London brewery Pillars for me.

"A lager in porter's clothing" according to the brewery website, which goes into great detail about the style.  It's a sensible strength Baltic porter - a dunkel to some - an enjoyable brew with subtle coffee and chocolate notes.
The Cribs were followed by the Wombats, Bloc Party and Jamie T, on a playlist created by someone stuck in 2007. 

The Blue Maid didn't stay quite as quiet as in my picture, although the folks dressed in office attire all seemed to prefer the outdoor seating under the awnings despite the rotten weather.
I appreciate a few more punters would make for a bit more atmosphere, but I enjoyed my porter and snuck a bespoke beermat into my pocket, so I was happy.

A little further up the road, past Bermondsey tube station, is the multi-award winning Royal Oak.

The Royal Oak (44 Tabard Street, Borough, London, SE1 4JU)
When Harvey's Brewery acquired this Victorian corner pub in 1997 it was in a run-down sorry state of disrepair.  I think the refurbishment, to a style befitting it's 1850s origins, looks pretty good.

The main entrance leads to a porch with an old off-sales hatch, doors leading in either direction to two rooms separated by a spectacular central bar.
Plenty of Harvey's to pick from, with 'XX', 'Armada', 'Sussex Best', 'Sisters', and 'Old Ale' on offer.  I almost went Old Ale, then spotted this...

Wow!  A dark 5.8% malty brew with a burnt smoky flavour - the 'Bonfire Boy' was beer of the day, hands down.
The next customer in, wheeling his luggage behind him, bonded with the chap behind the bar over Falkirk roots.  He declared the Guinness here on top form, picked the seat next to mine and chatting to me about worldwide adventures, train fares and pubs.
Whoever knew the Scots could be so friendly?

My next stop was a bit of an unknown quantity, picked purely because I was passing close by, it promised a local cask ale, and had plentiful picnic benches outside, which would be useful if the weather took an abrupt turn for the better.

The Roebuck (50 Great Dover Street, Borough, London, SE1 4YG)
An inn has existed on this spot on the London to Dover road since at least 1732, although the Victorian bull-nosed flat-iron building we see today dates to 1892.  It was elaborately designed by architect Edgar Augustine Hawkins with red brick frontage, green domed roof and Dutch gables.

It turned out to be a very typically gentrified pub.  Open-plan, familiar paint colours, abundant plant life, a pricey but interesting food menu.
Beer-wise, the choice was pale ales from Southwark or Big Smoke, or a best bitter from Five Points.

The Five Points for me - on average form.
The Roebuck is certainly worth a look, but it wasn't somewhere I wanted to linger on this occasion.

Departing the Roebuck, I walked to the end of Great Dover Street and turned left at the New Kent Road roundabout.  This bit of my route was bereft of real ale pubs, but I was passing The George which had a Heritage star.
And a description on the CAMRA website that demanded investigation:
"Ungentrified local custom"

The George (40 Tower Bridge Road, Bermondsey, SE1 4TR)
Just in case the grey skies didn't foil the perfect pub picture, the scaffolders have paid the George a visit.
The first thing of note was some lovely 'Truman's Burton Brewed Beers' windows.  There are three ways in, my route through the door on the corner labelled 'Saloon Bar' with additional "Our Toilets Are For Customers Only" signage. 

It doesn't matter what door you go through - the interior is now open plan, enabling you to circumnavigate the central bar.
It's rather lovely.  A grand peninsula counter, lots of wood, magnificent stained glass on the doors to the Office and Ladies (the Gents either didn't warrant an elaborate bit of glass or have broken theirs).

The best features are preserved from the 1930's Truman's rebuild of this corner pub, when they opted to replace the former mid-19th century Sportsman Inn that stood on the site.
Just don't come in expecting exotic craft beer...

I took a seat on the fine benches at the side of the room with radiators behind them - they must be on a great energy tariff as my £3.20 for a pint of John Smiths Smooth is unlikely to cover the toasty heat which demanded outdoor layers be stripped off.

