HANG ON! ALL CHANGE WE'RE GOING THERE

 Bloody hell, a quick fixture reversal and we are off to Bedworth this Saturday, so an equally quick short and sweet, but hopefully informative PRATS blog.

With Latimer Park likely to be hosting the bog snorkelling championships again this weekend its excellent forward thinking by the clubs to sort this out so quickly. Which means instead of sitting at home skulking about whilst Mrs Fuggles does the hoovering, we can now enjoy a decent day out watching footy and guzzling a few ales down. It’s just a short trip to Bedworth, no more than an hour from God’s chosen town. 

 There are quite a few excellent micro-breweries in the area, all with tap rooms for us to sample their wares. So the first port of call has to be the Church End Brewery,always a good selection of their delightful brews available. The Poppies Travel club used to frequent this delightful brewery-boozer on previous trips to Nuneaton.
 Then just a couple of miles away is The Lord Nelson Inn at Ansley home of the Sperrin Brewery we had a couple of their ales at the last Poppies beer festival.

They usually have 6 or 7 hand-pumps with at least 4 of their own ales on tap, plus a couple of guest ales. They also sell Chadwick’s pork pies, lovely. With a bit of luck the Chadwick’s will be open as we make our way to the Oval, home of the Greenbacks. Then when the game is over, we can make our way to the Wood Farm Brewery no more than 15 minutes away. We’ve been here before on several occasions. Hopefully, they’ll have at least 8 of their own ales available. They also sell a decent pork pie. Sounds like we’ll have a good day out, if we get home soon enough we’ll have time to pop into The Alex to wrap the day up nicely.

LINNETS DIDN'T WINNIT

It’s Boxing Day, probably one of the best footy days in the footy calendar. Always loads of away day supporters, all usually in good spirits after being overwhelmed by the previous day’s over indulgence. It’s nice to get away from the chaos and get a bit if fresh air and maybe a pint or three. As with most Boxing days games they are local derby’s: for the PRATS we travel to King’s Lynn the most Northerly team in the Southern League, just 90 minutes away. It was around 11:00 when Parker and Citra made their way to Rushden to scoop up Pharp and by 12:15 Fuggles had joined the merry troupe on the outskirts of Posh town. 45 minutes later we were parked up in the puddle ridden car park at the Walks and making our way to the Live and Let Live pub.

What a delightful hostelry, two/three rooms, one a small bar with two adjoining rooms the other an even smaller lounge. The landlady was only too pleased to offer us tasters of the 5 ales available. There was couple from Elgoods, the mild Black Dog and one of their Xmas ales Reinbeer, Moongazer’s Winter Porter, Tydd Steam Yooligan and Wolf’s Edith Cavell. Pharp had the Black Dog, we used have this on pressure at Latimer Park but it was never as good as this on hand-pump. One of the tastier mild’s about, this was beautifully clear, dark with a very tight head with strength of 3.6%. Citra, Parker and  Fuggles went for Wolf’s Edith Cavell, not the sort of ale Parker would usually drink but certainly up Citra and Fuggles street, pale, hoppy, citrusy, lovely at 3.7%, once again in excellent condition. It’s clear the ales at the ‘Live and Let Live’ are well looked after. By now the Weebles had arrived plus a few others closely followed by supporters off the coach, the lounge was now heaving with the Poppies travelling horde.

There was a scary moment when Pharp raised his right buttock, fortunately he was only adjusting himself to cross his legs, needless to say there was a sigh of relief throughout the tightly gathered throng. Next up Pharp had Tydd Steam Yooligan, obviously a seasonal ale with an image of a demonic looking Santa on the pump clip drawing on a glowing fag. At 4.5% this dark ale has a spicy sweet finish, quite hoppy and in good nick, maybe even Saint Nick! Citra and Fuggles went equally festive with Reinbeer, dark and rich with an almost whiskey like finish, a creamy coloured head clinging down to the bottom of the glass and a warming 5.0% that was going to keep out the winter chill if there was any. Some Poppies supporters had now returned to the ground to be replaced by a few Linnets supporters. All very friendly and chatty, naturally we wished them all a merry Christmas and a crappy afternoon. It was time to stroll to the Walks and within 5 minutes we were there.

