24 August 2009 (Monday) - Scoring 0/10...

“My Boy ^TM ” had a bit of a cob today. Did I want to lend him twenty quid? No I did not. He then proceeded to be a tad miserable. After a while I asked him what the matter was. He had the hump because he was skint, and because I wouldn’t lend him any money. That threw me. What made him think I wouldn’t lend him any money? I’d never said I wouldn’t lend him twenty quid. I said I didn’t want to lend him twenty quid. Not that I wouldn’t. A subtle distinction, but an important one.

He claims he’ll pay me back on Thursday. I hope he does. I got a hundred quid out of the bank on Friday. Having given (lent!) him twenty quid, I only have a few pence left. I do need to start economising. Or stop tiddling quite so much of it up various walls.

On the subject of beer, there’s rumblings from Dungeness. On July 18^th a gaggle of us went up the lighthouse in Dungeness, and then had a meal at the Britannia pub just down the road from there. I must admit I wasn’t overly impressed with the place, and said so on a certain web site. It would seem that the landlord of the place has discovered Beer in the Evening, and had had a little rant. Apparently it’s not fair that people are allowed to publicise their bad experiences of his rather grim establishment, and he wanted to give his side of the story in the form of some personal abuse aimed at his critics.

As you can see from the above link, I’ve told him to wind his neck in, and this morning I found a review on his pub from someone who loves the place. Which has left me wondering about my hobby of reviewing pubs. Particularly those at the bottom end of the scale.

It’s no secret I like a drop of ale, and that I act as a roving reporter for Beer in the Evening. I rate pubs on a score of 0/10 to 10/10 depending on some vague guidelines I knocked together whilst I was bored one evening a long time ago. I’ve never awarded 10/10 (yet) but the Chambers bar in Folkestone and the Red Lion in Snargate are coming close. I’ve awarded a score of 0/10 seven times. I give 0/10 as a score to pubs which I find to be personally insulting:

• The Dog & Pheasant in Godalming who knew we wanted to eat, but tricked us out of the price of a round, knowing full well their chef had gone home.
• The George Inn in Rye, who slammed their door in my face one bonfire night because I wasn’t a resident. They took my money in the past
• The Pulpit Inn in Portland which was closed after I’d walked ten miles to find the place.
• The Swan in Great Chart where the landlady gave me personal abuse on BITE then fabricated some sock-puppet accounts to try to big-up her pub.
• The Westgate Inn in Canterbury where luke warm food and sour beer is served by arrogant schoolchildren.
• The William Harvey Inn whose beer garden is full of pikeys that shout abuse to scare off potential customers.

And now I’ve added the Britannia in Dungeness to this list.

But am I right to do so? Perhaps I shouldn’t have such subjective criteria for the most damning score possible? On reflection I must admit to a twinge of conscience about my rating for the pub in Portland. But the other places…. I don’t *really* mind a rough pub, or a grim pub. But I do mind a pub in which the staff are downright rude.

And as for low scores generally – I score an average pub at 6/10. I’ve given a better than average score to 69 pubs, average to 46, and below average to 58. Am I being somewhat harsh on these pubs? What if I’m catching them on a bad day?

But then again, last weekend I spent nearly seventy quid in assorted pubs (Good grief!) Beer in the Evening serves a useful function in that one can use it…. Well, if not to find the best pubs, at least to find the dives that don’t deserve my hard-earned cash.

Meanwhile “Daddies Little Angel ^TM ” has been hanging the washing out. What’s she up to…. ?