26.
Epsom and Cheam Tuesday night wander,
At
Anyway, it was soon time to leave so we
moved round the corner to Symonds Well, a good solid
pub even though it only sells Courage Best. Some beer aficionados were entering
as we were leaving spinning some old yarn about something. A bit of a walk
ensued, but we managed to find the Ladas, a friendly local doing two sorts of Youngs and IPA and a good line in bar snacks too (real scratchings were on offer).
After a wild goose chase to find the
Amato, poor planning on my part, we eventually ended up in the Rising Sun. A
bit trendy, mostly full of Guardian reading yuppies, but if you can tolerate
that you will be pleasantly surprised at the range of beers from the local
Pilgrim brewery on offer, though they are a little pricey. The lagers are also
weird and pricey. At least you are not going to get abused by Fosters swilling shell
suited fools. The barmaid took her time also and was nothing to write home
about.
Storming back into town trying to make up
for lost time and shoehorning a swift half in before the train, we nipped into
the Old Bank which was deserted apart from some sets of very pissed people.
Whilst having our halves of Hancocks HB, the pissed
fool was shown the door and was trying to make it to
After a very cheap train journey, we
alighted at Cheam to continue the crawl. The railway was the first pub of
choice, Mr Bradshaw commenting that he was a
semi-regular in there, being recognised as a 'Face of
Cheam'. It's a cosy pub with nice atmosphere and
comfy seats though the Courage Best was nothing special. Which
reminds me, I believe that George Best was noted in there on a week long bender
a few years ago.
Clarets was the
penultimate stop, and it is never disappointing. On our visit we were given the
choice of London Pride, Masterbrew, Spitfire or Old
Speckled Hen. In my notes it says that Frazzles were amongst the bar snacks, so
there we are. One downside is that whatever you say about the pub, it is always
going to be a 'wine bar' in a row of shops rather than a purpose built
hostelry.
Finally, we settled at the Harrow. For
some reason this pub got an exceptional 19 points. One of the
reasons maybe that the barmaid was rather nice. The beers were also
good, Pride, Spitfire and 1744 on pump, but I was most intrigued by the
excellent Thwaites Mild which was dirt cheap for some
reason too. The toilets are also very good, and it's actually a reasonable
venue to sit comfortably for a quiet drink. And it was the last pub of the
night and we were a bit pissed...
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated 26th April 2003.