Tag: pubs

#365daysofbiking Warm welcome

 

December 27th – I returned via Aldershawe and Wall, for no other reason than to avoid the grind of Pipe Hill. As I was coming through Wall I noticed how warm and cosy looking the Trooper pub/restaurant looked.

A pub that was closed for a while about a decade ago, it’s rebirth is a real success story and one I thought I’d never see: but it’s gone from strength to strength and always seems busy when I pass.

It’s a wonderful, welcoming landmark at night.

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July 1st – Half the year gone already. Where on earth did that go?

I was unwell after eating something I shouldn’t (Life with IBS often means interrogating people who cook for you about what ingredients they use, but sometimes, you feel embarrassed and eat anyway). The pumpkin seeds in a casserole from a friend the night before were really causing me hell, and I didn’t get out until early evening.

I met family at a country pub in Longdon for a lazy, louche, sunny Sunday evening social, riding there and back. The countryside is showing well at the moment with ripening crops and the greens going dark and maturing.

I particularly liked the lithe, stripy puss I saw in Hammerwich. – he was definitely the neighbourhood watch!

June 9th – I carried on from Clifton on a weary, hot but enjoyable ride around Netherseal, Lullington, Edingale and Croxall. The countryside was showing itself beautifully, and the willows over the Seal Brook are still timeless.

One small complaint, though. Country pubs, that people tend to drive or cycle to: I don’t drink when riding for the same reason I wouldn’t if driving, but I do like a nice alcohol free beer. So why not stock it?

Nothing worse than sugary, sickly syrup parading as a soft drink when you’re really looking for something cool and bitter to take the edge off.

Country pubs: Look after your nominated drivers and responsible cyclists and you’ll get repeat custom!

February 19th  – This one has been puzzling me for a while. 

In Shelfield, theres a backstreet pub called The Four Crosses. Most nights on my way home from work I pass it, it’s lights glowing warmly in the darkness. It’s a good pub, and always was, with fans across the borough. 

In recent years, this pub shut for a while, and then, after a brief planning dispute, reopened, with the rest of the pub being converted into flats or bedsits. The outer walls of the building were reclad, and it lives on.

Except for one thing. There is no sign. Nothing to tell the unfamiliar passer-by this is a pub. 

It has been like this for 12 months now. It can’t be good for business.

It worries me.

February 2nd – It had been a busy day where I’d headed everywhere at top speed (well, as top as I get at the moment, which is still less than my normal average) and it was fairly late when I came home, then headed to Stonnall on an errand.

The weather was cold again, the woman on the train had been right. The moon was hidden behind cloud and is was quite dark for this point in the moon’s cycle. Coming back up Main Street in Stonnall, I couldn’t resist a quite shot of the old swan, but it didn’t turn out how I hoped, the shot of the Shire Oak and junction, currently operating on temporary traffic lights came out much better.

I’m loving this Canon camera – I really am – but I must make time to read the manual. Something I don’t yet understand is making taking night shots a bit of a lottery…

January 9th – In Kings Hill, after many years of dereliction, I note someone has been working on the former Scott Arms pub. Like it’s namesake in Kingstanding, the once popular house had fallen out of favour and closed some time ago, becoming nothing more than a blot on a changing urban landscape.

This pub used to be rammed lunchtimes when there were big factories nearby – Servis and Exidoor to name but two; but in these days of workplace alcohol bans and with the workshops now housing, there was no business to keep this pub going.

I’d wager it’s future is probably flats, or as a house of multiple occupation, looking at the way the upstairs windows have been fitted. Whatever it is, I doubt the Scott Arms will ever serve ale again.

December 4th – Returning home, I had to visit a mate in Shire Oak, and on the way noted that the problems with pooling water at Anchor Bridge were bad again, after a fair few yeas of being trouble free.

I also noted that the Anchor pub was looking very welcoming these days, with a well-lit exterior that really makes it look warm, cosy and inviting.

No time today, sadly; maybe another day.

July 2nd – Out on a long ride I was sad to note that the Meynell Ingram Arms in Hoar Cross – refurbished at huge cost after a previous closure – is still empty and gently decaying.

I thought it had closed relatively recently, but it closed without explanation in 2014, and has been vacant ever since. The last refurbishment was extensive, and must have cost a lot: outdoor ‘dining pods’ and other gimmicks apparently failed to pull the punters when perhaps more concentration on service and quality would have been more beneficial. A look at Tripadvisor is informative.

The establishment has had a chequered history and it’s current ownership and any plans for it are unknown.

This is a lovely country pub in a beautiful valley that would make an ideal real ale house with decent, basic food, and it’s so sad it can’t find an owner who loves it.

A real shame.

March 31st – It was a fairly decent day, but an appointment in Birmingham meant riding my bike was impractical, so the only bike action I saw was an errand into Stonnall just after nightfall.

Stonnall, amazingly, still manages to support two pubs within very close proximity – the Old Swan and the Royal Oak. Both are decent houses and popular, and it’s remarkable they get the business they do in what is, effectively, a small village.

Long may they continue.

March 27th – Over at Bentley Bridge, near Darlaston Green, mixed feelings as the former Boat Inn pub is cleared for demolition.

Derelict for years, long-time site of a car wash, the building had been long since targeted by arsonists, flytippers and ne’er do wells. The Boat had outlived it’s useful life, and the last beer was supped here years ago. But it’s very sad to see a pub lost, and in an industrial area with loads of vacant land already, it’s hard to see what, if anything, might replace this building.