432a. Fri 22/6/18: The Smithfield, Luton Airport

Beer: Fullers London Pride (bottled) 4.7%

Waiting for a plane to Edinburgh. Long weekend with old friends coming up. As is de rigeur for airport waits, pint is partaken AM. Attendant at front of house helpfully informed us that if we just wanted a drink we could either take a table or stand at the bar. Very grateful for that advice as I'd be lost otherwise. Only handpump on was some Greene King ale so plumped for bottle of LP. I'm flying with James, a long standing friend from VI form days. Some excitement at the bar as a can of beer spontaneously ejected beer onto everyone from a high shelf.

401. Sat 28/4/18: The Bricklayers Arms. 16-18 High Town Road, Luton

Beer: Cotleigh Barn Owl 4.5%

LUTON TOWN 3 FOREST GREEN ROVERS 1

Hoorah! The Town are going up!

We knew this, of course, last week – so the atmosphere at the ground is celebratory and good humoured, but not ecstatic.

The celebrations at the end went on a bit. The pitch invasion at the final whistle caused rancour amongst supporters who respected the request to stay put for the time being. Of course fans should keep off the pitch until given permission (so the players and their families could complete their lap of honour) and maybe they deserved the abuse from the stands, but it’s not a great thing to see or hear. Once the pitch was cleared the whole extended awarding of the runners up trophy was way too long and contrived.

I like a good pitch invasion, me… possibly not as much as I did when I was a kid; and these things are best done with joyous spontaneity – not held back until all the players (and all their children) have completed their lap of honour.

We finally got on the pitch, when they said that we could, and applauded the lads up in the Directors’ Box… but it was nice to get out of the ground and back down the pub.

We managed to get a table at the Brickies – possibly because most of the other fans were still at the ground, probably listening to the speech by the kit washer’s apprentice. We sit, rather drained and befuddled, and contemplate possible away trips next season. Sunderland and Bradford maybe?

 

406. Fri 4/5/18: The Crown, Luton

Beer: Greene King Band of Brothers 4.1%

Aged Market Hill boozer, currently under bored (though not negligent) GK stewardship. Aesthetically it's fine, although the early evening clientele seem a little lairy… but that’s probably any town centre pub that one’s reasonably unfamiliar with.

It’s a big pub. I sit at a table near the entrance. It’s sticky.

The beer is a passable GK stab at a pale’n’hoppy IPA. It’s OK… I’m ill-convinced (of the style, and the brewer).

Two mature fellows enter the pub. I catch a solitary line of conversation “it’s a f*ckin’ waste of time innit?” He may have a point. I don’t fancy another pint of BOB. I’m considering The Castle or The Red Lion – but going home seems more appealing.

A sandwich board outside advertises the fact that the pub will shortly be screening the Royal Wedding and the FA Cup Final on the same day (Saturday 19/518). Past that, on the seating under the Rotary Club clock, what looks like a homeless old boy (and/or a p*ssed old b*stard) is getting hassled by a couple of coppers. It’s grim street theatre; folk from the pub congregate around the doorway to get a better look while they have a fag. I take pictures through the window of the scene juxtaposed against the Royal Wedding ad.

Market Hill evenings have something of a quietly sinister edge. It’s like Hogarth’s Gin Lane in Luton sometimes… it’s probably not quite that bad at the moment (though it certainly isn’t Beer Street convivial).

164. Tue 12/9/17: The Gardeners Call, Luton

Beer: Marstons EPA 3.6%

Sneaky pre-match pint in the newly refurbished GC. It’s alright in here – they’ve got ale in again (just the one, such as it is) – which is a good start for a latterly run down local, but one which has had relatively recent cause to trouble The Good Beer Guide. The refurbishment seems to have run to a good few pots of paint – particularly outside where GK green has turned blue; there’s lots of orange in the doorway too – are they looking to tempt the LT crowd? Not sure, they’ll have to improve the beer selection.

