Keighley gets a bad press in Bill Bryson’s “Notes From a Small Island“, but then so do Milton Keynes and Worksop, so you can ignore him. And no town that boasts Eric Pickles, Dennis Healey, Kiki Dee and Terrorvision among its famous sons can be that bad. That would have been a supergroup and a… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY
Month: February 2017
IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
Taking the train from Bradford to Manchester gives you superb views of Iron Man art at Mytholmroyd, and peerless Calderdale views on the way past more pronounceable small towns. Only the Sheffield-Manchester line can match it. The train also gives me the chance to break my journey back at Hebden Bridge. 1.30pm kick-offs at the… Continue reading IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
ALL BUCKED UP
(Adjective – indicating completion of Buckinghamshire Good Beer Guide entries) Following the Good Beer Guide, rather than the advice of a mate as to the best pubs, certainly takes you on some lesser travelled roads. GBG17 provides a rare excuse to visit the unknown land between Milton Keynes and Northampton. No, not Newport Pagnell, that’s… Continue reading ALL BUCKED UP
KEEPING UP WITH MANCHESTER
Never a dull moment at the Etihad, but some complex rail connections from Bradford and Hebden gave me little time for Bundobust yesterday. With a personal best time from the Colin Bell stand to Victoria (appropriate footwear, folks), I had ten minutes to look for the the Pilcrow. That reduced to eight as I was… Continue reading KEEPING UP WITH MANCHESTER
XT4 & WAKES IN AYLESBURY
Aylesbury isn’t all bad. The King’s Head was one of my Top 100 pubs, after all, and there’s some pleasant (damned with faint praise) villages on the bus ride up to Winslow. I’m sure Simon will appreciate the misericords and basilicas in the parish church at Oving, whose Black Boy was benefitting from a wake… Continue reading XT4 & WAKES IN AYLESBURY
WHAT’S GOING ON ?
It’s not my aim to knock our hard-working publicans, they make or break the quality of beer and if this blog has any aim other than as a diary it’s to promote pubs off the beaten track. So I’m going to anonymise my latest problematic trip to a new Beer Guide entry (if you can hack… Continue reading WHAT’S GOING ON ?
BANBURYSHIRE
Banburyshire (source:Wiki) has more to offer than £4 roast dinners. Just down the A4260 is one of the many golden stone villages that make the Oxon/Northants/Warwicks borders a competitor for the Cotswolds. Deddington has the usual minor tourist attractions; a ruined castle, one sided football pitch, snowdrops, antique centre and gun shop. “The quietest place reading… Continue reading BANBURYSHIRE
CHEAP’N’CHEERFUL IN CHERWELL
Very soon the journey from Cambridge to Oxford will be doable at lightning speed, possibly by the complete removal of Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. Oxford itself has much for the American tourist who can afford £14.75 for a burger, but Scrooge McTaylor recommends instead the less-trod villages to the north. It may look a bit… Continue reading CHEAP’N’CHEERFUL IN CHERWELL
EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY
You can’t begin to imagine how excited I was to be given a visit to Daventry by the new Beer Guide. It’s at least 15 years since the Dun Cow and Coach & Horses bounded hand-in-hand into the GBG and stayed there togetherfor ever, at least until they both dropped out a little while back. … Continue reading EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY
HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
Hard to believe, but Mrs RM and I spent a fair few of our early mini-breaks in Wakefield. This was in the days before the internet, when we would find hotels by driving slowly past them, reversing, and asking about rooms. That worked until we got stranded near Skegness one time (ask Mrs RM). The St Pierre in… Continue reading HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
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