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Archive for the ‘Spoons Tour’ Category

Thunder, Lightning and Litter

25/07/2021 Leave a comment

Newport early on a Saturday morning. It’s full of litter. No use of litter bins, just everything just thrown on the ground. Windy, cooling rain at least until the John Wallace Linton opened at 08:00. WiFi not upgraded and a lot of bottled beers were out of stock. Not a good sign. Happy days in The Pen & Wig with almost full speed FTTC. The usual Harbour Chips and it was an old school afternoon in Tiny Rebel’s Newport Bar. The beer menu is getting better there too. Nature is slowly healing.

Superior Hot Weather Sales Technique

18/07/2021 Leave a comment

Bridgend because, why not, haven’t been there for ages and it’s the same price on the train as just going to Cardiff. Double check in at the Wyndham Hotel. Apparently due to the council? Slowly watching an upload and then onto to The Coach. What an excellent pub it is! And the Barmaid has an excellent sales technique. Two glasses and a T-shirt later. Didn’t make it to the Little Bar on the Bridge as I became a bit sleepy and then it was the joy of cancelled trains. I need more Beano training, urgently.#

Ready The Prelude

11/07/2021 Leave a comment

High Summer, a drizzly Summer and it was off to Cardiff to dust off the old Beano Prelude Video skills. Starbucks in St Mary Street is now open from early and the Central Bar is still the place where the whole world goes for a Full English. Pity it hasn’t got FTTC yet. The PM is held in Bubs. The Finest of Ales, the quality of the welcome and Fast FTTC Wifi. Good times were back. Mostly Tiddly on the way home.

Cheeky Chicken

04/07/2021 Leave a comment

Cheeky Chicken is Chicken with Piri Piri by the way, at least it is in the Bay.  High Summer, showery with longer periods of rain and a gap of ten years since I was there last. A new Spoons, see ten years ago and Brew Monster’s Bay Tap House. Minus  points, the Bay Spoons, The Mount Start is far more expensive than most other Spoons. Differential pricing at it’s best. Also missed an order that I made via the app. However, the get a pass as pubs shouldn’t be table services. Politics and all that.

The plus side. Brew Monster’s Bay Tap House. Long and narrow and you have to be sitting down to sign in but again a pass. Good selection of beer. An Untappd verified venue and the food was good. It’s also opposite the Buffet if you need more. Probably go there again and maybe not wait ten years?


Don’t Sit On The Power Switch

13/06/2021 Leave a comment

Don’t Sit On The Power Switch, if you are watching Wales in the Euros and it’s still the first half. I did and the projector went off. The staff and punters in Crafty Devil’s Penarth Cellar were not amused. I wasn’t too happy either. However it was a great sunny day. All of my drinks were uniques and Spoons (The Bears Head) had an excellent selection of cask ales. Chips and a Class 769 to take me there. Wales drew.


Cardiff Like Newport

06/06/2021 Leave a comment

Summer and a pleasant train journey into Cardiff. However The Queen Street Costa Coffee doesn’t open until 08:00 on a Saturday.  Things aren’t back to normal at all. Also, the cask selection in The Gatekeeper is minimal. Thankfully Bubs came to the rescue. The Finest of Ales, The Finest of Staff and some kick arse WiFi. No if I could only get them to open at 07:00 and do Bacon Rolls. You can dream, can’t you?


Belgian Practise Needed

31/05/2021 Leave a comment

Well this video is all over the place. A mixture of poor memory and overdoing it on the finest of Belgian Ales. That and spending way too much time in The Tripel B Belgian Cafe. However very good times and The Bacon Baguette was first class. Finishing off in The Plough was awesome put I was far too intoxicated and sleepy.


The Barman Calls His Mother Dude

31/05/2021 Leave a comment

The first Mini Beano after the 2021 lockdown. Worcester after a M40 stop at Michaelwood North. Lots of Coffee and Bacon and AM drizzle.  Everyone and their mother gets called Dude in the Hop Lords. A new craft bar and warm afternoon sun. Life is looking much better.


The First of 2021

23/05/2021 Leave a comment

So the first Saturday Beano of the year and what has changed. First The Queens Hotel is no longer a Wetherspoon’s Pub and it’s no longer a pub either. I’m not sure that rentable workspace ala We Work is the way forward but I wish them well. Secondly, no Pubs or Coffee Shops are open before 08:00, not even the Costa Coffee at the station. All the pubs are sign in but they all accept walk ups. In my case it was the John Wallace Linton, Pen & Wig and The Newport Tiny Rebel bar. The Harbour Fish Bar still provides the best chips in Newport and ordering of drinking in pubs is much easier with a Smartphone. Whatever your age may be. The good news was that it didn’t rain. So glad to be back Beanoing.


It Ended With The Blues

05/12/2020 Leave a comment
So the pubs close at 18:00 on Friday (mostly) without a vote and ignoring the science. Safer in the pub than in work.  Prebooked into Bubs with a sour tap takeover from Cascade Brewing (Oregon). So Costa, with points. The Central Bar with a Scottish Cask Ale. Poundland for cheap Christmas lights. The Head of Steam for a live Untappd Sherbet. Then Bubs, where Stevie Ray Vaughan was playing when I arrived.
Superb, safe afternoon with a little Classic Rock as well. Probably the last Emergency Beano of 2020. Rained.