retiredmartin

“Less beer, more pics of alleyways and art” you said, when I asked what you wanted from the blog*.

Here you go, then.

Some have closes, some have alleys, Darlington has yards.

Sadly the Half Moon continues with its idiosyncratic hours (top). I think it’s great.

And here’s your art, near the Hullaballoo. Is that a Rothko ?

Weren’t expecting that last one, were you ?

Back in the gardens of St Cuthberts, I give up on a lunchtime pint,

particularly as my long-time Sam Smiths target remains closed on some spurious pretext or other.

I’ve been nursing a bottle of fizzy water, and pondering a drinks menu with pages 11-12 (the beer pages) ripped out. With table service in place, Mrs RM can’t see what beers they have, which we both detest.

The lad asks her what she wants, and obviously she doesn’t know, which I guess is why everyone ends up drinking Staropramen rather than cask in 2021. He recited the draught list.

She stops him at “London Pride”.

London Pride ? In Yorkshire ? Are you mad ?

I take a sniff, can tell it’s off, but let Mrs RM find out for herself. Cue Episode 17 of Mrs RM returns the beer, and this time she opts for a glass of wine instead. And that’s why cask is in terminal decline outside of a few big cities and specialist beer houses frequented by the CAMRAs.

Luckily, the kleftico and chicken wraps are stunningly good.

Rather gorgeous in the Teesside sun, but stay off the cask**, as the latest CAMRA campaign says.

*This is a lie. It’s my diary and I’ll post what I want. I hear BRAPA takes requests.

** Joking, 90% of the beer in Darlo has been excellent.