17/07/19 - Worcester City Urban Ramble and the Dragon Inn

Distance - 4 Miles
Walk Inspiration - Urban Rambles
Good Beer Guide Tick #400 - The Dragon Inn


UrbanRambles.org is a web site I have had my eye on for sometime.   There are 40+ City walks in the UK and four overseas walks - New York, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Rio De Janeiro.   We're hoping to put the South American ones to the test by the end of the year.

The closest to me is Worcester.   A City I know well, but unbelievably have never been inside the Cathedral.   This walk will fix that - entering one side and exiting through the other.

No need for me to go overboard with the walk locations - a detailed commentary at their website.

A few photos and then concentrate on post walk refreshment.

Elgar Monument at the bottom of the City

The walk takes a meandering route through the City Centre - which is not always the prettiest.   Some serious 1960s vandalism improvements took place in the name of shopping.   Surprisingly, we don't take in Friar Street, where prime examples of this are represented.   A Medieval merchants townhouse (Greyfriars) opposite one of the worst car parks (aesthetically and to navigate) known to man.

Entering the Cathedral from the North

Inside

Exiting via the Cloisters

Hours could be spent in the Cathedral.  A quick internal circuit but more time is required than we had.   We will be back.

First English Civil War Site - Fort Royal

A short hop to Fort Royal, overlooking the City, which played a key part in the Battle of Worcester 1651.   Charles II watched the fighting here from the Cathedral tower before legging it, hiding in an Oak Tree and getting a Long Distance Path (Monarch's Way) created in his honour.   Fine views over the City and Malvern.  The Commandery, at the bottom of the hill, can be visited for more Civil War history.

Worcester - Birmingham Canal to the River Side

Head North until you get back to the bridge

Some walking, unhindered by history or attractions.   The canal takes us to the river (mid point refreshments available at the Anchor) before a walk through playing fields and back along the river from Diglis Lock, turning back into town when we reach Worcester Bridge.

The beauty of this City Walk is we pass very close by to 6 of 8 Good Beer Guide pubs that are available in the City.   You could make a real boozy day of it.

We decide to head to the previously undocumented Dragon Inn at the Northern end.

Dragon Inn - purveyor of Church End Brewery's Wares

One of the major employers in the Town was Kays Catalogue - their head office was directly over the road.   I had my first IT job there, and one of my last responsibilities before leaving in 1995 was to review the impact off the fledgling Internet to the business model. 

Wikipedia shows it was defunct, 9 years later.   I called it - but failed to take advantage of Internet Domain Name Bagging - where we could have registered the names of well known enterprises before they had even thought about it.

Mappiman.Blogspot.Com was free.

In those days, the Dragon Inn was a run down joint that you'd visit only when you fancied a change from the Guinness at the Lamb and Flag.

Today, its had a refurbishment, maintaining its pubby interior and adding a rather splendid outdoor patio area.    There's not enough in the architecture alone to make it a destination pub but the beer, from the award winning Church End Brewery, does.   Most of their range was on and I chose Goat's Milk.

Supreme Champion Beer of Britain, 2017.   I can see why.  A beautiful golden ale, that shone that nicely in the sunshine, I really should have included it in the photo.

Traditional Pub - viewed from a smashing beer garden