Visited 14th February 2010.
It's back to the car and a short drive down the hill to the seafront. We find an expensive car park and start to search on foot for our next target. The first thing we find is a much cheaper car park! Still, we know we're in the right area but we must find it quickly as the girls want pudding! Whoops, they get side tracked by the shops. I put it to them that it really was time we to the pub for some toffee pudding while forgetting to mention that England had been playing Italy for some time now. Eventually we made it and I was able to sit with my pint of of Silent Slasher and see the last few minutes of the game, which we won, Hurrah! The pub itself was warm and busy and the girl who served us was very pleasant. But we can't sit around enjoying ourselves, the shops don't shop themselves and we still have one more pub to visit.
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Visited 12th February 2010.
Work has sent me back up North today, which gives me the opportunity to stop off in Northampton on the way back. I persuade my colleague that we should stop somewhere and have some lunch before we enter the hell that is the English motorway network. He agrees and 'pure chance' ensures that we end up at a 'spoons. The pub is situated opposite a market which is in full swing thus when we enter the pub we find that it is very busy and there is a certain amount of waiting around to get served. I do a quick 'reccy' of the pub, checking out the upstairs dining area but only manage to find one spare table which we quickly sit at. We both opt for the gourmet burgers but are told there is no cheese sauce and would we like BBQ instead. Yes! Whilst sipping my pint of Sporran Warmer a waitress appears - disaster, they have no buns, would we like the burger served in ciabatta bread instead. Yes! Well, it worked for us. Suitably refreshed we now felt we could tackle anything, including what turned out to be a three hour (instead of one and three quarter hour) drive home.
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Visited 7th February 2010.
Our final Wetherspoon of the day was The Hope Tap, no trouble finding this one, it was in the same road as the last. As we ate at the last pub we opted for just a coffee at this one. As it turned out this was perhaps a bit of a mistake. Mrs S. was being served at the bar so I nipped off to the loo. She was still being served when I returned. To fully appreciate that last statement you need to realise that it is a long pub and the stairs leading to the loos are at the far end of the pub. The stairs are long and the loos are at the top of the stairs at the front of the pub (so it's best not to leave a trip to 'spend a penny' till the last second). At any rate, I was back before the coffee was ready. Which as it turned out wasn't worth the wait. Maybe it was the barman's first day on the job? Despite this minor wobble, we had both had a good afternoon, beer and food, what's not to like?
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Visited 7th February 2010.
Continuing our visit to Reading we take a walk to The Monks' Retreat. Tricky taking photos as they have the awing down which means you cannot see me outside the pub, just a side view. By now we are hungry so we get inside quickly, past the small bar and head towards the rear of the pub, up a few stairs and sit down in one of the many side booths near to a larger second bar. Mrs S. opts for a BBQ chicken melt with myself going for a mixed grill and a pint of Hullabaloo. Now an odd thing happened. Back at Christmas time I received a fair few Wetherspoon vouchers which I have been using without any problems but they seemed to be a completely unknown quantity to The Monk. "Well they look OK", "Have you ever seen these before" and "How do these go through the till" were just a few of the comments. The manager was sent for who immediately pointed out the £5 and £2 voucher buttons... Wow, confusion over. Perhaps a little more training required. The staff were very good when it came to the food service, they were attentive without being annoying and cleared the table quickly. All in all we enjoyed our visit. And now onto the next...
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Visited 31st January 2010.
Once again the urge to get out of the house has overwhelmed us. Plus Mrs S. feels the need to assist our ailing economy with a little retail therapy. The town blessed with the contents of Mrs Sinners purse is Hayes which, coincidentally, has a Wetherspoon pub. It's not very busy and we have no problem finding somewhere to sit. Today we have decided to have something a little different so I opt for a beef roast with Mrs S. going for a chicken pasta dish. Mrs S. has also started to get on board with the whole 'beer' thing and I am charged with selecting a brew for her. I play it safe and get us different beers so if I get it wrong we can swap.
The pub is quite large and Mrs S. has selected a table in a raised area almost as far from the bar as possible but through some acoustic magic has managed to hear my entire conversation with the barmaid. Note to self - stop flirting with bar staff if Mrs S. is in the same town! Still, not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
© John Sinner. None of the material contained in this post, or this blog as a whole, may be reproduced without the express and written permission of John Sinner. All rights reserved.
