All Points East 2022

Not content with four days of punk rock at the beginning of August, I headed into London for a day of noisy guitars in Victoria Park.

Possibilities for early afternoon pre-festival pubs were limited somewhat by the Tube strike that was affecting the capital last Friday.
But thanks to my debut trip on the Elizabeth Line I made it to Liverpool Street before midday.
Smart, speedy, and saving me from crowded buses, but I'm not forgiving the Elizabeth Line for demolishing the Astoria.

Liverpool Street before midday.  That'll mean a trip to Spoons then...

Having perused the Beer Guide for pubs in the area that I hadn't been to, the next point of call was the Williams Ale House.   
I was disappointed with my picture, but it turns out I've done better than What Pub...

 

Williams Ale House (22-24 Artillery Street, Spitalfields, E1 7LS - web)
This is a Greene King pub in disguise - not a  GK IPA in sight, with cask ales from Southwark, Hammerton and Gorgeous, plus Signature Brew very evident on the kegs.

I went for the Gorgeous 'Geekhunter', a malty ale that wasn't quite as pale as I'd have expected from it's description as 'extra pale'.  To be honest it was let down by being way too warm.

The pub has three sections to it - high stools and a piano by the front bar, a run of three dart boards in the back, leather cushioned booth seating in the side room.

Just gone noon is too early for the city folk to go on the lash, even on Friday apparently.  Just another couple of customers whilst I was there, giving the bar staff time to sing along to Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now', and discuss how if they had to listen to someone read the phone book to them, would they prefer it to be Stephen Fry or Morgan Freeman?

Leaving them to debate those important issues of the day, I made the short walk through Spitalfields market onto Commercial Road, to the Commercial Tavern...

Commercial Tavern (142 Commercial Street, Spitalfields, E1 6NU - web)
This spectacular round-fronted pub was built in 1865 and I suspect was originally a traditional two-roomed city pub.  
It's latest refurbishment has revealed period features, whilst going for quirk and shabby chic, covering surfaces with old teen pop mag covers and various funky wallpaper.

Hammerton 'N1' and Redemption 'Urban Dusk' on tap.  The Urban Dusk is a 4.6% chestnut brown bitter, okay, but probably best suited to a chilly autumnal evening rather than a sunny August lunchtime.

I didn't quite make it to the festival for the first band of the day - I scuppered that by nipping into Brewdog Shoreditch for a cheeky imperial stout.

A quick journey on the 388 bus to Bethnal Green, then 15-minutes walk, took me to Victoria Park and the All Points East festival site.
No drama with the hi-tech tickets on your phone malarky, no queues, a breeze past security, and I was propped on the barrier in front of the East Stage in time for Kills Birds. 

A tricky band to search on the internet, as the first results you get are actually what kills birds. 
Apple seeds and onions, apparently.
The band are a grungy LA four piece whose profile hasn't been harmed by being given the thumbs-up by Dave Grohl.  The small crowd who'd arrived early enough to see them were rewarded with a short bombastic set which blew any cobwebs away.

If I'd have had a sneak preview ten years back of beer costing £7.00 a pint, I'd have vowed to have turned tee-total by this point.
But at least the pale ales from Brixton and other London craft breweries offered something a little more interesting than we used to be served at music festivals and gigs. 

I've gotta say I enjoyed all the bands I watched across the stages throughout the day, traversing genres from indie rock to rap.  Femi Kuti was an early highlight, the infectious funky afrobeat ideally suited to a sunny afternoon in the park.

Yves Tumor was dressed in almost exactly the same outfit that I was going to wear to the festival myself...

But it was the double-bill of Turnstile and IDLES which really drew me to this day of All Points East.

Ensuring no let-up, IDLES cranked into the first bars of 'Colossus' on the East Stage almost as soon as Turnstile exited stage left on the West Stage.  I joined a procession of dusty disheveled punters making their way between the site's two biggest stages, and into the heaving throng in front of Bristol's finest modern post-punk'ers.

