Visit shows all is not lost for the hospitality trade

Jeff Hoyle talks about a visit to Royal Leamington Spa in his weekly The Barman column...

It was Friday morning and we had nothing planned for the weekend, so we decided to head off for a couple of days and watch Lynn play at Leamington.

The full name of the town is Royal Leamington Spa, so I expected it to be quite nice, but was not prepared to find a regency town which rivalled Cheltenham in attractiveness.

We arrived on Friday evening, getting hungry and ready to forage for food. A glance at the Good Beer Guide helped us to identify the New Inn, a Victorian pub across the river and so we set off down the wide streets and past the pretty gardens.

When we arrived, the pub was packed, with no chance to sample the yummy looking fish and chips, but space for a fine pint of Sharp’s Atlantic, a much better beer than their Doom Bar, before heading off to discover somewhere else.

That turned out to be the Drawing Board, a modern looking pub with comfy chairs and interesting décor, but once again nowhere to eat.

The locally brewed beer from Church Farm was excellent, but the hunger pangs were growing, so back down the Main Street to the Fizzy Moon, with its loud and young crowd, but crucially a perch where we could sample their pizza and a choice of beer brewed at the pub or one from the increasingly popular Purity brewery.

Not a bad introduction to a pretty and vibrant town with seemingly a pub full to overflowing on every corner, around 60 in all according to the tourist blurb.

Next day, we discovered that the football ground is three miles out of town along country roads with no pavement, so walking to the game was not an option.

Getting there early to guarantee a place in the car park was no hardship when I discovered that their clubhouse served a couple of beers from Church Farm, so I was well contented by the time of the kick off. In truth it was a poor game illuminated by a couple of moments of magic from Lynn players leading to a comfortable victory.

Back in town we reserved a place across the road from the hotel for dinner and had a really pleasant evening.

So, what have we learned from the experience? First, that Leamington is a fine place, and somewhat like Lynn, where the fine attractions suffer from a lack of promotion.

Secondly, that it is fun to be spontaneous. Third, that it is far more pleasant to watch Lynn play football further from home.

At Boston, earlier in the season, the language, taunting, and unpleasantness from a small section of the away support was almost as bad as anywhere I have ever seen or heard in 50 years of attending games, culminating in the unpleasant scenes at the Walks during the return fixture.

Fourth, that some pubs are incredibly busy, at least at weekends and perhaps not all is lost for the hospitality trade. I am still trying to convince myself that I am not a Lynn supporter and that next season I will be watching Bury FC once again, but I do keep having a sneaky look at Lynn’s fixtures.