They’ve also made a stage area in the fireplace (there’s a PA set up), and are advertising weekend entertainment – I think we’ll have to wait for the Robbie Williams tribute; beforehand it’s Harmonica Lewinsky, “fun cockney act”… and all on my doorstep. They’re also looking to start a ladies dart team. It’s heartening. Having lived over the road for a couple of decades, I can remember this place as a thriving community local and it’ll be nice if it can be that again.

The Tuesday evening clientele is small but noisy. I feel disinclined to whip out the DSLR and start taking some surreptitious snaps on my phone instead: although, when the couple on the nearby table move on I get the camera out. On the way out I’m recognised by a local (possibly a neighbour) “do you still drink down the Bricklayers?”

“Yes, just on my way down there now”. He goes on to name a few regulars, most of whom I recognise/remember, and I can mostly confirm whether they still frequent the boozer. The chat moves on to the match tonight and the debacle at the weekend, and involves the barlady who is wearing a Luton Town sweatshirt.
It’s too far away to suggest as a pre/post match pint pub and, as suggested, the beer selection isn’t special… but The Gardeners does seem to be looking up.

480d. Thu 20/9/18: Augustiner Brauhaus, Charlottenstrasse, Berlin

Beer: Augustiner Helles Lager 5.2%

Another staple of the German drinking venue is the Brauhaus, which draw tourists and locals who yearn for the juxtaposition of seriously good draft beer and appalling, stodgy food. The Brauhauses (Bräuhausen???) are not really pubs but eating establishments in the main, which I usually tend to avoid, but I make an exception today as;

i) it is lunchtime,

ii) Augustiner is one of my favourite beers, and

iii) I am hot and thirsty.

My Spätzle is gooey and the onions atop it, inedible. Vast lumps of meat are put away by everyone else. Feels like a school canteen. (Albeit, a school canteen in an impossibly scenic location.)

472. Friday 7/9/18: The Wigmore Arms, Luton

Beer: Wychwood Hobgoblin 4.5%

At 06:25pm the place is packed. The clientele is 90% male, in a 20-50 age group, local and loud (although there are a few from the offices next door, with their TUI lanyards – lads and lasses, early twenties… loud). It must seem boisterously convivial to the folk assembled, but I don’t recognise any of ‘em. I used to be borderline regular in this place… maybe the Friday night crowd differs from that of the comparatively laid back weekend afternoon locals. Anyway, it’s very early – and some folk in here are well into their cups.

Good luck to ‘em.

The one relatively quiet spot is in the dining area, where no one is dining. Instead, on a table at the back, a nuclear family are sat. As I make my way to a nearby vacant table, the bloke starts berating his missus.

Back at the bar, the barstaff all seem very young and very tattooed. The lad who served me can’t be twenty yet. His arms are covered in individual little tatts – the selection appears somewhat arbitrary, the fecklessly bored choices of a child.

What Steph and I call “the top table” in the pub is higher than the others, and routinely reserved for regulars. Again, I recognise nobody. Someone spills a pint of San Miguel all over it. Everyone cheers.

My Hobgoblin is alright, over chilled maybe. The ale selection this evening is pretty uninspiring. It’s this or the ubiquitous GKIPA.

Autumn is coming on, low evening sunlight streams into the pub; blinding some, and affording my glass an attractive light – which my dubious photography skills largely fail to capture.

18. Fri 24/3/17: The Bricklayers Arms, Hightown Road, Luton

Beer: Wantsum Bouclair 4.5%, Flipside Random Toss 4.4%

Out: AJK, Leighton, Steve

Not every evening down the pub is going to be enlightening, and this was one wasn’t particularly. Discussion revolved around the Knockouts rehearsal of Wednesday night, which produced some decent tunes, and potential stage apparel for the band to wear at potential gigs. KO trousers could be made up, and made available as the only thing available on the merch’ stall (we tend to sell bits of crap from a suitcase). My thoughts are of a nice embroidered polo (as opposed to polo necked) shirt – though L8s is adamant that the preferred logo be of a mod/ska man (like off of Two Tone records) kissing a pair of balls, over the legend “Kiss the balls”. Steve arrives late and leaves early.