I'm afraid I completely missed Gorillaz, the main attraction, but I'd seen everything I wanted to see and was conscious of the long journey home.
With more walking across London than usual, it was 4-hours from the festival to my bed, which, as far as I'm concerned, justified not hanging around to the end.

And after negotiating London transport, early doors in the pubs, seven bands in the park, two mosh pits that I'm really far too old for...hell's bells, I really needed my bed!

St Annes Pub Explorations

Travelling a few miles south of Blackpool, I called in to the coastal town of St Annes, with a plan to visit the two current Beer Guide entries.

St Annes was designed as a new town in the late 1800's.  It was once home to the prize-selecting computer ERNIE, which picked Premium Bonds winners.  My dad was always hoping that the 'man from ERNIE' would come knocking on the door, but instead they just occasionally popped to the post office (now a micropub, of course) to send us a cheque for £10.

Arriving early and hungry, as my guest house offered no breakfast, I made a beeline for the local Wetherspoon, tucked in the wide, leafy side-streets.

The Trawl Boat (36-38 Wood Street, St Annes, FY8 5DH - web)

I don't think I need worry too much that I've got nothing exciting to say about this particular branch of the chain.
WhatPub is unusually brief in their description:
"A Wetherspoon pub. Offers a variety of guest ales".

It was here that I twigged there were two pricing tiers for 'Spoons and that I'd been frivolously paying an extra 70p for my breakfast in the Velvet Coaster in Blackpool. 
Just a couple of cups of coffee and my morning fare here - as I sensibly declared it too early for beer.

That would have to wait until, oof...just gone eleven, as I strode into the early opening Number Fifteen...

Number Fifteen at St Annes (42 St Annes Road West, Cleveleys, FY8 1RF - web)
Not another pub with a numerical name?!  Hadn't I had enough of those in Blackpool?
But this one's a good'un, and a regular local award winner.
Despite a frontage that looks like someone's cut out a rectangular portion of a church and stuck it on a high street building, it actually turns out to have once been a branch of Lloyds Bank.

It's quite a stunning place inside, comfy and nicely decorated, tall stylish ceiling and balcony in the front section, Urban Cookie Collective playing in the background.

Longest trek of the weekend to the toilets; best beer range of the weekend.
I was spoilt for choice with plenty of tempting ales at budget friendly prices.

£3.20 for my Moorhouse's 'Crossed Arrows' - a good pint in good condition, and a nice change from Pendle Witches Brew, which is usually the only beer I see from the Burnley brewery.

We'd reached midday, which meant the craft beer place I'd passed on a corner a little earlier would now be open.  So I figured I'd go and check it out...

Hop Shoppe (2-2a Wood Street, St Annes, FY8 1QS - web)
Previously something called the Jazz Emporium, this opened as the Hop Shoppe in 2021.
I'm not sure why the queens head appears in the window on the corner, but other than that the decoration lives up to the name - hops painted on the glass and liberally strung across the ceiling.

More decision-making here, with an enticing beer range including Vocation, Twisted Wheel and Beartown on cask, and the keg selection pictured below.
Resisting the Madagascan Infusion double chocolate imperial stout, I instead settled on a precarious high stool near the door with a Marble/Rivington Cold IPA.

What's a Cold IPA?

Finishing my beer, I aimed to do a little sightseeing, strolling down to the front at St Annes to walk along the lovely traditional pier and the expansive sandy beach, where the tide was well and truly out.

I can see the sea.......oh, hang on, no I can't.

One last Beer Guide entry in St Annes to report on - I called into this one a little later in the day after a trip down to Lytham, being as the Keg N Cask didn't open until 3pm. 

Keg N Cask (17 St Andrews Road West, St Annes, FY8 1SX)
This is another relatively new micro, having converted a one-time post office and opened it's doors in February 2020 (not ideal timing as it turned out).
There were five casks along the bar, two beers from Bradfield, two from Conwy Brewery and a Saltaire 'Blonde'.
I picked the 'Clogwyn Gold', good value at £3.10, then cursed picking the wrong Conwy beer as several locals raved about how good the 'Welsh Pride' was.

