The new edition of the Good Beer Guide puts the Nags Head in Abingdon in the top 10% of pubs in the UK – some achievement given that the pub only re-opened its doors in November 2012.

The Nags Head is situated on Abingdon Bridge and has four regular beers, including ‘Abingdon Bridge’ from the Loose Cannon brewery in Abingdon, and four guest beers.

The Nags Head re-opened in November 2012, having been closed for almost a year – at a time when other pubs were closing for good, 2 taken over by Tesco.

The Abingdon Street guide of 1869, in the local history section of Abingdon Library, shows what businesses have survived 144 years. There is one shop, Smiths The Chemist, a few churches, and several pubs including the Nags Head. I wonder what gives pubs such longevity?

Thanks to Steven for sending me this link to a Concept Image of New Wetherspoon Pub” in Abingdon. Above is a property the estate agent is selling: 11 bedroom flat … Guide Price of £1,200,000.”

The flat is intended to be bought by a landlord and sublet as units.

The real Wetherspoon public house, The Narrows, has its own marketing signs. It offers ‘a bright future‘ to anybody wanting a job, ‘a world of choice‘ for drinkers, and ‘Time for food‘ for anybody wanting food as well. It “Opens 8th October 2013.

National pub chain J.D.Wetherspoon has a history of exploring a building’s past when it comes up with a name for a new pub. They did not use the previous use ‘Old Post Office’ when naming their new Abingdon pub. Instead the pub chain looked further back into bygone times and called it ‘The Narrows’.

Work began on July 18th and should be ready for opening by October, providing about 40 jobs.

Lorries, delivering building material, are requested not to park outside and make Abingdon’s High Street a new bottleneck. Gaffer taped maps show drivers all the way round the one way system …

to the site entrance in the Market Place Car Park.

The Crown and Thistle has closed for refurbishment work to commence, and work should have started by now.

But instead of that, the scaffolding has been taken down again because of a dispute.

The Crown and Thistle has a front entrance onto Bridge Street that is used by pedestrians. It would be dangerous, and cause congestion, receiving deliveries and letting customers’ vehicles in that way. And so the pub is dependent on the back entrance which uses a council owned, council maintained, road. It is rumored that the council (not sure whether that is County, District or Town) has decided to bump up the charge that the Crown and Thistle pay for use of that road from 3 to 10 breadsticks a year.

Negotiations are carrying on between the parties. The 10K may have been in the council’s money saving plan, but it was not in the pub’s redevelopment plan.