The beer is decent. I can’t remember. I wrote the unlikely Wantsum BOUCLAIR in caps in my notebook – but can’t find any mention of it on their website. I moved onto the Flipside quite early… and think that’s the one pictured.

340. Wed 14/3/18: El Serrallo, Cádiz

Beer: San Miguel 5.0%

We watch the second half of the football (Barcelona 2-0 Chelsea) in this bar, a couple of doors down and nearer the fountain in Plaza Mentidero.

It’s a San Miguel bar, which is nice. Steph, untypically, has been moaning about Cruzcampo minutes earlier… frankly though, there are odd times when even this beer starts going down quite nicely after the first couple. This seems like one of those nights.

Messi scores again.

Clientele, made up of aged old fellas, sat on round tables at the end of the bar where the telly is, murmur muted appreciation. I’m bored of this meaningless megla-millionaire football.

They all disappear as soon as the match ends, but we sit and discuss relative values of Cádiz compared to Seville. It seems decidedly more laid back here, which is nice. I’m not entirely sure we’ll be coming back soon – but it’s a lovely place.

 

485. Fri 21/9/18: The White House, Luton

Beer: Exmoor Gold 4.5%

Around 5:30pm, and I was planning on getting the bus from Park Square to Markyate, to go to The Local micropub – and from there, using the Centrebus service, to Dunstable and back to Luton. There’s a £4.10 day ticket – I’d seen it advertised (see #457). Bargain. But… no, the driver informs, I couldn’t do that trip on a day ticket… I might be able to do it on a “Hip hop” ticket, let’s have a look… no, Markyate’s out of range. The driver is helpful and accommodating, eager to find me a ticket – but in the end can only suggest three singles totaling over £9. I’m also conscious that the queue behind is eager to pass the obstacle to their getting homeward bound that I’ve become. I thank the driver for his assistance, and tell him I’ll be giving the trip a miss. Next time – a simple return to Markyate…

Back in Luton – I meander somewhat aimlessly, get a pasty at Don Millers, and wander on to the White House.

 

Read previous reports on fluctuating feelings on the Wetherspoon estate, and the JDWWH in particular. It’s typically post-work busy here now – there clearly are still folk working in Luton town centre… they’re probably all LBC.

The service is pretty unexceptional, the beer is reasonably good. It’s a one pint visit – until I dig into my bag and pull out Boak and Bailey’s Gambrinus Waltz, the story of the rise and fall of Bavarian and Bohemian lager beer in Blighty from the late nineteenth century until the outbreak of the Great War. It’s an essay rather than a book – but a decent read. The White House, I’d suggest, mostly ‘cause one is usually here on one’s own, is a decent reading pub.

Anyway, that means it becomes a three pint visit, which allows plenty of time to finish the pamphlet.

491c. Tue 2/10/18: Beerhouse Brewery, Funchal, Portugal

Beer: Madeira Beerhouse Weissbeer ?%

Second visit of the holidays. Christine didn't want to eat so we got a quick taxi
down to the front and stopped here for a couple of drinks. I went for the inhouse-brewed Weissbeer this time and it was okay. I couldn't find anywhere its ABV, sorry, but I guess it's 4%. They brew it right in the bar/restaurant as you can see from the pics of the bright shiny mash tun and fermenting vessels.

Puts my own home brew equipment in a bad light (big saucepan and a plastic bucket). We got served the free samples of the Coral Stout again, have they got a surplus to get rid of? They were selling the cute tiny glasses they serve the samples in at €2.50 a pop - I bought two and may use them to serve a shot of whisky instead. On the way back up the hill to our hotel we pass the Madeira Casino. A rather strange building that looks very 70s sci-fi. I always call it the "Logan's Run" temple where everyone who reaches 30 goes to die.

