Number of Pubs Visited - 4
Surprisingly, Tewkesbury has five entries in the Good Beer Guide. One of them is the British Legion and not fancying carrying the Bible along with me as my magic entrance ticket, I may have room to add a couple of bonus non-entry pub visits.
The first potential bonus was the oldest pub in Gloucestershire - Ye Olde Black Bear. 700 year old boozer, now closed down and looking quite sad. Might have had something to do with the final 1 star trip advisor review.
Here's more photos than are strictly necessary.
Unusual Spelling of Gloucester |
Ye Olde |
Old Dead Pub. |
Worry not, the White Bear is just down the way. But what do you call a road between the bears?
Nice Sign |
CAMRA Winner - The White Bear |
I'd only just sat down to peruse the wares.
We cannot blame the beer for this level of drunkenness - the really drunk ones are on the Cider - hand written bar clips showing the dry or medium varieties.
Judging by my Salopian Oracle, I can see why the locals were on the Cider.
Its not meant to look like that. |
A two man band start up and as good as they were, it was not really suitable for reading the Sunday Times. Or novels on phones.
I move on.
The Tudor House Hotel, High Street, Hooky
A veteran of previous Good Beer Guides but lost its place in 2019. There's a reason for this. The beer was dreadful and if possible, even more murky than the White Bear.
Two down, Nil Points for Tewkesbury.
C16th, Ghosts, All that kind of stuff |
More suitable for reading the ST |
The Nottingham Arms, High Street, Butty Bach
More Tradition - C14th |
You can hear the entertainment all the way down the High Street.
Berkeley Arms, Church Street
Pub Tickers Curse. The guide says its open 10-11 every day. Google says its open now.
It's in darkness.
To Tick or Not To Tick? |
The bent in windows of the British Legion are peered through. Two punters stare back. I decide to try the Bell, superbly located opposite the abbey along a street of black and white buildings.
BL Left - Bell Ahead |
Handsome |
Trusting the brewery, I gave it a try, whilst listening to a couple playing the highest scoring game of crib of all time.
I pined to join in the cries of 15-2, 15-4.
The Hop Pole Hotel, High Street, Hook Norton Flagship
A Wetherspoons Under Scaffolding |
In recent months, I have visited Burton, Derby and Coventry on similar adventures and found something joyful in each. Tewkesbury has been a mixture of permanently closed, unexpectedly closed, two bad pints and pub experiences that don't really match this beautiful, ancient town.
JDW did what JDW does. Cheap beer (£2.18). Good quality. More one armed bandits than customers.
In an unexpected twist, the high tables were spotlessly clean.
A long walk back to the Premier Inn.
Hi there, you have taken some really good photographs on your travels, keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteCheers - and I'd love to get back to pubs, pub crawls and pub walks :-)
ReplyDeleteKeep safe!
your info is a bit dated, the black bear has been shut for years and the white bear shut last year. The white bear was by far the best pub in Tewkesbury, with a massive selection of beers and very strong ciders, and as a woman who likes a drop of real ale, found all the customers to be of real character and had a genuine friendlyness. Ron the one you say you dont argue with is in his late 70's hardly a threat. I miss the white bear and all its patrons almost as much as the beer.
ReplyDelete