Golden Cross Hotel - Bromsgrove

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

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The Full Moon - Dudley

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

© 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.

The Clifton - Sedgley

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

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The Sir Henry Newbolt - Bilston

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

© 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.

The Malthouse - Willenhall

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

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The Moon Under Water - Wolverhampton

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

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The Royal Tiger - Wednesfield

Visited 15th December 2013.

More to come.

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The Linford Arms - Cannock

Visited 14th December 2013.
 
More to come.

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The Butler's Bell - Stafford

Visited 14th December 2013.
 
More to come.

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The Picture House - Stafford

Visited 14th December 2013.
 
More to come.

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The Plaza - Rugeley

Visited 14th December 2013.

The next pub on my marathon weekend wasThe Plaza, a large pub spread over three levels and unlike the previous pub I was able to park right outside. For twenty minutes at least! It wasn't very busy and I was served my Apple and Mango J2o very quickly, which was just as well as I didn't have long to visit. I quite liked this pub and would have liked to stay longer and if I had originally known there was a Euro car park around the back I might have. On the other hand I do have a lot of pubs on my list to visit this weekend.

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Rupert Brooke - Rugby

Visited 14th December 2013.

I was in a bit of a rush when I came to visit The Rupert Brooke. I had parked outside the town centre and only had an hour before I had to move on. Having already visit one pub I didn't have a lot of time left and was then slowed down even more by having to ask the way and then taking a wrong turning after not listening properly. I finally arrived at the pub and was presented with a neat and tidy building that although it was a bit barn like still managed to generate its own character. I ordered an orange and passionfruit J2o and as is usual when only ordering a drink was not given a receipt. What was unusual though was that when I asked for one was told rather abruptly that there was no till roll so I couldn't have one! I quickly drank up and left and walked back to the car arriving with a couple of minutes to spare. Now, to the next pub.

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The Lawrence Sheriff - Rugby

Visited 14th December 2013.

I managed to park on one of the streets on the outskirts of Rugby hoping that I would have enough time to walk into town and find and walk to both of the 'spoons that I knew were somewhere nearby. I found the first fairly quickly and entered into a dark, noisy pub that was pretty busy to the point where I found myself sharing a table with a man who refused to look over his newspaper. Maybe I had scared him by ordering an apple and raspberry J2o, everyone else appeared to have a pint of beer in their hand. Despite it being as busy as it was the highly efficient bar staff managed to serve me very rapidly. They were equally as quick at clearing and cleaning the tables. With the J2o drunk it was time to move on, I only had an hours parking.

© 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.

The Saracens Head Inn - Daventry

Visited 14th December 2013.
 
This is turning out to be a busy December. I'm on my own this time as Mrs S. is staying at home to do a little Christmas wrapping. As is usual with these matters they tend to go more smoothly if I'm not involved so I am doing my bit to help by getting out of the way and how better to get out of the way than by visiting a few Wetherspoon pubs. My plan is to head in the general direction of Wolverhampton and pop into a few pubs on the way. No special reason for picking Wolverhampton, it's just there.
I'd had an early start and was getting a bit hungry so the first order of the day was to get some breakfast. I made good time getting the first pub on my rough list but then lost a bit of time trying to park in the small (but full) car park. I ended up parking in the road opposite, up the hill slightly, not to far to walk, but I was hungry. Inside it seemed to be a bit of the maze and I seemed to keep finding small rooms full of people, but not to many that I wasn't able to find a table. The barmaid was very good at keeping track of who had been waiting longest and took my order of a traditional breakfast with a large latte with a friendly chat and smile. The coffee was very hot, just the way I like it and set me up nicely for the day ahead.

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The Cribbar - Newquay

Visited 1st December 2013.
 
We did a little holiday shopping and then went looking for The Cribbar. We missed it first time as it looks a little bit different from a lot of the other Wetherspoon pubs, a theme that is carried on inside. It was easily the most interesting pub of our three day visit and quite unusual from any of the other 'spoons we have visited. Very summery with its surfer theme and quite at odds with the Christmas tunes being played. It was very quiet and we had no problem finding somewhere for us to sit, me with my half of Doombar (rapidly becoming one of my favourite beers) and Mrs S. once again with her large tea. We chilled out for a while and then as it was to be our last pub of the day before heading home we went to "spend a penny". And the pub held another surprise - I think it's worth a visit just to check out the men's toilets and I was told by Mrs S. that the ladies loos were equally unusual. We had an uneventful trip home, which after a long weekend is always welcome and as usual on these trips we both disagreed on the pub of the weekend. Not that it matters but my favourite was The Green Parrot at Perranporth, Mrs S' was The John Francis Basset in Camborne but The Cribbar should definitely be on your list of 'spoons to visit.

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The Towan Blystra - Newquay

Visited 1st December 2013.
 
From Perranporth we drove up to Newquay where we planned to visit our last two pubs of the day. We parked in a convenient superstore car park, did a little shopping and then took the short walk to the first of the two pubs. It was quiet and we had no issue finding somewhere to sit where I could drink my Apple and Raspberry J2o and Mrs S. her Orange and Passion fruit J2o. We didn't stay long as we wanted to walk into the town centre and take a look around before popping in to our final pub of the day.

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The Green Parrot - Perranporth

Visited 1st December 2013.
 
The Green Parrot turned out to be another pub that is deceptively larger inside than it appears from the outside. There is a large car park attached which turned out to be free to use at this time of the year. It was quiet when we arrived but even so we went upstairs with our drinks, a half pint of San Diego Session IPA for me and a large tea for Mrs S. It was so quiet upstairs that we were the only customers up there. Following our drink we went for a walk on the nearby beach, which even though it was cold was busier than the pub. Something that I'll bet is very different in the summer.

