Conference Calling, Conference Calling...

And so the outcome we've been waiting for all season has finally come to pass - Darlo are heading back into the Conference despite a wonderful victory at Spotland - an impressive third away win on the trot.

Despite this win - which put the champagne on ice for Rochdale's promotion for just a little longer - results elsewhere meant that the fat lady can finally start singing.

It is difficult to say whether the recent upturn in form is due to the dismissal of Staunton - and presumably a feeling of relief from some of the players - or the fact the pressure is off or possibly the immediate impact of the new managerial team.

Regardless of the reason, it has at least brought back a bit of pride in the club for the fans and something for us all to cheer about. And perhaps we can now look forward to next season with a sense of optimism - plus enjoyment as we'll be revisiting a few old haunts as well as off to some new towns and grounds.

I thought it was appropriate to have a few beers to mark the occasion and decided to visit the Eleanor Arms in Bow.

The Eleanor Arms is a Shepherd Neame house which Steve and I popped into earlier in the season.

(left) Colclough's Landlady - a special brew

Liz was already at the bar when I got there - sat chatting with our Leyton Orient and cider festival chum, Mick Lewis.

This week they've had a special brew available - Colclough's Landlady - a beer brewed in Shep's pilot brewery.

Each year they brew a "Four Tenants" ale where the style and strength are prescribed by their tenants and this year this was to be four of their London-based landlords, one being Frankie Colclough who runs the Eleanor.

The Eleanor had four barrels of the beer, the first of which came and went earlier this week.

It's a very tasty drop with a pleasant hoppy edge to it - due to the inclusion of some Slovenian hops apparently - and it is devoid of the usual Sheps tang which I'm not a big fan of.

Also on offer was Solar Eclipse - also from their pilot brewery - as well as Canterbury Jack and the Double Stout from the main brewery. I stuck to the Landlady.

Frankie was not on duty tonight - his wife was doing the honours which I suppose was appropriate - but we bumped into him outside Mile End tube as we headed home.

He'd been for a bit of a crawl around some Sheps pubs and was rather the worse for wear as a result. Nice to see a landlord who enjoys beers and visiting pubs.

Whilst on the subject of special one-off beers, check out your local Wetherspoons as they have their annual international beer festival on.

Liz and I went to their flagship outlet, the Crosse Keys, in the City of London last week to check it out.

(right) Hawkwind - the beer for space rockers!

There are a lot of beers brewed especially for the festival including a number brews by foreign brewers, including one from Hawaii who had produced a coconut stout.  I left that for another day.

But what else did I find? A pint of Hawkwind!

Finally a brewery, Elgoods, has realised the worth of the band and brewed a very nice brew in their honour! Try it before it's too late...

Making Mischief

No report from our game at Hereford unfortunately as I didn't actually make it. I'd got as far as Paddington but was feeling pretty crap by the time I got there.

I suspect the cause of my malady was a dodgy pizza made by my own fair hand the night before though Liz seemed to have escaped - must have been the anchovy/chilli topping that I do for myself.

I made the only sensible choice and went back home instead of the less-sensible-but-more-enjoyable one of joining Steve and John in the Barrels.

However Steve was up in London to see the Villa at Upton Park and we decided to make an east-end afternoon out of it. Certainly beats working.

I met him at Earls Court and we tubed over to Bethnal Green and the Approach Tavern.

It's a Fullers pub we've been visiting occasionally over the past year and we just stuck to Pride although Steve had opted for Chiswick initially but it came out like soup!

(left) Cyprus Road War Memorial

After a couple of pints we wander along Old Ford Road and take a quick visit to see an interesting local landmark, the War Memorial on Cyprus Street.

The memorial was erected after the First World War by the Duke of Wellington's Discharged and Demobilised Soldiers and Sailors Benevolent Club. They need an acronym.

It's very impressive in that it is beautifully maintained - in fact the whole street seems very pretty with all it's shutters - not how most would imagine the streets of Bethnal Green.

Apparently it is looked after by some elderly local residents but they're having trouble finding new volunteers to help out as all the old families die out.

We saw similar war memorials in St Albans when we had a crawl there in summer and they were also lovingly cared for.

