TICKING THE TICKERS

July 2023. Sheffield.

When you’ve ticked all the pubs, thoughts naturally turn to ticking the other folk engaged in this most noble of callings.

You’ll remember the first annual tickers conference in Chesterfield. Well, if you do, you’re doing better than us.

Some tickers are aiming for GBG completion, some to do all the heritage pubs, or Spoons, or Doom Bar outlets. Blackpool Jane has just completed the Manchester Guide, and will no doubt now turn her attention to Preston since it’s on the way home.

Twitter buddie Axholme Rob is, like Stafford Paul, someone who goes to a town and visits lots of pubs, which sounds kind of fun. He kindly offered to meet up in Sheffield so I could tick him (no pink pen involved).

Well, Loxley. Yes, the suburb Little Matlock/Robin Hood legend, and the Wisewood wouldn’t have been my pub of choice for a noon pint. But getting a noon pint, especially on a Monday, is tough these days, and the half hour walk along the Loxley Valley is rather unknown and gorgeous.

And it makes a change to meet people anywhere but the Blind Monkey.

You come here for the views,

and the bargain lunches on that “challenging to read” board.

I let three folk standing at the door at 11:58 go first, and then regretted it as they considered all their options. “And they’re well known for their real ales” said one, before going for Madri (or whatever).

I mentioned this before, but it’s almost impossible to make a choice from the Loxley range. There’s no jam jars (can’t believe I just wrote that). no obvious flagship beer, and the colours are meaningless.

I pick the purple one, because Prince is playing, and 4.4% seems a decent strength to start the day.

It doesn’t taste quite right.

“Excuse me, this doesn’t taste quite right“. The bloke is summoned over to sniff it, taste it, pull a couple of pints through, and give me a fresh glass to sample.

Just then Rob turns up and see me apparently having a taster, and I buy him a pint as reward for not outing me on social media. His pint was £3.30, so I definitely won there.

My Idaho was only 20p more and, now pulled through, was suddenly nectar (NBSS 3.5/4).

And this is what makes such a nonsense of forming a view of a beer based on one pint in one pub. That pint of Idaho went from a 2 to a 4 just through being pulled through.

Enough beer bore stuff. Rob was a delight to chat Liverpool pubs and Barnsley tourist attractions with and he finished his pint before I did. So I tagged along with him for a second pub of the day, as you can see..

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

9 thoughts on “TICKING THE TICKERS”

  1. “and the bargain lunches on that “challenging to read” board”. I’d rather have the extensive menu out of the way up there rather than cluttering up all the tables.
    I find beer “pulled through” without the first customer asking to no longer be common practice. And then we wonder why so many go for the “fizz”.

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      1. On Wednesday lunchtime I was asked “Is it meant to look like that ?” as the barmaid held up what looked like a fluid ounce of Three Tuns XXX with nineteen fluid ounces of Severn Trent. She then had no idea how many pints of water would be in the line and asked me a couple of times if it looked right as if it was a local beer I’m familiar with. That’s no criticising of her as she was doing her best. What’s needed is training but that takes time and costs money so rarely happens. And then we wonder why people drink at home.

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      2. As I often say “It’s not my job to make sure their beer”. And yes, my sympathy is with the staff.

        Of course, when breweries owned their pubs their was a mutual incentive to make sure beer was served as the brewery intended.

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      3. No, what’s needed is for the licensee to check each beer line and each beer for taste and appearance just before the pub opens. Bur that would take time and so doesn’t happen in far too many pubs. And then we again wonder why so many people drink at home.

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      4. I’m amazed how much good beer I do drink, given how often I’m first in, Paul.

        You’ll not be surprised my pint of Golden Glow in the Great Western at 6pm on Tuesday was nectar !

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      6. Yes I thought of phoning you but I wasn’t sure if my final pint was going to be in the Great Western or the new Pirton micro or the New street craft bar till the last minute.

        I think you need a Proper Day Out in Wolves rather than a snatched pint.

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      7. Yes, I well realise your schedules are so hectic that I’d have little chance of keeping up with you.
        My visits to the Great Western are rarely for less than three pints.

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