Maybe the Keg N Cask would be better appreciated with a crowd inside, but my visit was a bit unremarkable, sat on a high table in an empty room whilst everyone else opted to sun themselves on the outdoor tables.

With that, I declared St Annes 'done' and headed back to Blackpool on the bus.
More punk awaited at Rebellion, more home-brew in the 1887 Brew Room, another long day and late, late night.
How was your holiday?  Exhausting!

Blackpool By Numbers

 

How not to do a pub crawl...
In which I picked the places in Blackpool with numbers-for-names and tried to trek around 'em all.

I didn't even manage to complete the numerical pub name mission - I walked past the No.3 Sports Bar a couple of times on my travels but never crossed the threshold... 

Walk a little further eastbound on Newton Road from No.3 and you'll reach No.4.

No 4 (Layton Road, Blackpool, FY4 8ER - web)
This was previously called the Freemasons Arms, being as the local Masons conducted their first meeting at a pub that stood on this site.

Inside it consists of an L-shaped room with one slightly raised area, the bar also having a back counter to serve a games room to the rear.

'A brilliant range of Cask Marque ales', says their website.
Hmmm, depending on whether you consider Thwaites 'Wainwright' and Ringwood 'Thumper' to be brilliant.
Oh well...the Wainwright was okay, the entertainment - 90's Biggest Video Hits on a mega-size screen, not so much so.
Was Shabba Ranks 'Mr Loverman' really one of the biggest hits of the 90's?
Was it really what I wanted to be listening to on an afternoon pub visit?

Nope.  I finished my beer and crisps and set out to the next pub on the list.

A fairly long walk, thanks to the bus times not quite working out, took me to No.10...

No 10 Alehouse (258 Whitegate Drive, FY3 9JW - web)

This was Blackpool's first micro pub (they're multiplying at a rate of knots now).

Despite it only being 15-minutes after opening time when I arrived, most of the outdoor tables were taken, mainly by what appeared to be a youth football team associated with the pub. 
Someone had the mop and bucket out, cleaning up the first glass fatality of the day.
And the music was pumping - dubious modern pop hits that weren't any better than Shabba.

Not much cask being sold to the young folk, who were missing out on a great range.
Titanic 'Chocolate and Vanilla Stout', Reedy Hallows 'New Zealand Pale', Banks's 'Sunbeam' for the traditionalists.
And my pick, Lancaster Brewery 'Zeus' 4.1%, a light, easy-going, single-hopped ale, served in fine condition.

Local football allegiance

Returning to the centre of town, I headed one street back from the seafront, behind Madame Tussauds and Happy Dayz amusements, onto Bonny Street where you'll find Number 13...

No 13 Bonny Street (13 Bonny Street (funnily enough!), Blackpool, FY1 5AR)
In 2015, when I was here for the football, this pub was called the Pump and Truncheon and was the only entry that wasn't Wetherspoon's on my very short Blackpool real ale pub list.

That previous name came from it's proximity to the police station and law courts, making it a regular haunt of the local constabulary.
After a change of ownership, a refurb, and a name change, it reopened in 2019.

I liked it here - it had a bit of old ale house character, with wooden pillars and floors, pool table and a crowd mainly made up of aging rockers.
Pity none of us could be trusted with glassware though, with all beers being served up in plastic pint pots...

A nice simple choice of Black Sheep, Dark Star or the local one.
I stuck local with my second beer of this trip from Morecambe's Cross Bay Brewery.

Number 13 was almost unlucky for me, as I came close to being clobbered by the door whilst trying to take a photo in the loos.  Which frankly serves me right.

But you don't get pictures of the gent's beer barrel urinals on Blackpool Jane's blog... 

...on second thoughts, maybe you do - she's very thorough.

Just one more numerically named place for me to visit.

Bar 19 serves as an example as to why it pays to use an up-to-date copy of the beer guide.  This was an entry back in the 2019 Guide at the time it was being crowned the Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre CAMRA Pub of the Year.

