THIS week Pub Spy paid a visit to the Bridge Inn at the bottom of Rainbow Hill in Worcester.

Upon entering, much to my surprise, I discovered a woman dancing alone in a most energetic and exuberant fashion while singing at the top of her lungs. The lady did not seem to have a care in the world and was quite oblivious to my presence. If memory serves she was singing 'Build me up Buttercup' while performing various gravity-defying leaps and pirouettes of a most idiosyncratic kind. This was most strange and perplexing.

I consulted my pocket watch as discreetly as I able to amidst the hustle and bustle of what is clearly a very popular venue.

It had scarcely turned 6.30pm while the sign outside clearly stated that the karaoke started at 8pm!

Pub Spy despises tardiness of any sort and I must commend her enviable reserves of enthusiasm, commencing her act an hour and a half ahead of schedule! Eager to sample for myself the transformative properties of the beverages on offer, I ventured forthwith towards the bar. There I was greeted by a pleasant young woman in a black hat. I began to wish that I myself had come more appropriately attired. Indeed, I was one of the few men not wearing a hat.

Unfortunately I do not have a 'baseball cap', as I believe they're called, but I do have a fine collection of top hats.

Nanny says they make me look rather dashing and rakishly handsome and who am I to disagree?

Perhaps, were I to have worn such a hat, it would have become a conversation piece and helped me, a stranger in these parts, make friends and break the ice with the locals whose curiosity I now seemed to have aroused.

I was informed the establishment did not serve hot food so I paid £4.70 for a Guinness and a packet of KP dry roasted peanuts which were well within their sell-by date. However, customers had a choice of Original Salted Peanuts and Spicy Chilli peanuts. The latter seemed to be the most popular judging by how few packets remained.

There were a variety of ales, lagers and ciders on offer including Carling, Worthington Atlantic Pale Ale and one called Rosie’s Pig.

The Atlantic Pale Ale was only £3 and Pub Spy cannot for the life of him remember when he last bought a pint so cheaply and certainly not in Worcester.

Good value is clearly one of the assets that draws in the customers here in such large numbers. The pub has a large screen for showing sports, a pool table, a dartboard and a wide range of gaming machines but soon enough the lights dimmed. It seemed the show was about to begin.

A singer gave a moving rendition of Creep by Radiohead.

A woman sang Poison by Alice Cooper with some gusto and made the song her own. I began to wonder if I should get up and perform my own favourite, Madama Butterfly, but in the end I was too shy.

I was beginning to really like the place. It had a down-to-earth, romantic air and the people seemed of a friendly sort, especially one chap in a luminous Hawaiian shirt who seemed to be drunk on the joys of life.

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