Paul asks why we didn’t go to the All Nations ?
Have you seen Mrs RM’s shoes Paul ?
It was 47 minutes to Madeley, 15 to the Coalbrookdale. Uphill.
When I started visiting GBG pubs in the mid-90s the Coalbrookdale had just become the National Pub of the Year. We visited in ’97; CAMRA were right.
What’s your favourite ?
I’ve been to all those apart from the first. Kinmuck still calls. The actual winner in 1992 was the Hungry Horse in Bedford by the way.
It’s been more out than in of the GBG of late (only the Oracle flies the flag), but as Si and Malt and Dunc and LAF will tell you that means not a lot.
It looks magnificent, but quiet.
It serves a small community, and I guess the days of coachloads of tickers from Tipton and Tamworth are long gone, and so is the huge range of beers.
Two is plenty, often more than enough, and at £3 a pint should be flying out.
It could do with more life, and perhaps it’ll come back when the Old Boys get the vaccine, but don’t start a countdown on that.
I took a quick look at the hand wash for you,
and joined Mrs RM on the balcony.
The beer was NBSS 3 stuff, the views gorgeous, Mrs RM’s attention undivided,
A bit like revisiting the Fisherman’s Tavern, an earlier winner, this was a muted but satisfying return.
The descent to the bridge was wonderful.
We slept well.
retiredmartin 
Of the eight I’ve been to the Great Western is my favorite.
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Wonston, Salutation, Swan (as was) for me. All 3 not beer exhibitions just great community pubs.
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Are you taking him/her to the pubs with you? Meet up with Colin?
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Oh, I think that a Colin/Ba Ba meet would break the internet 😉
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“but as Si and Malt and Dunc and LAF will tell you that means not a lot.” –Have the ranks of GBG tickers expanded while I wasn’t paying close enough attention? I thought it was just you, Si, and Duncan, but it seems the times they are a-changin’… 🙂
You mentioned about how you started going to GBG pubs “in the mid-90s”, which makes me think this was something you got into somewhat gradually. Or was there a day when you said, “The quest begins.”
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LAF is ticking ALL the Midlands pubs, a recognised subset of tickers.
Maltmeister is the shy, retiring guy, second only to Duncan in GBG completion, who I met in the Isle of Man and is now on Twitter with “excellent” puns.
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Every one the Midlands pubs? That sounds like an impossibly huge undertaking, and a target where the finish line is constantly being moved away from you. But given that there is a hard boundary around the Midlands, I suppose he can at least get to a day where he can say, “That’s it, as of today I’ve been to them all.”
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The Midlands can be defined as the bit that’s not Northern or Southern.
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Scotland has a Midlands but with neither Holdens nor Bathams.
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Not only did I only discover beer in my late 20s, I only discovered the UK after we married, and then went mad, travelling every weekend and eventually using the GBG. So a late starter 👍
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I am a mere Midlands pub ticker Mark!!! Occasionally stumble across some GBG boozers on my travels though …😎
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You are an absolute legend, and I reckon not having to stick to GBG pubs has many an advantage! 🙂
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He is a legend, a revolutionary.
Who we talking about?
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Absolutely!!! Definitely more characters in non GBG pubs 👍
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I think you were one of the first commenters on the blog so much appreciated 👍
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As I’ve said to Mark a few times, the feedback on our blogs, however small, is what keeps us going. That and Doom Bar.
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Absolutely 👍
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Slightly disappointed Solihull not won the major prize as yet… I’m assuming their Stonegate Yates is a shoe in next year?
Fantastic views by the way
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“It serves a small community, and I guess the days of coachloads of tickers from Tipton and Tamworth are long gone, and so is the huge range of beers.”
A chicken or egg situation? Reduced range of beers = reduced tickers?
“Two is plenty, often more than enough”
It is if there is no custom.
On a previous matter, I went to The Wheatsheaf in Basingstoke as you requested, I can comfortably say it will never be a POTY , a lot smarter than I remember and no high vis at 5pm on a Tuesday. They had two beers on, Doom bar and Butcombe original and I have to say the quality of the latter was the best I’ve had since the new freedom, NBSS 4, but as you know, not my thing, a choice of two was not enough for me.
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And the quality of the former?
Thanks for the report 👍
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I wouldn’t know.
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Nothing to be proud of.
#DoomBarDenier
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Is Doom Bar the new Bass?
#bbb
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Shropshire looks lovely. I’ve never been there.
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“I thought Stockport won it one year ?”
“Heaton Norris, Greater Manchester” is what we all, and especially t’other Mudgie, know as “Stockport”.
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Heaton Norris clearly wishes to disassociate itself from that great drinking town 😊
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But t’other Mudgie lives a cockstride from the Nursery and he most certainly doesn’t disassociate himself from Stockport.
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He’s a higher class of Norrisian 😉
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Maybe all Norrisians – whether of the Chaprel, Mersey, Moor or Norris variety – are higher class Stopfordians.
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In its heyday it was unbeatable. Probably one of the best pubs I’ve ever been in. Have a story about it I must tell. Maybe a small blog post?
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Definitely.
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The list of Pub of the Year winners suggests that free houses some distance from a railway station have the best chance of winning.
I’ve only been to the Coalbrookdale Inn along with the Three Kings, Halfway House and Bridge End Inn with Mrs TSM driving.
I think the Nursery and the great Great Western were the only two tied houses and they – and the Harp – are the ones I’ve used most often.
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