The Belle Vue

The Belle Vue is one of the pubs that I visit on a more regular basis, purely because it is very close to my house. They usually have a 4 or 5 good ales on tap and the lagers are all kept well. The last time I was in there I had a few pints of Woodfordes Wherry, they also had on Theakstons Old Peculiar which was surprising as I rarely see this beer on tap around Norfolk. The beer was ok, slightly too warm and also maybe coming o the bottom of the barrel as it had that stale taste coming through, making it feel not so fresh.
The pub itself is good, very popular with locals at the weekends and serves food througout the day. The food is, well, generous. You get plenty to deal with. The menu is full of pub favourites (Burgers, all day breakfast, chilli, sausage and mash, etc) and each of them is massive. They are also well priced for the amount you get which is a real bonus. This makes the place popular with younger people and students. The beer is also well priced at £2.80 for a pint of Wherry.
They have a pool table, smoking garden and show all football and sports on a big screen so occasionally you can get some thugs hanging around in there but most of the time it is a good place to be. Defiintely one for the pub crawl.

The Coachmakers

The Coachmakers is a small pub in the city centre, just off the St. Stephens roundabout. It serves a range of ales, lagers and ciders. When I visited on Friday they had 7 ales coming sraight out of the barrels behind the bar, a touch that I quite liked. IPA, Nelsons Revenge, Wherry, Abbot, Mardlers and 2 others that now I forget. I sampled the Wherry, Nelsons Revenge and Mardlers, all Woodfordes ales so produced locally, another nice touch. Out of the 3 my favourite had to be the Nelsons Revenge. Only just beat Wherry to the best for the day as it was that little bit stronger which was just what I was looking for at the time.

It was kept at a perfect temperature and come slightly darker in colour than Wherry, which is probably Woodfordes most popular ale. The Mardlers was more of a stout and much darker in colour and taste. Not my favourtie but would be enjoyed if you like Guiness, John Smiths or Boddingtons.
The Coachmakers as a pub is a nice little pub. Customers range from a few local drinkers to shoppers and students from the college. A good smoking area and live sports and darts board are all nice editions. The pub is very clean without having that modern touch that you might get with a Wetherspoons. Lots of brickwork and old wooden beams make up the interior decoration. The prices are fair and, for a pub in the town centre, realistic for regular drinkers.
I would definitely recommend this pub to anyoone visiting Norwich or anyone looking for a good beer without having to leave the town centre.

The Towan Blystra - Newquay

This is the second JD Wetherspoons bar that I have reviewed on this blog and as they are all pretty much the same I think it is difficult to talk about them in a critical sense, you either like them or you don't. Cheap and handy they can always provide a good stop on a pub crawl. This one in particular was very clean, very tidy and seemed to be serving a lot of families. Most people were eating and there were a few people in there for their lunch time pint, like myself. The ale in Wetherspoons is never that good so I avoided it and went for a bottle of cider, the safe option. It was fine and the whole visit was fine. Family atmosphere, clean and tidy surroundings, no music, some tennis on TV and the regualr wide selection at good prices that you would expect from Wetherspoons. In my opinion not the best but not the worst. Just an average bar, cosy enough and worth a stop for a quick drink.

Brothers Cider

I had a Brothers Cider for the first time when I was down in Newquay and I have to say that I was not impressed. This is unusual as I am usually a fan of something sweet and inexpensive. I had the strawberry and pear version and put simply, it was just too sweet. I like Koppaberg, especially the new strawberry and lime edition, they have become one of the leaders in fruity cider over the last few years and the Brothers version was just too sweet the handle. I could almost feel it eating into my teeth and causing my blood sugar to rise. In all honesty I could see this being a drink for teenage girls as you wouldn't know that it had any alcohol in it. Not my sort of thing.

The Chy Bar - Newquay

I will not dwell too much talking about this bar, mainly because I don't have a lot of good things to say about it. I went there slightly hungover looking for some refreshment. There was only 2 people in the place and I usually take that as a sign that it's not going to be that great. The staff were strange, there seemed to be loads of them but only one that would actually serve anybody. The selection was poor, 4 lagers, a few alcopops, a couple of ciders and that was about it. Everything was sticky and the place looked like it was trying its hardest to stay modern but failing because lots of things were a mess and showing signs of age. The pool table, for example, had loads of stains and required a £5 deposit just for the cues. The terrace area, although providing great views, was like a sancturary for seagulls. The staff were having their own conversation which contained some pretty colourful language and the toilets were unclean. I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone.

Fistral Blu Beach Venue - Newquay

Fistral Blu Beach Venue is a bar situated right on Fistral Beach in Newquay. It is world famous because of its connections to surfing. It is a really unique location and probably the best spot if you want a drink on the beach without getting covered in sand. Usually full of surfers and tourists, the interior has lots of comfortable seating for the surf dudes to chill out on. For location this bar is hard to beat, great views out on to the bay, with surfers and watersports to watch for entertainment. As for the drinks they serve, well this is where the bar falls down. I had a bottle of St Austells Tribute which is recognised as a fine beer but in this bar it was kept in the fridge and served at a temperature close to freezing which completely ruined it. A friend of mine had a pint of Guiness which was only half finished because it had a bad after taste. There was not a great deal of the drinks you would expect from a bar like this and there was a large selection of cider which I found a little unusual.
You are not allowed to take drinksdown and wander on the beach and there was a security presence to enforce this which dampened the atmosphere a little. I wouldn't recemmend this bar for a casual drink but for an organised beach party or surf gathering it could be ok.

The Fort Inn - Newquay

The Fort Inn is a St Austells Brewery pub and it has that feel of a chain about it. It is very nice inside and out, it caters mainly for families and serves a lot of food. There is a kids play area inside and outside and because of this I think it is more the sort of place you might go to have lunch with the family rather than a pub for drinking. There are great views across the bay from the terrace and the building itself is a pretty picture.
The beer served is obviously St Austells and there are, of course, the lagers and ciders that you would expect from any pub. St Austells Tribute was formerly my favourite ale but the pint I had in The Fort was not up to scratch. It was too warm and too bitter, considering it hasn't had to travel very far I kind of expected it to be in better shape than it was. The other beer that I tried was St Austells Proper Job.

This beer was in much better condition, the right temperature and pulled properly, which makes all the difference. It is very fruity and you get a real taste of grapefruit. Very light in the mouth and pale golden in colour it is just the sort of beer that I like. On a hot day it went down with such ease it was worrying. It has won awards for its bottled batch and at 5.5% it has a kick which is well received. I would recommend it to anyone. As for the pub, more for families and tourists although it looked like it had a good menu, suitable for anyone.