tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post1979665800017549484..comments2024-03-28T17:11:52.333+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: Life outside the bubbleCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-52828735004546207772017-12-05T12:41:05.927+00:002017-12-05T12:41:05.927+00:00The same could be said of many micropubs, and as a...The same could be said of many micropubs, and as a result both can be very male-skewed - but the good taps and the good micropubs manage to create enough of a "vibe" that people come for the atmosphere and not necessarily the beer - and a big clue that is happening is when the gender ratio becomes more equal. <br /><br />I guess part of it is that Offbeat is run by a woman, but even with the disadvantage of being in a trading estate, she's managed to create something with a bit of "vibe" that isn't just about the beer, in the same way as say the Red Willow and Deva taps (but not Sandiway or Tatton/Mobberley although the latter are more "brewery openings" than "taps"). I guess that despite the location, Offbeat has more of the spirit of a brewpub than the usual afterthought "few chairs in the corner behind the fermenter" brewery bar.<br /><br />I can only point out that my I''ve never persuaded my non-beer-geeky other half to go to a beer festival and she actively refuses to go in certain CAMRA-favourite pubs and micropubs, but she will happily go to the odd trading estate and one of her favourite drinking holes is a town-centre brewery tap. So she's my antenna for whether a drinking establishment "puts the emphasis on beer at the expense of everything else" - and it's not just a case of "pubs good, brewery taps bad". Vibe is very hard to pin down, but you know it when you see it.qqnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-84002550641825659672017-12-04T18:04:23.016+00:002017-12-04T18:04:23.016+00:00Yes, but brewery taps put the emphasis on the beer...Yes, but brewery taps put the emphasis on the beer at the expense of everything else, and to my mind can't be regarded as any kind of substitute for proper pubs.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-26872289980658661542017-12-03T19:19:38.260+00:002017-12-03T19:19:38.260+00:00Nah, modern Ashford is too London-facing - and old...Nah, modern Ashford is too London-facing - and old Ashford was a market town, the focus of the surrounding countryside. Crewe is neither of those things, it's its own place, keeping its head above water thanks to Bentley and the railway without obviously thriving like much of the southeast. In Kent terms, if you stripped out the commuters from Tonbridge and blended it 2:1 with Dover (stripped of the immigrants and visible deprivation) you''d be getting somewhere close.<br /><br />The rapid growth makes Ashford a funny place, I think it was over 50,000 population before it got a cinema and it must be the biggest town in Britain without a brewery - although Chapel Down/Curious will rectify that in the next few months.<br /><br />Crewe's kinda interesting, as it's arguably the focus of the Cheshire crafterati - it's at the southern end of the arc that runs through Congleton and Macclesfield of "borderland" between Boddies/Robbies land, M&B/BanksGreenalls/Walkers and the Burton brewers, which means it's always been a bit neglected by the regionals and had a thriving brewing/freehouse scene as a result. Congleton and Macc have 9 breweries & 2 cuckoos in a population of ~35,000, which must be one of the bigger brewing hotspots in the country. That's allowed a bit more diversity in the local drinking scene, and if you're drinking in somewhere like Hops then you become a bit more aware of the wider beer world than if you only drink in pubs that serve Unicorn. <br /><br />It doesn't hurt that the only significant "trad" brewery around Crewe - Woodlands - went under and the only one left is Offbeat which is rather more forward-looking. It's only 200yds from the Borough Arms and would have been open if you were there on the Thursday. It's interesting, there was a time when I would have loved the Borough Arms, it's a classic tickers' pub with 10+ beers from around the UK. Now I look at that kind of lineup and think "why should I pay a premium to the middleman to store the beer badly" - I'd far rather go to the industrial estate down the road and drink a smaller range of more interesting beer, fresh from the brewery. And I think SWMBO would feel more at home in the industrial estate than the Borough Arms, she can find those old-school pubs oppressively "blokey" whereas brewery taps are more egalitarian.