Saturday, September 8, 2012

A date with Tallulah....

Well that's the end of another working week for me. It's all right for all you lucky people who don't work on Saturdays sat at home with your feet up watching the last day of the Paralympics or some footy, or maybe down the pub with a few close mates (assuming you have any!) No, for me Saturday is, more often than not, a working day. So I'll be on my way very shortly on my bike homewards ready to get up early(ish) Sunday morning to clean off my paddle to take Tallulah (that's me canoe) out for another paddle along the gentle flowing Medway. I'll be off to practice new strokes tomorrow such as the J Stroke and the Canadian stroke and, no this is not some seedy boating/sexual inuendo! And you thought paddling a canoe was a simple case of sticking it in, pulling and off you go! I'll tell you more about my date with Tallulah next week but in the meantime let's hear some more stories/gripes about life in Tonbridge. Tell the readers of this blog where the best shops and restaurants are; where the best pint is to be consumed that sort of thing. In fact pretty much anything you want to get off your chests....

6 comments:

Paul Bailey said...

Now that the railings have been removed from the High Street, there are not enough places to chain one's bike up.

Apart from that it was a lovely day for a ride round the sports ground, followed by a coffee and a bacon roll in the Humphrey Bean. (Still no Thornbridge Jaipur on tap though!).

ps. Medieval Fayre, just setting up in the Castle grounds when I cycled past this morning.

hallum said...

We do a fair bit of light leisure cycling in the countryside around Tonbridge. Mostly stopping for a pint along the way, outside a country pub. Our list of favourites gets updated now and again. Dropped from that list is the Greyhound at Charcott. Ordered two pints of real beer last weekend - Harveys and Larkins - £3.80 and £4.00 respectively.

All other nice local pubs charge a lot closer to the £3.00 mark. Even the gastro places like Little Brown Jug have happy hour £1.00 off, and Ewards Brasserie charge £2.50 a pint between 12 and 7.00.

I know the greyhound is owned by the notorious Enterprise Inns, but other tenants locally seem to manage without ripping us off.

Paul Bailey said...

I often walk past the Greyhound at Charcott as part of my lunchtime constitutional. I haven't set foot inside though for over a year, because of the high prices charged.

However, I wasn't aware that things had become this bad and the £4.00 a pint barrier has been breached. This really is taking the proverbial. I certainly won't be renewing my acquaintance with this over-priced establishment!

Paul Bailey said...

Just to follow up on hallum's post, plus my cooment above - I don't go in the Little Brown Jug either, even though I walk past it most weekday lunchtimes.

If a pub can afford to knock £1.00 off a pint during Happy Hour then it is charging too much for its beer the rest of the time! Happy Hour at the LBJ is between 5 & 7pm. I knock off work at 5pm and prefer to go straight home rather than stop off for a discounted pint. Besides, I am driving anyway, so the pub's Happy Hour is useless so far as I am concerned.

I really don't know what is up with these over-priced pubs - they certainly don't get my custom, and I'm sure I am not alone in this. If Wetherspoons can knock beer out for £2.00 a pint, why do other places think they can get away with charging double this amount?

sebfox said...

I've heard that Wetherspoons is cheap because they buy their beer when it's near it's sell by date. That may be just a rumour, but I suppose it makes sense, because they can sell it quick.

Paul Bailey said...

I think that one's a bit of an urban myth, sebfox. JDW's low prices are probably due to the power of bulk buying, but this SHOULD also apply to other large pub companies, such as Enterprise and Punch.

Unfortunately the latter two, whilst negotiating subdtantial discounts from the breweries that supply their pubs, fail to pass these cost savings on to their hapless tenants, who are charged full list price. This may explain why some of the pubs mentioned above are so expensive.