Why I, Tom Canning, am on the Nag's Head pub sign
Or why our hero received 1s of WhatsApp messages every week.
Probably once a weekend I receive a notification on Social Media from a post I’ve been tagged in that says ‘Is this you?’. Or a WhatsApp message from a friend who’s been out on a bit of a pub crawl and is suddenly wondering if that 12% Double Hopped Fruit Shoot was really the wisest move.
But no, it’s absolutely true. My name is written in chalk outside officially Berkshire’s Second Best Pub, The Nags Head in Russell Street, Reading.
I really want to make up some wild story about how it happened, about how it’s a passive-aggressive comment about how perhaps I am no longer welcome in the pub or something like that.
The reality is slightly more mundane as I found out on a recent visit (where I also managed to leave my bag behind and must go and pick it up).
Just before Christmas, on a Berkshire Beer Facebook Group I run, I did a survey with a few questions to see if we could do an informal end of year awards run-down.
The questions were:
Favourite Berkshire beer in 2021
Favourite Berkshire brewery in 2021?
What was your favourite Berkshire drinking venue in 2021?
What was your favourite beery event in 2021? (Festival/night/theme)
As Jody Oates, the pub's landlord said to me on hearing of the Nags runners up medal: “Couldn't fit Berkshire Pubs, Breweries, Beers Festivals and Pints on there!”
So there you have it (if you want to see the actual survey results they are here.
Now then, a proper newsletter would probably start with: ‘Hey. Good Bank Holiday Weekend?’
Feel free to answer those four questions about your local area in the comments..
A beer thing
I can’t really describe the beer I had on that little visit to the Nags Head. It was called Sonar Biscuit (6%) and was from the brilliant Elusive Brewing in Finchampstead. On the keg wall, it was brewed with the pub to celebrate the venue’s 15th birthday and was a Sour IPA.
I’d not really realised this until I bought it, just being blinded by the Elusive x Nags Head Reading name on the chalkboard. If I was only having one pint, it wouldn’t usually be a sour, but I did and I liked it. A lot. According to the Nags website, it is still on the keg bar so head down and try a pint!
A train thing
I’m really glad that my life has changed to the point where train travel is a little fun thing again. The daily commute into Canary Wharf from Reading between 2012 and 2014 really killed the joy and made me write in my Twitter profile ‘Angry at Trains’.
£500 odd pounds a month for a ticket, squeezed under someone’s armpit on the way home was really, really not worth it.
But as well as of course, a pandemic, a change in job circumstance means that mostly I am sat by myself in a converted garage for much of the week instead of dashing for a train.
That changed a couple of weeks ago when I got to head up to Newcastle for a series of meetings and while I know my northern colleagues had awful journeys, mine was a dream. Reading to Paddington, new train and empty. Tube, well the tube is the tube. And then Kings Cross to Newcastle, new train and empty.
Plus the wifi was really good!
Probably because I don’t go there very often, but I am always stunned by Kings Cross station. It’s no wonder it’s big in that wizardy literature thing.
The old vs new architecture really works for me, it’s quite an inspiring and wonderous place if I’m honest. I think it’s the big steel roof that arrived in 2012. Wikipedia says it’s like “some kind of reverse waterfall”. I don’t really think that, I just think it’s quite cool. Whenever I’ve been there, I never feel like I’m in a rush - but that might be that all my tickets seem to have a built-in hour window to navigate the tube, as opposed to somewhere like Euston which just oozes ‘GTF out of my way’.
The other thing that’s really visible when you walk in is how clean it is. I’ve been through Paddington enough times in the last decade to see it filthy and after they cleaned it up a few years ago. But Paddington is way more chaotic.
I’d have loved to see a few big steam trains at Kings Cross, but they certainly wouldn’t have helped keep it quite so clean.
A football thing
Football’s been a hard thing to come by for me of late. I really love going to games but with a little one, a house move and all the DIY that comes with that plus of course the Great British Winter, time to get out and enjoy an afternoon watching 22 people boot a ball around has been very hard to come by.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d not change any of what I’ve just said for the world. At all. Well, maybe I’d make the British winter a bit sunnier - it doesn’t have to be warmer but I’d just like it to be nice and bright when the snow is falling - is that to much to ask?
What was great last summer was being able to take my daughter out in the pram down to Burghfield Rec to watch a game or two. Despite only being 18 months old she’s also caught games at Wallingford, Binfield and most recently Reading City.
That latest one came in the most recent bout of good weather and it really worked because the club have a huge amount of green land and a fenced-off pitch so she can now run around to her heart’s content.
I’ve not really got any more of a point to this other than to say it was lovely, she enjoyed it and I’ll do it again!
“1s of people” 😂