The Sawyer's Arms - Exeter

Visited 24th March 2013. 

The second day of our weekend in Exeter found us walking round the city armed with a map of Art Galleries and workshops and various other gathering places. We were on the trail of Art. We had a pretty good day and managed to visit a gallery (the starting point), a pub and two shops that were part of the art trail. We were fed biscuits and chatted with artists and generally enjoyed ourselves even though there was a lot of walking involved. We finished for the day with a walk to the new 'spoons which hadn't existed on our last visit. Time for something to eat but we had left it a bit late and all the hot dogs were gone as was the lasagne. I settled for a beef roast and a beer, with the girls having ham, egg and chips and a baked potato with tuna and a couple of pints of Pepsi. When we arrived it was very busy and the barman was working hard trying to keep up on his own but it quietened down a bit during the time we were there. We decided we had had enough walking for the day as we worked out that it was going to take us about forty five minutes to walk back to our friends car and it was starting to get very cold. So we called a cab, to take us back to the car! She drove us back to her house so we could get our bags and car and then, thankfully, we had a nice uneventful journey home. A different, but very enjoyable weekend.

© 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 Chequers Inn - Stourbridge

Visited 17th October 2012.

I still had a little time where my car was parked outside 'The Edward Rutland' before the space turned in to a taxi rank, so I walked up the road to 'The Chequers Inn'. It was busier than the previous pub and myself and several other people were kept waiting for a long time before we were served by the severely overworked barmaid. She did apologise for the long wait while she was pouring my small Pepsi. This was a nice looking pub, both inside and outside but as I had only a limited parking time and it had taken so long to get served in the two pubs it was all a bit of a rush and I had to leave a bit sharpish. As it was I made it back to the car slightly over time but appeared to have not incurred the wrath of any cabs drivers wanting to complain about my tardiness, mainly, I expect, due to fact that there were no cabs waiting for customers (or indeed any customers waiting for cabs). So, one day and eight more pubs to tick off my list, now it was time to find somewhere to stay for the night!

© 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 Star - Gosport

Visited 5th February 2012.
 
We left Fareham and headed a few miles south to Gosport, home of 'The Star'. We found a car park at the rear of the pub and a confusing sign that said no entry allowed through the rear of the pub. We walked through a few side streets all the way round to the front of the pub and entered. Mrs S. found a table and I went and ordered a Pepsi for her and a Buffalo Trace for me. A quick chat with the barman clarified the car park situation, yes you can safely ignore the signs about being thrown out if you enter from the rear and no one ever checks the car park for illegal parking so ignore the signs that say you will be fined hundreds of pounds. I'm just saying... that's what the barman said but... at your own risk! The pub itself was a bit tatty but the staff were fine and the drinks were wet. When we left we drove a short way down the road to another carp park so I could take a few photos across the water of the Spinnaker, which was where we met the friendly cab driver who insisted I take his photo and put him on the blog. 

© 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.