From Cyprus Road we wander to the Roman Road where we're hoping to have some pie and mash in the local Robin's outlet. Steve was keen after being denied when we went to Dagenham a few weeks ago.

But it's not there - the local butcher informs us that it's recently closed and it now appears to be a meze cafe. Looks like Steve is out of luck again but we're told there are a couple more further along at the Roman Road market.

(right) G.Kelly to Steve's rescue

We troll along and find both of these outlets belong to G Kelly and as it's not a proper market day, we're not surprised to see that just one of them is open.

The food is very good - a nice pie, not too crusty with a decent filling of mince, and excellent mash - not too lumpy and certainly not the smooth baby-food style mash you get in most gastro-joints which I absolutely hate. Lovely jubbly!

(left) Traditional pie and mash with less traditional mushy peas


From here it's a short walk back towards Old Ford Road and a new pub for us, the Eleanor Arms.

We've seen the adverts for this pub in editions of the London Drinker for the last year or so and kept meaning to drop in and try it out.

It's a Shepherd Neame pub which has never been one of my favourite breweries but let's not prejudge! They had the Canterbury Jack and the Late Red autumn ale - we had the latter and it was in good condition and not too bad.

We got talking to Frankie and Lesley - the landlord and landlady - and they're a really friendly pair who seem to be on their way to turning this into a real cosy pub without any of the local ne'er-do-wells who previously visited the place. Their experience running NAAFI bars no doubt coming in handy here...

They're both delighted at being included in the latest Good Beer Guide - the first time for this pub - and we have a interesting chat on some of East London's other GBG entries - some of which do not always bear scrutiny in our humble opinions.

Frankie was getting a special brew from Shep's pilot brewery ready for the forthcoming quiz night - an American IPA - and he gave us both a small sample. Very tasty it was too but still with a Sheps aftertaste. I'm sure it will go down well.

(right) The Eleanor Arms

But we couldn't chat all day - next stop was the Palm Tree, one of our old favourites.

It's always a cosy bolt-hole and as dusk fell, the faint glitter of lights in the bar were a welcoming site across the Mile End eco-park.

As ever they had a couple of interesting beers on - one from Oxfordshire Ales plus Old Cocky from the Welton's Brewery in Horsham. We stuck to the latter - good stuff.

Liz then joined us for an hour or so before we left the pub and caught the tube to Upton Park for the West Ham -v- Villa game. Liz and I had got tickets for the home end as tickets in the away end had all gone.

We were in the old East Stand - the only stand which hasn't been revamped over the past few years - and the leg room is probably worse than the away end at Luton - even for a short-arse like me.

And the cost? £47. Which puts the £18 Darlo admission charge into perspective even allowing for the supposed difference in quality between the divisions.

As ever Villa fans are in good voice with their usual gamut of songs - "My Garden Shed (Is Bigger Than This)" and "John Carew, Carew (Is Bigger Than Me and You)" - clearly putting Holland-Dozier-Holland to shame - whilst the Hammers are extremely quiet, presumably through nerves. Just goes to show that a full stadium doesn't guarantee an atmosphere!

Villa more or less boss the game throughout but without taking the lead - West Ham are wasteful in possession and ponderous going forward. Villa live to regret their profligacy when the Hammers are awarded a penalty just before the break.

From our angle - more or less in line with the back line - Hines was offside anyway and the penalty awarded for a shove in the back looked harsh. But ref Bennett was clearly auditioning for a major role in The Simpsons. 1-0 to the Hammers.

Villa got their own penalty in the second-half for a high, clumsy challenge but Green saved Young's kick. But it was a brief respite as Young scored a cracker just a few minutes laterm curling the ball over a despairing Green.

Villa should then have taken West Ham to the cleaners but despite dominating possession they couldn't get another goal. Then ref Bennett sent off Habib Beye for a second yellow.

As Hammers fans around us snuck out early, it was almost inevitable that there'd be a late goal against the ten men and so it was - Villa were cruelly beaten in the 3rd minute of added time.

To ease the pain, we took Steve to a local kerala restaurant - fast becoming the new east end cuisine, much fresher tasting than the traditional Bangladeshi fare - and had some lovely mutton curry and parippu (that's lentils to you).

Still, a good day out, shame about the result - sounds just like Darlo...