Live And Let Die In Marchington

Marchington is a classic Staffordshire farmland village in that it feels like it’s in the middle of nowhere but reality (and this map) tells you it’s not far from either Uttoxeter or Burton.

Picturesque and quintessentially British are a couple of well-used phrases that spring to mind when my pal and I were driving towards our destination 222 – The Dog And Partridge ST14 8LJ.

It serves Bass so is clearly a classy joint (!) and was Uttoxeter CAMRA Pub of the Year in 2017 and is well regarded so we thought it was worth a visit on a Wednesday evening.

This boozer is active on social media and has built up a reputation for its live music and food to such an extent that James Bond paid a visit.

Now, if you’re based in London then this would be a fairly regular occurrence but in the backwaters of Marchington it is big news when Roger Moore comes in for a pie and a pint!  The Man With The Golden Gun is known for being a smooth operator as anyone who recalls his Spitting Image puppet caricature can testify whilst his suave 007 role was iconic.

http://www.tradelocally.co.uk/james-bond-visits-marchington-pub/

So, with the official seal of approval from James Bond and the prospect of proper pub opening hours (i.e. shuts at 3 and reopens at 5/6) then this place appeared to have all the ingredients to be a roaring success.

It was certainly quite full for a Wednesday evening although every table was set up for dining meaning it was more food orientated than I expected.

There was a good selection of around four ales on and I plumped for half of Bass and I’m not sure if it was the fact it was only a half but it wouldn’t have got in my top ten Bass of all time.

Decent enough but it wasn’t in the sort of form to put to set pulses racing for https://twitter.com/oldmudgie, https://twitter.com/NHS_Martin or https://twitter.com/thewickingman.

Don’t get me wrong it was a well-kept country boozer and had loads of memorabilia and breweriana inside as well as the obligatory loud bloke at the bar, who was relatively friendly.

I’m not quite sure what I was expecting and it is the sort of boozer Mrs BB would love as there was lots of character and clutter and it was clearly well kept with plenty of TLC.

As I’ve said on many occasions previously, most country pubs need a lot of food turnover to survive I am always surprised when it appears that there is not really any drinking zones apart from sitting on a stool at the bar.

Nonetheless, my pal and I sat down and had a drink and a stress free 45 minutes here although we weren’t tempted to another drink – not even a medium dry Martini “shaken not stirred” like roger Moore himself!

This pub clearly serves the good people of Marchington and beyond very well and I’m pretty sure it has been a GBG entrant but it wasn’t quite what I expected.