Sunbeams And Storms In Clifton Campville

Storm Hannah is on hand this weekend to greet the new cricket season as the words squib and damp spring to mind.

There has been some play of course last week before what threatened to be glorious summer hit the buffers in a big way… at least it means Warwickshire won’t lose any more games this weekend.

Before the deluge of rain on Friday I did manage to watch a little bit of cricket as my kids turned their arms over at Lullington Park Cricket Club.

It’s a great little village whereby you drive through some urban earthy suburbs such as Woodville and within about ten minutes you are in glorious Staffordshire countryside in the middle of nowhere.

After sub-zero cricket, the only way you can possibly warm up, and this is an official medical fact, is by visiting the pub.

Salt and Vinegar Crisps, J2O and Coke are all renowned forms of central heating for your body along with dart boards, sky sports on the television, packed pubs and a convivial atmosphere.

Luckily enough we spotted 389 – The Green Man B79 0AX in Clifton Campville, the next village, which ticked all the above boxes.

Throw in a good pint of Sunbeam (Banks’s) and you have all the necessary ingredients for a top notch village boozer. By all accounts, it has a population of 912 so chimney pots aren’t in close proximity.

Aside from that it is a proper old school pub with not only Ansells signs outside but opening hours between 12-2.30 of an afternoon and then 5.30 till closing of an evening.

I couldn’t get to the bar as there was some classic bar blocking in a tight area but the landlady was friendly and even offered me some pork pie after my round of drinks!

We managed to find a little off shoot room with the sport on that had a bit of space and I overheard a conversation where someone said “You’ve not got a good record against Birmingham.”

Who is this team?! I want to play them every week but he clearly wasn’t a Villa fan as they keep on taking the spoils at present…

Judging by this year he is a Rotherham, Leeds or Stoke fan…as it is Staffordshire I reckon it could have been the mighty Potters.

(Did you know Liverpool’s record defeat was 9-1 against Birmingham Jamie?  Might have been the question being asked here…)

Anyway, a crackling atmosphere and we stopped for about 25 minutes just as Liverpool were warming up for their five goal romp against Huddersfield an I noted that one of the blokes by the bar made a point of saying goodbye not only to me but to the kids as well.

That summed the boozer up – a friendly local pub that’s slightly off the beaten track.