<br /><br />qqnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-84073849335568449402017-12-03T16:45:06.338+00:002017-12-03T16:45:06.338+00:00I grew up and spent my formative years just outsid...I grew up and spent my formative years just outside Ashford. There's little of merit left in the town centre, as most of the decent pubs were demolished in the 1970's, to make way for a totally unnecessary ring-road.<br /><br />You could probably count the remaining pubs on one hand!Paul Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678639237696546268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-68879409154808516672017-12-03T09:20:35.195+00:002017-12-03T09:20:35.195+00:00Crewe, described by Cheshire-born author Alan Garn...Crewe, described by Cheshire-born author Alan Garner, as "the ultimate reality", says it all really. Totally agree with him, and that`s from somebody from Wigan....Michael Henchard (aka Hardy)noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-88722601232098386932017-12-03T08:11:54.362+00:002017-12-03T08:11:54.362+00:00Cookie lives in a part of Stockport no more salubr...Cookie lives in a part of Stockport no more salubrious than mine. <a href="https://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/Article/2017/11/28/Group-of-teenagers-smash-pub-windows-and-beat-up-customer" rel="nofollow">But he may have a point</a> - suspicion has been pointed at the Beard Liberation Front angry about the lack of real ale!Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-58374786703696493882017-12-03T08:09:24.905+00:002017-12-03T08:09:24.905+00:00Lewes is a historic town with a considerable touri...Lewes is a historic town with a considerable tourist trade, so not really the same as Crewe. The closest equivalent in your part of the world would probably be Ashford, which also used to have a locomotive works.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-74995572545229475712017-12-02T21:30:15.247+00:002017-12-02T21:30:15.247+00:00I take it you're from the well-heeled, leafy l...I take it you're from the well-heeled, leafy lanes of the Cheshire stockbroker belt, then Cookie?<br /><br />It doesn't quite go with your hard, working-class northern persona, though.Paul Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678639237696546268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-78602198016628559142017-12-02T21:27:15.062+00:002017-12-02T21:27:15.062+00:00An enjoyable account of Crewe and its pubs Mudge....An enjoyable account of Crewe and its pubs Mudge. It’s always good to learn about towns which aren’t exactly on the tourist trail, especially if they turn up the odd hidden gem.<br /><br />It’s a little like the trip I made to Lewes, last weekend. Whilst I definitely wouldn’t describe Lewes as a workaday town, it’s still capable of providing some real surprises; providing you step way from the well trodden tourist parts.<br /><br />ps. No sign of any “bleeding-edge crafterati” despite Lewes’s proximity to Brighton.<br />Paul Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678639237696546268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-48535070681267049732017-12-02T14:35:12.118+00:002017-12-02T14:35:12.118+00:00Which we visited and mentioned in the post. But I ...Which we visited and mentioned in the post. But I always think places like that fall between two stools - not really a place to relax with a drink, and if you're buying bottles, do you really want drinkers offering unsolicited opinions on your choice?Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-63001354216396912942017-12-02T12:52:14.818+00:002017-12-02T12:52:14.818+00:00And even Crewe now has its little place in the bub...And even Crewe now has its little place in the bubble with the excellent Beer Dock offie and microbar...it's everywhere now.Reading Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-62840533473816596642017-12-02T10:53:02.581+00:002017-12-02T10:53:02.581+00:00It's good to escape the crime riddled dangerou...It's good to escape the crime riddled dangerous pubs of stuckpit once in a while, I would guess.Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-9081510620417344762017-12-02T09:01:41.672+00:002017-12-02T09:01:41.672+00:00It's just like that py chap said, Craft is eve...It's just like that py chap said, Craft is everywhere now Mudgie; Meptune Aegir, Bombardier AND Chestnut Mild. Anything is possible.<br /><br />"Three and a half pints came to a very reasonable £8.37 – presumably the cask beers are £2.39 a pint" - hope you did that in your head.<br /><br />Crewe isn't bad, the pubs are lively enough. As you say the town itself lacks really good architecture. MT<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com