June 2023. Rochester.
Still half an hour till my Rochester Guide tick opens; who opens a pub at 1pm ?
The cathedral is open from 10am; it could teach those micros a lesson.
Has a cathedral ever made the Guide ? I’m sure some of them sell St Peters under the counter, and Halifax Minster sold God Beer before its occasional gigs.
Rochester went from “middling Championship” to “solid Premier League mid-tabler” during my visit, and the cathedral certainly makes my Top 15.
I like churches that don’t charge for admission but have one of those donation pads which you just swipe with your card at the entry and then feel OK with yourself all the way round.
I’m sure there’s folk who can tell you about misericords and prebendaries and the like; I’ll just say I loved the simplicity and majesty of it,
with the odd nod to modernity;
Not many visitors at midday; presume they were all on the bouncy castles in the castle grounds.
Well worth a diversion from Rochester’s pubs, even if the Boxley Crozier turns out NOT to be a forerunner of the current GBG.
Right, surely that micro is open now…
retiredmartin 
How many are in this top 15?
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27.
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That’s over half of them!
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I completed my reading of the works of Charles Dickens last year with his final, unfinished, novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which is set in Rochester Cathedral and its environs. It captures the atmosphere of the place very well.
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I think that’s the only one I haven’t read, Matthew. Worth the effort ? I struggled with the books written after the train accident.
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Yes, I think so. As I say, it really captures the atmosphere of Rochester and the North Kent coast. Wasn’t too keen on the BBC adaptation of it though.
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I have the complete works of Dickens as published by Odhams and bought by my grandfather over ninety years ago from an offer in the Daily Herald, a proper newspaper long before it became the Sun. I meant to read them but found it too hard going and haven’t really got the concentration.
I liked the BBC’s adaptations of Dickens novels, such as Oliver Twist in 1962, soon after we had a television set. There hasn’t much any good on the TV since then.
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The BBC took their job of educating the public seriously once, Paul.
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Yes, I remember when the BBC’s mission was to inform, educate and entertain.
I don’t think they do any of those three things properly now.
I wouldn’t pay the license fee if it wasn’t for Mrs TSM liking some of their programmes.
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“who opens a pub at 1pm ?”
Been coming across a fair few recently… 1.00 p.m. the new Noon? Still, it’s better than the also increasing 4.00 p.m. – three hours better.
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Yes, plenty of 1pm openers which eliminates any kind of lunch provision.
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