The Walks is a very good set up, probably deserving of a higher league. Ex Poppy, King’s Lynn born Gary Setchell is still in charge, he’s been here a few seasons now; in fact he may have been with the Linnets since they re-formed back in 2010. Seems incredible this ground was entertaining UCL footy back then. Did I say the ground is owned by the local council, novel? They also contributed, along with the chairman considerable sums of funds to get it up to the current standard.

The game, well we dived a couple of time, once in the box, much to the aghast of Poppies supporters and considerable jeering and hissing from the Linnets. We scored 3 times, they didn’t score at all. We are starting to look strong now, mustn’t get too optimistic though, not yet. But since a Little Bideford tear let us down, we’ve picked up 13 points from 6 games. When will we play again, who knows? The Rains of Ranchipur are due this week, the chances are slim. Nothing like up North though so I suppose we should consider ourselves fortunate.

Time to go home but not before we stop off in Posh town for a swift couple, we arrived at the Oakham Brewery tap at around 5:50 and to our astonishment it was shut, not even a Christmas light flickering on a tree, disaster of disasters, Citra was going into melt down. Quick thinking and before we knew it we were on our way to the tap’s sister pub on a barge Charters.

Thankfully it was open, and absolutely buzzing with Posh supporters. A large chalk board listed all the ales available along with half a dozen ciders and a few craft beers. There were 4 Oakham ales, JHB, Citra, Inferno and Bishops Farewell, plus Tydd Steam Golden Kiwi, Grainstore Red Kite, plus a couple more which escape our memories. No need to say what Citra had to drink, Pharp had a Red Kite, a deep red coloured mild style ale coming in at 3.8%. Fuggles went for Golden Kiwi, as the name suggests is made from New Zealand hops, 4 types in fact, which give this straw coloured ale it’s very citrusy flavour, very refreshing and in superb condition as was Citra and Red Kite, Kiwi has a strength of 4.1% and can easily compete with the Oakham pale bitters in the grapefruit hoppiness stakes. Parker was on Pepsi that was nice and clear and very very fizzy, but had no head. A dark pop coming in at bugger all % with a sweetish finish. Parker didn’t look impressed, just sober. We had a little chat with a few Posh fans who immediately went into a tirade of abuse towards the football club formerly known as R&D, If you think I’m typing the names you’re very much mistaken. They were going on about one of the later owners destroying football. We just nodded and went for another ale, Pharp stayed with Red Kite whilst Citra and I went for a favourite of Fuggles Bishop’s Farewell, winner of more awards than you can ‘shake a stick at’. Not quite sure why you would want to ‘shake a stick at’ it but there you go. Perhaps if I went to the foot of our stairs it might make a bit more sense.  Bishop’s is a wonderful premium ale, pale coloured coming in at 4.6%. Hoppy, fruity, bitter, sweet with a dry finish, lovely, could sup this all night given the chance. I’m not sure how Oakham do it but their ales always look incredibly clear, no matter where you buy it, absolutely pristine.

Much to everyone’s astonishment they rang last orders at 6:30pm. There was a collective “whaaattttt” from all in the bar. A minor flurry of activity, but sadly not for us, we already had full glasses, so we drank up and were on our way home by 6:50pm.

Well that’s all the footy in 2015, quite good really, won a league, added a load more goals to our FA cup tally, I don’t think Aston Villa will close the gap this season. We are within touching distance of the play offs, and we had some fantastic pissy-arsey days out watching the Mighty Reds. Happy New Year from the PRATS.

Looking forward to our next away day down to Slough (Beaconsfield) and visiting The White Horse at Hedgerley. Marvellous.

AWASALE LYNN

It’s Boxing Day, headache, indigestion, wind, footy match, more beer. Here we go again off to King’s Lynn for the first time in a while. Just a short journey thankfully, an hour and half tops.

Pharp is very disappointed he spent Christmas Day at home instead of being on board the International Space Station. PHARP passed all the tests to be a Gastronaut, he was able to successfully refill the fuel tanks on a daily basis. Unfortunately, PHARP was unable to let rip in a controlled manner. “There is a time and place” said Russian veteran spaceman Volatily Arsimov, PHARP would just vacate wherever he happened to be floating, he has no emission control whatsoever. We would be at the training camp in the zero gravity chamber, just minding our own business floating about when suddenly Pharp would shoot across the chamber in a matter of seconds; leaving a vapour trail in his wake. Mrs Pharp is not overly happy either as the aftermath of Christmas dinner can be a tad challenging. Turkey, stuffing and in particular brussel sprouts add to the already highly combustible atmosphere. Mrs Pharp is glad to have him go out for the day.

