56.
Woodstock pub crawl spread over two days, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th January
2004
On a rather dull Saturday afternoon, Dave
and I had seen the football scores and decided that it might be a good idea to
perform an in depth analysis on what ramifications this had for the league by
discussing them over a few jars in Woodstock. After getting on the bus and
alighting at our destination (noting a scrawny Graham Souness lookalike
boarding as we did so), we toddled down the hill to the first port of call, the
Black Prince, which on our last visit during the summer had had some majestic
ales. Alas on this occasion the ales were not quite as varied - Greene King
IPA, Archer's Over Dun It, Archer's Village - but they tasted just as good and
the pub was still as rustic and cosy as it had been before, and is still
definitely the best one in Woodtock. The rustic feel of the pub is carried
through to the outside toilets, which used to have a trough, but some bright
spark has shoved some urinals on the wall. Happily, they drain directly into
the former trough, so I was still able to cut out the middle man and piss there
directly.
Up the hill and to a trendy looking pub
that we thought we were going to hate. Treacle is a new wine bar, set in a tiny
Victorian terraced house type thing at the top of the hill. Fortunately it was
quite empty when we went in and they had a happy hour where pints of San Miguel
were £2 rather than £2.80, though this is the only beer. I can imagine that if
more than about a dozen people are in there, it is heaving. But it doesn't
deserve to be empty and has a high quality yet uncluttered appearance - well
worth a visit. Another point to note was that they have olives in jars for bar
snacks. A trendy pub that is worse is the King's Arms, on the main road, big,
with hotel and restaurant facilities and populated by some tossers. We didn't
particularly like our stay here, the beer (Ruddles County and Theakstone's
Best) being pricey and not that nice, and the bottom line was that it wasn't
cosy in there and wasn't a proper pub. A fellow drinker was a woman approaching
middle age, wearing the sort of heels that Antonia de Sancha would no doubt
have sported whilst shagging David Mellor (had to get that one in).
At lunchtimes the Star is good, but at the
time of our visit we were disappointed. It was quite busy and we were the
youngest people in there, the rest of the clientele being either old soaks
propping their arses on some very nice bar stools, or else 40 somethings
without kids spending their evening in a pub, yet looking most out of place.
Beer choice was the slightly pedestrian 6X and Bass, which was not the best in
the world. We'd have done better to get some keg Tetley's etc - the shit stuff
is available at cheap prices. Also of note in the dark wooden interior is that
a great deal of bar space has been set aside for wine bottles, never a good
sign, though the gents' have a set of scales at least. We had visited the
King's Head just before Christmas and this time a pint of Hook Norton Best was
ordered, but it tasted like vinegar, so we were allowed to change to 6X which
was up to and possibly above it's usual standards. This pub looks like an old
men's place, with copper tables and aged fixtures and fittings, but attracts a
refreshingly young crowd. Almost as good as the Black Prince.
The Punch Bowl, a rather shabby hotel bar
with an old, spartan, wooden interior turned out to be last one of the day. All
was not lost however because there were some very good saggy old leather sofas
in front of the TV which allowed prime viewing position for Wolves making Man U
look stupid on Match of the Day. Unfortunately, they only had Directors
on, but having said this, it was a very good pint indeed. Not too bad then,
especially as we stayed for a second. For some reason, I have the words 'Pig's
Trotters in Aspic' written in the notes for this pub, in bad handwriting due to
the movement of the homeward bound bus. Not sure why, but they certainly didn't
have them available as bar snacks...
Before getting on the bus, we had a quick
look in a couple of other places, and pleased with what we had seen, decided to
finish off the crawl by driving in the following day at tea-time. The first pub
was the Crown, another slightly trendy place, somewhat akin to a Hogshead. The
range of beer was better than expected, consisting of Hadda's Winter Solstice,
IPA and Abbot. Sinking our halves, we moved across the road to the Marlborough
Arms, an obviously hotel like place, but with a very nice interior, with a high
ceiling, and having the air of colonial India to it in places as well as more
traditional Victorian dining room elsewhere. We supped a magnificent drop of St
Austell Tribute whilst listening to an awful 80s CD, though Hook Norton Best
was an equally good choice.
The final Woodstock pub was the Woodstock
Arms, a bog standard Greene King affair with Abbot, IPA and Old Speckled Hen,
though the quality was once again excellent. However, there was not a great
deal distinctive about this pub. On the way back, we decided to make the round
cycle complete at the Royal Sun, Begbroke, another rather insipid pub with not
much distinctive about it apart from a few generic scattered bits of old
paraphernalia. It did save itself a bit though, with three draught beers -
Abbot, Tetley and Archer's City Boy - at competitive prices too!
Dan
Lovegrove
dan@doctor-lovegrove.com
Last updated 27th January 2004.