Sunday, April 30, 2006

Free House


A free house - what a bargain! Or perhaps not.

Unfortunately all it means is that the inn, in this case the Half Moon at Cheriton Fitzpaine in Devon, is not tied to a particular brewery and can serve whatever beer it cares to. When breweries could monopolise large areas and force drinkers into imbibing such swill as Watney's Red Barrel and Courage Best, the free house was an oasis. Cities like Bristol and Birmingham were particularly poor for choice.

This situation has been considerably eased by the growth of small independent breweries since the 1970s. Now it is possible to buy a wide variety of amber falling-over water in almost every town or village.

(This blog has been checked by the Tweeometer. No kittens, lambs or other cuddly animals were detected)

5 comments:

Susan Lucente said...

Ok, maybe there are no kitties and lambs, but I suspect there might be a nest full of newly hatched fuzzy baby birds in that tree in the background. (listening to the faint sounds of "tweet tweet tweet" in the distance...)

shara said...

"Amber falling-over water". Lovely. Maybe a series of pub shots? Glasses, patrons, taps and tables? The bar is one of my favourite places to take pictures, but then again, I'm having a hard time thinking of a place I don't like to take pictures. I'm sure there must be one.

Canbush said...

I thought you'd approve, Lee

Susan - no there isn't!

Bluesmama - I'll add it to my list, along with stone walls

snowsparkle said...

you make me laugh!!! "tweeometer"! hahahahahahaha! sorry i missed this one before. glad i found it now! thanks!

Canbush said...

You're very welcome.