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| Prepare to be incarcerated... |
...not as a 'Norman Stanley Fletcher' you understand, as this is the Winchester Weatherspoons, The Old GoalHouse.
As you can see from the photo above it has an imposing facade which it practically shares with the church next door...
The building was the prison governors house, part of the old prison which is thought to date back to the 1200s. This Spoons is bedecked with information about historic Winchester and it's famous characters, including (but not limited to): King Alfred; Charles Peace, Diver Bill , Mary Tudor, Rick Stein and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall *
Read more on the Weatherspoons website.
*Ok the last two are more recent famous people two arrive in Winchester and don't yet feature in Weatherspoons Winchester historic hall of fame.
It's great to be able to rely on Weatherspoons for that morning visit when most other public houses have not yet reached their lunchtime opening hour. This Friday morning the GoalHouse had a modest number of customers dotted around the large premises, representing a wide range of society, young and old, respectable and not quite so respectable, workers with and without hi vis clothing, etc.
The variety at the hand pumps was less impressive on this occasion though, with what appeared to be a Greene King tap takeover, ably supported by Adnams and Molson Coors regulars.
Out of the 8 hand pumps there was two other beers on offer, Flack Manor’s Double Drop and Lamplight Porter from Longdog Brewery, so I had a half of that. It was a good beer and though, at 11am, it was no-where near lighting up time it was just right for a cold Tryanuary day. 90p well spent!
As I sat drinking my beer I soaked up the sights and sounds of the morning in Weatherpoons...
...the loud chatter of the two old soaks at the bar who were entertaining a female member of bar staff (though she probably was wishing she was somewhere else)....
....the clink of knives and forks on china from the tables where brunch (this is Winchester) was being consumed...
...the man and wife on the next table. He with his two full pints of beer, doing the crossword, and she with a latte, engrossed in her phone...
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| Man lines up beers in anticipation of wife's latte refills.... |
...the young guys listening to stuff on their phones through headphones...
Life in Weatherspoons never stands still for long, and here customers were coming and going faster than the real prison service can receive and parole prisoners....
....the office workers finished their lattes and left to go back to the office, and the hi-vis men returned to their building work...
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| Hi vis men depart... |
The man on the next table was still studying his crossword and was only half way down the first of his two pints. His wife went to refill her latte....
One of the young guys with headphones was treated to a kiss by a female member of staff as she passed by with a jug of orange juice. I assumed he was her boyfriend, unless Weatherspoons are trialling some new customer offers...
I finished my half and made my escape (no tunnel required) into the
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| ...not my latte... |
"the first port of call is the old prison"
ReplyDeleteHence the title.
(slow golf clap)
"*Ok the last two are more recent famous people two arrive in Winchester"
(and I'm guessing that last 'two' a play on words) :)
Sadly they don't ring a bell with me. But the bit about Alfred the Great is interesting. Have been watching The Last Kingdom on Netflix.
"dotted around the large premises, "
It does look bloody big from the photos.
"90p well spent!"
I am sooo jealous.
"Man lines up beers in anticipation of wife's latte refills...."
Good forethought that. :)
"...the young guys listening to stuff on their phones through headphones..."
Isn't it a bit ironic (not sure if that's the right word) for our language to come up with the word 'headphones' years before people actually starting plugging their heads into their phones. ;)
"His wife went to refill her latte...."
And I just noticed he's mixing his beers too!
"unless Weatherspoons are trialling some new customer offers..."
Should've had what he had. :)
"into the mean gold paved streets of Winchester..."
Onward to Oz! (the book city, not the land down under) :)
Cheers
PS - "and it's famous characters"
Ye olde apostrophe is creeping in. ;)
Cheers Russ and a Happy New Year to you...
ReplyDelete..or should that be Happy New Apostrophe -- my first of 2019 (my New Year resolution didn’t involve anything about apostrophes so I doubt it will be the last...;)
...and while we’re on grammar...
"(and I'm guessing that last 'two' a play on words) :)"
...to be honest - no - it was a grammatical error - but thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt...;)
"I am sooo jealous. “
I’m glad you didn’t say that I’m starting to sound like a retired old bloke already...!
‘Headphones/ - that is ironic - I never thought of that...how could they have known there’d be a more literal meaning when they invented the word.
Mixing beers is ok - not like mixing grape and grain :)
Oz - I’ll have to try and work ‘wizard’ into my next two Winchester pubs now...:)
PS - hope you beer parcel arrived from brewer son over Christmas...
Ahem:
ReplyDelete- you apostrophe 'em; I'll point 'em out :)
- not old bloke at all! just very jealous of cheap beer in a good atmosphere (rare over here)
- totally agree on the mixing thing (one of the reasons I don't drink hard liquor, usually) :)
- looking forward to the 'wizard' angle.
- no beer parcel this year; but that's mainly due to us being in Edmonton for about 10 days in late March to enjoy visiting our first grandchild (a boy, due mid-Feb, to keep up the Smith name). My youngest will give me a 'package' to take home at that time. :)
Cheers!
Excellent - plenty for you to look forward to in March - hope all goes well.
ReplyDeletePS - currently enjoying 'Canadian Railway Journeys' with Michael Portillo on BBC TV
Thanks for the tip re: Cdn Railway Journeys; will try to check that out myself (thumbs up). :)
DeleteThe only times Iv'e been in there, (about 3 from memory) is only because its the first place open, a little later in the day beer wise I'd be in Overdraft a couple of doors further down, for the proper pub experience Winchester has several good options but the best tend to be outlying and a bit of a hike.
ReplyDelete