There are quite a few half-decent pubs around, the nearest to the ground has to be the Live & Let Live just a 5 or 6 minute walk from the Walks, with 5 ales and a cider and is Locale accredited. There are a couple of Spoons pubs in the town The Lattice house and the Globe just a few minutes apart but just over 20 minutes walking from the ground.

On the way home we pass by Peterborough which has an enormous choice of pubs but I rather suspect The Oakham Brewery Tap may well be the destination if Citra has his way.

THE SAINTS FORGOT TO MARCH

It was just after 11:00 when Parker arrived at the Fuggles residence, Citra was already on board, and Pharp was last on the pick-up list. We forgot to tell Pharp what time we were picking him up so we had to hang around in Rushden for a bit longer that we would have preferred. Nevertheless, Pharp was on board by 11:30 ish and we were on our way to the town of borrowed bones. I say borrowed, I suspect that St Neot’s remains will never be returned to Cornwall. We were parked up in the Waitrose car park around 12:20pm, rain was in the air and the wind was picking up, that was not a Pharp pun.

The Pig n Falcon is just a few yards away so we were slugging down our first pint very soon after. The Pig ’n’ F have eight ales available, 4 on hand-pump and 4 on gravity. Potbelly’s Best and Beijing Black, Lacons Extra Stout and GKIPA were on hand-pump whilst Batemans Gold, Hopback’s Citra, and Blue Monkeys BG Sips and Ape Ale were all being served direct from the barrel. This is one of those pubs where you just want to stay for a decent amount of time, loads of good ales on tap, even if the décor leaves a lot to be desired. There’s a bit of a ramshackle outside which looks like recycled sheds turned into an outdoor drinking area cum smoking pit, loads of assorted seating and tables. Today it was bloody cold, so not too many outside enjoying the shanty ambience.  The band that had performed in the pub the night before had turned all the radiators off, so needless to say it was just as cold indoors encouraging the teeth to chatter. Nevertheless the temptation to hang about rather than trudge around in the wet and windy weather was strong.

Not the actual list, we forgot to take a photo Doh!

Blue Monkey Brewery’s BG Sips was screaming out at both Citra and me so we had to sample it. This fine pale ale was the first to sell out at the Poppies Halloween Beer festival back in the winter of 2010; we’d just gained a 2-1 win away at Newport, so it brought back fond memories. Parker, ever the adventurer went for a beer from Kettering; Potbelly’s Best whilst Pharp was going for something much darker; the Lacons Extra Stout. All the ales were in good condition if a little on the cold side, the BG Sips is 4% golden pale ale, quite bitter, refreshing and easy drinking. The Best and the Stout being drawn through the hand-pump had tighter heads clinging to the bottom of the glasses. Lacons Extra Stout has a very rich roasted malty taste, naturally dark with strength of 4.5% with a slightly bitter, smooth dry finish. Potbelly Best is a good standard session bitter, chestnut coloured ale at 4% all very nice. Next up for Fuggles and Citra was Batemans Gold, 3.9% golden/blonde ale almost like a lager. Nice and hoppy and with citrus bursting through, quite dry, in good nick. A few more Poppies supporters were now in the pub, the Weebles, the Poppies TV commentators and Fleco popped in for a pint. Luckily for us the landlord also arrived and promptly turned the heating on and the placed warmed up. Citra went to fetch the next ale using his CAMRA card for member’s 40p discount on each pint and came back with Hopback’s Citra, who’d of thought. As you would expect with a beer with this name it was very citrusy and very easy drinking, 4% blonde ale, slightly loose head but still clinging to the glass, perfectly clear, lovely. Pharp was content to sup the stout so had another one. With no real time to go elsewhere we had another pint here, Fuggles went for Blue Monkey’s Ape Ale a powerful 5.4% pale ale with loads of citrusy hops, this ale had won many awards, far too easy to drink considering its strength. Citra had another Citra, naturally. That was it, Parker had sat and watched us all boozing whilst he just had his usual pint punctuated only by nipping outside for a crafty drag on a fag now and again.

It was just a 5 minute drive to the ground; well it would have been had Parker not missed the turn. So we had to drive round a bit before we got there. The ground is now surrounded by houses and shops. When we came here for the first ever game there was a whole lot of open land, with very high curb stones marking out the future road infrastructure, now you have a job to find your way in through the maze of boxes on top of boxes next to even more boxes. It’s a nice set up all the same, although no decent ale in the clubhouse, you can’t have everything I suppose, not even a match day programme, it’s on-line apparently.

