Notice anything striking about today’s featured programme ?
No, not the match ball sponsored by Tamplin’s (who ?).
Or the cutting-edge murk from Watney’s on sale in the ground.
Or the Brickwoods logo which looks awfully familiar.
No, it’s our old friend, JE Cooke (Christian names weren’t invented till the Beatles), late of my parish, overseeing a comfortable 3-1 Brighton win as they edged to the 4th Division title eighteen days after my birth (22 December, make a note).
Quite a season, 1964-65.
Chester fans got to laugh at county colleagues Stockport apply for re-election, AND saw 101 goals in 23 home games. Three decades later, Leeds fans would see only 28 all season at Elland Road.
Of course, it’s Brighton AND HOVE, the more genteel stretch of the city where the Seagulls played till 1997.
One of the most famous games at the Goldstone came when a newly promoted Cambridge beat Alan Mullery’s highflyers 2-0 in United’s first game in the second tier, leaving 13 year old schoolboys in Cottenham a bit shell-shocked in the morning.
Brighton’s yo-yo existence took in a Cup final, a few years in Division 1, Jimmy Case, and a last day escape from probable extinction in 1996-97 (sorry Hereford), a year I took in the joys of the Firkin near the ground in days I knew no better.
Recent trips to Hove have found a decent mix of boisterous Spoons, classy sports bars, and textbook micros. Actually, it’s not THAT bad.
I’d say the Watchmaker’s Arms is as “micro pub” a micro pub as I’ve ever seen, from shop front to high tables to pump clips to beer range.
Cheerful service and top quality beer (Downlands Dark NBSS 3.5), mind.
Walk down past the County Cricket Ground (good Harvey’s at the Cricketers) to the Blind Busker and watch the football on giant screens.
Just as I arrived at the Blind Busker last February, there was a mass exodus of Chelsea fans.
They looked grumpy, but you can’t read much into that so I had to wait the 2 seconds to see one of the 47 TV screens to confirm a Cup victory that guaranteed our place in the next season’s Europa Cup.
Brighton may have the craft, but Hove can put back the cask (and the Amstel, to be fair).
The Harvey’s was just about the best beer of the day as it turned out, in a lager glass in a Stonegate pub with high seating and burger offers.
It restores your faith in the Beer Guide selection process, it really does.
retiredmartin 
Really enjoyed the Watchmakers last year and Hove in general was more interesting than I expected.
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Well we really blew it that season, won one of the last 6, including losing our unbeaten home record in the last home game to Oxford which looks crucial. And then did something similar the following season, losing out on goal average, before finally gaining promotion in 66/67.
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You would think someone named Cannon would be a forward.
BTW, when is your birthday? Don’t be so cryptic. 😏
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My birthday?
I’ll have a check on the birth certificate and let you know. Hate to get it wrong.
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He has three a year.
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Breweries there that survived quite a few years under ‘the Big Six’.
Tamplins of Brighton – taken over by Watney Mann in 1953, closed in 1973,
Brickwoods of Portsmouth – taken over by Whitbread in 1971, closed in 1983.
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