Return to the Zetland

Men O' Th' Mere Morris February 1981.
I'm at the back with the guitar.

I went into the Zetland Hotel the other evening for a CAMRA meeting. It's a large pub in a residential area and I used to go there regularly more than 30 years ago when I was a musician for a Morris team and more recently for Labour Party meetings, until I left the party over Iraq.

It has recently been nicely redecorated, and I was pleased to see they had kept the separate bar. It also has a small meeting room suitable for up to about 15 people. Although I don't play the game, it's nice to see they've kept up the bowling green. This used to be a Burtonwood house, but when we visited, the real ales were: Bateman's Combined Harvest, Jennings Cumberland and St Austell. I had only the Bateman's which was well-kept and tasted very nice, but another of our group said the St Austell was also in good nick. I'm told the pub does good value meals too.

The licensee recently had a beer festival, which I mentioned on this blog; unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend it myself. He said that he hopes to hold another in March. The atmosphere when we were there was friendly and relaxed, and this is certainly a pub I hope to visit more often. I've no excuse really, as it's only ten minutes' walk from where I live!