The Bailey Head, Oswestry

This is the current CAMRA national pub of the year, so I had made plans for a visit while on a camping and hired car holiday, as there is no railway station in Oswestry and the service to Gobowen is infrequent and has dubious bus connections too. So I found a pleasant campsite on the A5 between Nesscliffe and Kinnerley and caught the bus into town. I had been keen to try the Stonehouse Station Bitter, which I knew was on here regularly, because the last time I had it (in Chester) it had a strange infection which made it taste sweet, and I wanted to try it again in a place where it would be well kept. After that build up, it was inevitable that my pint would be from the bottom of the barrel, and it took almost 15 minutes for a new barrel to be put on; the resultant pint was good (NBSS 3.5, £4.20) but not brilliant. The remainder of the four cask offerings (six hand pumps but two having new barrels put on in addition to the Stonehouse, and one of those was a lactose beer from North Riding which I avoid) included two that were "session IPAs" which I nearly always seem to find too lemon-y for my taste, so this left me a golden ale from Copper Beech, a new to me brewery in Worcester (another NBSS 3.5). I also went for one of the many keg beers, a collaboration between Copper Beech and Bearwood (of Wokingham), described as a Kölsch but having an unusual taste profile and being hazy as well. My visit to the previous winner of the pub of the year, the Tamworth Tap, was also a bit substandard, though it has to be said that the coincidence of two beers being replaced and a third reaching the end of the barrel could happen to anyone - I've seen it happen in the Kelham Island Tavern! Just to show I'm not a jinx, on this holiday I went to three contenders for this year's champion pub, in Great Yarmouth, in Baldock, and the Rhos yr Hafod in Ceredigion, and had very good experiences in each.