Tuesday 14 April 2009

Mason's pub & singaround ~ a review

I have referred to the Masons Arms singarounds before. As another is due tomorrow, Wednesday, here is a more detailed description of the Mason's and the singarounds:

The Pub: the Mason’s is a small and quite charming pub on Anchor Street just behind the main post office on Lord Street. It is a friendly place consisting of a long main room where the bar is and a tiny side room on the left as you go in where a real fire is lit on cold days. It has a good jukebox with loads of golden oldies, but the volume doesn’t interfere with conversation. The pub is a Robinson’s house, and Unicorn bitter (4.2%) is the standard real ale, with occasional appearances by Dizzy Blonde (3.8%) or Cumbria Way (4.1%). I’ve always found the beer to be well kept. The Mason’s is three minutes walk from the station, very handy if you’ve missed your train – just don’t miss the next one as well!

The Music: since 2006, on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday evening of the month, an informal singaround and music session has been organised by Richard Simcock. On these occasions, the jukebox is switched off. The format is simple: going around the room, anyone is welcome to give a song or a tune in turn, should they wish to; there is no PA. This begins at around 8.30 p.m. and carries on until quite late and everyone starts going home. The range of music can be extensive: traditional songs (accompanied and unaccompanied), contemporary singer-songwriter material, tunes, some home-made songs, and pop and rock songs can all be given an acoustic outing. During the singaround, the atmosphere in the pub is very sociable, and the pub regulars tend to keep the noise down when the music is playing, sometimes joining in the applause, so there is clearly no feeling that the musicians have hijacked their pub. In fact, Brenda and her team always make everyone feel welcome, to the extent that during the evening, they put on free food, which can be sandwiches, hot pot or soup. The black pudding hot pot is especially popular.

Performing is of course not compulsory, so if you just fancy listening to some live but not loud music while drinking a decent pint, go to the Mason’s on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month. Good music, good beer and your tea thrown in as well. What more could you ask for?

3 comments:

  1. I heartily endorse this post

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks very much. If I remember correctly, you covered the Mason's music nights a year or two ago. No harm in reminding people of a good thing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Very good article in about the Masons music you wrote in Ale and Hearty.
    Well done
    Pete Rimmer

    ReplyDelete

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