Tackling Rugby

Visiting the Good Beer Guide Pubs of Rugby

It's the birthplace of the game of rugby; Frank Whittle tested his invention, the jet engine, in this neck of the woods; Lewis Carroll and Neville Chamberlain attended Rugby School and Hungarian Dennis Gabor invented holograms whilst at local engineering firm BTH.  Not a bad roll of honour for a mid-sized market town.
And according to Wikipedia - "The town centre is noted for its large number of pubs; in the 1960s it was recorded as having the second-highest number of pubs per square mile in England" .  Ah, that'll be what brings me here. Of course.
So, with no more ado, first stop...

...the Rugby Tap (3 St Matthews Street,CV21 3BY)

Micro

This local award-winning venue consists of a bottle shop to the right and the Tap Room micropub to the left.  I entered to a warm welcome and a pick of 6 local beers served on gravity (on this occasion from Northants locals Phipps NBC and Gundog Ales).The two customers took my arrival as their cue to leave so I had the place to myself for a short while.  Being as it follows the micro rules of no TV or music, the "just good conversation" dictum doesn't work so well when you're on your lonesome. The friendly owner was keen to talk to me though and, upon discovering I was exploring the town pubs, passed on recommendations and found me a Rugby CAMRA real ale guide leaflet.  

Legend has it that in 1823 William Webb Ellis, a student at the public school, picked up the ball during a football match and started running with it, hence creating rugby.  If it'd had been me I'd probably have been reprimanded for cheating.  It's a story that has often been discredited, but I bring it up because my next pub is centred around the game.

The Merchants Inn (5-6 Little Church Street, CV21 3AW) 
According to the Merchants website, the Melrose Seven's club voted this the "best pub in Britain to watch rugby".  Which perhaps explained why I had the front section, where you couldn't see the Champions Cup match on any of the screens, all to myself.  
I was happy in this front room, with my half of Lytham's Golden ale, surrounded by Bass mirrors and old brewery signs.  The Merchants is sizeable, with several different sections and plenty of afternoon custom giving it a lively buzz.
I was enjoying this pub but my experience was sullied by an incident with the soap dispenser in the lavatories. There seemed to be nothing happening when pressing the nozzle, but exerting a little more pressure resulted in a projectile globule of milk & honey hand-wash, fired 45cm over the sink and straight into the middle of my shirt. 

Alexandra Arms (72-73 James Street, CV21 2SL)
Smelling somewhat fragrant, I made the short walk past the church and into the side streets to my third destination, a pub which houses the Atomic Brewery in its back garden.
The back room of the Alexandra seemed great, with a pool table, rock jukebox and doors leading out to seating out in the garden.  I sauntered back round to the front with my beer though and sat in solitary in the front lounge bar. 
I felt it apt to choose the local brew here, a 3.7% pale ale called 'Strike' with a pump-clip which appears to mix football and nuclear armageddon.  They've also got a couple of tempting Abbeydale beers on the bar, but I need to push on if I'm to make it around all the pubs on my list.

Keeping myself company in the front bar of the Alexandra Arms

Club life in the Town & Country

Town & Country Club (12 Henry Street, CV21 2QA)
This club is a new addition to the just released 2019 Good Beer Guide.  It seems to have edged out the London Calling cafe bar.  I have some trepidation entering club venues - "CAMRA members welcome" the guide says - but will I be?! 
Will there be suspicious looks? 
Will I have to explain my presence, clutching my CAMRA card?  
No.  It's an instantly friendly and welcoming place, fairly busy for a Saturday afternoon, with four beers on offer.  
The gent being served before me picked the Church End 'Grave Diggers Ale'.  "Ooh, good choice" the cheery lady behind the bar told him, "just on and fresh out the barrel".  So I went for the same too.  A lovely pint of dark mild.  And a veritable bargain at £2.55 a pint.
Great retro touches here: red upholstered bench seating around the walls, shiny formica table tops and leather cushioned panels on the front of the bar.

Moving on, I headed to the 2018 Rugby CAMRA Pub of the Year, the Seven Stars (40 Albert Square, CV21 2SH).
As Albert Square is a little further off the beaten track, this is a quieter location with just a few locals and one chap settled with the rugby being projected onto a big screen exclusively for him.  They have a great selection of beers on offer.  I'm struck again by the fantastic choice that I've found everywhere I've been today.  I picked a treacle stout from Derbyshire's Brunswick Brewing Co and grabbed a seat in the window alcove next to the bar.
The landlord came and sat nearby talking to a couple of locals: "We're putting on a 6-course dinner for the Ireland game - 5 pints of Guinness and a potato".  In politically-correct Britain I'm still trying to work out if I'm allowed to chuckle at this?



Squirrel Inn (33 Church Street, CV21 3PU)

This was the pub that had been recommended to me by anyone I'd chatted to today, so somewhere I was looking forward to.  It was originally three cottages which were joined together to form the pub.
Of the beers on offer I was drawn to the oddly named Hippy Killer brewery.  Sadly this ran out mid-pour for me, so I had to fall back on a brown ale by Cotleigh.  

Once I grabbed a table the barman brought me the third of a pint of the Hippy Killer that he'd managed to pour, stating it looked okay and that he "knew how much I wanted to try it".  Wow!  I must have looked really disappointed when it ran out.  I guess the cask sells well here as,even though it's the last of the barrel, this is still very drinkable and I rated it highly.
There was some entertaining conversation from the drinkers propping up the bar here and a convivial atmosphere.  Somewhere else that I would've been more-than-happy to spend more time.

Accordion display at the Squirrel 

In the end, all paths lead to Wetherspoon's...  
The Rupert Brooke (8-10 Castle Street, CV21 2TP) was my next stop, veering off my GBG list.  Peckishness had caught up with me and I was enticed by the pizza and pint deal.
Not a bad Spoon's - a cavernous place, converted from an old market hall.

Just time for one last tick this Saturday, and that's a second pub owned by the Atomic brewery, The Victoria (1 Lower Hillmorton Road, CV21 3ST).  This is a short walk out of the town centre, but certainly well worth the effort.  However, at this point I've got last pub of the day fatigue.  This was a great Victorian-era corner pub that I would have enjoyed a lot more if I'd started here.  I also sat in the wrong room, picking the first door which led to a bar with pool table and dart board.  It was only when I was leaving that I realised the period lounge was superb, with more people and more atmosphere.

So, in the end, from the 8 places listed in the Good Beer Guide, I missed the Raglan Arms and didn't quite manage a full-sweep.  
But there is the small matter of getting home on the train without falling asleep and missing my station.

Yum Yum World - a giant sweet emporium - ensuring that the dentists of Rugby do a roaring trade..