487a. Fri 28/9/18: The Bricklayers Arms, Luton

Beer: Portobello Carnival Pale Ale 4.5%
A rather pedestrian night in The Bricklayers. Suits me and TPK fine, until the conversation and craic at the bar cut through, then rapidly gets a little overwhelming. As it can do at times.

PS is out, trying to round people up for The Bear Club. We decide, instead, to hit either The Great Northern, The George or The Wheelies, depending on which one looks less bad. PS advises the band on at The Bear has 'funk' in their name, but - surmises PS - 'they're not a funk band'.

402. Sun 29/4/18: The Terrace Bar, Lord’s Cricket Ground, London

Beer: Marston’s Pedigree 4.5%

Middlesex v Glamorgan, day three.

It’s freezing at Lord’s, but the brand spanking new Pelham Restaurant in the Warner Stand is open to (non-dining) members. In fact there’s no dining at all – chairs and tables are unceremoniously stacked up, free for folk to come over and plonk them in front of the windows. It’s all quite odd in a part of the stand which seems to have been built with an eye to barring all but MCC members and their chums who can afford to pay £££s for a posh meal – in a space that used to be a public bar (albeit in a stand only open to members). Not today though. Instead, there’s a few dozen people up here – some eating their own packed lunches… all reasonably chaotic, suitably civilised; but quiet… pin drop quiet.

The Terrace Bar is one (and maybe two) levels down in the innards of the new stand. It’s new and functional, minimalist and cold. It’s clearly not made for these quiet county matches – and maybe it’ll be more charming during test matches. I personally doubt that.

Anyway, they’re serving Pedigree in recyclable plastic beakers: they cost a pound extra, but you get that back if you remember to take your empty cup back to the bar. Naturally, I forgot to do that.

382. Fri 30/3/18: The Black Horse, Luton

Beer: Pheasantry Aurora 4.8%

There’s lots and time and effort gone into The Black Horse – and into events like this. This time round, landlord Chris has set a dozen or more casks in the beer garden, and has spent time and money on pretty elaborate festival menus.

We’ve become pre-match Saturday afternoon regulars recently, and some of the older beer bore Town fans are holding court in the middle of the pub. We find a space near the stage, near the back, nearer the festival barrels out in a beer tent in the garden. Decent though the beer selection is, the evening clientele make it difficult to enjoy it. Without wanting (but doubtless failing) to sound like I’d ideally like to see the gentrification of every pub we visit, one does feel this pub deserves better patrons than it seems to attract now. It’s difficult to imagine there’s much enthusiasm for the beer festival among much of the crowd in tonight.

It’s a pity. We stay for one – and head back for the Brickies.

304. Thursday 15/2/18: The Bear Club. Mill Yard, 24A Guildford Street, Luton

Beer: Leighton Buzzard Smokin’ Angel 5.0%

Although Steph has deigned to accompany me to the latest Slow Night – it does seem quieter than normal. We put that down to it being half term, and the opening night of the Luton Beer Festival in Hightown.

CJ along too, as is a young fellow from the Vandalism Begins at Home fanzine. There’s issues of VB@H knocking about, there’s issues of Clod knocking about, conversation knocks about who does your printing, how many pages… fonts (probably)… it's Editor chat, largely beyond me.

I tentatively dip my toe into the DJ role again. That involves picking those tracks off my ipod least likely to offend, retain the ambiance, but being just a little bit different. My selections break all those rules – punk rocker that I am – immersing those few present into bored bemusement: the Alabama Sacred Harp Singers off of the Anthology of American Folk. Afterwards I attempt lifting the mood with a bit of Jacques Dutronc (doing his barnstorming “responsible man” bit) but it’s too little too late.

We leave a little bit after CJ, and a little bit before the Slow Night raffle.