On Wednesday I took James out for a walk on the heath.
None of my readers live in London (they are, indeed, blessed), or they would assume I meant Hampstead.
This is Therfield Heath in Royston. I’ve marked the Pig & Abbot, scene of an incident with BRAPA that he kindly omitted from his blog but which may appear in the film.
Therfield Heath marks the end of Cambridgeshire’s flat plains and the beginning of some decent walking territory, denoted by the traditional child’s shoe.
The highlight is Fox Covert, a wood with steep hills and a retreat where fans of BBB can come with cans of Bass to escape the impending craft apocalypse.
The town itself has escaped craft, and by and large the attentions of the Beer Guide, for several decades.
The Jolly Postie offer McMullen’s finest and home delivery (possibly not as far as Stafford, Paul) in a beautiful post van.
Royston is about Cheadle size, with a similar range of pubs and architecture. Like Stockport’s ugly cousin, it’s a bit blighted by traffic from all sides, though the Old Courthouse escapes the smoke.
In the ’90s Mrs RM and I would visit the Royal Bengal with its Curry Club awards from the ’70s and press cuttings that said things like “A tasty bird for a pretty bird” as Miss Royston, sash and all, tucked into Chicken Tikka Masala. Woke changed all that, thank heavens.
The giant misshapen medieval donut is another survivor.
The town is best known for its remarkable cave, where townsmen took refuge during the notorious Wetherspoons riots of 2017 when a customer complained about faulty fruit machines.
It was quieter when Mrs RM and I returned in 2017, though the high stools raised the ire of Christine.
This is Simon in the Manor House in 2017 regretting his fifth pint in 3 hours while I go for a fifth flat white.
James is better behaved than BRAPA, but then he’s virtually teetotal. As was I at 21.
But he’s learnt to be observant, and highly rated the more relaxed atmosphere now they’ve banned standing at the bar. I had to visit the bar to get the price of my pint of Doom Bar down to £1.29, of course.
The screens make that quintessential British activity of eavesdropping harder, mind.
I’ve been here four times now, and this was the quietest. But the beer was lovely.
Top creamy head on your NBSS 3.5 Doom Bar.
Perfectly matched by your favourite beer sommelier with a small portion of the salted caramel fudge brownie, this was a “feast for the King of the East(ern pub blogging)“
retiredmartin 
When will James begin his pub ticking career?
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His first pub was in Stevenage at 3 days old. By the age of one he’d been in more pubs than 99.9% of the UK visit in their lifetime.
He’s not a PubMan yet.
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Our daughter was nearly six days old before going to a pub but she was in the Seven Stars ( 2021 GBG ) within three hours of leaving hospital.
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You need to get up North (Midlands) pronto young man.
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Not enough Spoons and Doom Bar, but the hills are adequate.
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“The Jolly Postie offer McMullen’s finest and home delivery (possibly not as far as Stafford, Paul) in a beautiful post van.” – Believe it or not I was said to be “Jolly” as ten years of “Postie” before my knees failed. Not an Austin van though but a Vauxhall Combo then a Peugeot Bipper.
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I really like the new search by map feature. Much easier than tagging. Those of us who us it as a travel planner will really use it a lot.
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James just added it to the blog. I’ll add links to the blog over the next month.
James just got his First from Sheffield Uni today so I trust his IT skills now.
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Can he write a script that reads your tags and assigns the the post to the map.
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Ooh, techy. Not sure my tags are geographic enough to be converted into map references and the earlier posts say things like “lacings” and “drunk vicar” which his script may struggle with.
I think I’ll quite enjoy going back and assigning each blogpost to the Google map. It’ll certainly be a tool for me to use.
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Congratulations, James! A First is a fantastic achievement, and certainly puts my Third to shame. I probably spent more of my time at uni, visiting pubs than I should have done, but why not?
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Thx Paul. Congrats James! I was too excited about your map to be polite.
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Yes, a fantastic achievement,
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Is this in GBG?
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In and out of the Guide.
One of my favourite Spoons 👍
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Maybe it’s with being in the same county as Tim’s headquarters,
The St Albans one, a proper barn, is the best of the dozens I’ve known.
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£1.29??????? On my way with my human 🍺🍺🍺
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79p with a voucher ?
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Troubling post…will probably have nightmares about the Gladman (obviously some kind of evil Cambridge folk lore figure) ….and Si’s visit.
Post office van very reassuring though..
Having checked all the comments carefully I can’t believe that someone hasn’t confirmed why you shouldn’t pay more for Doom beer….;)
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PubHermit,
The British Postal Museum Store at Debden, near Loughton, Essex is the place to see old Royal Mail vans,
.
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I admit I was a bit surprised by this: “None of my readers live in London” –Heavens, you’ve got readers in Michigan, South Korea, and who knows what else far-flung locales, but none in London? I can only conclude the entire city is cursed with poor taste in selecting blogs to read!
It’s interesting that Sharp’s makes a point of including “Established 1994” in its pint glass logo, given they’re in a country where businesses stretching back to 1794 (and a lot further!) aren’t uncommon. But maybe they’re proud of their relative newness?
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1994 BC.
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With noticing the lacings some drinkers don’t get beyond the “Established”.
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I know at least one who does or perhaps it’s just an RM half-joke to flush them out and into the comments… 😁
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A pig and an Abbot?? Even by BRAPA standards that’s notable.
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