Horse, Fox and Palace

A meander round the inner sub­urb, start­ing for me at the Bay Horse on Blos­som Street. Always a very local pub, except on race days, and quite cosy. The Deuchars was off but the Black Sheep was superbly kept, one of the best pints of Sheep I’ve had in a long while. Nearly oppos­ite, the Mount was closed and advert­ising for a new man­ager, but nobody felt deprived as it was never a favour­ite. The Crys­tal Palace has a rather bright lounge bar, a bit like a 1950s liv­ing room with 150w bulbs, and full of well-dressed old people of both sexes chat­ting quietly. Our group was per­haps an atyp­ical intru­sion. But as it’s a Sam Smiths pub, the beer was extremely cheap. Finally, to the Fox, which has had its ups and downs but retains the two nice back snugs. Not quite as comfy a feel as it used to be, but OK.