You’ll know I’m not a Beer Festival fan. There’s too many beers you won’t be able to drink in an evening, or ever see again in your local pubs, and as soon as the sun comes out the beer is a little too warm for my liking. But local CAMRA branches clearly enjoy putting them on,… Continue reading EVIL KEG FILTH AT CAMBRIDGE BEER FEST 2017
Month: May 2017
PAYING FOR BEER – A QUESTION OF PROTOCOL
Pub Cat is just there to grab your attention. While I upload 367 photos to OneDrive, here’s 2 issues I’d appreciate some thoughts on. Firstly, forming queues in Wetherspoons. What’s so bad about it ? The alternative is eight people strung along a bar, and a barman asking desperately; “Right, who’s next ?” “Pint of Carling” says… Continue reading PAYING FOR BEER – A QUESTION OF PROTOCOL
BARRINGTON’S ROYAL OAK CEMENTS IT’S REPUTATION
My first pub for ten (10) days, which tells you how much catching up I’ve been doing on the blog. Mansfield/Sutton. Lymington and Ancrum still to come. But I need to bring you up to date on a great lunchtime session in Barrington today. The Royal Oak isn’t in the Beer Guide (yet), but is… Continue reading BARRINGTON’S ROYAL OAK CEMENTS IT’S REPUTATION
TIBSHELF SERVICE STATION PURPLE PUB
Another in my occasional series of pubs you can walk to from the Motorway Service Station if you’re not quick (and you’re not driving, of course). A sort of alternative to Mr Protz’s guide to the Great North Road, perhaps. I haven’t heard from Alan Winfield for a while, I hope he’s OK. There’s something… Continue reading TIBSHELF SERVICE STATION PURPLE PUB
ANGELS IN THE (ROTHERFIELD) ARCHITECTURE
Much of north Sussex looks like my in-laws home in the Wells; green, prosperous, as cluttered as an antiques dealer, but with faded charm. A place they put the tea in before the milk*. Attractive towns and villages like Crowborough and weatherboarded Rotherfield are really suffering from the effects of traffic these days. They’ll get their… Continue reading ANGELS IN THE (ROTHERFIELD) ARCHITECTURE
EEYORE CONTACT AT POOH CORNER
Trips down to Kent and West Sussex do seem to involve a lot of halves of Harveys. I’m not sure any regional beer is as ubiquitous in local Beer Guide pubs as Sussex Best. I’m a fan, but it’s rarely stunning, except (as here) in Hailsham. Twenty years ago Mrs RM and I stayed in… Continue reading EEYORE CONTACT AT POOH CORNER
INTO BATTLE
This can be Number 1 in a series of posts advising American visitors to Sussex where to visit, or avoid. I can’t imagine that Dick and Dave will be able to contain their joy when they enter the Squirrel, on the western outskirts of Battle, to be handed a John Denver LP. Or if you’re… Continue reading INTO BATTLE
THE SLOW DEATH OF TUESDAY DRINKING IN ANDOVER
Last year I popped in to Andover at the end of Dryanuary and found it in rude health, at least as far as unpretentious pubs and beer quality go. What it lacks in classic architecture, Andover makes up for in budget hotels, ideally placed on industrial estates and service stations. Sadly the Premier Inn has… Continue reading THE SLOW DEATH OF TUESDAY DRINKING IN ANDOVER
BACK TO BASINGSTOKE
Nowhere on our sceptred isle is without charm, of course, but I’ll confess my heart sinks a bit as I hit the M3 roadworks for a third time in a month, en-route for the new GBG joys of Basingstoke. Actually, I started in Silchester, a few miles north, and I doubt folk there see themselves as… Continue reading BACK TO BASINGSTOKE
WADSWORTH IN HUNTS
Back from Scotland to a rare post about my home county (ish). You’ll be thinking that’s a spelling mistake at the top, particularly if you’re Pub Curmudgeon and know to expect them. Not so. The Three Horseshoes in Graveley is owned by tiny J.Wadsworth wine merchants of St. Ives in Huntingdonshire, perhaps our most low-key pub… Continue reading WADSWORTH IN HUNTS
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