April 2023. Thank you GBG23, for giving me a first visit to Coventry since Christmas 2018, bar a (failed) pre-emptive at the Ricoh. Has Cov changed much ? Well, blimey. Where has all this building work north of town come from ? Can it all be student accommodation, like in Sheffield ? Dunno. But it… Continue reading SENT TO COVENTRY, HAPPILY
Month: April 2023
AILBHE REDDY AT THE BRUDENELL
16th April 2023. Mrs RM came to TWO (2) of my hardcore gigs in mid-April. That string quartet at the Leadmill, and Irish singer-songwriter Ailbhe Reddy at the Brudenell. Can’t get two more ironic venues than that. Only one drawback, rubbish Leeds trains. So I get to chauffeur Mrs RM to Burley Road and escort… Continue reading AILBHE REDDY AT THE BRUDENELL
ALL HAPPENING IN ASHTON
15th April 2023. Still two hours before kick-off at the Etihad so, just for once, I had a leisurely afternoon just dawdling. And there are few better places to dawdle than Ashton-under-Lyne. When you’ve had two lunchtime pints in short order the temptation is always to head for a third somewhere interesting; but not eating… Continue reading ALL HAPPENING IN ASHTON
FALLING BACK IN LOVE WITH MILD, AND ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
15th April 2023. Yes, a fortnight behind with the blog. And it’ll only get worse as I report back blow-by-blow on the CAMRA AGM in Sheffield last week, paper clip debates and all. Two weeks ago I was dreading a trip to Manchester a day after the Big Brum Booze-up, but I felt fine after… Continue reading FALLING BACK IN LOVE WITH MILD, AND ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE
ROCK & ROLL, YEAH !
14th April 2023. The last pub from the Big Brum Bender (aka curated Birmingham beer exploratory), as we called it quits after seven eight pubs at the crafty Rock and Roll Brewhouse. It’s the rule on these Proper Pub Days Out that everyone does ALL the pubs, unless it’s a shisha bar selling Jamaican tonic… Continue reading ROCK & ROLL, YEAH !
CURRY LADS IN THE HEN & CHICKENS
14th April 2023. The Bucolic Brum Bender continued into the Jewellery Quarter, and a genuine pre-emptive tick at the Hen & Chickens. Despite the rain, I joined Kentish Paul in a leisurely pace that allowed us to take in the beauty of the industrial quarter, which features a “Top 500 trees growing out of buildings”… Continue reading CURRY LADS IN THE HEN & CHICKENS
TOP 100 PUBS – THE BULL, BIRMINGHAM
14th April 2023. After the impromptu 16.5% Jamaican tonic wine (and it’s not often you can write that) I wasn’t really bothered about the Bull. I’d been before, knew it was a classic “country pub in the city” style place, but on days like this you want to stick to the new, surely < Far… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE BULL, BIRMINGHAM
BIRMINGHAM PUB CRAWL TEMPORARILY DERAILED BY JAMAICAN TONIC WINE AT THE SHISHA BAR
14th April 2023. Even in 2023, “D” is followed by “E”, and so it was that we left the Bartons Arms to brave the rain on the way to the Jewellery Quarter. Except that Life After Football had different ideas. “We should pop in the Steak House, proper Brum bar” he said, convinced we’d passed… Continue reading BIRMINGHAM PUB CRAWL TEMPORARILY DERAILED BY JAMAICAN TONIC WINE AT THE SHISHA BAR
The one where Retired Martin goes to the Barton(s) Arms and takes more pictures of the Visitors’ Book than the Heritage Pub.
14th April 2023. The centrepiece of our Big Brum Bender was NOT, as you might have thought, the trophy room at Villa Park, but rather a recently re-opened heritage pub gem a few yards away. Shamefully, I’d popped in here last for an emergency comfort break, and owed it some belated custom. The Bartons Arms… Continue reading The one where Retired Martin goes to the Barton(s) Arms and takes more pictures of the Visitors’ Book than the Heritage Pub.
THE RETURN OF DAVENPORTS, THE RENAISSANCE OF MILD
April 14th 2023. Next up, a genuine pre-emptive tick just north of Snow Hill. Not that I believe in that GBG ticking nonsense anymore, of course. Funny how I’d never heard of the Queens Head , (formerly the Queen’s Head, What Pub helpfully tells us, though oddly there’s an apostrophe on the sign), as you’d… Continue reading THE RETURN OF DAVENPORTS, THE RENAISSANCE OF MILD
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