So this year I had to squeeze in some leave some we managed to get out into the country for a couple of Wednesdays – these are the pubs I had never been to before:
First stop was a little place in Caerwent which I had gone past a number of time but never stopped. We entered the Coach and Horses to be greeted by nothing at all, no punters and no staff. We stood by the bar for a little bit and then I snuck around to the “dining room” and managed to get someones attention. Once attended to we had a little beer – which I think I may have had 1664, but it may have been Stella I cannot remember. We threw a couple of darts – we are very shit, and perched on the lonely bar stools. They seemed to have a few in the food bit around the corner, but obviously there are not many alcoholics in Caerwent (unless we were a little early for them). There was a pool table which had no price on, and they had a bit of a beer garden, so might be one to pop back to if we ever get some sun (we could probably cycle to it in the summer).
6/10 (until the summer?)
Shirenewton, the town that supposedly is not called Shire-Newton, its called shurnewtun – which seemed a bit stupid to me – but then I didn’t name it. Another place I have been through many times and often thought about stopping, but never did – at one point I thought it would be a great place to retire to – they do have a couple of pubs at least. We visited the Tredegar Arms – Tredegar must be something relevant in these parts as a few places have this name – the only one I know is on the edge of Newport, so perhaps Mr Tredegar splashed his wealth all over the place. I don’t quite recall why, but I actually had some lunch in this place, and they did me a very adequate fish finger baguette, which I rather enjoyed. The lager selection was rubbish – Fosters being the best of a bad bunch – but it had just run out, so I had a bottle of San Miguel instead – fancy that lunch and a bottle of lager – ain’t I all continental all of a sudden. We sat in the Window seat, which was nice, and the rest of the bar was full of tables, but I thought it was okay – the view was just of the road.
7/10
Chepstow has a lot of pubs – most of them cack, and this one didn’t disappoint. It was cack too. The place itself is okay inside, a little olde worlde, but a good variety of lager, and a big sign outside saying that it won something to do with those beer loving freaks – Camra. Obviously Camera know cock all about lager, because both the Stella and Amstel were warm. Warm lager is for teenagers and poor people, and I loves an Amstel me – I couldn’t finish it. But as a softy poof I didn’t even mention it to the landlord as I left. It had old fashion “naughty” postcards in the toilet – that sums it up really – should have stayed in the past. So Coach and Horses, I wont return.
4/10 (If the lager comes out cold it would raise a point or two)
OMG! Never been in the Kings Head in Chepstow, not sure I will again. This is like someones front room, it had, what I guarantee is the resident piss head woman, propping up the bar, and two geezers one relaxing on the customers side of the bar, the other fiddling with a laptop. Customer ran around the bar and took our order – Stella for us, and thank god it was cold (Coach and Horses was just before). We sat on suitably sticky, marked tables and had a little chat, next think the boom boom boom of some type of youngsters musics ripped though the speakers. Person number two had managed to get his laptop to talk to the pubs speakers – wonderful. He was playing something from his Facebook page, and busting some moves by the bar. He was quite funny, he sounded to “posh” to be a bad boy, but he certainly wanted to be know as one. His moves got more erratic and then him and his mate stepped out for a smoke – just after blasting this shit heap music on. The lager was okay – and they were quite friendly in there, I can imagine it gets rammed at night time with all the young crowd – it would probably be nice to get drunk in there until you got stabbed, but I think I will probably give it a miss in future.
6/10 (extra point for comedy value)