As part of an occasional series on odd places to get good beer, on Friday last week Red Gate sent me on a fact-finding mission to Cornwall to investigate “The Watering Hole” pub at Perranporth.

Now this pub is actually on the beach – not near it, or overlooking it, but actually on it. The clincher is that it also does some very fine real ale. As proof, here I am enjoying an excellent (second) pint of Helligan’s honey beer:

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Now if this doesn’t seem like a particularly unusual place to get good beer, then firstly consider that it is the only pub in the whole of the UK that is on a beach. Secondly, tell me the last time you were served a bona-fide pint of real ale while sitting on a beach? Taken together, you can see why my visit was imperative.

If you’ve ever encountered good beer in an unexpected place then please tell me about it. It doesn’t have to be anywhere outlandish – just somewhere you didn’t expect it (like in a theme bar, for example, or in Italy). But it does have to be real ale. If you’ve heard of somewhere you feel needs to be checked out but can’t get there yourself, drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do ;).

Tony.