The Ale House, Taunton

A down-market town pub in a Victorian terrace, originally called The Cricketers, a reference to the nearby County cricket ground. There is a single L-shaped bar with a pool table at one end and a large TV screen showing live sports at the other. The food is basic bottom-of-the-range pub grub, the furniture is basic bottom-of-the-range pub furniture. The barman wasn’t particularly welcoming, while the other customers seemed largely brain-dead, at least until a group of teenagers came in to liven up the atmosphere with their quaint local banter, or, as we call it where I came from, swearing. Three ales on were Sharp’s Atlantic, Doombar and Otter. The beer was in poor condition, but on the plus side the jukebox did play Judas Priest for a short time. I’d only come back if I were caught out.