Mickey Randall and an Almanac SA pub crawl: a gestating idea
December 10, 2018 by 21 Comments
Mickey Randall is the master of the pub review – and has written about pubs all over the joint.
But he’s at home in SA these days, on the quarter acre dream, just around the corner from the old gum tree.
It seems to me he would be a brilliant tour leader for an SA pub crawl. He has hometown pubs, uni and Adelaide Oval pubs, early teaching pubs, back home pubs and so on.
He may need some guidance. Suggestions please – via comments.
Read some of Mickey’s pub reviews HERE (the latest is about the Lord Exmouth)
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How about The Earl of Zetland, The Angas, The Somerset, The Aurora and The Criterion Mickey. Cheers. Daryl
Victory Hotel on the top of Sellicks Hill looking out over the McLaren Vale wineries and the Gulf is a must. Have lunch on the deck or near the window every time I go home. Great wine list and food. Coorong mulloway and King George Whiting and Coffin Bay oysters washed down with a Clare Riesling. Heaven.
Lady Bay golf (genuine seaside links) at nearby Normanville is the ideal morning prelude.
Daryl- thanks for the suggestions although given that some of these are long closed or demolished it could be a grim event! I suspect you know this.
Among the more impressive pub crawls is that undertaken a few years ago by an old school mate and some friends. They made their way into the city bright and early and then walked home, stopping for a single beer at each pub. Home was fifteen kilometers up North East Road in Modbury, and took them all day.
Aside from various routes through the city, I reckon an interesting itinerary could be complied for these: Norwood, North Adelaide, Port Adelaide, Glenelg and Mile End.
Thanks.
The standard North Adelaide pub crawl a la Uni student days. Just have to be careful of the date so as not to clash with the Engees, or low or med students etc.
I’m in – just give me 6 months notice so I can arrange the day off!
Mickey – we could do a similar crawl along Port Road. Start at the Port, and work our way to the Newmarket. Just have to make sure that the crawl isn’t exclusively those pubs on the Northern side of Port Road!!!
Back in the ‘good ole days’, when Sunday sessions WERE Sunday sessions, there was a particular route devised for the Bay pubs so that you could spend the day at an open pub. I know the pubs had conspired their session hours to allow this to occur. It seemed all and sundry then attended the Bay Disco, where I had the ‘pleasure’ of plying them with even more alcohol.
Ahhh, the good ole days….
Speaking of Sunday sessions, if you’re over 60 like me SA pubs were closed on Sunday until the mid 70’s. The exception was for “bona fide travellers” with the distance from the Adelaide GPO set in horse and buggy legislation. The Inglewood Inn up on the way to Kersbrook was the nearest drinking establishment open that we could find. Two Wells was another alternative.
Did other states have similar laws about Sunday closing for pubs? “If you tell the kids today, they wooooon’t believe ya”.
Mickey,
The first Adelaide pub I ever drank in was the Austral Hotel on Rundle St. Is it still open? They served these concoctions called “depth charges” basically an upside-down shot of Drambuie in your pint.
Another must is the glorious British Hotel in North Adelaide, at which we convened over the past few years and attempted to “sink the ship”. Our mate, the Big Ship, is the biggest drinker me or anyone else has ever laid eyes upon. He listed a little under a barrage from a number of drinkers, but failed to emulate the Costa Concordia.
PB,
Melbourne most certainly had virtuous no-Sunday trading in the early-80’s when I first started drinking.
Hi Mickey. Some context to my initial comment. I have been at the cricket for the last five days and try to catch up on contributors on this website on a regular basis. It was an off the cuff comment 1. remembering all those long gone establishments that were about when I started in the SA Public Sector back in ’75, and 2. having previously tried to comment on articles (albeit some time ago) without success, I was very surprised my post actually worked! There will be no stopping me now.
There are a lot of areas/districts that would suit such an adventure. Would suggest along early last century SANFL districts. The Bay, North Adelaide have already been mentioned. The Hampstead, Walkers Arms and Sussex might be a start (is three enough initially? Could start at the Modbury, Highlander and Windsor by bus might be a hoot. CBD East and West of KW street would need to be two adventures. The Colonist, Kensington and Feathers have sponsored the Browns over the years. This has often been dubbed the Bermuda Triangle! Chuck in the Marryatville, Robin Hood, Bath, Norwood and Britannia for good measure.
