To Hull and back again, and thence on to Hackney for the Martha gig at Moth Club. Words that will mean little to most of you. I’ve written about Martha and Moth before, and it was helpful of my favourite Durham punksters to arrange a gig in London on super off-peak rail day, or Sunday… Continue reading MARE STREET. MARTHA. MILTON. MOTH
Month: March 2018
IPA THROUGH A STRAW IN “PROPER” HULL
On the journey up to Hull I was listening to the new Tracey Thorn album on repeat. Despite having proper song structures and intelligible lyrics, it’s my record of the month (a new and shortlived feature, no doubt), with the sort of confessional detail normally only seen on a BRAPA trip to Runcorn. Tracey,… Continue reading IPA THROUGH A STRAW IN “PROPER” HULL
A NEW BEVERLEY BEAUTY
In an alternative universe, Withernsea would be the Southwold of the Yorkshire coast, rather than its Fleetwood or Skegness. And Beverley would be the scummy bit of Hull. But it isn’t. Like Ely, it’s gone over recent decades from charming rural backwater with large church to posh commuter town and tourist honeypot. On each visit… Continue reading A NEW BEVERLEY BEAUTY
A FISH TEA IN WITHERNSEA
You might think it rather telling that my “featured image” (above) for Withernsea is a visualisation of what the Prom might look like one day; I couldn’t possibly comment. My massive master GBG spreadsheet tells me this is my first ever pub in “Withered“, as its friends probably call it. But I’ve clearly been here… Continue reading A FISH TEA IN WITHERNSEA
MORE MELROSE
Some tired WiFi up here in the Borders to complement the exhausted beer, so I can’t share my Withernsea post tonight, you’ll be saddened to hear. So a very short post from Melrose, the Waitrose of the Borders, (where Galashiels is Heron Foods). It looked pretty stunning tonight at the end of my day walking… Continue reading MORE MELROSE
PUB CRICKET ON THE SPURN APPROACH
Just for my favourite (occasional) Bass custodian at the Petersgate Tap, here’s east Yorkshire’s contribution to pub cricket. The Coach and Horses in Welwick is about as far as you can venture without risk of being washed away when Spurn Head is lost forever on October 26th (visit now !). The sign is worth a… Continue reading PUB CRICKET ON THE SPURN APPROACH
HED’ON ISM
The Great East Yorkshire Completion (GEYC) weekend arrived, with two days to clear five GBG pubs before we re-enter the Ice Age (SOURCE: Daily Express). If Hull feels a long way away (SOURCE: Every lazy London journalist, ever), Hedon feels ever more isolated from the real world, whatever that is. Here you get a distinct… Continue reading HED’ON ISM
A BIG HUG IN THE PUP & DUCKLING
Dickens scholars will know that in 1865, at the age of 53, our greatest fictional author (apart from BRAPA) was involved in the Staplehurst rail crash, after which his writing took a turn for the worse (see: latter chapters of Our Mutual Friend). Now, I’m not comparing myself with Charles D, he was strictly… Continue reading A BIG HUG IN THE PUP & DUCKLING
SOLIHULL PART II – HALTIN’ IN OLTON
I suspect I won’t be getting the honorarium as east Brum’s Tourism Ambassador (that’s Ian Clarkson’s gig anyway), but I do have some highlights from Hours 3-4 of my walk that at least keep Solihull above Maidenhead on my UK Town League Ladders (I’m using the ones from 1980 Shoot ! for this purpose). My… Continue reading SOLIHULL PART II – HALTIN’ IN OLTON
UNSULLIED BY SOLIHULL – PART I
A hard piece to write, and hard to find one photo to sum up Solihull. But it’s LifeAfterFootball‘s home town, so there’s a random Leyton Orient sticker on a lamp post. East Birmingham, which I rather unfairly lump SoliVegas in with, is an odd place to understand, full of suburbs and uncertainties about boundaries. On… Continue reading UNSULLIED BY SOLIHULL – PART I