Ebeneezer Goode In Lichfield

Naughty, naughty, very naughty,” went The Shamen’s top ten hit from the nineties.  Anyone who is my age now thought it was about a bloke called Ebeneezer Goode whilst anyone under the age of 30 probably knew the class A links with the chorus.

Anyway staying with the slightly naughty theme, according to my sources (i.e. the gaffer of the next pub on this blog)…Cannabis is the new hop being brewed in beer!   It had to happen, as brewers become ever more creative in their quest for different tastes.

Cannabis is a relative of the hop plant and as long as anything illegal is removed (THC apparently), then a Hemp pint can be relatively healthy, by all accounts.

I’ve no idea what it tastes like though but it was part of a cracking conversation with the gaffer of the 136- Bitter Suite WS14 9DT in Lichfield.

He was lamenting that fact that one of his brewers had gone off to experiment in this field but it didn’t affect the quality of beer on sale in this boozer.

It’s only been open just over a month but it is a classic example of an old boozer being reborn.  Apparently, The Bridge Tavern closed its doors in 1986 and has been utilised as offices and storage building until it reverted back to its rightful role as a pub!

Our party of six were in full voice at this stage and whilst Cannabis infused IPA wasn’t on the menu, I suspect, the way the gaffer was talking, it might appear on their beer board somewhere down the line.

This did appear bigger than your average micro and whilst it had table service, which is not the norm in a pub, both its rooms were open and there was a decent sized crowd in, albeit for a Friday night.

The gaffer was good value and knowledgeable and whilst I am not a pork pie man, the rest of my drinking group were delighted with the quality on show!

The Haka (Butcombe) was excellent and definitely a place I would visit again and it’s great to see a boozer almost consigned to the history books resurrected after 30 years in the wilderness.

 

…and open for longer than five hours per week…

Sticking with the spaced out theme our previous boozer on our Urban Exploration of Lichfield was a good old fashioned pub with historic stained glass windows 137 – The Fountain WS13 7BG.

As this picture shows…

…Six pints of Bass is always a winner (it was my round) but there were a couple of the group with similar views to Rich and not Bass aficionados…still they forced it down!  Another dart board along with a pool table round the corner at the other end of the bar gave this the feel of a local.

However, a vist to the toilet showed that quite a few of their punters have been spaced out recently and I am not sure if this place is on the edge of closure, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.

There was a large crowd of punters by the pool table and various groups dotted around meaning this pub was full for an early Friday evening.

It was ‘Fish Friday for a fiver’ but we held off until the pork pies at the Bitter-Suite but this place clearly has a market and I didn’t see any evidence of cubicle blocking in the loos so hopefully that issue has been stamped out and it looks as though the gaffer clearly cares enough to try and ensure everyone stays on Planet Earth.

A few more arrows, a pint of Bass and an earthy atmosphere hopefully ensures that this pub has got longer than four weeks left on the market!

Neither of these pubs have made the official Lichfield Ale Trail but, as I’ve said before, just step off the beaten track and there are plenty of thriving pubs old and new to be found.

“There’s a guy in the place who’s got a bittersweet face
And he goes by the name of Ebeneezer Goode
His friends call him ‘Ezeer and he is the main geezer
And he’ll vibe up the place like no other man could”