The Tame Otter, Hopwas

On our travels we'd seen a narrowboat called The Tame Otter and now we were moored near the pub. It had been recommended to Will by the owner of the fishing shop in Tamworth so we were keen to visit. Leaving the dogs with licky mats we walked the short distance for lunch. It was so warm that we took our drinks outside, joining most of the other patrons in the beer garden. The bar tender had recommended we order via the website which we did. The menu was a notch above typical pub grub but our meals took a long time to arrive and when they did Will's swordfish and prawn dish was missing its peas and Vicky's salad was missing pomegranate seeds. Nobody came to check on us and we only realised towards the end so we knocked them down a star on our review rather than complaining.

Over the canal from the Tame Otter was the Red Lion and its beer garden. Both were heaving before long but there was a large group of men accross the water who were really rowdy. A few had their tops of and a couple hollered at some older teenage girls walking the towpath to get their 't**s out for the lads' 🤬 We were under the impression that the world had moved on from from the 90s but apparently not!

What looked like a grown up extended family group were walking accross the bridge connecting the two pubs wearing blue football shirts. These hooligans all started chanting 'who the fuck, who the fuck, who the fuck do you think you are!'. The family continued accross to the Lion but soon returned to the Otter, with one supporting another with an arm under his armpits. A couple of police arrived not long after to talk to them before going and speaking to the men, who stayed on in the garden but quitened down at least a little.

Other than this ruckus, our stay was pretty peaceful. We sat out enjoying the warm days, Vicky weeding the roof planters while Will fished. Even Abby did a bit of sunbathing!Read more