Secret Drinker reviews The Hammer & Pincers
You can’t please all the people all the time.
That was clear as I walked into the Hammer & Pincers to be greeted by a big screen sporting the Brighton-Liverpool match, while the two other punters in the bar area were glaring at the small screens on their phones watching Manchester United versus Leicester City unfold.
There was a time when any footie on the box - even the Carabao Cup - would guarantee a busy pub.
But in this modern, post-lockdown era too many of us have become accustomed to home comforts, cheap supermarket booze and dodgy Fire Sticks, it’s far easier not to bother - so kudos to these two and their SkyGo subscriptions for making a night of it.
This was a quiet midweek evening but all aspects of this Wyberton establishment were on show.
A group of diners tucked in to their meals in the conservatory - not a Sunday so presumably not sampling The Daddy, the place’s huge signature roast - an older couple drank in the snug area and a handful chatted in the bar.
I had once drank in this pub once before, about a decade ago and have very little recollection of what it was like.
But I do remember lots more tables scattered about the place and an inebriated gentleman cursing every time he stumbled into one.
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Neither the tables or the drunk were there on this visit, replaced by comy leather sofas and humans who can walk in straight lines.
The emphasis is very much on sport with dart boards, a pool table, the big screen and plenty of trophies - including one rogue Best Pub In Bloom 2018 plaque - on show.
Outdoor seating to the rear and front offer options on a summer’s day, but this is miserable autumn and I have to say at least the pub was nice and warm.
The Hammer & Pincers was a recent entrant into CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide (but it didn’t feature this year, I checked after getting home).
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got to the bar but the usual suspects were there; Guinness, Coors, Carling, Stella, Madri.
It wasn’t until I’d ordered my lager that I spotted the London Pride pump stuck behind a basket of sweets for sale, typical haste.
A board charting old pictures and the history of this pub - originally a house built in the 1820s before becoming a blacksmiths and a boozer - offered some interesting reading on my way to the gents which were a little on the basic side, although the Bonsai trees on the window sill did have me guessing whether they were real or plastic (they were plastic).
As the matches came to a close it was time to head off.
And although it was clear you can’t please all the people all the time, the few people in the Hammer seemed to be having a good time.
THE HAMMER & PINCERS, SWINESHEAD ROAD, WYBERTON, PE21 7JE
DECOR: I liked the place, it had anice, warm and comfy feel. 3/5
DRINK: Check behind the sweets next time! I had a pint of Madri (ABV 4.6%), possibly the best of that bunch. 3/5
PRICE: I paid £5.20, which wasn’t terrible. 3/5
ATMOSPHERE: Not many in but the place did have a real local feel. Diners stopped for chats after paying their bills and staff, mingled with regulars, 3/5
STAFF: All very pleasant and friendly. 3/5
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