Korey’s

 

Usually when a change of name occurs it is generally something significant, Vincent Furnier for example changed his to Alice Cooper, Prince (or should that be The Artist Formerly Known as Prince) somewhat bizarrely changed his to a ‘love symbol’ even the change from Marathon to Snickers was enough to turn heads of confectionery connoisseurs. With this in mind when I heard the joyous news that closed pub Corey’s was reopening I was expecting something dramatic, the reality is Corey’s is now Korey’s !! 

In what is a blog writers dream (particularly one who can’t wait to crack his next corny joke) there is a change of fayre at Korey’s with a focus on Asian cuisine so yes you can now get curries at Korey’s !! 

My recent visit was for a World Cup fixture (USA v Netherlands) and given the change of direction of the pub when the game started I felt inclined to shout korma instead of corner and phall instead of foul !! 

More football chat later, I’d better explain what has changed between Corey’s and Korey’s, the truth is absolutely nothing, it is honestly identical..

My mate observed that it’s ‘The same as Corey’s except now it smells of curry’ !! 

Being a sports bar it had gone all out with World Cup decorations though I’m not sure of the accuracy of the bunting…

….how for example did Greece get on in the group stages?!!

There was a similar geographical mix at the bar…

I could have Coors lager (Canada), Rekorderlig cider (Sweden), Guinness stout (Ireland), Stella lager (Belgium) and Madrí lager (Spain). Naturally I went for the obvious alternative choice from India namely Cobra lager (at a somewhat cheeky £4.95 a pint) and resisted the urge of my normal accompaniment to this order…a couple of poppadoms and some of that sauce stuff !!

I settled down in the sort of booth that would undoubtedly need to be reserved for an England game. My better half was out in Brum and I was meeting her off the train some five hours later so my drinking speed needed to be slower than a sprinting Gareth Barry. I decided unsuccessfully to log into the pub’s WiFi to distract me….it appears that the rebranding memo hasn’t reached the pub’s IT department…

The game was entertaining especially when the US soccer team pulled a goal back in the fourth quarter however it was not to be when the player with a very typical Dutch name Denzel Dumfries made the Netherlands’ lead an unassailable one. Given as this was a solo visit to Korey’s I was unable to dissect the finer points of the match at full time with my chums then again I’m no Desi Lynam (okay that’s it, no more corny Asian grill related puns!!) 

My visit took an unfortunate turn at the conclusion of the match, the tv screens were switched to Soccer Saturday (Northampton 0 0 Tranmere was a full time that had just come through in case you are interested) however the tv volume was turned right down and the scores were accompanied by something I believe young people call music !! Bizarrely it was an improvement on what I’d heard earlier on that day, a wander round the shops at Christmas is never a good idea from a musical perspective, Shakin Stevens followed me round for my whole visit !!

One of the bar staff I knew as he used to work in my local and how I chuckled when he asked another member of staff what time the England game was going to finish the next day. His face glazed over when the concepts of extra time and penalties were explained to him. In his defence though I wouldn’t want to take him on in a quiz about musicals. ABBA or Eurovision !! 

Two Tamworth yoofs came and sat in the adjacent booth, one clad in a Stone Island coat, the other in a Burberry scarf, I decided my Matalan jeans weren’t up to the job, made my excuses and left !! 

I’m not rogan joshing it’s great to have this place back !!