History - But Not As We Know It Tim...

A misappropriation of a famous Dr Spock line from Star Trek - perhaps...

Trekkie or Brexiteer...?

...but as I visit another of Southampton’s Spoons emporiums, I realise that Weatherspoons must have an ace researcher (or research department) possibly spending many hours on the internet and in local libraries etc, to come up with relevant history for their premises.

I guess this is a lot easier for some premises which are part of history themselves, but others, like The Giddy Bridge, in London Road, Southampton, have to make do with more tenuous historical links.

The name of the pub, according to Weatherspoons website, is based on the fact that the it stands on the site of a 17th century field which was known as the ‘Giddy Bridge’.  The origin of the name seems to be unknown, but undaunted by this Weatherspoons historical researcher has provided a range of random or tenuously linked bits of local history, such as...

...the Rabbit Woman scandal - about a woman alleged to have given birth to 15 rabbits...

Image Weatherspoons Giddy Bridge webpage

...the fact that The Cenotaph in London, was based on one Sir Edwin Lutyens had just designed for Southampton,

....not to mention the one time local residents, Admiral Jellicoe and General ‘Chinese’ Gordon and Southampton FC’s 'The Dell'.

With all this amazing history I cannot help thinking that the book of ‘Weatherspoon’s Pub Histories’ might soon be published and if it is, no coffee table should be without one.

Anyway, lacking in any direct historical merit it might be, but inside it’s classic Weatherspoons, the layout of this one being wide and fairly narrow along the frontage with the bar at the back (rather than narrow and deep), but still a big space.

Giddy Bridge interior looking less busy than it actually was...

It was Thursday lunchtime and there were quite a few people in, as usual young, old and inbetweeners.

Looking at the cask ale offerings on the two sets of hand pumps, there was one in particular which caught my eye...

...could this be the fabled green beer as drunk by Citra...?

...it was....

Spring in a glass...

Stonehenge Ales ‘Sign of Spring’ (4.6%) is an easy drinking premium bitter  and, though your senses tell you it should taste of grass, or peas or something else green, fortunately it just tastes like a bitter, and was very good.

The barman asked me what made it green.  I told him I didn’t know - in fact I was hoping he could tell me.  Having checked Stonehenge Ales’ website they just refer to it as 'a drop of green magic’ - so I’m none the wiser really - though it could be E142 ‘Green S’ - whatever that is...

Anyway - not only does it taste nice - it’s also a great beer if you want to draw attention to yourself.  I sat down at a table near the window, and soon a retired couple sitting at the neighbouring table couldn’t resist commenting...

“Is it a cocktail” - asked the woman.

"No it’s a beer - called ’Sign of Spring’ ” - I explain, helpfully.

“Looks like it’s come out of the other end” says her husband, enjoying his joke...

....”Barry!” she replies looking embarrassed...

...and then she say’s to me, apologetically, “Can’t take him anywhere”.

Definitely a beer with entertainment value...

The couple finished their coffees and left me to peruse the Spring edition of Weatherspoons News magazine on the table...

...which reported on Tim’s Pre-Brexit tour...

Tim tells them straight....

...and how to get your 5-a-day at Weatherspoons...

5-a-day way...

...and, of course, the Loo of the Year Awards...

I was just beginning to think that Weatherspoons entertainment doesn’t get any better than this, when a man, complete with man bag and headphones, enters the pub and falls over the outstretched legs of Weatherspoons advertising blackboard.  He stumbles but manages to save himself and the blackboard from toppling too.  Great recovery, though I wondered if he’d been distracted by my green beer and felt a pang of guilt...

I finished up my beer and left, fearful of causing another accident...

...but I’ll leave you with this worrying indication from the Weatherspoons drinks menu card...

Craft beer...doomed...?

.. no - not that a pint Doom Beer has now dropped below £2, but that headlining in the Craft beer section are Marstons Shipyard and Greene King Hophouse 13...

...which must be very reassuring to ‘craft' aficionados....