Frome Pub Explorations

Our travels took us to the Somerset town of Frome, where we'd booked to stay the night in order to catch one of only three shows this year by the legendary Half Man Half Biscuit.

Arriving mid-afternoon we had an itinerary taking in trad pubs, micro pubs and crafty beer joints, which should make for a good little pre-gig crawl.
And here's how it went...

On the weekend that our first alphabetically named storm hit the UK, the West Country weather was a mixed bag.  We were briefly blessed with a bit of blue sky and sunshine, leading me to quickly take some photographic evidence...

Having only previously made short stops in the town, I was won over by Frome's cobbled hilly streets and general charm.

Our exploration was curtailed by a sudden downpour which 'forced' us into the first bottle shop/taproom that we passed...

Palmer Street Bottle (11 Palmer Street, Frome, BA11 1DS - web)

The front room consists of bar, beer fridges, a couple of tables and some bench seating, with plenty more space in a room to the rear.

We arrived on the day of a Track Brewery tap takeover.  Not that there are that many taps to take over - just the four - on which they had various guises of pale ales from the Manchester brewer.

These kind of places don't tend to be the most characterful spots, but it beats drinking craft cans on your sofa in your underpants.
I enjoyed my Track 'Without a Word' IPA.  Although the conversation between the other punters and the bar staff about buying your Christmas turkey direct from the farmer and various ways to cook slabs of meat was enough to send a timid vegetarian running for the hills.

Earlier in the day we'd visited this fine-looking historic inn 7-miles outside of Frome...

The George Inn (High Street, Norton St Philip, BA2 7LH - web)
I'll be honest, this isn't a drinkers pub - no propping up the bar here.
I'd seen pictures of this spectacular exterior when I was looking for oldest pub claimants and decided it was worth rubbing shoulders with the gentle-folk diners to pay it a visit.

We sat on a small table in the main bar by the 15th century fireplace, ordered our Butcombe 'Gold' along with toasted cheese sarnies from the bar snacks menu.

But only one of us could have a cheese toastie, as they only had one left.
How do you run out of cheese toasties?!  If you popped round to mine I'd probably have the ingredients to be able to knock up a few toasted cheese sandwiches!  (I wouldn't recommend it though - very erratic opening hours, dodgy music and dreadful customer service..)

 

We stuck to snacks, but I'm sure the fare on the main menu was very nice - the couple at the next table were gushing over their plates and passing on compliments to the chef.

Built in 1397 by Carthusian monks, this has continuously served as an inn ever since.  It may serve as more of a hotel and restaurant now, but that didn't stop me being mightily impressed with the building around me.

Back to Frome, and we were heading to the micro pub.
Whose directional signage had gone a bit wrong...

Arrow issues

Just Ales (10 Stony Street, Frome, BA11 1BU - web)
This is a proper micro pub, based in what was once a small cafe, and run by a team who also run another Just Ales in Wells.

The pub dog had the prime people watching spot in the window, but was a mighty grumpy old soul, launching into mammoth barking fits at selective passers-by, whilst others just got a low growl of disapproval.

Not all good vibes from the grumpy pub dog

This is a micro that is not going to be to everyone's taste.
The aroma is distinctly 'dog'.
The decor consists of past pump clips, a large picture of an ape playing chess, and jokes on blackboards.
There's a lot of furniture but not many places to sit.  The gaffer has commandeered the best table for himself, whilst many seats are useless because you'd block the route to the cider, or set your trousers alight by being too close to the gas fire. 

Yet we liked it!  We were comfy in the window, everyone except the dog was relaxed and cheerful, and the beer was good.

Three cask ales on the bar on our visit: two from Goffs and - my pick - a brown ale from the North Yorkshire Brewing Company called 'Flying Herbert', which was very nice and in fine condition.
There were also around 10 boxed ciders on offer and, being as we're in Somerset, it seemed appropriate to try at least one of them.  

I'll leave you with a taste of the pub humour...

...and pick up where I left off in the next post, when we continue our pre-gig wander around Frome.