OK. Look at the next 3 photos and guess where I am. No looking at dialling codes you cheat. I know, looks like Wigan, doesn’t it ? But this is Windermere in the heart of the Lake District, one of the UK highlights I’ve rather neglected over the years, along with West Devon and the… Continue reading THE CRAFTY BAA

2nd March 2020 More of those epic fails you lot love to read about, sitting at home in your underpants* drinking cans of DIPA. Next up I head down towards Cartmel, best known for, er, sticky toffee pudding. Oh yeah, there’s horsey racing. “Cartmel was the site of the Gay Future ‘coup’ in 1974 that… Continue reading A STICKY (TOFFEE) END IN CARTMEL

2nd March 2020 My latest trip took me to Cumbria, which you’ll remember from my big spreadsheet is one of the key counties, a Super Tuesday of a county if you will. What a lovely bit of OS the South Lakes make. All the pubbing greats are heading here this last year. BRAPA reached Levens… Continue reading “IS NUMBER 5 JUST HAVING DRINKS” – A SOUTH LAKES PRISONER

I arrived in Manchester just as City were winning their 8th domestic trophy out of 9. My disinterest in the Caribou Cup is such I can’t even spell it. The only cup that matters to City fans is any cup Liverpool fail to win. My bed for the night was in a flat, shared with… Continue reading A NIGHT AT THE ETIHAD

The new Beer Guide entries in Lancashire pretty much mirror those in Notts. Female friendly micropubs with gin. Rossendale in particular seems likely to keep us tickers busy for years working out micro opening hours. Fine with me, the B6232 between Haslingden and Blackburn is one of our great roads. The Dog in Belthorn is… Continue reading DAFFODILS, DOGS & (MORE) DIRE STRAITS

1 March 2020 Into Lancashire, my next big target for GBG completion. Mind, Whitworth looks like it’s in Rochdale to me. “Rochdale IS in Lancashire” screams Old Mudgie. It was probably in Yorkshire once. Yes, this is the land of straggly villages along the A671 on the way to Rossendale. It’s a untidy picture in… Continue reading WHITWORTH – LACINGS NEVER LIE

27th February 2020 One night (in Penrith) without internet and my blogging goes to pot. This post is brought to you from the Dog Beck, where there appears to be no-one drinking John Smiths Smooth at 9.30am. The serious blog catch-up starts in Mansfield, base for one of my most popular early posts where I… Continue reading MANSFIELD MAN WITH A GBG PLAN

26th February 2020 Froooom. Throwm. ANiceTotnes. However you pronounce it, Frome is a gem, and I was delighted to get a return trip out of the new GBG. Spring had arrived just before I did. Frome was voted the sixth coolest town in Britain by The Times, just behind Coalville and Carluke, and continues to… Continue reading FROME IF YOU WANT TO, FROME AROUND THE WORLD

THE FACTS Forty-three (43) new GBG pubs in February, which sounds a bit dull but much of the month was what we call tactical ticking that allowed me to clear TEN counties (don’t start, Mudgie) Surrey Kent Greater Manchester Staffordshire Merseyside (for a second time) Cheshire Warwickshire Oxfordshire Wiltshire Nottinghamshire Leaving my GBG map looking… Continue reading FEBRUARY 2020 STOCKTAKE + MARCH PREVIEW