Do you know anyone with a big boat. Maybe we could do the pubs attached to the jetties! Would you start at the Largs or Brighton?
Cheers
That last one is a cracker idea, Daryl. Definitely start at the Brighton, from where the sea breeze and longshore drift will be your friends.
Smokie, the Austral is still very much a going concern, with the added bonus of being a Coopers specialist pub. Had a most enjoyable catch up with an old mate of mine there just a couple of months ago.
Thanks to everyone for their encouraging suggestions.
Daryl- I really like the coastal concept. Brighton, Glenelg, Henley, Grange, Semaphore, Largs Bay. Or vice versa. Excellent pubs a quick stroll. Captain Quint would be a great chaperone.
I’m also consulting Google maps for other terrestrial options.
Given that most eastern state pubs long since ceased to be convivial drinking establishments and survive as pokie vampires – here is a suggestion. http://www.pokiefreepubsadelaide.com. Looks like some great pub crawls could be constructed from this list.
When I was in Melbourne for the GF I arranged to meet up with a bloke in the Deer Park “Hotel” in the western suburbs. Went inside and the floor space was 80% pokies; 10% PubTab; 10% Bar. I vomited and we went elsewhere.
PB- that’s an excellent website. On it is the King’s Head which is magnificent. For many years some school mates and I meet there biannually and its point of difference is that it only offers local produce- food and drink. Highly recommended.
Some talk here about the price of King George Whiting- crayfish almost a better option!
Sign me up.
As a Modburyite, I now have a new life goal. Start at the GPO and then Harry’s Bar, Griffen’s Head, Crown & Anchor, Producers (if open), Stag (if open), the Hackney, Buckingham Arms, Walkers Arms, Hampstead Hotel, OG Hotel, Windsor Hotel, Highlander Hotel, finishing at the Plaza Hotel. Would be quite the stroll.
How about a CBD/North Adelaide royalty theme? (In no particular order) Kings Head, Queen’s Head, Crown & Sceptre, the Prince Albert, Crown & Anchor, the Royal Oak
Or Scottish themed – the Rob Roy, the Earl of Aberdeen, the Caledonian, the Edinburgh Castle
The options are many
Dave- excellent thoughts. All worthy.
I’ve no doubt that extreme pub crawls are a thing in certain parts of the world.
Curiously, the royalty theme speaks to me as a republican!
Peter B , Melbourne had similar restrictions in place until the early 1980’s. It was 40 miles or something similar.
We used to head up Ballarat Road to Myrniong. It was a wondrous old pub, with chicken wire on the ceiling, a ceiling that was decorated with coins and dollar notes stuck up there. A site to behold.
Any how i hadn’t been there since the mid 1980’s so i took the cheese’n’kisses there about 5 years back. FFS !!! What were we going into? It was like a suave pub in Brighton, catering for the nouveau rich and the rich. Apart from the location, and the name, there was nought of the old pub. We quickly skiddadled.
Glen!
Dave. Is the Royal still going? It got missed on your sojourn to Modbury and the royal theme. I missed the OG on my trip the other way!
Daryl- I reckon the Royal has been closed for a couple years and is now the site for (yet another) apartment block.
The Edinburgh Castle is a recent victim too.
Howsabout a themed crawl of pubs that were once run by Test cricketers. The Leg Trap and The Rose and Crown (mine host Merv Waite, who took his only Test wicket in England’s 1938 score of 903/7 dec.) would be the first ones on it (although the trek from Seaton to Elizabeth South might need a few travellers).
Thanks Mickey. I feel I should have known about the Royal. I also had a look at the website PB posted and other maps showing all the pubs in the CBD and the metro area. Some sites haven’t been updated for a while. The theme possibilities are almost endless. I thought about those tucked away in suburban bliss e.g. Maylands, Earl of Leicester, Kensington, Brompton and others. Maybe we’d better get that boat.
Swish, we could do the Old Spot, Rosie, Lizzie, Red Lion and Karri. Finish the night off at Horatio’s (or the Crypt).;)