I'VE said it before and I'll say it again: Gloucester has some excellent pubs.
This weekend gave me even more excuse than usual to visit two of them and I was not disappointed.
First was The Pelican in St Mary's Street. Ever since Wye Valley Brewery took over this sadly-neglected and underperforming back street boozer, it has been one of Gloucester's finest drinking establishments, and this weekend marked the first anniversary of their ownership.
Even on a normal occasion, you aren't short of choice at The Pelican. This weekend, however, they really pulled out all the stops, holding a beer festival to celebrate the occasion with 22 real ales and nine real ciders.
The pub is not large, and when I was there on Saturday afternoon it was bulging at the seams, including an excellent band tucked into one corner.
The event was helped by the fact that it was a gloriously sunny day, so the courtyard was equally packed; here you could not only enjoy the sun, but also some superb food – provided by Peppers, from Bull Lane, at lunchtime and a hog roast for dinner.
It was, as you might imagine, difficult to drag myself away, but drag myself away I did, because not too far away was another pub with a celebration: the landlords at the Coach & Horses in St Catherine Street were celebrating three years at the pub. Not only that, it has just reopened as a cider pub after refurbishment, now going by the name of the Cider Tree at the Coach and Horses.
The pub, owned by Paul Soden, who also runs the Cafe Rene and the Old Bell, stocks 34 varieties of cider, more than enough choice to keep you coming back for more.
Both of these pubs are doing an excellent job of identifying a niche and putting in the effort to provide an interesting, distinctive and quality drinking experience.
They are well worth seeking out.
And this brings me to a different issue: an opportunity for the Docks to gain an equally interesting, distinctive and quality pub.
The former Coots cafe bar, adjacent to the Waterways Museum, has been empty for some time and the Gloucester Brewery, situated just across the courtyard, want to buy it and turn it into their brewery tap.
What a wonderful opportunity that would be, and perfectly in keeping with what should be the ethos of the Docks as a unique experience for residents and tourists alike.
The problem is, Wetherspoons is also interested.
So what would you prefer?
A unique pub owned by the local craft brewer, or a pub run by a huge pub company where you could be drinking anywhere in the country – including one of their other two pubs already in Gloucester?