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The John Francis Basset - Camborne

Visited 1st December 2013.
 
Another day and another Wetherspoons. It was early and the weather had turned a bit damp so we had no problems parking and no problem finding the pub, it was huge and very imposing looking. As it turned out when you went in it was still large but somehow also managed to feel comfortable and welcoming. I went to the bar to order breakfast but was told that there was a limited menu as the canopy was not working. As it turned out this did not affect me having eggs Benedict and a large latte, nor did it affect Mrs S. and here Cornish cream tea and large latte. It was very quiet, but then it was early on a Sunday morning. We liked this pub and the quality of its furnishings. Next stop, Perranporth.

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The Hain Line - St. Ives

Visited 30th November 2013.
 
Our last pub of the day and coincidentally Wetherspoon 300 was in St. Ives. To be honest we were a bit Wetherspoon'd out by now and so before we went in we had a look around the town and harbour and went and had a Chinese for tea. We had learnt from the previous evening that in Cornwall, in Winter everything apart from the pubs seems to close at 9pm. We weren't far wrong this time either. By the time we got to The Hain Line Cornwall was starting to go to sleep and it was probably the quietest, in terms of people in the pub of all the pubs we had visit in the last two days. There was plenty of room to sit and we took our drinks upstairs where there was some music playing. Me with my Buffalo Trace and Pepsi and Mrs S. with her Pepsi. We like the way the pub had been styled and in particular the way the upstairs lighting feature shone out (did you see what I did there?) Next stop, bed!

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The Tremenheere - Penzance

Visited 30th November 2013.
 
The Tremenheere turned out to be very busy too and we were forced to sit outside. Due to this I had a large latte and Mrs S. had a large cup of tea. This was mainly to warm our hands on. While there we decided we would visit one more pub today and find somewhere near it to rest our heads. Thanks to the magic of the modern phone and the free Wifi in The Tremenheere by the time we left the pub we not only knew where we were staying but had booked a room too.

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The Packet Station - Falmouth

Visited 30th November 2013.
 
Next stop was Falmouth and while there we had a decision to make. The Packet Station turned out to be busy and fairly crowded downstairs but had plenty of room upstairs which is where we eventually got a table, me with my Pepsi and Mrs S. with her Disaronno and Pepsi. The pub was styled in an unusual modern fashion that we both liked. We both got comfortable and ended up staying a bit longer than we intended. This actually meant that the decision we had to make kind of made itself. We had originally planned to head into Penzance and from there on towards Lands End. A little maths and we realised that if we went to Penzance first it would be dark by the time we reached Lands End. Even then it was going to cutting it a bit fine. Change of plan, Lands End first, pub second. One careful dash later and we made it just in time for the sunset.

The visitor centre was closed by the time we arrived,

so we left it to nature to provide the entertainment.

It looks cold but bright in the photos, well it was cold, no argument there. But it wasn't as bright as it looks and it was dark by the time we set off for Penzance.

© 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.

Try Dowr - Truro

Visited 30th November 2013.
 
The journey to our second pub of the day while while only a few miles away took ages due to the amount of traffic we got caught up in. Truro turned out to be a busy place and parking spaces seemed to be a bit limited, this forced us into parking up in a local supermarket car park and walking into the city centre. The pub was very busy but Mrs S. practiced her lurking skills and managed to get us a table while I was at the bar. I ordered a half pint of Doombar for myself and a large tea for Mrs S. The pub consisted of a rectangular room which was a little bland but certainly didn't detract from it's popularity and in a similar manner to how we got our seats as soon as we stood to leave our table was swarming with people after our seats. We took a look at the local market which had some really excellent craft items for sale before heading back to the car. Truro turned out to be easier to get out of than into and it wasn't long before we were heading towards Falmouth.

© 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.

The Rann Wartha - St. Austell

Visited 30th November 2013.
 
After leaving Bodmin we headed towards St. Austell where we found a hotel and made plans for the next day. At least I made plans, Mrs S. just fell asleep, I think she wanted it to all be a surprise! Rested, we headed into town to try and find The Rann Wartha. After finding a car park and ditching the car we set off on foot to find our breakfast spot. We then spent about thirty minutes trying to find the pub. It turned out to be down a narrow road, round a corner and up a hill. Rubbing salt into the exhausted wound we later found out that the rear entrance to the pub led into the car park we were parked in. At least we had worked up an appetite. I had the eggs Benedict and a large latte and Mrs S. had pancakes with bacon and a hot chocolate. The pub was bright, airy and busy but the staff were helpful and our food arrived promptly. It was a nice pub and the exercise and breakfast provided a good start to the day.

© 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.

Chapel an Gansblydhen - Bodmin

Visited 29th November 2013.

We left The Perkin Warbeck and drove the hundred miles to the next pub on our list, it was goodbye Somerset and finally hello Cornwall. As it turned out we arrived just after the turning on of the Christmas lights and the town and more especially the pub was heaving with people. Inside there were two small floors and nowhere to sit on either of them. Mrs S. went off in search of a couple of seats while I headed towards the bar. Unsurprisingly it took quite a while to get served, with a Pepsi for me and a Sailor Jerry and Pepsi for Mrs S. Unable to find any spare seats we stood at the bar and had a chat with some of the locals who turned out to be quite a sociable bunch. This was to be the last pub of the day for us, next stop, somewhere to sleep.

© 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.