THE CASE FOR GLOSSOP

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New Mills is well under an hour on the train from both Sheffield (the Shakespeare) and Manchester (the Hare & Hounds). And therefore, potentially, our two lads.

By contrast Glossop to Sheff is a bit of a sod by rail; better to walk across the little hill.

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Little hill in green

Mrs RM remembered Glossop fondly from a wet and wintry night in 2015 poorly captured on my nascent blog.

She remembered the green hills and big skies.

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Not the Fens

She remembered the striking architecture.

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Rare shot of Mrs RM’s golden locks
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Clouds lifted when Mrs RM arrived

She remembered the cobbled streets.

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Oooh. Holt’s.

She remembered the cutting-edge ice cream.

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Curly Cornets

But most of all she remembered the “help yourself wine bar” at Harvey Leonard’s, which had used Mrs RM’s custom to fund an expansion into the former Conservative Club.

Help yourself wine bar
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Pauline would like this one

Harvey’s was closed so we ended up in the Spoons. I know there’s better pubs (Crown, Star, Globe) but let’s face it, they don’t do pizza and a beer for a fiver.

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One of our possible future homes above that Spoons

Visiting Spoons post 4/7 is instructional.

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Follow the circles

Sparkling surfaces being vigorously cleaned by staff, tables further apart, perspex dividers at the booths and the bar.  And no bar flies.  We both like “No bar flies“.

The investment was largely successful; there were a few gentlefolk braving a return to the Smithy Fold, though a year ago you wouldn’t have got a table here.

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Oooh. Stancil

Mrs RM chose badly, ignoring the charms of Stancil in favour of the Blonde Witch (NBSS 3+), though it WAS perfectly chosen to match the Margherita (very good, feeds two).  Just think, in 2 weeks time they’ll be paying you to eat their pizza (T & C apply).

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Northern head

Some folk believe Glossop is in the Midlands. You’ll only find a head like that in the North, sunshine.

A Northern looking Gent asked politely if he could play the fruit machines.

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The Reel Kings

It made it seem more pubby, though I’m not sure hanging around playing the machines is quite what I expected to see in the New Normal.

As for Glossop, it would be my choice, if the right property came up. And if I could claim it for the North.

 

 

 

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.

46 thoughts on “THE CASE FOR GLOSSOP”

  2. I did laugh at “the cutting-edge ice cream” line.

    You seem to be in a position of evaluating various towns, comparing them as possible candidates for where you’ll next live. Must be good to have that level of flexibility. Then again it probably becomes tricky to know when do you finally force yourselves to decide?

    In any case, Mrs. RM must be pleased to have a husband who’s already checked out so many of England’s towns and villages. And not just the pubs, either! 😉

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      1. Rain – you’ll need to like that one a lot, bearing in mind Glossop is on the ‘wet side’ of the Pennies.

        Still – with global warming who knows…

        Yorkshire will be the main state in the new devolved England – once re-assembled…🙄

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      2. I agree it looks northern. Ron Pattinson has the hallmarks of civilisation as dark mild, professional rugby league and trams. Not sure about the trams but I’m in favour of the other two (despite loving in Papworth). Incidentally Salford is perhaps only area to have all 3…

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      3. It’s nice to know where you love, and Papworth is THAT sort of place, but where do you reside, Marty ?

        Ron is right. I’d read more Barclay Perkins Ron but he goes on and on about beer.

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  4. I reckon that anyone thinking of moving to the North – as I did for a good few years – should read “Millstone Grit” by Glyn Hughes. Particularly of note are his accounts of trying to reach agreements, to buy property from Yorkshiremen.

    He and his lady seem to have enjoyed it on the whole, but he threw in the towel in the end, and moved to Rutland, I seem to recall.

    I know Glossop well. It’s the North all right, with Pennines, Chapels, old mills, the lot.

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  5. Myself and a mate once went on a Saturday afternoon pub crawl round Glossop which included the Norfolk Arms, Star and Globe, before heading to his girlfriend’s 21st birthday party at the Commercial, where he had a few more pints, became a bit unsteady on the dance floor, took out a table of drinks and almost fell down the stairs until I grabbed him and steered him back to the station. Words were subsequently had and they split up soon after. I don’t think I’ve been back since.

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  7. Old Glossop has 3 pubs and a short stroll to Glossop station. Traffic dreadful in Glossop, have you thought of Bollington?

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  8. Bollington is in Cheshire so not quite in the North, according to my Lancastrian views. Despite that, it is a nice place and worth a look. I visited on a canal trip and you might consider buying a canal boat – I know long term moorings can be hard to find but you can have a choice of where to end up and then move on when you have ticked all the pubs.

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      1. ‘Macc’ has the advantage of being 35 minutes by train from a few pints with a Mudgie and only eleven minutes by train from a few pints with t’other Mudgie – but don’t get it mixed up with the ‘Mac’ known for the Dyfi Forester and the Wynnstay Arms.
        Stoke is more equidistant but it’s not as good as ‘Macc’.

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      2. One thing about the North – there is far, far more difference between the towns and the cities that there is in the South.

        For instance, between Manchester and Oldham or Leeds and Keighley, compared with between, say Cambridge and Stamford.

        That could be a Good Thing or otherwise, depending on what you want.

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      5. No, not to Chatteris Martin – and I was just thinking of some of the places near Bristol too, so it’s a very rough guide.

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  9. I know of only one other Friendship Inn and that’s at Borth and it was unusually busy when I used it last summer.
    It was named after a ship so maybe the Glossop one was after a narrow boat.

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      1. No, I didn’t know the Banks’s pub got in the GBG.
        I get to the Cambrain Coast every few years and never tire of Borth.

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      3. I remember the Skinners Arms, “A Victorian local”, being in the GBG with its Burtonwood Mild and Bitter 45 years ago – and £2.30 might last a weekend back then

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    3. Through the W.Yorks village – where I still have a bolt hole – there comes an occasional bus service which displays the sign “local bus” and nowt else.

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