Nearly forgot, I did have a beer in Bangor (N.I.). but the Rabbit Rooms is one of a host of inviting little places where you can here fiddly music, eat Strangford Lough mussels and drink Guinness £2 cheaper than in Dublin. OK, it’s no Crown Liquor Saloon, but the beer range is very typical of… Continue reading COCKTAILS IN TEA POTS IN THE RABBIT ROOMS
Month: June 2022
BANGOR (N.I.) IS AN ENERGY
I have to add (N.I.) to any posts about Bangor (N.I.) or Patrick from Bangor (N.Wales) will wonder why I didn’t visit his wonderful pub. This Bangor is Belfast’s seaside town, the Margate of the west, with its street art, kiddie “funpark”, urgent warnings to repent, and micropubs. OK, not micros (yet), but lots of… Continue reading BANGOR (N.I.) IS AN ENERGY
A NAGGING DOUBT ABOUT DONAGHADEE
Fairley’s in Coleraine was my final Northern Irish tick. Like the aforementioned Hillside in Hillsborough, it had recently been booted out of the GBG in a “booting out ceremony” in Dundonald, due to the crime against nature of not serving real ale. But what if it DID start serving cask again, hmm ? Like, a… Continue reading A NAGGING DOUBT ABOUT DONAGHADEE
MRS RM SEARCHES FOR ME IN THE WRONG COLERAINE PUB
Even if we hadn’t had the Giants Causeway on the Belfast To Do list, we’d have needed to hit the northern coast as Coleraine was home to my final Northern Irish tick. Look carefully at the GBG map and you’ll see more breweries than Guide entries outside Belfast. The withdrawal of Spoons from the North… Continue reading MRS RM SEARCHES FOR ME IN THE WRONG COLERAINE PUB
London(s)
Originally posted on Wait until next year:
Tired of London. Not necessarily tired of life, as the old maxim goes, but that’s a story for another time. Tired of London, but not a Leaving of London, where someone pens a farewell to their city, I’m not going anywhere yet. This is just a tiredness of…
ON THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY
The big question, of course, is does Giants have an apostrophe ? I tend to think of plural Giants. Mrs RM was definitely going to drag Matt and Emma to the Causeway, even if they would have preferred to laze on Bangor beach drinking cocktails and contemplating how Dublin can be so expensive. It was… Continue reading ON THE GIANTS CAUSEWAY
BASS CLICKBAIT ON THE ANTRIM COAST
Friday was designated “Antrim Coast”, the day we did the Giant’s Causeway, the Game of Thrones sites (no idea why) and (by luck) my last Northern Ireland tick. 180 miles, and all of them on far better roads than we have in England, an absolute joy. Shame about the drizzle. A notable absence of coffee… Continue reading BASS CLICKBAIT ON THE ANTRIM COAST
MURKY TICKS ON THE ORMEAU ROAD
The lone Belfast Spoons was boisterous, filthy and showed little signs of food trade, so I ignored the temptation top check out the Bridge House’s Norn Irish specialities and headed for some authentic Lebanese felafel in the heart of the student quarter. Next door, Molly’s Yard remains the upmarket choice for your scallops, potted venison… Continue reading MURKY TICKS ON THE ORMEAU ROAD
JUST A NORTHERN INDUSTRIAL TOWN
Thursday night in Belfast. One GBG tick down, one to go. It’s a decade or more since I was in Belfast, when the town already looked shinier than at end of the ’90s. As William Bragg noted in ’96, it’s just a Northern Industrial Town, full of grand Victoria architecture, culture, and dangerous hotels. It… Continue reading JUST A NORTHERN INDUSTRIAL TOWN
YOUR ACTUAL BELFAST CASK. ASK FOR IT BY NAME.
We checked into the Princetown Guesthouse in Bangor (NI), a 40 minute train ride from Belfast. It’s very pleasant, though no longer the bargain you might have expected. Turns out, Ed Sheeran was in town (well, a football pitch in the Belfast suburbs) that weekend, and we were lucky to get a room. How unlucky… Continue reading YOUR ACTUAL BELFAST CASK. ASK FOR IT BY NAME.
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