August 2026. Sheffield. Mrs RM’s had to take a pair of shoes back, and walked a new pair in on the mile down into central Sheffield, where the first Christmas decorations were spotted on 23rd August. You’ll be thrilled to know we’ve already completed our Christmas shopping. Sadly, these exhertions caused flare-up of Mrs RM’s… Continue reading NEVER DENY MRS RM HER PINT OF JAIPUR IN THE FARGATE
STILL NO REAL ALE AT THE ETIHAD
August 2026. Manchester. Your traditional contractually obligated “first game at the Etihad” post you’ve no interest in. AFC Bournemouth at a traditional time, too, 2pm on a Sunday. The August fixture traditionally finds me scrabbling around for “new and shiny” pubs, having long ago completed the Greater Manchester section of the GBG. And there are… Continue reading STILL NO REAL ALE AT THE ETIHAD
NEW KELHAM ISLAND, NEW FAT CAT ?
August 2026. Sheffield. The rain returned to Sheffield today. I’d forgotten the joy of a good soaking. It came in quite a rush, heading down the hills to the Don, and tonight the interweb is full of pics of water rushing through Kelham Island. I don’t think the water will quite reach the levels of… Continue reading NEW KELHAM ISLAND, NEW FAT CAT ?
TOP 100 PUBS – RUTLAND ARMS, HOLMESFIELD, DERBYSHIRE
August 2026. Holmesfield. Derbyshire. From Abbeydale Industrial Museum and the posh southern suburbs of Sheffield, with its abbeys and golf courses and Ember Inns, you quickly find yourself on the edge of the Peak. For me, an unexplored triangle between Dronfield, Chesterfield and Chatsworth House, with hamlets called Unthank and Cartledge and barely a pub… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – RUTLAND ARMS, HOLMESFIELD, DERBYSHIRE
ABBEYDALE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
August 2026. Abbeydale Road. Sheffield. A tiny bit of culture between the pubs, and Sheffield does culture better than most. I’ve seen ballet, theatre, symphonies, comedy and major photographic exhibitions seen we moved North; it’s not all gallons of Magnet and chip butties here, you know. Sheffield presents its industrial heritage in half a dozen… Continue reading ABBEYDALE INDUSTRIAL MUSEUM
MRS RM’s NEW SHOES GO TO THE BLAKE
August 2026. Sheffield. Back home in Sheffield, Mrs RM is trying out new comfy shoes* that will allow her to rejoin the Cask Camino before that canal towpath ices up. “Are you taking me out for a pint then ?“. Really, she’s incorrigible. You know the Blake, it’s 10 minutes walk through Ruskin Park from… Continue reading MRS RM’s NEW SHOES GO TO THE BLAKE
REMEMBERING ALVECHURCH’S FA CUP HEROICS
August 2026. Alvechurch. A well-trod three and a half hour drive back from Cardiff to Sheffield, M4/A449/A40/M50/M5/M42/M1, and I got as far as the M42 before I needed to stop (bones not bladder). It’s a quarter of a century since I last stopped (for a Balti at the New Dilshad) in Alvechurch, pop. 6,564, so… Continue reading REMEMBERING ALVECHURCH’S FA CUP HEROICS
ACROSS THE BARRAGE TO PENARTH
August 2026. Cardiff to Penarth. I left you pondering which crafty pub co. ran this futuristic looking diner facing the Welsh Senedd on Cardiff Bay, and the answer, of course, was Sam Smiths. The Waterguard (which was very quiet) looks rather older from the front, lying next to the Norwegian Church, now very much a… Continue reading ACROSS THE BARRAGE TO PENARTH
CARDIFF BAY
August 2026. Cardiff. A whole day in Cardiff with no plans. No football, no pubs, no Chinese takeaway trail through Splott. A quick look at the market, a triumph of function over form, and a dither at the big clock facing what used to be (in my mind) a run of top Brain’s houses. The… Continue reading CARDIFF BAY
THE DAY AFTER THE SCUFFLE BEFORE. TINY REBEL, CARDIFF.
August 2026. Cardiff. We’d booked two nights at the £31 a night edge of town Zip Hotel, a Premier Inn concept that doesn’t seem to have taken, off despite high spec capsule rooms and a “Pizza and Pint for a tenner” offer. Because people are fusspots and can’t deal with windowless rooms. I’d fancied a… Continue reading THE DAY AFTER THE SCUFFLE BEFORE. TINY REBEL, CARDIFF.
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