The game, well it was a very windy affair which was decided by a super strike, a positively powerful thunderbolt of a header or was it a tap in, was it an own goal, or did Rene’s bootlace actually make contact with the ball, does anybody know? A good turn out by the Poppies faithful who witnessed a battle against the elements and watched their team come out on top.

On the way home we decided to go all the way back to Rushden and go to the Rushden Historical Transport Society bar. This is a gem of a bar located in the old railway station, the whole placed is bedecked with memorabilia, huge enamel signs adorn the walls and 8 hand-pump fill the small bar. There is an old carriage on the platform which is used as the lounge. The Weebles arrived just before us and were just about to down their first pint. Pharp, Citra and I went for Phipps’s IPA, whist Parker had a Woodforde Wherry. The Phipp’s ale was brought back to life about 6 years ago, around 40 years after Grotney’s replaced it with a keg wazz called Special Bitter, god that was awful stuff. The IPA was initially brewed at the Grainstore brewery in Oakham but is now brewed back in Northampton just up the road from the original Brewhouse. Phipps’s IPA is delightful 4.3% golden pale ale, very refreshing with just enough bitterness to quench the thirst, and it was in very good condition, clear as a bell with a tight head. Parker’s Wherry looked just as good. Next up for Fuggles was Church End Brewery’s Woldbane, a light brownish colour with a strength of 4.7%, quite malty and very tasty. It goes without saying the ale was in very good condition that is the norm here at the RHTS bar a former CAMRA National Club of the year winner. Citra had Rudgate Odins Voyage, a deep chestnut coloured ale coming in at 3.7% not his usual style of tipple, he didn’t seem too impressed but I’m sure it was ok. We decided to have just one more each, Citra returned to Phipp’s IPA whilst Fuggles had the stronger Phipp’s Gold Star, 5% golden ale a stronger version of the IPA but perhaps slightly sweeter. Well that was it for the day, or at least we thought it was, for just as we were about to leave a new ale became available. Dark Star Hophead, oh no, Citra and I looked at each other and thought soddit. So we encouraged Parker to take Pharp home who’d both had enough ale for the day and then come back for us, and so he did. Hophead has to be one of our favourite session ales, golden pale in colour, 3.8% in strength, clean and fresh on the palate. Marvellous, a great day rounded off beautifully.

THE OUSE BOOZE

The PRATS make just a short trip to St Neots this weekend which will be the 2^nd of 4 Ouse Booze’s this season. The first was at St Ives a few weeks back in the FAT, we travel to Kings Lynn on Boxing day and then return back to St Ives later in the season to take on the Lilywhites.

There will be a full complement of PRATS on this trip; there is always a good choice of pubs in St Neots. We’ll be parking up at the car park near Waitrose. Here we can start an easy walking circuit of five pubs starting with one of the PRATS favourites the Pig 'n' Falcon with 8 ales to choose from plus a load of ciders.

Just around the corner from the Pig is a Wetherspoons pub the Weeping Ash usually good for decent priced ales and snaffle. Next port of call will be a sister pub to the pig, the Hog & Partridge with about 4 ales on tap, last time I was swilling them down in this pub it was called the Lord Russell and if I recall it was predominantly Batemans ales on tap.

Along and around the corner is The Olde Sun which was the local Hunts Camra branch Mild/Dark ales pub of the year champion in 2014 so well worth a visit. They have 5 ales available here, usually serving Woodforde Wherry which is always a nice pint.

The final pub on the circuit is the Coach House  with 5 ales.

I understand there may be ale at the ground, maybe our favourite Bloody Doombar, never mind.

On way home, well who knows, we will be dropping Pharp back home in Rushden so maybe the Historical Transport Museum or the Green Dragon in Higham, you can always get Oakham ales in here, but will be mobbed if there’s any footy on the telly.