Bar 19 (19 Queen Street, FY1 1NL)
Crikey, this was really the best in the region three years back?

My picture was taken when the karaoke compere and gang on the nearest table had all stepped outside to smoke.  Bar staff too by the looks of it...

At the back was a raucous family group enjoying some kind of celebration.  Balloons got occasionally burst with a loud bang, scaring the living daylights of the old-boy drinkers.
Tone-deafness was no obstacle as folks took their turns on the karaoke, whilst the chap in charge of it came out with adult-rated between song banter.

Sat with my JW Lees bitter, as someone belted out Rod Stewart's 'Sailing', I felt utterly out of place, thinking to myself that my pub explorations had really hit rock bottom. 

At least I only had to part with £2.30 for a pint of bitter...

Try asking what you can get for £2.30 at the Head of the River back in Oxford.  A packet of crisps, if you're lucky.

I suspect I missed a couple of other Blackpool pubs with numbers for names.
But y'now what? I'd done enough.
Silly idea for a pub crawl anyway.

Rebellion Blackpool

A quick visit to an excellent micropub, before I fill this post with a handful of pictures from Rebellion 2022...

The Cask & Tap was just a couple of minutes walk from the Winter Garden, the main festival venue, and was permanently busy with punk rockers for four days, as far I could tell. 

Cask & Tap (82 Topping Street, FY1 3AD - web)
Opened in September 2020, this is a smart single room bar, with fancy embossed wallpaper and some intriguing light fittings constructed from old radio equipment.

The eight hand pumps on the bar were all in use, dispensing a wide range of styles, alongside a good choice of proper cider and a bit of craft.
Beers changed between my visits - I reckon they shifted a fair few casks over this weekend.  
I stuck to the dark beers, the Blackedge stout and Durham 'Dark Arts' being highlights. 

There's no TV or music, but if there was you'd have to had turned it up pretty loud to be heard above the chatter of this lot...

The Cask & Tap was arguably the best place near the Winter Gardens for a quality beer.
Closely followed by the 1887 Brew Room and Albert's.

Inside the venue, the novelty Spanish galleon decor of Sharky's Bar is eye-catching, but after parting with £4.80 for a tasteless Worthington Creamflow, I decided once was enough.

Then I discovered the little craft beer stall in the foyer, run by Lancashire locals Farm Yard Brewery.
Pricey, yep.  Not beer to quaff in one go or spill on your shoes when Stiff Little Fingers come on stage.  But the 'Chaff' session IPA was full of flavour and worth spending the extra money on.

The Empress Ballroom was the most impressive of the four main indoor stages, even if I never did manage to get a picture that did it justice...

Of the old skool punk bands, it was Sham 69 I wanted to see the most, and they didn't disappoint...

"Hurry up Harry, we're going down the pub!"

But it was something a bit different from Bob Vylan which really blew me away.  Promoted to the Ballroom stage in the frightfully early hours of Sunday morning, way past my bedtime, but well worth staying up for.

Whilst the Almost Acoustic stage offered some more sedate entertainment, in a bizarre fairy-tale setting...

Great to see Peter Hook & The Light playing a set of Joy Division songs on the R-Fest stage...

Although an outdoor stage with a lovely sunset under Blackpool Tower was a bit of an odd setting for tracks like 'Dead Souls'.

And I also tried to catch a few acts that I knew less about, such as Rum Kicks providing a bit of K-Punk...

Heavy Lungs and John...

 

If the organisers don't give your band enough stage time on the bill, you can always follow the example of Dalston duo Glitchers, who parked their van in front of the Winter Gardens and knocked out a raucous afternoon set to anyone passing by.

I thought I was pretty accustomed to some noisy music, but by Day 4, another set of guitar and drums cranking up, my brain was rattling loose in my head.
Great then to be able to retire to the calm of the Literary stage on Sunday evening to hear the one-and-only Stuart Pearce chatting about punk rock and football.

An exhausting few days, but I'd happily rewind and do it all again!