The Lord Raglan pub is in Nangreaves, a village set a few miles off Walmersley Road in Bury, Lancashire. The pub has it's own micro-brewery which (many people have told me) is situated in the cellar of the pub:
The Real Ale produced up at the Lord Raglan is first class in taste and deceptively strong: For example, I felt like I was rocking after a couple of pints.
However, what is sociologically interesting about the Lord Raglan is that it offers what I would describe as an 'In the League with Gentleman' kind of experience. What do I mean by this? Well, where else in somewhere like Bury would you expect to find a stuffed animal's head on the wall:
Really wanted to get a picture of this, as my students in Poland didn't really believe when I told them that a pub in my hometown had such a head on the wall for its clientele to gently peruse at their leisure.
What do I think of the stuffed animal head on the wall at the Raglan? Well, I'm not exactly sure, to be honest. I'm not of the politically-'correct' Nazi persuasion, so I have nothing strongly against it, while on the other hand, it doesn't exactly correspond to my own sense of aesthetics
When in Bury, I occasionally go up to the Raglan on a Sunday night when there is a nice 'country folk' type of atmosphere in the pub. In this day and age of plastic pubs full of chemical beer; vanity mirrors; and cheap vodka mixes, the Lord Raglan experience is very much welcome. Yes, I'd rather walk up into 'The League of Gentleman' than suffer an evening with a bunch of 'scrotes' in a plastic pub.
The picture below is of Alan and Peter who attend some kind of 'Vicar's Tea Party' up at the Raglan on Sunday nights:
I guess the 'Vicar's Tea Party' must be pretty good, as Alan (on the left) travels all the way from Blackpool to attend it, while Peter (on the right) has his wife drive him from Rochdale to attend it. These are a really a couple of great lads. For example, Alan often stands at the door encouraging fellow smokers to listen out for nightjars in the fresh, dark evening air. Yes, 'The League of Gentleman' are a stoic, enduring, and, dare I say it, endearing crowd.
No comments:
Post a Comment