July 2026. Middleton One Row. Near Darlington. From the Steam Machine I walked to Heighington Station, a dull mile through industrial estates, ending at a dead pub commemorating the first ever train. Somewhere along the way I realised I could stay on the service towards Saltburn and get off at Dinsdale, which I’d never heard… Continue reading BASS BY THE TEES
TOP 100 PUBS – STEAM MACHINE, NEWTON AYCLIFFE
July 2026. Newton Aycliffe. County Durham. A fascinating extract from the CAMRA pubs website here; The birth of the railways, the decline of the mines, the posh pubs either side of the Great North Road, and a star in the craft beer firmament that’s made the Good Beer Guide after a decade. What took it… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – STEAM MACHINE, NEWTON AYCLIFFE
90 MINUTES IN NEWTON AYCLIFFE
July 2026. Newton Aycliffe. Durham. I was staying overnight in a grim car park in Darlington as I didn’t fancy paying the outrageous hotel prices that kick in during the English summer. That £1,492 a night wellness retreat is walking distance from my next pub in Newton Aycliffe. To be fair, you do get a… Continue reading 90 MINUTES IN NEWTON AYCLIFFE
HOPE TOWN
July 2026. Hope Town. Darlington. A fifth night parked up in a campervan in the suburbs of Darlington in a year; Cockerton Parish Council are probably debating me now. Cockerton, where W. Alderson & Son‘s baps had so enraptured me last summer. All the best stuff was gone just after noon on a busy Saturday,… Continue reading HOPE TOWN
£6.85 A PINT ! IN DARLINGTON !!
July 2026. Darlington. Every year brings a new Beer Guide entry in the posh bit of Darlington, west of the Great North Road. Sometimes it’s a rough and ready place like last year’s Kirk; more often it’s an upmarket diner like the one in Piercebridge that doesn’t have the clock that stopped, dead. Yes, places… Continue reading £6.85 A PINT ! IN DARLINGTON !!
STILL A QUID YOUR CHEESE AND ONION COB AT SHEFFIELD’S WELLINGTON
July 2026. Sheffield. Foiled in my search for a can of tomato gose (though the Neptune Black Cherry Oatmeal Stout at Hop Hideout was superb), I took the tram back towards RM Towers, wondering if I should make a rare stop at the Welly. At that precise moment, the tram ground to a halt at… Continue reading STILL A QUID YOUR CHEESE AND ONION COB AT SHEFFIELD’S WELLINGTON
SEARCHING FOR TOMATO GOSE, SETTLING FOR GERMAN MUSTARD
July 2026. Sheffield. Back in Sheffield from a cruelly curtailed Cask Camino (CCCC), a man’s thoughts turn to tomato gose. I constantly read how exciting (ugh) the UK beer scene (ugh) is these days, how folk who drink Bass are to be ridiculed etc etc. But can you be a proper country without a brewer… Continue reading SEARCHING FOR TOMATO GOSE, SETTLING FOR GERMAN MUSTARD
THE BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY. STILL IN MY TOP 100
July 2026. Keighley. Just two (2) long-standing Beer Guide entries for Keighley; the upmarket dining of the Tim Taylor tap and the bare boards boozing of the Brown Cow, tucked away on cobbles just off the main drag. A few changes of landlord since my last vist in 2017, when I named it in the… Continue reading THE BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY. STILL IN MY TOP 100
THE BOLTMAKERS
July 2026. Keighley. With Day 7 of the Cask Camino on hold due to a sporting injury, I spend an unnecessary day in Keighley making trips to the town’s three (3) supermarkets (Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s, Asda) to keep Mrs RM topped up with deli items and sparkling water, while I completed my 22k steps walking to… Continue reading THE BOLTMAKERS
TOP TOPING IN THE TIMOTHY TAYLOR TAP
July 2026. Keighley. I could paint you two very different pictures of Keighley. One one hand, one of the UK’s scruffiest towns, litter down every street, laundry hung up across side roads, a virtual absence of vibrant independent trade. The old story of a once affluent mill town without a mill. And a town centre… Continue reading TOP TOPING IN THE TIMOTHY TAYLOR TAP
retiredmartin 