Whenever I write about a great pub experience in a place that isn’t in the GBG I always get folk saying “The best pubs aren’t in the GBG, of course” and “The Beer Guide is just for beer tickers” and “You need to seek local knowledge” (whatever local knowledge is). But I’ve always been… Continue reading SO WHY ISN’T THE PELICAN IN THE GBG THEN ?
Month: February 2020
PUBS ARE GREAT, AREN’T THEY ?
22nd February 2020 I spent ages thinking up a witty title with “Pelican” in it and gave up. So you get what went through my head at 20:26 as we cancelled plans and gave in to the karaoke and cask combination at Devizes’ Pelican. If only it had been just cask. Another Wadworths Market Place… Continue reading PUBS ARE GREAT, AREN’T THEY ?
LEFT TO MY OWN DEVIZES
22nd February 2020 The White Bear was the second and last of my new GBG ticks on this Wiltshire Wander, which is a disappointing tally when I see how BRAPA has been plundering the North. I really fancied a 6X, long a favourite beer despite many commentators on CAMRA Discourse describing it as “twiggy brown… Continue reading LEFT TO MY OWN DEVIZES
DEVIZES GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS
22nd February 2020 Devizes seemed relatively unscathed by the floods cruelly limiting my western ticks, somehow appropriate for a town that’s a virtual arc of pub names. We have a British Lion, a White Bear, a Lamb, another Bear, a Pelican, a Black Swan, a Dolphin, a Black Horse, Fox & Hounds, two Dragons, and… Continue reading DEVIZES GAVE NAMES TO ALL THE ANIMALS
“HOW MUCH?!”
22nd February 2020 You left us escaping a family gathering in Hook, headed for the A303 and quite a night in Devizes. Just time before dark for a first incursion in GBG20 into Wiltshire, always a hit and miss county now they’ve banned Wadworths 6X from the Guide. This is the view from tiny Great… Continue reading “HOW MUCH?!”
HOOKED IN
21st February 2020 Our maiden trip in the new campervan, provisionally called Simon, and a 3 hour slog round the M25 to Hook. It’s my mother in law and her twin sister’s 80th, so why not pick a Home Counties gastropub to celebrate. If I reach 80 and haven’t completed the GBG I’m in big… Continue reading HOOKED IN
YOUR ANNUAL CAMRA MAGAZINE PILE AWAITS, DAVE
Today’s tidy up produced a hoard of 27 new CAMRA magazines for US Dave to collect on his next visit, probably to the Maidenhead Murk Mania In May festival. Confession: I printed Ullage out off the web for this photo, as the copy I had was dog-eared, but at least it’s not burnt. No favourites… Continue reading YOUR ANNUAL CAMRA MAGAZINE PILE AWAITS, DAVE
SO WHERE TO NEXT ?
All those three post days have taken their toll. I’m up to date, with nothing to write about. Except Mrs RM’s new campervan. Bye bye, giant Adria. And hello, slimline campercar. About a third the size, so Mrs RM will have no excuse for not driving this down narrow Cornish lanes while I panic. The… Continue reading SO WHERE TO NEXT ?
NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY SOZZLED IN SEVENOAKS
19th February 2020 A night in the UK’s dullest town Premier Inn. I don’t know what Mrs RM did wrong in a previous life to be born in Tunbridge Wells, marry me, have a HQ in Maidenhead and get sent to Sevenoaks to work. But she soldiers on. A mile into town and a lone… Continue reading NOT EVEN SLIGHTLY SOZZLED IN SEVENOAKS
HARVEY’S IN THE ROYAL OAK
19th February 2020 On Thursday I popped down to meet Mrs RM in Sevenoaks ahead of a big adventure I’ll tell you about later (rest easy). The Thameslink train towards Brighton, if it’s not cancelled as usual, stops at London Bridge and spares you much of the chaos of the Kings Cross/ Underground route with… Continue reading HARVEY’S IN THE ROYAL OAK
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