In my youth I frequented many an Ale House in England, and it was a common sight to see a sign hanging saying that ‘William Shakespeare’ drank here. Or maybe I’m confusing him with Charles Dickens. Anyway, my wife and I ventured into Stratford’s oldest pub, The Garrick, for a small libation. Although the building dates back to the 1400s it wasn’t a public house until after Shakespeare’s time so it seems fairly safe to say that he didn’t drink here, which is a tad ironic. Inside, it’s obviously a very old building, with small cosy rooms, stone floors and lots of timber beams and we had a pleasant time while figuring out options for dinner. We could have eaten there but it’s run by a big chain (Greene King) and I’m generally not a fan of these chain eateries. We opted for a Thai Restaurant next door and in hindsight that wasn’t a great choice, Both my wife and I are ok with spicy food but both our dishes were off the scale hot and we came away wishing we’d gone elsewhere. In fact, we didn’t get good food anywhere on our trip this time - even Oxford let us down. Or maybe we were all tired and out of sorts. Part of the problem I think is that we cook pretty well at home, so when you are forking out decent money in a restaurant it’s annoying when you come away thinking you could do a lot better in your own house for a lot less.
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| Inside The Garrick, Stratford. I presume that's the Man Himself on the extreme left, or a representation of him. For this shot I placed the OM4ti on the bar and pressed the shutter, as it was pretty dark in there. HP5+ at 800, developed in Ilfotec HC, printed on Foma 133. |
I read that the hospitality industry in the UK is in dire straits - mainly due to the huge increases in electricity and fuel costs. This month our electricity increases by 40% - and that's on top of earlier rises his year of 30%, so it has pretty much doubled in a year. Much like the cost of gas and kerosene, which we use for home heating. I think there isn't going to be a lot of spare change around UK households this winter, so I expect a lot of pubs and restaurants will be under severe pressure. It's going to be a tough winter and no doubt it'll be the coldest on record, as that's the way it seems to go in life.
I've seen little plaques here and there that say, "On this site on (some date way in the past), nothing happened." But my favorite nonsensical sign ever was actually one I found on a building in Northern Ireland: For those of you who like this sort of place, this is the sort of place you like.
ReplyDeleteWell you can't argue with that one, that's for sure! :)
DeleteI’ve just come back from a weekend in Venice (where incidentally, it’s a good location for washing line photos). All the food we had, even from central area street vendors was good, and not overpriced, considering the location and captive audience. I think it’s a cultural thing. They wouldn’t disrespect you by serving something they wouldn’t want to eat themselves. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be true of the UK. My pet hate? The side salad. Some limp day old afterthought with no dressing as attempt to elevate your dish to some other level. Perlease!
ReplyDeleteVenice is rather special - although it's 20 years since I was there I found it every bit as good as the hype. A lot of photographers go there - all trying, it seems, to get the same shot of the sunrise over a canal. Washing line photos is much more my thing, too :)
DeleteI love a salad, but like most things we seem to be able to make a much more appetising one at home that anywhere we eat out nowadays. Not that Northern Ireland is the home of the salad, mind you - there's still a lot of 'meat and potatoes' places.