Our short trip to Dunstable started in the Britannia
Northampton, the usual lack lustre ales on tap. I suppose Tribute is passable
and generally refreshing but it is getting dangerous close to bloody Doombar
status, so Citra and I sipped our way through the pale Cornish ale. It was in
decent nick, clear with the head clinging loosely to the glass. This was
Citra’s first pint in a while as he’d been shouting hooey down the pan for a
few days. And yes Citra confirms diced carrots where in evidence. Parker
arrived to collect us just after 4:00pm it took about 45 minutes to get to our
first Dunstablian pub the Victoria Inn, we had intended to frequent the Globe
but limited parking opportunities swayed us away.
The Victoria is a PUB in
every sense of the word, very clean and tidy, immaculate in fact lots of
attention to detail. The brass and copper pipework in the toilet was gleaming. Not
a posh pub but one for the locals and they are well looked after. Nice bar area
with plenty of ‘what’s going on’ signs, TV’s and decent grub available at a
sensible price. Four hand-pumps on the bar, the house ale brewed by Tring named
Victoria Ale, with two from Cottage Brewery, Golden Arrow and DB4, plus Courage
Best. Parker went for the house beer, Citra and I went for Golden Arrow. Both
ales were in beautiful condition, pristine clear, good head, good temperature,
perfect. Golden Arrow is just one of many Rail Ales they brew. Lovely
premium pale ale, nice and hoppy, citrusy and refreshing coming in at 4.5%. So
nice we had two. Parker didn’t say much about the house ale; he raised the
glass and nodded towards the inner-glowing ale with an air of approval. The
TV’s were scrolling notices of forthcoming events to be shown over the next
week. One said World Cup rugby 6th Oct, 20:00 KO Fiji vs Uruguay.
‘Free chilli at half time’. Citra thought this was a political statement and
commented further that he’d enjoyed a couple of glasses of the finest Pinochet
just a few weeks back. Oh dear, Parker and I looked at each other and decided
it wasn’t worth the explanation.
We moved just down the road to the Pheasant, a
pleasant pub we plucked from Dunstable
pubs list. Nice enough
boozer which has now appeared in the last 3 Camra GBG’s and in once again
listed next year. Six hand-pumps one adorned with; yes you’ve guessed it; I’m
not even going to mention it. Another had Tribute on it, with a third sporting
Courage Directors pump clip. The fourth pump clip was turned around, boo-hiss
as it looked like Wychert an ale from Vale brewery was once drawn from this
pump. However, there was some salvation; we had two world cup rugby themed ales
one from Tring ‘Up & Under’ and the other from Vale brewery ‘The Good
Game’. I bet the breweries spend hours coming up with these inspirational gems.
‘Up & Under’, is more closely associated to rugby league not union. ‘The
Good Game’ did Brucie come up with that belter? Parker had a cup of coffee,
Fuggles and Citra went for ‘The Good Game’, it was a nice ale, light copper/amber,
with a thin head at 4.1%. Not special but easily drinkable and was served in good
condition. A couple of other Poppies fans were just leaving making their way
down to the Victoria, they would enjoy that pub. Next up was ‘Up & Under’, pleasant
enough coming in at 4:0%, amber, light bitterness with a floral nose. This will
no doubt get quaffed in great numbers during the rugby world cup. During our
stay at the Pheasant both Parker and Citra went to the toilet both returned with
puzzled looks on their faces, It wasn’t until I also went to dispense the
previous hours consumption that I realised their consternation. Surely this
couldn’t be the only bog in a large pub like this, just one pan and a wash
basin that was it; a uni-sex toilet. Some of the white tiles had been painted
with silver paint turning them into scratch tiles, graffiti on every tile, most
unusual. We didn’t traipse around the pub looking for something with a little
more grandeur to piddle in; we just went to the game.
Err, the game, well what can I say, I don’t usually mention
much about the footy in these blogs but what the heck. This season we look as though we are sponsored
by the Performing Arts Society, beautiful to watch with flowing passing footy
but very little to show for their efforts. Unfortunately our games remind me of
the scene from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the lost Ark. Indy’s in a very
busy Tunisian market place, full of thieves, fakirs and ne’er-do-wells. He’s
working tirelessly to find his lost love, then suddenly there’s a clearing in
the gathered throng. An immaculately dressed Arab warrior appears in full
regalia; wielding a sabre. His sword is rhythmically swishing and swirling
cutting through the air drawing ‘oohs and aahs’ of adulation from the ragged crowd.
This warrior is clearly skilled in his martial art, an incredibly dangerous
threat to Indy’s life, so he pulls out a gun and shoots him. That’s Kettering;
full of sword swishing but with no productivity. We danced, we frolicked, we
moved the ball about beautifully, we lost 4-0, Poppies in action
So the game was over, we drove just a few miles up the road
to Toddington, once a village where most Poppies Travel buses stopped on their
way back up the M1; that was when the Sow and Pigs was still open. Marvellous
Greene King pub, back when they used to have them.
Anyway we went into a newish
pub the Cuckoo; housed in the 15th century listed Old Town Hall
overlooking the market square. The Cuckoo is a small two roomed pub, one is a
pleasant lounge with oak looking furniture, the other is a small bar area with
8 hand-pumps all numbered 1 to 8. With 6 ales and two ciders, the six ales
available were Cuckoo bitter brewed by the Leighton Brewery, Fullers Seafarers
and Chiswick, Hornes Triple Goat Porter, Nobby’s Tow'd Navigation and 3 Brewers St
Albans Golden English Ale. We all went for the latter. Delightful golden ale as
the name suggests, served in perfect condition. Clear with a tight white head
clinging nicely to the glass, very refreshing pint. Easily drinkable coming in
at 3.8%; could be a good session ale. We met others PRATS there, Petit Chemise
and Marshall, they’d been to The Globe before the game and easily found a parking
space, balderdash, never mind next season. Marshall was drinking the Hornes Triple
Goats Porter, he was talking too much to tell us how it was, Petit was also on
Golden English Ale. On another day we’d have sampled the pork pies and scotch
eggs but it was late, maybe next time. That was it for the night, some decent
ales and some disappointing footy.
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