Wantage Beer Festival and Pubs - a last weekend of normality?

The 10th Wantage Beer Festival, on Friday and Saturday 13th and 14th March, just managed to go ahead, creeping in before the current Covid-19 outbreak took a turn for the worse and even a visit to the local pub is being advised against.
Troubling times indeed.

Social Gathering.  Now frowned upon.

We received a warm welcome from the White Horse CAMRA representatives at the entrance to the Beacon Centre.
There were around a dozen members of the Oxford branch who'd make the trip here today, and it was a pleasure to get together and enjoy the ales, putting the doom and gloom of world news out of our minds for a while.

Wantage beer fest always manage to get a nice mix of local ales and a selection that you're less likely to see.
The 8% ABV Barley Wine from Corinium Ales proved to be a popular choice and was a fantastic tipple - albeit, just the third of a pint measure being advisable.
It's also been a while since I've seen anything by the Farringdon Brewery - their finely named 'Black as your Soul' being an enjoyable (very) dark mild.
Wiltshire was well represented, with Hop Kettle managing to throw in a contender for beer of the day, alongside a number of the counties breweries that I'm less familiar with.

Ready to serve.

Last time I wrote about this beer fest, we headed around the corner afterwards to the wonderful and highly recommended Royal Oak.
So this time I thought I'd cover a couple of other pubs that make a beer-drinking trip to Wantage well worth the effort...starting with this one:

The Shoulder of Mutton (38 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 8AX - web)
I've always really liked this traditional Victorian street corner pub - full of character and reliable for a good pint of beer.
There's a left/right conundrum on the way in.  Heading to the right, service is from a small counter to the side of the bar, on the corridor leading to the rear yard and function room.

The lady behind the bar is not transparent in real life...

No idea how I managed that.

There's always been a robust choice of ales in the Shoulder of Mutton.  From the beer list below, I made a fine choice, picking the 'Heartbreak' stout, from Barefaced Brewing of Bournemouth.

Butt's Barbus tempting due to the artwork.

Between the two rooms of the pub is a great snug, with white wood panelling and cushioned seats around one large table.
We shared this with a trio of professional beer tickers, in their caps and t-shirts advertising Ealing Beer festival 1998 and such like, jotting down notes of the ales tried at the Beacon.
There's no music or distractions at the Shoulder of Mutton, just the gentle hum of conversation from contented ale drinkers.

Glasses emptied, we moved on, straight across the road to another of the town's Good Beer Guide pubs.

The Kings Arms (39 Wallingford Street, Wantage, OX12 8AU - web)

This used to be a neglected and run-down town boozer, but has been successfully resurrected in recent years.  With a make-over which just about manages to retain an historic feel, it was proving a popular spot this Saturday afternoon with a good crowd of customers.
There was a superb selection of beers on the bar on this visit.  A Dark Revolution session ale, 'Sonic', was my pick of the bunch, whilst I headed back a while later to try the murky, fruity, modern IPA from Elusive.

Leaving the pub, we walked up the road just in time to see an Oxford bus departing.
Which meant a 20-minute stop-off and an Arkells '3B' in the Bear.
We ALWAYS just miss a bus and end up in the Bear.

Back on the S8 a short while later, we pressed the stop button and jumped off in East Hanney.
There's a handy house locator for the villages of East and West Hanney, ideal for tragic people like me who can't use Google maps cause they've run out of phone battery uploading pump-clip pictures to Untappd.

We found a footpath, promising West Hanney was a half-mile away, and took a brisk stroll across the fields as dusk approached.  Ten minutes later, as the path took us through the churchyard, we could see the lights of The Plough Inn...

The Plough (Church Street, West Hanney, OX12 0LN)
This is one of nine community owned pubs across Oxfordshire, having been brought by a local group when Punch Taverns put it up for sale in 2015.
Dating back to the mid 17th century, The Plough is timber-framed with thatched roof and a great country-pub feel to it.
The furthest room looked to be set up for dining, although I didn't venture into it (half-arsed, pub explorer!).  The tables around the bar are on two levels, with cosy corners and a door through to a pleasant garden.

From four ales on the bar, I grabbed a 'Chapel Rock' by Skinners, which was in fine condition and an enjoyable pint.

A big thank you goes out to our friends Tim and Marta who unexpectedly came to pick us up from here, hence saving a stagger down the country lane in the dark.
And a big apology goes out to Tim and Marta for my subsequently falling asleep on their sofa.  I blame the Corinium barley wine!

I was gonna end this post with my jovial plans to get around all those remaining Oxfordshire Good Beer Guide pubs which have so far eluded me.
But due to the Perils of the Pandemic, it's questionable whether pubs can, or should, stay open.
We've an obligation to support our NHS by not acting in a way that assists the spread of the virus.  But on the other hand, I fear for the many businesses which, without significant government support, rely on our custom to survive.

Looking forward to a time when I can get back to planning nationwide pub crawling...
Take care.

