The Chip Foundation calendars have been presented, the Coventry Quiff has been unveiled and now it's time for the third of this December's Holy Trinity of special seasonal adventures. Festive Forages are an annual accomplishment with several years of contributions, dating back to the 2015 original involving Wellesbourne and Leek Wootton. This year we're aiming for lovely Kenilworth, following up on the Chip inspection we staged in September for Nick's birthday…
- HRH's School Stomping Ground -
Trip Log; Saturday 20th December 2025 and it's all about boosting our Kenilworth knowledge once I've travelled across via Coventry to meet His Royal Highness at 11:06 sharp. Nick has a long association with the town having spent most of his formative teenage years here, hence the first part of today’s trip will invoke much personal nostalgia for our regal correspondent. To start off with, we wander along Leyes Lane to see what has become of the Abbey High School site where he studied as a fresh-faced pupil. The buildings - along with those of the adjacent former Grammar School - are still standing, and were more recently partially used as a base for the Air Training Corps. The whole complex is however fenced off pending redevelopment after the replacement Kenilworth School was constructed off Glasshouse Drive.
- Antlers Away in the Tiltyard -
The expansion of housing here in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in the creation of a shopping precinct and flat-roofed pub, neither of which existed when Nick was at school. The parade has units for Tesco Express, Domino’s Pizza, the Bakers Dozen bread shop and a pharmacy, but it’s the Tiltyard we’re most interested in. Nick has done his research and knows this to be an 11 o’clock opener so we can maintain true Forage practice by undertaking some morning imbibings. Once inside, I’m immediately drawn to the Banks’s Traditional Ales glass panels neatly inserted above the bar counter whereas HRH instantly spots swords, shields and other dramatic items of weaponry so we’d best not get on the wrong side of the regulars! Draught Bass on good form is a commendable first drink of the day while we admire Nick's special swan jumper and peruse some vintage class photos from when he studied over the road.
- Kenilworth Common awaits -
The next part of Nick’s masterplan takes us onto the expanses of Kenilworth Common, albeit we stick to the tracks flanking the Finham Brook rather than venturing cross country into the wider spaces. Nature reserve orientation boards instruct us to look out for rare female lizards and Ugly Milkcap fungi, although we have more success spotting an 1884 potential pumping station. The railway line passes overhead and there are leisure walks marked out for getting to the University of Warwick and/or Burton Green; these could be worthy of further investigation. I’m also very taken with a watery ford crossing where the brook meanders past the bottom of Forge Road - pub number two is very close now…
- The Wyandotte Inn -
Said hostelry is the Engine on Mill End, a place packed to the rafters with Coventry City fans all avidly watching the lunchtime kickoff away at Southampton. We manage to elbow our way through to getting served, rewarded with excellent samplings of Wychwood B'ah Humbug and Ossett's Butterley respectively, but a Sky Blues sending off at St Mary's is our cue to depart. Things are slightly less feverish at the Wynadotte up on the corner of Park Road; there’s no escaping the festivities here, not with inflatable Santas huddled around the main corner door, one of which is seemingly trapped inside a Christmas tree. Inside the layout is much as we remember it except for the addition of a popular grotto guarded by gingerbread men and candy canes. Barmaid elves busily usher wide-eyed youngsters through to meet the big man himself, but instead we concentrate on a half apiece of Wainwright Gold whilst researching the meaning of Wyandotte - the name appears to relate to a Native American tribe albeit we also get educated about a sociable species of chicken which gets on very well with humans but bullies its own kind. Festive forages can be full of unexpected revelations!
- A Royal (Oak) Butty Bach -
We hadn’t anticipated pontificating about poultry today but there you go! Anyway, we press on via Manor Road, spotting allotments from on high where puffed-out scarecrows threaten to burst apart with escaping straw. Stop number four is the Royal Oak, situated midway along a cottagey terrace where it has been given a rather startling purple paint job. Wye Valley's Butty Bach is our go-to tipple amidst even more Sky Blues fans, these ones generally seem happy with a point away from home (the game ended in a 1-1 draw). Further up New Street is the Cross, a Michelin-starred gastropub where we're welcome to pause for a slurp of Genesis Bedford Stout accompanied by a fine selection of seasonal scatter cushions. Perhaps the penguins and snowflakes approve of the hammered copper tabletops and red berry vases?
We resist the urge to dine at this point although the Cross showcases much refinement with which to entice the gracious gourmands of Warwickshire.
- A Clarendon Christmas Cracker -
Where next? Nick has his eye on the Clarendon Arms until we get waylaid by the Old Bakery, last mentioned in blog dispatches way back in 2012. We thought it had been turned into a hotel and whilst it does offer accommodation, the pub aspect is very much still functioning having earned Good Beer Guide recognition. Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby gets a kingly seal of approval whereas I opt for Donnington's Best Bitter from an old-fashioned brewery based in Stow-on-the-Wold. Space is at a premium so we briefly brave chilly December temperatures by sitting outside, then it's sensible to decamp belatedly to the Clarendon for the intended combination of narrow bar, Santa hats and Wye Valley's Christmas Cracker spiced ale.
- The Gauntlet -
Feeling appropriately reheated, we sup up and calculate how best to reach an outlying flight of fancy that’s been whispering to us from afar. True, we’re pushing the Festive Forage concept to its absolute limits by attempting something that would be much more suitable for a D9 Hub Marketing escapade, but Nick seems game having been emboldened by that Ruby Mild. We therefore chart a course along Brookside Avenue and Fishponds Road, marvelling at the lengths some front gardens go to with their Christmas lights. Caesar Road has the Clinton Primary School beckoning us up a slight hill towards a distinctly 1960s shopping complex, and what do the best precincts have next to them? A flat-roofed pub of course, hence the Gauntlet trying its best to look classy despite the disadvantages wrought by its limited architectural appeal. Abbot Ale whets the whistle in an establishment that proves very approachable, evidence that appearances can be deceptive. Much better than just a dive in the dark!
- Salem Dark Fruits Porter -
I must confess I loved the Gauntlet, both in terms of the fascinating exploring that led us there and the thrill of ticking off a pub that’s out of the way enough to require hunting down. We're only ten minutes stroll away from the main town centre, with dusky glimpses of Kenilworth Cemetery guiding us to Queens Road and thence Warwick Road once more. The Dictum of Kenilworth Wetherspoons reprises its food role from previous reportage - Korean chicken rice bowls meeting Cheese Meltdown burgers in this instance - before our curtain call comes at the Station House which has more signs of life than it did when we wanted to do it in September. When I say signs of life, what I really mean is a full-on open air extravaganza with street food stalls, a performance stage and lots of good natured revelry. Obtaining our closing halves of Proper Job in plastic glasses, we listen intently as one band reels off some blues-tinged tunes and I honestly couldn't think of a more perfect finale to a fantastic forage. Cheers!
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