Here's the photo ...
... and here's the map
Hmmm, large housing estate with roads a little narrower than
they might do them nowadays, probably late 60s/early 70s vintage, I wonder who
built it? BZZZZT! I know, I know, chalet semis ... it’s a Wimpey estate!
OK you win. Yep, there was one in Hartford that backed onto
the West Coast Main Line, which this one must do at its western edge. That one
didn’t merit a pub, though. OK, the Coachman was close by, and it’s a decent
boozer. And as Clive James might have said, once again I digress. We’ve reached
The Flying Lady.
Celebrating that part of Crewe’s recent heritage that
included thousands of aero engines and also the cars (until Rolls-Royce became
a subsidiary of BMW), this is a single room pub that has a Tetley’s sign
outside, but the only product on view is Smoothflow Bitter which is off (for
which the licensee gets an extra bonus point).
“Hand pulled ales”
are advertised, so what’s on offer? Well, it’s just the one, and it’s Young’s.
Er, what? Young’s, as in Young’s of Wandsworth? The stuff they have on at the
Buckingham Arms, near St James’s Park Underground? The same (minor confession –
I usually have Special at the Buckingham Arms (Young’s do two bitters, the one
at the Flying Lady is referred to dahn sarf as “Young’s Ordinary”)).
Why so? Well, Young’s is no longer brewed in London, as the
Ram Brewery at Wandsworth closed and production has moved to the Charles Wells
site at Bedford. So if brews like Bombardier are available in your town – and we
will encounter this one in Crewe, so stick around – anything from Young’s may
also appear. As with the Greene King IPA at the
Rising Sun, it takes to being served in the Northern style OK.
So, having secured my pint, it’s time to look around. The
bar top and other surfaces are an interesting colour. Those cut lines look
familiar. Er, it’s kitchen worktop. Ho yus it is. And, d’you know, I’m not
fussed about that. If that’s the best value solution for renewing the tops,
then good for them. A for effort, in fact.
Everything is contained in one room – it’s a large one – and
that’s games area, pool table, stage (music at weekends), and plenty of
seating. The ceiling seems a bit low, and I wonder if that gave the extraction
system fun before the smoking ban arrived. The low ceiling impression could be
because it’s a big open area, or could be the brown wood effect material. I can’t
make my mind up on that one.
Overall, the beer is fine and the one word that sums up this
pub is Interesting. I’ve visited
loads of recent build pubs and they’re usually dead boring. Despite being from
the period that style often forgot, the Flying Lady is, well, different. And it’s worth taking a
detour to stop by and have a jar just for that. So there.
1 comment:
Flying lady states that meal's are served from 12noon till late well we went on Friday looking forward to a nice meal only to be told that they stop serving at 7pm can you please tell me how this is late? So we left the flying lady and went into town to weather spoons and had a really great meal and lovely evening
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