66.
More key pubs, in Cumnor, Standlake
and Northmoor amongst others,
On a blisteringly hot day, Dave and I
decided to have a look around some pubs that had scored well in the Cumnor area and further west too, and also try some new
ones. On the way to Cumnor, we broke our bike journey
with a couple of swift halves of Greene King IPA at the George on Botley Road, a very average pub, despite its pleasant
exterior, conservatory, roof terrace and riverside location. This may be
because it is near a busy road in an industrial area. Not too keen on the
clientele either. Our IPA wasn't particularly cheerful, and I doubt that the
Abbot was much better. To reward our exertions on getting up Cumnor Hill, we had a drink in the Vine in Cumnor, which is quite a foody
place. Nonetheless, it has an excellent garden, with an Aunt Sally pitch, and
the pub itself has enough areas to keep the diners away from the drinkers. Old
Hooky and Adnams Bitter were on - tasting good, but a
bit pricey.
The Bear and Ragged Staff on the other
side of Cumnor is splendid, with decent bar snacks,
excellent setting and good beer. We chose the excellent Smiles Maiden Leg Over,
though could have had Greene King Triumph or IPA. There is a room appropriate
for winter drinking too. A good, if perhaps little large
traditional pub. So large in fact that outside is split into decking and
true garden areas, and inside has food and beer segregated areas. We would have
been quite happy to have spent all day here. Over the road was the Cumnor Cricket Club, and it was so hot that we had to have
Fosters instead of 6X. The pavillion is modern and
well laid out and perfect for continued lazing away of Saturday afternoons with
a cool pint of fizzy lager. Cumnor stuffed Leighton
Buzzard whilst we were visiting.
All the pubs in Appleton and Eaton were
shut at about 4.30, so we pushed on over the lock to Bablockhythe,
and the Ferry, which turned out to be disappointing. The building, if you are
sitting on the wrong side, is like a central club building at a Butlins or Pontins. The views by
the river make up for this slightly, but the beer does not, only Abbot, IPA and
possibly Ruddles. Moving into Stanton Harcourt a couple
of miles away, the Harcourt Arms had just opened for the evening and we sampled
the Old Hooky, in preference to the Adnams Bitter,
which turned out to be reasonable. It seems like a decent place for food, which
was priced quite competitively, and we mulled over the possibility of returning
at some stage for a food visit. However, the chef seemed to be listening to
shit music in the kitchens which put us off a bit. Hope he switched it off when
diners arrived. We sat outside, as the interior was just a little too bistro,
although the toilets are rather good.
A very traditional gents with a red brick step-up and white enamel pissboard leading to a black painted trough/gutter greeted
us at the Bell in Standlake which we had not been to
before and seemed fresh from a makeover. Beer was expensive, as the pub was
geared for food, but the choice - Morland Original,
Abbot and IPA - was good as was the quality, and strangely for such a place,
there was an extensive array of bar snacks. Just up the road was the more
lively and localsy Black Horse which seemed a bit
more spit and sawdust, and was very pleasant, though I was somewhat caught out
by the low beams. Once again a good range of beer -
London Pride, 6X, Hook Norton Best and Old Hooky - which tasted good too. Pictures of gents and outside below.
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The Rose Revived at Newbridge
is very busy and very foody, so not really what we
were looking for. It's quite nice to sit outside by the river - I'd certainly
not sit inside unless I had to. Typical Greene King products - IPA, Hen, Abbot
- at moderate prices, though the IPA (or whatever it was we had) was actually
excellent quality on the occasion of our visit. Over the bridge is the very
similar, but somehow more quaint, Maybush. We were
going to dine but a youth behind the bar informed us that there was a 75 minute
wait for chips, so we just had beer (IPA, Abbot, Morland).
The aspect of the pub is better facing than the Rose Revived, and the garden is
more ornamental and less busy. Whilst assessing the gents we spotted that there
was an open cupboard, although we decided that we did not need any of their
cleaning products (to compensate for the wait for chips).
Feeling peckish,
we were most fortunate to hit upon the Red Lion at Northmoor,
which had a garden fete on, complete with marquee and barbeque. The atmosphere
was absolutely fantastic and there was an excellent band on performing hits by Transvision Vamp, Blondie and Texas. It was also most
amusing to see a family with two teenage girls bored shitless. We had a couple
of very good burgers, washed down by pints of very well kept Greene King
Suffolk Summer (not more IPA or Morland). Inside the
pub is very small with a short bar and low beams and fireplace, and very
welcoming too. Well worth a return visit even when there is no party on - we gave
it 18 out of 25!
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Time was getting on and we hurried back
over the lock to the Thatched Tavern at Appleton, which we only stayed in for
five minutes. It was however a perfectly acceptable little locals pub with good
halves of Hook Norton Best and Brakspear.
I can't remember much more about it, perhaps because it was mostly average
otherwise. Dave and I decided to head back to the cricket club to see if Dave's
workmate Chris was there, and he was, so we foolishly had about 3 more pints of
Fosters and a pissed game of pool before leaving at well past midnight for the
rather treacherous cycle back down Cumnor Hill and
through town, though at least I had bike lights on by then. As is customary in
these adventures, we both fell asleep in front of the TV in the flat when we
arrived back (myself after a couple more cans).
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated 4th August 2004.