Prior to lockdown, my eldest son and I would meet up in Swatter's Carr before the match and have a few beers. I use to like Doom Bar and the Shipyard's was very good and both were offered at a reasonable price. We would then go back to Swatter's after the game, stay there until 9 pm and then get a taxi home.
I enjoyed these days out and always thought the football got in the way. We would sometimes have a pizza or a chicken & bacon burger, both very basic and nothing to write home about. The door staff always kept a good house and were always polite on entering or exiting the premises. The dearest part of the evening was paying for a taxi back to Normanby and the prices in Weatherspoons never blew a hole in the bank.
I was in Kent for a funeral last week and had to pay southern prices for what I can only describe as very poor beer (Banks, Spitfire) and ended up drinking Guinness, even this wasn't good but more palatable than the others. I spent a fortune on both days that I was there and thought there is no way you could do this regularly.
On our first night in the pub/hotel we all got food and my father and I got steak and ale pie, with a selection of veg and chips. After a long drive down to Kent, I was looking forward to it. When the pie came, I can only describe it as looking like a pukka pie and tasted like a poor pie from a football concourse kiosk. I would have killed for a Weatherspoons chicken burger.
Edit: I forgot to add that the pie cost me twice as much as a meal in Swatters.
