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Thursday, 14 May 2020

Pubs that are close to my heart

This is a section which will be part of an occasional series, about pubs that I have an emotional attachment to. Some of the featured pubs have closed, some of them remain open, but have changed beyond recognition. I have a tendency to be a little sentimental, so I am giving readers the option of skipping this section if they want to.

The Brandy Cask, Pershore
The Brandy Cask was one of the first pubs that I visited, as part of days out with my Partner's Brother and Mum. Every Saturday, the three of them would travel to all sorts of fascinating places, long before I came on the scene. I owe them a tremendous amount, for not only providing the transport to these locations, but introducing me to some really great pubs.
The Brandy Cask was situated along Bridge Street, in the delightful town of Pershore in Worcestershire, the pub opened in 1995. The interior décor, looked as though it hadn't been updated since the 1960's, but you soon looked beyond such unimportant detail. The furnishings were typical of a traditional pub – complete with the obligatory pub carpet! Another splendid feature of the pub, was the extensive beer garden that had moorings at the end of the garden, overlooking the river Avon. It was a busy, yet quiet pub,we did not visit it every Saturday, but we were regular enough to know the names of the landlord and his wife, Mr and Mrs Spencer – or Spencer (Spence) as the landlord preferred to be known. Brewing was done on the premises, firstly by Spencer and a partner, latterly by Trevor. According to my partner, they had the best range of beers, always variable, always gorgeous.
He brilliantly summed up the quality of one of the beers John Bakers Original, when he said -
“John Bakers original is the best readily available strong bitter that you can get. I cannot give a description of the beer, as it's never the same twice, yet it is instantly recognizable.”
Another factor that is worth mentioning was the food, it was good honest down to earth pub grub. We would often treat ourselves to Chicken Kiev and chips – or Chicken Kevins as they were affectionately known by everyone. The place mats were quite interesting, they dated from the 1960's or 70's depicting famous London landmarks. I can remember my family, owning a set of these back in the day. You were certainly made to feel at home, when you were a customer at The Brandy Cask.
Last orders at The Brandy Cask were called in 2016. Mr Spencer had tried to sell the pub as a going concern, but it wasn't to be, the pub was converted into flats. To this day, we all lament the closure of one of the finest pubs to exist.

Additional information provided by my partner.

There are some interesting photos of the interior of The Brandy Cask, on this blog.






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