Two Micro's, a Red Lion & a Black Horse in West Oxfordshire

It's about time I featured some local Oxfordshire drinking establishments.
So we set out on a Saturday morning with three destinations in mind in the West of the county.  The first was a pub that's not the easiest to get to and has eluded me for some time, the Red Lion in Northmoor.

To get there, we caught a bus out to Witney, then changed onto the number 19 service which runs through the nearby villages every two hours.
Alighting at Standlake, I made the quick discovery that tons of rain = flooded footpaths.  So we had to make do with a 1-mile traipse down the road to Northmoor.

The Red Lion (Standlake Road, Northmoor, OX29 5SX - web)
This village pub is owned by the local community, after Greene King failed to find tenants and put it up for sale in 2013.
Opening generously early at 11am on Saturday, we were the first customers in, but it gradually filled up with walkers in wellies popping in for a drink, a few diners, and a couple of locals perching on stools at the bar.

The beer range was local with Loose Cannon 'Abingdon Bridge', 'Old Hooky' and Brill 'Gold' on offer on this visit.  For what must have been the first pints served of the day, all were in great, tasty condition, which I guess is why the Red Lion keeps getting into the Beer Guide.

We stayed here long enough to have some food, from a menu of dishes all home-cooked using local produce.
This is a lovely old pub, with log fires burning, superb customer service and great ales.  Well worth making the effort to get to.

We walked back up to Standlake, where we'd spotted there was a pub, if time permitted, before the bus to Witney arrived.
Time didn't really permit, but I needed to make use of the WC's, so we dived in for a hasty half.

Black Horse (High Street, Standlake, OX29 7RH - web)
I'm sure this old country pub, which dates back to 1761, was once a brilliant rustic village local.  But it's marked as 'Gastropub' on the map, so we kinda knew what to expect.
The framed reading material in the Gents was a 2-page Jeremy Clarkson review of the Porsche Carrera.  Which says it all really.
Nice half of Goff's 'Cheltenham Gold' though, even if it was quaffed super-fast in order to race across the road and catch the bus.

Lookin' gloomy over the Black Horse, Standlake

Back in Witney, with only one pub-visit planned, our choice was the towns micro-pub.

Oxbrew (8 Langdale Court, Witney, OX28 6FG - web)
Opened in August 2018 in a unit that previously housed a charity shop, Oxbrew became Witney's first micro-pub.  With seating for around 30 folk inside and more outdoors, the pub is run by the brewery of the same name. 
Perusing the options on the bar, this was my first sighting of new Burford brewery Elements, whose 'Tropical Daze' was a satisfying fruity pale ale with bitter finish.

On cask was a delicious White Horse 'Luna Apollo 10' and Oxbrew's own, wonderful, 'Dark and Seedy' - what a line-up!

Despite a plethora of pubs in Witney, Oxbrew had drawn a good Saturday afternoon crowd and is an essential stop if you're passing this way.

We jumped back on the S1 bus, headed to the end of the line, Carterton.

I Googled 'what's it like to live in Carterton?
Howie Berry says "Absolute shit hole, needs knocking down and re doing."  But it does get a lot of praise for having ample good supermarkets.
Whilst a Ms Woodcock suggests "you get the odd twat but you do everywhere! Much prefer Carterton than Witney that's for sure."

Here's Trip Advisor's Top Attraction:

So, realistically, the only thing that's gonna bring me here is the Good Beer Guide entry.
Or Morrison's.

The Siege of Orleans (5 The Giles Centre, Alvescot Road, Carterton, OX18 3DH)
It's not the most photogenic micro-pub that I've ever encountered.
But it must be a delight for the ale and craft beer loving residents of Carterton to have this small bar with a respectable choice of beers.
There were a couple of brews from Ramsbury Brewery on offer, from which I picked a pint of light and refreshing 'Hopper'.
Amongst the keg lines were Siren and Wild Weather beers.

We had to scoot back to Oxford to meet friends in the Tap Social, hence just the one stop in Witney and no intrepid exploring of Carterton's other two boozers.
I was going to write about Tap Social, but everything became a bit of a blur from that point on...

Coventry Pub Explorations

An award-winning canal-side pub, a brewery bar, the cities oldest hostelry and some interesting looking city centre pubs together made up today's itinerary.
For me, Coventry is just 45-minutes away by train, but somewhere I've found myself infrequently.
So we set out to explore...

Lady Godiva helps lower the taxes.

Firstly, a trip through suburban Cov, to get to the furthest pub.  We took a bus up to Aldermans Green, then walked up Grange Road as it passed under the M6.  The pub sign, blowin' in the wind, confirmed that we were headed in the right direction.  

This way >

The Greyhound Inn is located a further five minutes down the canal path, at Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford Canal meets the Coventry Canal.

