The Barmy Arms, Twickenham

Guys

I have to own up to frequenting one of the landlords' previous pubs, which was in Crowthorne. There, as here, he polarised opinion - although not in quite so one-sided a way.

My consistent experiences of his pubs (I've used three of his over the years, including this one) has always been:

always decent beer (he's a cellarmaster, whatever that means)
good value, better than average quality pub-chain food;
good staff (better than the average, anyway);

And the landlord; OK - he is florid-faced (not unusual in a landlord), and very opinionated - but I've always found him amenable, except with punters wearing football shirts, when he can be "a little" abrasive : Not surprising given the pub location, name and heritage.

C'mon, England do "curmudgeonly", brilliantly - it's our USP. - what do you want, plastic smiles and false sincerity?

negative opinion would be generated on the surface, if you just based a visit on previous blogs and had preconceptions.

Embrace the man (metaphorically speaking - for god's sake don't touch him) and cherish a bit of old fashioned English quirkiness before we all go american and plastic.

See you there on the 7th Feb for the footie (rugby that is)!!!

30 Jan 2009 15:48