This posting is slightly later than expected owing to Internet connectivity issues North of the Thames !
Unfortunately I could not be at the Crystal Palace game owing to other commitments but I was following it on twitter and did see two photos that showed the contrasting nature of our support. The first was a fantastic photo retweeted by Jason Euell amongst others which showed the entire away support stand rocking with excitement. You could really feel the atmosphere from the photo and the red flare in the background made it even more surreal. The second was not so pleasant and showed a row of wooden seats all smashed up. I remember going to the Women’s FA cup final there many moons ago and remarking that the wooden seats needed replacing then so maybe someone is doing them a favour but please lets not do it again! I know it’s only a minority but it undoes all the hard work that the clubs and many fans do, and in the long run will harm us by reducing the number of away tickets available and increasing the club’s policing costs. We have a great away support in the Championship so let’s not get a bad reputation with it.
Instead I found myself entertaining friends in Greenwich. I hadn’t been for a while and it was good to check out a few haunts. The Spanish Galleon is a Shepherd Neame pub (just off the main market square) which annoyingly had run out of Spitfire so we settled for a decent pint of Master Brew and settled in for the first half of the England v Scotland six nations game. They also seem to have converted their menu into a specialist fish and chips/pie selection. I didn’t try it but it looked good and may be worth a visit again provided the Spitfire is back on!
The second half saw a change of venue and we went around the corner to the Admiral Hardy. This had a much better atmosphere and a further good selection of beers including Adnam’s Ghostship – a strong pale ale which I enjoyed. We would have had more but that too ran out, with the bar staff trying to offer me the last three quarters of cloudy mulch for the price of a half which was politely declined.
They also had a beer I hadn’t seen before called Alexander Buckhorn is made by Sharpes brewery of Doombar fame which is found in almost every pub these days. For whatever reason I am not a fan of Doombar but this was a marvellous golden ale and well worth a try if you can find it. Its 4.8% and is brewed with sea buckthorne and alexander seeds. Its may be a speciality beer as its not even listed on the brewery's website.
Moan of the day - I’m not sure why a busy pub would run out of popular beers on a prime Saturday afternoon of rugby. Surely they know their audiences and have further barrels ready and settled for pouring! Just saying…..
We rounded off the evening with a visit to the Old Brewery housed within the Naval College. Its run by Meantime Breweries and has an excellent restaurant menu with a beer recommendation for each course
The bar is a show case for their beer with over ten to choose from as well as a wide variety of bottles. We plumped for the Yakima Red a new ale to me described as a hoppy American Craft beer style and had a gorgeous ruby red colour. I like to keep this place a secret but for real ale lovers here's the link:- www.oldbrewerygreenwich.com
I have made arrangements to be at the Peterborough game and as I grew up there I will be providing you with a few suggestions to complement Ian Cartwright's official away ground guide in due course
Cheers !
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