Quiet at Foxton

The locks at Foxton are one of our favourite places to include in a walk though we choose our times carefully as it can be very busy. We expected more people there this evening as we had a wander in the gloaming but it was very quiet. The 'Bridge 61' pub was closed and very few punters in the more popular 'trendy' bar which the Foxton Locks Inn is now. I preferred the pub of many years ago - an old fashioned down-to earth local which we would visit very occasionally from Leicester.

I'm used to, but not a fan of, the modern pubs - which in most cases have had to become more like restaurants to survive. I don't find the scrubbed and sterile atmospheres very welcoming - I'm a 'spit and sawdust' man myself and I find it sad that these places have become rare if not extinct. We found one a year or two ago down south somewhere - a pub with a somewhat neglected, worn and tired feel to it but which served wonderful ale straight from the barrel. It even had a carpet and you could smell the stale beer in it like you could in the old days - I though it was wonderful!

A young family came in and left within minutes as the little girl said she didn't "like it here"  - as it was far too smelly. Ho hum.