The Carp Mach 2

The Carp has just reopened after a £410 000 facelift. It's all very posh now with new carpets and everything. The bit where we normally drink is still there, but the side part with the toilets, games machines and pool tables has been redesigned and turned into an eating area. It was a bit disconcerting going in for the first time since the builders left and having to ask where the toilets were in a pub I've spent nearly every Saturday in for four years.

There's some changes that I am not happy about though. The tele in 'our corner' has been removed. In fact there are only two teles in the whole place now, and they are not in the best of spots. The menu, including the '2 mains for £7' has changed. Now it contains food like 'Minced Aberdeen Angus Beef Burger served on ciabatta bread with a side order of chipped potatoes and morning fresh green salad leaves'. More importantly the beer has gone up in price. You used to get change from a deep sea diver for two pints of Australian, now it costs £5.40. Ouch.

The reason, I have been told, is because now the pub is classed by the brewery as a 'City Slicker' pub, and is the only one of it's kind outside of central London. Not sure what City Slicker brings to your mind, but to me it brings images of 25-35 year old men in matching suits drinking bottled beer saying 'Ya' a lot. The only people in Camberley that wear suits are the staff in Phones4U. So I'm not sure how this new classification will go down.

But what makes a pub is not the decor, or the menu, or even the price. For me, it's the people. Happily, the same old crowd are still in there;
- Martin and Anna, the (sometimes) friendly landpeople,
- Carly the barmaid (who's tits my lad stares at and licks his lips),
- Matt the groundworker and bouncer,
- Tatooed Tony,
- Moose the wee man,
- Graham the skier,
- Phil the landlord of The Goose, who seems to spend more time in the Carp,
- Geordie, father of the Devilchild
plus a load of other people that I only know as 'mate'.

It's a good place, the brewery will have to do a lot more changes to convince me to drink elsewhere.