CENTURION'S GUARD HOLD FIRM

Off we go to the Cotswolds although with a change of plan as Parker had to go into work, so we left the Britannia in Northampton at 3:00pm. Not before we had a chance to sample their delights, sadly there weren’t any. One good thing is that they only had two boring ales to choose from instead of the usual 4 boring ales. The only stuff on offer were Greene King’s IPA and Abbot Ale, oh dear. Citra and Fuggles suffered great derision from Mrs Fuggles who had popped in for a quick gulp down of something orange. We decided to have a half of GKIPA, yes a half, much to the aghast of Mrs Fuggles who persisted in generally taking the piss. Needless to say the good lady was sent packing back home. To be honest it’s not a bad pint of half pint, it was in decent condition so once Mrs Fuggles had buggered off we had another half. Parker arrived before Satan tempted us with another and we were soon on our way. By the time we were driving though the leafy lanes and over the undulating hills of the Cotswolds it was almost dusk, so we didn’t get to appreciate what the scenery was all about. I’m sure it was lovely; we spotted a few pubs that might serve us well on our way home and made mental notes accordingly.

We arrived in Cirencester at around 5:00pm, duly parked up and made our hasty 10 minute trudge to the first pub, The Wheatsheaf, a very pleasant establishment with inordinate amounts of footy memorabilia across all the walls, programmes, shirts, you name it, it was hanging on a wall somewhere near us. A good selection of ales on 5 hand-pumps, although 2 had the same ale on Butcombe bitter, also available was Wickwar Falling Star, Dorset Brewery Tom Browns and Marstons Christmas Pudding. Citra went for Butcombe, we had this on the Paulton trip so we knew all about it. Parker tried Tom Brown and I went for Falling Star. Tom Browns is an amber ale coming in at 4%, good condition with a reasonably tight head, slightly bitter but perhaps more sweet than bitter, hint of toffee, lovely, well Parker didn’t complain. The Falling Star is a refreshing premium bitter golden ale at 4.2%. Quite drinkable without bursting the palate, perhaps more pleasant than outstanding, ok though. All ales were in good condition and well kept. We were nearing the bottom of the glasses when both Parker and Citra starting talking about the next potential port of call, the Arkells owned Brewers Arms. Both whipped out their phones to plan the route, little did they know it was just 100 yards away across the road. Using all the skills they attained during acquisition of their Duke of Edinabucket awards. They eventually managed to find the pub on the phone maps but couldn’t quite establish if we would be turning left or right when we moved on from the Wheatsheaf. As it happened we came out of the pub and turned left and crossed the road. We reached the Brewers Arms in a matter seconds later, we peered inside and didn’t really like what we saw, nice enough on the outside and on the inside I suppose but there was no one in the bar other than a lad playing pool. A glance at the bar we could make out 3 hand-pumps but only one adorned a pump-clip and that was 3B. Oh dear, not for us, maybe we wouldn’t be drinking Arkells tonight, quite disappointing really.

Undaunted, we trudged on for just a couple of minutes when we came across the Twelve Bells. What a delightful brewpub, home of the Ciren Brewery. 4 hand-pumps, guess what, you’ve guessed bloody Doombar was there to contaminate the bar, nevertheless, Cottage Brewery’s Scrooged and Ciren ales Bells Bitter and Best Mate improved things considerably. Parker was now on the coffee, whilst Citra and I went for the house brews Bells Bitter. A nice enough ale but not a show stopper, fairly typical session ale for the locals to knock back, it was ok with a strength of 3.8% and in good nick, nice and clear with a loose head just about clinging to the glass. We thought we’d better try the other house brew Best Mate, there was a bit more depth to this ale, more rounded with malty roasted flavours, decent bitterness quite pleasant actually, a dark amber ale and very clear with a loose head. A nice pub with food a very important part of the turnover, a glowing open fire to warm the punters on a cold winter’s night. A couple of other PRATS went to the pub just after we left, Marshall, Petit Chemise, Betweenthesticks and another chap.

