Lies to tell Yanks: Sadly, Mary Queen of Scots didn't drink and the Castle pub
closed down in 1538 while she was imprisoned there.
This is a pub crawl I'm not only going to enjoy writing about but it also brings back memories of April 2008 when we returned with a 2-1 last minute win which sealed our play-off place. The beer before hand was pretty good as well!
You only have to go to the legendary street of Botchergate, or Boozergate as the locals call it, where there must have been 10 pubs in close proximity, and various states of quality, within a 100 meter walk. It's straight out of the station and turn right. Easy.
I would start in one of the stronger Weatherspoons, the Woodrow Wilson, where they have real bar staff, quite a lot of them, and real beer, lots of them as well.
On my visit they had the wonderful 4.5% golden ale Cocker Hoop on tap, and you are too after a couple of pints, and the dubious sounding Sneck Lifter, very strong. A pint of Tarnmouth from a Cumbrian micro-brewery in Garsdale made this a very enjoyable visit. All £1.69 last April!
Missing the less than obvious charms of the Border Rambler I decided to give the Cumberland Inn a go even though a local retired plod was against it. I presumed this was because he felt first team colours would be shown which was not the case here and on the back of a positive review in the excellent Yeovil website Ciderspace I gave it a go.
I immediately sussed what he was warning against. I felt like an extra in the Night of the Living Dead! I have never seen a scarier bunch of regulars in my life. Luckily they had an Arsenal game on so I could focus on that as I drunk a £2.40 pint of Deuchers as quickly as possible. That beer is turning up everywhere nowadays.
The official 'away' pub is the Griffin, which is at the top of the road nearest the station but only had four away fans in it when I looked in. I had a pint of Titanic, which went down as well as it's namesake.
Finally, walk to the Brunton Park ground which is across the road from the pub and a 15 minute stroll down the Warwick Road but give yourself enough time for a visit to the Rugby Club.
Can get packed but 5 minutes away from the away end, they always serve a good guest beer, it was Yates Fever Pitch in 2008.
Drinks are served in the ground and they had plastic bottles of Fosters on sale at £1.50 a couple of seasons back, but I doubt we'll see that again!