March 2024. Derby. I didn’t feel my usual bouncy Retired Martin self after that night in Cambridge; something in the beer I reckon, so I made Saturday a “Pub-free day” for cultural exploration with Mrs RM. I guess Derby wasn’t the best place to taste my resilience, all that Bass and Pedi, but sometimes you… Continue reading CULTURAL DERBY. WITHOUT THE BASS.
Month: March 2024
CELLAR TEMPERATURE IN ALEX
February 2024. Cambridge. Pub number 4 (of 2) on a dreich night in Cambridge just off the normal King Street run. The Alexandra is, along with the Geldart, a more recent of the city’s GBG perennials, one of the best Greene King pubs in the area, though the beer range gives none of that heritage… Continue reading CELLAR TEMPERATURE IN ALEX
BLUE MOON, AND AN EXPRESSION OF THE PROBLEM OF INFINITE REGRESS
February 2024. Cambridge. OK, “a couple” in Cambridge was about to turn into four, but it was Will’s fault, and besides I don’t “do” Cambridge enough. Four very different pubs in suburban Cambridge in half a mile on a lovely evening amidst the council housing and foliage and suspicious looking tape shops closed since I… Continue reading BLUE MOON, AND AN EXPRESSION OF THE PROBLEM OF INFINITE REGRESS
A LOAD OF DOBBLERS
Just for Kentish Paul, your Pelican of the Day; February 2024. Cambridge. Pub 2 of “Just a couple with Will in Cambridge” and a real wander into the backstreets towards Newmarket Road, well away from the post-graduate Mill Road set to a real (and increasingly rare) survivor. The backstreet boozer, the community pub with big… Continue reading A LOAD OF DOBBLERS
“Meet you at the Geldart”
February 2024. Cambridge. Unwisely, but I’m not sure on whose part, I agreed to meet Will in Cambridge “just for a couple”. How did I/he not learn our lesson from Leeds ? This is Will’s future exhibit in the Museum of Pubbing. Ooh, quite a lot there, Will. We said we’d meet at 5 just… Continue reading “Meet you at the Geldart”
LAST 5 STANDING. No. 1 – THE QUEEN’S HEAD, NEWTON
February 2024. Newton. Cambridgeshire. It looks like this; The Good Beer Guide is 51 editions old, and in many way I reckon it’s one of the very best (though the omission of those Dutch pubs from the ’80s is a shame). More basic one beer boozers than I can remember, an iconic cover, and genuinely… Continue reading LAST 5 STANDING. No. 1 – THE QUEEN’S HEAD, NEWTON
ALDER – THE (KEG) BASS HAS GONE, THE THRILL REMAINS
February 2024. Sheffield. It’s Sheffield Beer Week, in the self-proclaimed “real ale capital of the world“. Judging a city on the number of breweries and different beers produced is plain daft, and I’d be the first person to tell you that Sheffield does beer quality and Proper Pubs better than anyone else. But number of… Continue reading ALDER – THE (KEG) BASS HAS GONE, THE THRILL REMAINS
LEEDS BEER SCORES SPECIAL
February 2024. Leeds Pub Crawl. You left me in Whitelock’s, admiring the furnishings, and forcing a second half of Old Peculier on our group. Yes, a real of Gang of Four, at home like a pub tourist as the song goes. Oooh, a pint to finish, excellent work, and great company from Andy and Caroline… Continue reading LEEDS BEER SCORES SPECIAL
GREAT PUBS REVISITED No. 8 – WHITELOCK’S, LEEDS
February 2024. Leeds Pub Crawl. Nearly there now. Our gang of four* pub tourists were due to meet up again in the most famous Leeds’s most famous pub, if we could find it after six pints. Bing Maps can’t provide a route to Whitelock’s, tucked away down Turks Head Yard, and Will has asked me,… Continue reading GREAT PUBS REVISITED No. 8 – WHITELOCK’S, LEEDS
NO BASS TODAY, BUT THE PALACE JOINS LEEDS PUB ROYALTY
February 2024. Leeds Pub Crawl. Just a half in the Duck and Drake, very sensible now (too late, too late) as Will and I made a penultimate stop on our curated exploration of heritage hostelries. Down behind the Minster, sits the Palace, no longer a GBG regular since the days when I popped in here… Continue reading NO BASS TODAY, BUT THE PALACE JOINS LEEDS PUB ROYALTY
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