We were now pacing out way back towards the car, but first we had to find the Marlborough Arms, we missed it when we first arrived even though we knew it was close to where we the car parked. Low and behold it was across the road from where we’d parked up and what a fantastic pub, bustling with after work ale guzzlers. The sign on the door had us enter the pub with some caution ‘Swings Both Ways’ I looked at both Parker and Citra, “what do you reckon”, I asked, “Bugger it” Citra replied. The range of ales was superb, 8 hand-pumps adorning the rather hectic bar with just one chap beavering away trying his best the serve everyone. At the end of the bar was a wall of cider boxes, not sure how many there was but the selection looked good for cider lovers. The 8 ales looked very interesting, North Cotswolds Windrush; we had that during our visit to Stratford. Box Steam Piston Broke we’d seen somewhere on our travels this season already, however we hadn’t seen Going Conker before, but being a dark chestnut ale and with Parker not drinking that was given a wide birth. Sarah Hughes Ruby Mild is always a beauty at a whopping 6% but not tonight. The Cheltenham Brewery or is it Battledown? I’m not sure which, as both names adorn the pump clips, nevertheless the Porter looked interesting but none of us are Porter drinkers, however, Natural Selection was selected, naturally by Citra. I went for Yubberton Goldie and also picked up half of the Heck brewery Shankar IPA. Parker had a coke. Natural Selection is a 4.2% golden ale, spicy and hoppy with slight citrus finish, Citra would enjoy this. Yubberton Goldie is a lovely golden ale with a strength of 4%, quite hoppy and very refreshing and in superb condition as are all three ales. We had a half pint of the Heck Brewery’s Shankar IPA as it’s a whopping 5.9%, both Citra and I had a sup, quite sweet, a bit like drinking barley sugar with a very hoppy yet dry finish, lovely. What a great pub the Marlborough is, the walls were adorned with all sorts of breweriana, if we come back to Cirencester next season I think we’ll just set up camp here, not a pun about swinging both ways I might add, and so on to the Corinium Stadium.

We arrived at around 7:15pm only to find that the Poppies team bus had arrived late and the kick off was now 8:00pm. A decent set-up with a new bar and events room, all very smart, easy to be envious. The ground was clean and tidy, although if you ever wondered where the Berlin wall went, it’s here all around the ground concrete wall/fencing even in front of the terrace at the top end of the ground, what’s that all about. The game, well, we huffed and we puffed, even when the Centurions had a man sent off it made no difference whatsoever, a bit like a eunuch in a brothel, no penetration. Whereas the Centurions battled hard throughout and earnt their 1-0 victory.

It was time to go home and drawing on our mental notes we advised the disgruntled Poppies flock towards the Village Pub in Barnsley. Definitely a swanky pub for the well-heeled, the clientele looked as though they had a few bob.  All the tables had enormous candles flickering away and most set for diners. 3 hand-pumps all serving local-ish ales, 2 from Hook Norton, Lion and Greedy Goose and another from North Cotswolds Shagweaver, the name of the latter drew us in so that’s what we had. A lovely 4.5% pale ale brewed with 3 New Zealand hops, this would prove to be a delightfully refreshing tasty hoppy ale. By now the Poppies horde had arrived scaring off the locals, in all 10 grumpy fans turned up, Marshall, Petit Chemise, Betweenthesticks, and the other chap. Pharp blew in, then in came Flopper, (no he hadn’t walked there), with King Edward Shorty, one of the clubs common taters. Citra was getting all excited; he asked the barmaid if any of the local Barnsley celebrities frequented the pub. She hadn’t got a clue and asked which celebrities he was referring to “why no other than Michael Parkinson and Umpire Dickie Bird of course, two of Barnsley’s most famous sons” Citra proclaimed. Oh dear, time for home.

GUZZLING BY THE CHURN

Off the PRATS go to the Cotswolds, a jolly little saunter down to Cirencester; an ancient roman town sitting on the River Churn. I thought I better put that bit in else you wouldn’t have a clue what the title meant. This may well be the Poppies first visit here; I certainly can’t remember being here before. It’s an early start as Parker is on holiday so we’ll be way by around 2:30pm, we should be parked up just after 4:00pm.

There are a few Arkell’s pubs in town, it’s been a while since we supped some of their ales, so looking forward to downing a couple especially if they have Kingsdown Ale on anywhere and for the lager boys they brew their own 1843 craft lager. One such Arkell’s pub is the Bees Knees, with the ground being out of town this may be one of the closest pubs, about 5 minute drive, 30 minute walk; unless of course your name is Flopper, he’ll walk it in about 15 minutes.

Other Arkell’s pubs in the town centre include The Talbot Inn, The Brewers Arms and The Golden Cross.

Ciren Ales Brewery

However, there is a brewpub in town, Twelve Bells is home to Ciren Ales brewery, looks interesting, has to be worth a visit. Another interesting pub which boasts a good selection of 8 ales is the Marlborough Arms I notice they sell Windrush here; Pharp may not get to Cirencester in time to compete with this fortunately.

So it’s looks as though we’re going to have a decent evening out here in the Cotswolds, looking at photos on the Centurions website it’s looks as though they may have a decent ale available as well. With a longish drive home, getting another pint in may be one too many, we’ll have to see.