There’s no getting away from it, The Waggon and Horses is a pub for old men. And, as such, I was always going to fit right in.

The third Old Man I encountered was a dark, nutty fellow but as he was on tap I took a taste and instantly decided the Old Man was far too flat for me to swallow.

So, instead I opted for a pint of Wharf IPA at 4.8 per cent which proved to be a solid choice with an abundance of flavour. Golden in colour, it had a zesty liveliness but did leave a bit of a sour aftertaste.

A sign above the bar proudly declares this has been a traditional pub since 1848 and looking about me I can well believe it. It’s not that it’s been decorated badly or is unattractive, it’s what you’d expect from a pub, and it even smells like a grotty old pub.

Personally I see this as a positive because it has clearly been determined to hold on to its identity and, over the years, refused to sell out.

Visiting in January I put up with the aroma and the slightly uncomfortable furniture rather than face the freezing temperatures outside perched under a push button heater. But, I imagine that in summer months this outside seating area must be an absolute boon and, given the position of this one, it’s a perfect plot for people watching.

As if to hammer home the traditional feel, and I assume this is a family-run place, there are two winged-back red chairs to complete the front room look.

Even the two old boys at the bar oozed old-feel tradition, one was dressed from foot to toe in tweed for goodness sake, and he even wore a hat and tie. However, I can now confirm this was the full extent of Graham’s good taste as when it comes to music he’s got a lot of ground to make up.

This isn’t a pub for games, there’s no pool table, no darts board, and definitely no fruit machines. However, and I can testify this to my cost, there is an ancient, albeit free to use, jukebox.

This beast of a thing is so temperamental it takes a good deal of both the barmen’s time to control. It seems the only way to manage it is by pressing a single skip button found in a cupboard behind the bar.

Graham certainly didn’t seem happy with the performance of the music machine and we were forced to move on from several great songs until we reached his particular selection, Double Barrel by Dave and Ansel Collins. I did flick though the old laminated pages of selection sheets offering better music selection but it was clear Graham wasn’t prepared to share and it’s the regular’s way or the highway. To be fair, the barman did mumble an excuse at one point and explained it used to be more accommodating but the guy responsible for fixing old jukeboxes in this part of the world has now moved away.

There was a large selection of whiskies on offer and even hot spiced apple – non-alcoholic at £2.50, if you add whisky, rum or brandy it’s £5.50.

Someone has slapped the place with a certain amount of olive green paint in an effort to make it look more up to date and trendy – but you can tell it was only an after-thought and fortunately the prices haven’t risen accordingly.

There’s a sign saying Havana cigars are available and a collection tin for those brave men and women who man our lifeboats.

There’s not really much more to say other than neither of the toilets were particularly pleasing and unusually the ladies smelt more rank than the gents, with one of the two traps completely blocked.

The constant button pushing behind the bar finally brought up David Bowie’s Life on Mars but Graham grumbled and this too was shuffled.

So, in the end it was the music which drove me out and this one is never going to move mountains but it does serve as a decent overspill venue for the nearby Mash Tun and Fitzherberts – in fact, depending on who they’ve got in there might even by the odd evening you choose The Waggon and Horses. And, its positioning means it’s perfectly placed for a swift pint if you’re heading for a nearby show.