Sunshine and Ale in Maidenhead

Maidenhead comes in for some stick, not least from one of my favourite pub bloggers.
So with the added incentive of the annual beer festival, I made my way there to see if it was getting an unfair press.

This was forecast to be the hottest July day on record.  Maybe too hot, but everywhere looks better with the sun shining, doesn't it?  And down by the River Thames things were looking quite promising...

What were the town's detractors talking about?  

Ah, yes, here's a view down the High Street.

To be fair, there's a massive building project between the train station and the High Street and one day, when they finish it, Maidenhead may be the envy of the Thames Valley.

The Honey Pot - not on your average, mild-mannered Maidenhead pub crawl.

Just the two pubs from the Good Beer Guide to visit today.  
What with the political merriment throughout the week I couldn't bring myself to include the GBG-listed Conservative Club on my itinerary.  
Instead, the first stop, 5-minutes walk from the River Thames in a residential area was the Grenfell Arms.

Grenfell Arms (22 Oldfield Road, Maidenhead, SL6 1TW - web)

Lots of modern pub touches here: stylish art print in the fireplace, a mammoth amount of cushions, gin cocktail list and Untappd beer menu on the TV.
On the bar were two Greene King beers alongside two from the local New Wharf Brewing Co. New Wharf's 'Natives' was an excellent traditional English IPA, which went down a treat.

Attempts to weedkiller the foot of the bar not welcomed.

With the temperature rising up into the 30°s it would have been handy if the two pubs were close together - perhaps separated by a leafy, shaded walk along the Thames. But no. They're over a mile apart at opposite ends of the town and I arrived at the Craufurd Arms hot & bothered and sweating buckets. Nice.

Craufurd Arms, Maidenhead

The Craufurd Arms (15 Gringer Hill, Maidenhead, SL6 7LY - web)

Enjoying a fine Rebellion Brewery ale
at the Craufurd Arms

I instinctively want to spell 'Craufurd' differently, but the name comes from the one-time Craufurd College for boys which the pub would have been next to back in the 1800's.

Under threat of closure in 2017, it was saved by the local community who now run it. 
And run it well - they've received the Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead CAMRA Pub-of-the-Year Award in both 2018 and 2019.

It looks much larger from the outside than in, where there was just one single open-plan, light and airy room.  Cricket on TV.  And a respectable number of punters for a weekday afternoon, away from the town centre.

"Clothes on at the bar please!" admonished the bar lady to a regular customer who came in without his shirt on.
Not to me.
Even on a stonkingly hot day like this, Maidenhead doesn't deserve the sight of me walking around topless.

Beer festival aficionado's brave the hot weather at Maidenhead. 

I made my way back through town, under the railway tracks and up Shoppenhangers Road (good name!) to Desborough College where the Beer Fest was taking place.

You had to be completely bonkers to come out to a beer festival on such a sweltering July afternoon.

There were several summery brews on offer...New Wharf's 'Raspberry Ripple', a mango pale from First Chop Brewing Arm and 'Batch 22', an intriguing iced tea pale on nitro-keg, brewed by Bone Machine Brew Co (Pixies fans?).

My favourite of the lot was 'Citra Bergamot Saison', brewed by Two By Two from Tyne and Wear.  Absolutely superb.

With a lot of top-ups of the water bottle, I cooled down a bit and made it through into the evening.

As for Maidenhead...well it's not that bad is it?
I reckon the 'spoons, Maiden's Head and Off the Tap would have all been worth a visit had I not been headed to the beer fest.
Everywhere looks okay when the sun's shining.