retiredmartin

I am so proud to have finally caught up with my posts, I can overlook the mild complication of having a dozen Manchester pubs to write up tomorrow.

December is a complex month, when some pubs aim to sabotage my ticking by being closed on the 25th as a prelude to shutting for the whole of January to avoid being hassled by Tryanuary obsessives.

So I’m afraid the actual count was a paltry forty-two (42) new GBG pubs in the month, well below the 50 I need to hit my annual target.

BUT. I finished Essex (again), West London, North West London, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire chapters, so not all bad.

AND. I had great pub crawls with BRAPA and Mrs RM in Cambridge, Matthew Lawrensen in Preston, Newbury Tim in Hammersmith and the ever-wonderful retiredmartin in Ulverston.

Highlights of the month were that rare Cumbrian trip on Black Eye Friday and a thorough exploration of Ruislip. Not many times anyone has had that as a highlight.  The Sam Smiths and Holt pubs in Weaste were wonderful too.

Accidental Partridge of the Month – Shouting “Simon !, Simon !” in the Cambridge ticket office when he’d already left town.

Embarrassment of the Month – drinking the Landlord’s beer in Foxfield.

which leads us to;

New Pub of the Month – Prince of Wales, Foxfield

Despite that minor embarrassment, this felt like visiting one of the last GBG classics on my bucket list.  I’ve never seen cask shift so fast, but it’s a boozer not a ticking house.

Old Pub of the Month – er….

Beer of the Month – White Rose Raven in the Old Vault in Thorne was sublime, but so was the beer in Ruislip and Foxfield.

Best advice seen in a pub – no explanation necessary