MERRY CHRISTMAS

I am glad you have woken up alive today. To say thanks, pop down your nearest pub at lunchtime and buy yourself a pint of Doom Bar. You deserve it, and it could keep your pub going ’till Boxing Day.

In what has become a fixture in the seasonal calendar (I did it last year), I bring you this special selection of photographic highlights, selected entirely at random from the last post of each month.

If you have someone creative in your family they can print out the pictures and make you a nice calendar or something.

JANUARY Pub Cat and Pint of Sam Smiths in Levenshulme

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An afternoon with Pub Curmudgeon, Pubmeister and Pub Cat that wasn’t beaten all year.

FEBRUARY – RAF Farnborough during “Beast from the East”

Walking three miles in a blizzard for a half in a Farnborough Ember Inn – hoorah !

MARCH – Greene King IPA drunk through a straw in a Hull estate pub

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In memory of Alan Winfield, who would have loved the Lord Nelson.

APRIL – Sooty charity box and Butcombe lacings on the edge of Swindon

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“There you go my lovely” said the Landlady at the Heart in Hand at Blunsdon.

MAY – BRAPA arrives in Cambridgeshire. With predictable results.

Any excuse to resurrect Angry Babe.

JUNE – Missing Marti Pellow in Worthing

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My reflection ruining your June. Forever. Yet another trip to Worthing; a duff micro but a great blog title.

Random highlights from July to December later. Perhaps.

Anyway, off to Tunbridge Wells to see the in-laws and not do any pubs, not even the Foresters in Tonbridge which is open 12-3. Life is so unfair.

Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

43 thoughts on “MERRY CHRISTMAS”

  5. merry Christmas -enjoy the Wells even though it is to be a dry day -I will be flinging on the pashmina & popping the Prosecco & dreaming of National Trust properties to come.Hope you have a good day & some nice food at least !

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  7. I think it is appropriate for even the most curmudgeonly of us to wish everyone well on this special day.
    And as the year draws to a close we can reflect on the marvellous illustrated reports that have made this a very special site, even if it does remind me that I’m not get out to as many pubs as I should.

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    3. “I think it is appropriate for even the most curmudgeonly of us to wish everyone well on this special day.”

      Stafford Mudgie has been saying basically the same thing on many a blog these past few days. 🙂

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  8. It was a Merry Christmas yesterday in my local ‘Spoons branch – Ruddles Best at just £1.49 per pint. Economy drinking at its finest ! Although Vale Gravitas at £1.99 per pint wasn’t bad too.
    Two pre-emptives for you to be aware of in Oxford city centre :-
    https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17201858.new-micropub-could-be-coming-to-the-covered-market/
    https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17312272.beer-is-flowing-at-micropub-in-the-covered-market/
    https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/17271410.pictures-inside-cornmarket-pub-returning-after-100-years/
    The “Teardrop” opened a couple of weeks ago. It is tiny, almost a kiosk, and with little seating – and a pint is £5.25 !
    [Except that they do not serve pints. I have extrapolated from £1.75 for one-third or £3.50 for two-thirds]
    The Plough opened last Friday. It is spitting distance from our Sam Smiths branch.
    I thought that you in-laws were stuck overseas ? In a bid to have a quiet Christmas at home or out ticking, was it you playing with BRAPA’s drone whilst he got that elusive tick at Crawley ?
    Merry Christmas to you and to any other readers.

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      2. Good point. St Aldates was disappointing but beer quality was other good enough back in the Spring. Also enjoyed the Fir Tree in Iffley last week, and that Social Tap place. All change !

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  9. Merry Christmas RM, and thanks for keeping us all entertained. I’m hoping to make it to the Scalloway Hotel some time between now and New Year (Mrs B permitting) to remind myself that drinks other than Tennents Lager are available.

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  10. The highlight of my day is NOT being given a pair of socks – but I realise that it’s the thought that counts and I NEVER go on a Proper Day Out without wearing a pair of socks.

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  11. Happy Christmas RM and family. I laughed thinking about the earlier post with the timeline of departure. Enjoyed reading your blog all year again. Great stuff.

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  14. Just a quick tap on the Smartphone Martin, as I haven’t fired the laptop up today.

    As many others have commented, thank you for keeping us entertained throughout the year with your posts and observations as you journey up and down this fair land of ours. It’s the quirkiness and off-beat that you manage to capture, which keeps us all enthralled.

    Wishing you, Mrs RM and your family all the very best for Christmas and the New Year.

    ps. Didn’t know the Foresters was open this lunchtime, but I wouldn’t have been able to escape to join you for a pint.

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    1. I wasn’t able to escape either, Paul. In fact I didn’t leave the in-laws house, one of the reasons I struggle at Christmas if I stay home (the lack of exercise, not the lack of a pub !).

      I will probably be raiding your blog as part of my best of 2018 post, as I do love your personal touch in your won writing. Unlike some, I also believe that praise where it’s due is never a bad thing !

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  16. “In memory of Alan Winfield, who would have loved the Lord Nelson.”

    I’ll drink to that!*
    *(actually, I’ve drunk many to that today) 🙂

    “Any excuse to resurrect Angry Babe.”

    I’ll drink to that!
    (see above)

    “Life is so unfair.”

    And here’s me, at home, alone (apart from the missus) having to sup 500ml cans of 6.4% IPA whilst living vicariously through you lot.*
    *(ok, that’s a lie; have enjoyed a two hour Skype chat with my brother in France whilst still recovering from a 4 hour visit with the next door neighbours on Christmas Eve). 🙂

    Cheers

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  18. If you served anyone a pint of OBB looking like that round these parts then they would look at the server and tell them they were having a laugh – looks gopping. It should be forced through a tight head sparkler to give a creamy head. To be honest the manager in that pub will not be achieving their 5% surplus neither with a flat full pint like that. I would be well disappointed with a pint of OBB like that.

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