Not quite real ale, as it's from the Good Pub Guide. But if you're ever stuck in a faraway town without uk.f+d.r-a to guide you, this might be right up your street.
formatting link
i've used the O2 London restaurant search occasionally when havering about what to do and where to go when getting out of the pub, but this shows signs of being better, as it's a guide-based selection rather than absolutely everything in the area you're in.
Next, CAMRA to do the same with the Good Beer Guide? Pleeeease? It's a fee-paying service, after all.
The good pub guide seeks out the best pubs - and includes them for reasons which are clearly stated. Where the pub serves real ale, this is clearly stated. A small minority don't but have other virtues (although not ones which would make me want to visit them I have to concede).
I have reported on pubs for Alisdair Aird for many years, and I have a great respect for his opinions on pubs. I regularly rely on his recommendations when on holiday, and have seldom been disappointed.
OTOH the Good Beer Guide is mainly interested in the quality of the beer. Also an excellent guide, but given the choice, I would trust the GPG rather than the GBG.
In fact very few pubs listed in the GPG or any other similar guides don't sell real ale.
I find the GPG has too many pretentious foody places in where I don't feel at home.
--
formatting link
"The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of civilisation in any country." (Winston Churchill)
I have to disagree, totally. I think the GBG is far superior to the GPG. I use to survey for the GPG and feel it has deteriorated over time. Aesthetically, it's layout and printing is very old fashioned and not user friendly. CAMRA Factually, it tends to have certain bias-southern pubs, country, food led etc. Combine this with being hopelessly out of date in some areas and it becomes a very much hit and miss guide.
I ocassionally look at the GPG and find the type of pubs it features are very similar. There was a great article in the Birmingham Evening Mail which took the GPG to task for not featuring any pubs in Brum. On the other hand the GBG came off very well featuring places like the Barton's Arms.
It would be interesting if you could tell us whether the Arden Arms in Stockport (one of four current finalists for the CAMRA National Pub of the Year) is in the current edition of the Good Pub Guide. If not, it suggests they haven't a clue, particularly about urban pubs.
--
formatting link
"The mood and temper of the public in regard to the treatment of crime and criminals is one of the most unfailing tests of civilisation in any country." (Winston Churchill)
I'm sorry but for a guide to miss out on the Bartons Arms is inexcusable and doesn't fill me with confidence about the other entries. What about the Old Joint Stock as well?
I suspect it is very high in terms of importance for members on this group! So perhaps you only want a guide that features county cottages, fair enough but I want a more eclectic range of pubs than those in the GPG.
It depends what you go to the pub for. When I'm going out with my non-beer-drinking friends I'm happy to compromise ale quality to some extent, but I always try to find a venue that suits all our needs.
Believe it or not, there are plenty such beasts out there, and many of them are listed in the Good Beer Guide. But since the Good Beer Guide is precisely what the title suggests and nothing else, it's a bit daft to criticise it for not meeting other selection criteria.
I haven't seen the 2005 GPG yet, but there are no main entries in Stockport in the 2004 guide. The Red Bull has been in and out of the main entries over the years. The Arden Arms is in there as a starred lucky dip (which means that it hasn't been officially inspected, but sounds well worth having a look at) and is described thus:
"Good inventive lunchtime food and well kept Robinsons in welcoming pub with well preserved traditional horseshoe bar, old-fashioned snug through servery, two coal fires, longcase clocks; tables out in courtyard sheltered by the original stables, open all day".
Closer to home ;-) I see that the Nursery in Heaton Norris is marked as BB. From the horse's mouth:
"BB denotes a pub that has been inspected and pretty much liked by us, though not currently thought to be a main entry (it stands for Buyer's Brand, shortened for the BOB (Buyer's Own Brand) which is old-fashioned wine merchant slang for a wine generally not out of the top drawer but specially selected as enjoyable by their wine buyer)."
It says this about the Nursery:
"Friendly efficient service, enjoyable straightforward lunchtime food from servery on right with visible kitchen, popular set Sun lunch, big bays of banquettes in panelled front lounge, brocaded wall banquettes in back one, cheap well kept Hydes Bitter and Mild, separate games-oriented public bar, all very neat and clean; children welcome if eating, on narrow cobbled lane at E end of N part of Green Lane, immaculate bowling green behind, open all day wknds"
While on the subject of Good Pub Guide acronyms:
"LYM denotes a pub that was once in the main entries (it actually stands for Last Year Marginal, which is what it meant in the very first edition that I used it - though it certainly doesn't mean that any more!)."
IHTS that I have mainly used the GPG when on holiday - and town centre pubs aren't usually high on the shopping list. Over the years I have come to rely on his judgement as to what would be the sort of pub I would like to visit. Also, bear in mind that there is just him and a couple of editorial staff, and they will only vet new pubs if they have been recommended by readers. The fact that a pub isn't in there could just mean that not enough people have said it's worth including.
The web site of the Good Pub Guide is
formatting link
BTW I have recommended pubs for the Good Pub Guide for 20 years.
The Old Joint Stock is a main entry in the 2004 GPG. The Bartons Arms is also in there as a BB. (See my earlier post.)
It's many years since I was in Brum, so the situation may well have changed since then.
As for beer quality, CAMRA themselves admit that there simply isn't room for all the pubs they would like to include. There are a lot of pubs out there that serve well kept RA which aren't in the GBG, either because they are in remote locations which members seldom visit (and hence don't recommend), or are in areas where there are just so many good real ale pubs that you have to draw the line somewhere.
When on holiday, I always take both guides. It's just that over the years the GPG has been more likely to come up with a pub that we as a family were happy with than the GBG, which has beer quality as its first priority. (What I really mean is there are pubs serving superb real ale where I would feel completely out of place with the family.)
DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.