The Greyhound Inn (Sutton Stop, Longford, CV6 6DF - web)
This striking, white-fronted pub has a pretty superb setting, where the outdoor tables facing the canal basin would be a prime spot in warmer weather.  The Inn dates back to the 1830's, when it would have been more picturesque without the towering electricity pylon behind it.

Dominant Pylon.

The streets were quiet and we didn't see a soul on the towpath, so it was a surprise to open the pub door and find it full of folk.
How Wasps were doing in the rugby and how we'd avoided the worst of Storm Jorge seemed to be favoured conversation topics, whilst at least half the customers seemed to have brought their dogs on a trip out to the pub.

Real fires, proper pub seating, chip butties for £3.50, and Draught Bass.
What more could you ask for?

A trek back along the canal seemed a good idea to walk-off any chip butty guilt.  But it'd definitely be nicer in the summertime.  Today it was wet and muddy, with the stormy winds giving us a thoroughly wintry pummeling.
But we persevered into the Foleshill area, finding our way to a quiet and dull-looking industrial estate where there happened to be a brewery bar.

Byatt's Brewhouse Bar (Units 7-8, Lythalls Lane Industrial Estate, Foleshill, CV6 6FL - web)

I was kinda hoping that Byatt's would be one of those taprooms where we were sat among'st the brewing kit, but instead it's a self-contained bar, with the brewery hidden somewhere behind a locked door.
The downstairs bar consists of a couple of high tables, a large leather sofa and a TV in the corner showing the news channel - all doom and gloom, of course.

The bar features six of Byatt's cask ales, from which I picked an 'All Day Foreign Extra Stout', followed by the 'XK Dark'.  Both decent beers in the fine condition you'd expect a few meters from the brewing kit.

They did seem to like their comedic notices and pictures at Byatt's.  Unfortunately, having a 'Beer - Helping ugly people have sex since 1862' sign leads to a 0.5 point deduction on the PropUptheBar pub scoring system.
I was much more appreciative of the picture below, showing happier days for the Sky Blues...

Moving on quickly - before anyone can point out that my own football team's glory days are equally historic - we caught a bus from the main road back to the city center, where we had a couple more Good Beer Guide entries to visit. Starting with this one...

Town Wall Tavern (Bond Street, Coventry, CV1 4AH )

Tucked down a side-street behind the Belgrade Theatre, the Town Wall Tavern is a great-looking traditional pub.

Between the Bar and the Lounge entrances, there's another door marked 'Donkey Box', so named because this snug is just large enough for a donkey.
We settled on window-side stools in the bustling bar, with a Robinson's 'Dizzy Twisted Sister', looking out across the road at the dull block of student accommodation.   It seemed to me that every other building we'd passed after getting off the bus had been student accommodation.

Three pubs in.
About the time I begin to spy things like pedestrian footbridges and fancy my artistic photography skills...

Next to the footbridge was our next pub:

The Gatehouse Tavern (44-46 Hill Street, Coventry, CV1 4AN - web)
The gatehouse is the one remaining bit of what was once the North Warwickshire Weaving and Spinning, Worsted and Woollen Mill, which closed in 1963.
Landlord Martin McKeown previously ran the Town Wall Tavern, before overseeing the conversion of this run-down building into a pub that's been a Coventry mainstay in the Good Beer Guide.

And what a cracker it was!
It consists of one rectangular, traditional pub room, with seating round the sides and a plethora of TVs for live sport.  I would've grumbled profusely were it not a weekend-off for the Six Nations.
The seven hand-pulls along the bar served up a fine selection, including another opportunity for Draught Bass.  But, turning it down this time, I opted for the one with the stand-out pump-clip. 

Picking the beer you've never heard of.

This was probably my personal pick of the pubs today - I thought the Gatehouse had a great feel to it and fine selection of ales to choose from.
Next up, and less than five minutes way...

The Old Windmill (22-23 Spon Street, Coventry, CV1 3BA)
In a 15th century building, this is possibly Coventry's oldest pub and was packed full of character.  It had all the necessary quirks of a historic boozer - low ceilings, uneven floors, wooden beams, and multiple little rooms and hideaways.
Sadly not the best choice of beers of the day, and I wasn't blown away by my North Cotswold Brewery 'Fosseway Flanker', a 3.8% ABV pale ale. 

And as so often seems to be the way, we ended up in Wetherspoon's...

The Flying Standard (2-10 Trinity Street, Coventry, CV1 1FL - web)
I'd snapped a photo of this picturesque 'Spoon's outlet earlier in the day, little suspecting we'd end up in there later.
It's a sprawling, multi-roomed place, on several different levels, with two bars.
Two CAMRA vouchers = 2 pints for a ridiculously cheap £3.30.  Pity I have such a bad habit of forgetting to put my vouchers in my wallet when we're going out..

Coventry had provided a decent day out, and I'm surprised I've never found myself in any of these central pubs before.  I'll be back to tick off Twisted Barrel and the pubs to the west of the city on a future visit.