Albert Hammond, Diiv, and Husbands on the sound system confirmed we'd moved forward a decade from the Blue Maid.
The TVs were showing the horse racing channel, but you already knew that.
There were ten or so locals dotted around, half them depositing a shopping bag on a chair before doing the rounds.
"Stop asking if I'm alright," the wine-quaffing lady nearest to me reprimanded her friends, before declaring "Victoria married the most handsome man on the planet."

Prince Albert? David Beckham? David Mitchell? I shall never know.

It was a short hike down the road to reach the turn for Bermondsey Street where I was heading back into cask ale and Beer Guide territory.

The Hand & Marigold (244 Bermondsey Street, Bermondsey-West, London, SE1 3UH)
This Victorian street corner local was constructed around the end of the 19th century.  It took the name from an older hostelry that traded in several locations nearby, named after the ladies who strode out onto the Thames Marshes nearby to pick flowers.  Hunting for marigolds to pick by the Thames in 2026 is likely to end in disappointment.

I entered to Lynrd Skynrd, a friendly welcome, and a choice of ales that required a bit more decision making than the Strongbow-John Smiths conundrum in the George.

The one with the castle on the pump clip, please.  (What, not the dinosaur?!)
My Leigh-on-Sea Brewery 'Castle Black' was a super porter, packing in plenty of flavour for a sub 4% strength.
The keg list was impressive too, including beers from Kernel, Cloudwater, Two Flints and Utopian, a green hopped brew from Anspach & Hobday or sour from Pastore.  The kind of pub where you could very sensibly assess the increasingly heavy rain outside and elect to spend the rest of the afternoon in.

More folks arrived as I sat to one side enjoying a fine beer and a bit of Tom Petty and Blue Öyster Cult.
But I must move on.

The walk down Bermondsey Street confirmed that this is a bit of South London that has well and truly become gentrified...Gail's bakery, ramen, hip coffee shops, seafood and wine bar, pricey hair salons.
And an art gallery ready to be badly photographed..

I walked up this street in October 2025 on my way between Southwark Brewery and The Trinity.  How did I not notice the gallery?
This time I decided to pop my head in.  Nice ceiling display of umbrellas on the main thoroughfare - they'd come in handy with the weather London was experiencing on this day - are they for sale?

Modern art is sometimes challenging.

What an incredible venue, though...

Pulling my hood up, I trundled on to  the bottom of Bermondsey Street and under the railway lines...

Back on the southern side of the station I was close to the Shipwright Arms, somewhere I did visit years ago but it - or at least it's immediate surroundings - have changed beyond recognition.

The Shipwrights Arms (88 Tooley Street, London Bridge, SE1 2TF)
Another Victorian inn, this time dating back to 1884 when George Treacher oversaw the construction of this blue and brick inn with a Caryatid figure supporting the corner bay window.  Or the "bird with one tit out above the door" as I found it described elsewhere - not the kind of uncouth wording you'd ever get on this blog.

At the bar was a relatively rare sighting these days of Doom Bar, but I picked the 'London Pale Ale' from Southwark, brewed just down the road in the railway arches.

"Are you staying inside?" asked the bubbly young lady serving me, despite the need for outdoor plastic pint pots being minimal in the miserable weather. "Silly question, but you never know."
Kelly Rowland's 'Motivational' blasted from the speakers too loudly, competing with the babble of tipsy conversation from the big groups.

The arrival of Wetherspoon's doesn't appear to have affected the Shipwright's pre-train-trip business too much, judging by the crowd on my visit.
The island bar is wonderful. The beer quality good, if not great.  Not a place to finish your Southwark explorations if you're looking for a peaceful pint, though.

It doesn't seem five minutes since I was posting pictures from London with glorious blue sky over the Thames.
I think my luck with the weather has changed for the rest of 2026...