Birds, Beer & Little Drummer Girls

Date: Saturday 18^th February 2017

Match: Nuneaton Town v Bradford Park Avenue

Squad: Bowen, Quincy, Richo, Laddsy, Laddso.

All aboard – Nuneaton (pop 86,552) is a fairly pain free hour and a quarter train ride from Peterborough so off we went with a plan and a bounce in our step.  And boy did we have a plan. Once in Nuneaton we did the usual and set off to find the local Spoons. The Felix Holt was a worthy starting place and breakfast and beer was had by all.

Once nourished we set off for the taxi rank and then proceeded down the line until we found a carriage for 5. And off we went to the Church End Brewery.  A brick built edifice nestled down a lane between some old council houses, the Brewery has a spacious two room tap room so in we went. 

Now Church End is a well renowned brewery with many awards to it’s name so a couple of hours with their home brews would be satisfying enough. Add in an in house beer festival and you have a grown man’s utopia. So some pleasant beers were had from the extensive menu. 

 

There was also a visit from some exotic birds – the feathered kind.

 

All in all a great start to the day so from there it was into the taxi and onto the ground. 

The ground is a council built affair built predominantly in the 2000s – so a bit soulless. The one genius redemption though was that as soon as you walked through the turnstile you were in the bar – sheer genius. Not so clever was the club shop – which is closed on match days!

Anyway after finding our way out of the bar it was on to the game. The game was decent enough but the home crowd were quiet as the visitors took a late first half lead. Luckily the away fans had a drummer and some Yorkshire chanting.  Some chips and gravy were very welcome during the break as was the Guinness.

Bradford scored again midway through the second half and it looked game over but Nuneaton did peg a goal back to set up an exciting last 15 minutes. All to no avail though as the game finished 2-1 to the visitors. Obviously you have to pass back through the bar on the way out so rude not to avail ourselves of a drink. We met the Bradford drummer as the fans waited for the players to get changed (they shared a coach). 

Then it was onwards into town – a town we hadn’t explored too much. The next stop was the Crossed  Khukris Gurkah restaurant and some curry. An excellent meal was had along with some of the hottest chilli sauce you are ever likely to taste. Very enjoyable.

Then it was back to the train station and the trip home. Can’t remember it so it must have been uneventful.

Stats

Nuneaton Town               1              Bradford Park Avenue   2

Stadium – Liberty Way.   Capacity – 6,250              Attendance – 573

Pubs      -              2

Pubs we’d visit again      -              The Church End Brewery Tap Room

Lunch    -              Brekkie at The Felix Holt plus in ground food

Dinner  -              Crossed Khikris Gurkha Restaurant – excellent curry

Pies        -              Poor

Ground                -             Decent

Match                  -              Not bad

Beer                     -              Excellent

Food                    -              Average

Pie                       -              Very poor

Enjoyment Factor – 10/10 because of the brewery.