August 2024. Rainham. Kent. “If you didn’t use the Good Beer Guide you’d never end up in weird places like Holbeach, and Rainham, and Paisley” wrote Retired Martin on his visit to yet another GBG debutant in yet another low key Derbyshire mining village last year, and it is indeed the visits to suburbs of… Continue reading THE LONELINESS OF THE OUT-OF-DATE RAINHAM SPOONS VOUCHER

August 2024. Milstead. Sittingbourne. I love Kent, even the scuzzy north coast, there’s just so much variety of scenery and pubs. And Tuesday morning’s new GBG tick, the Milstead Red Lion, is that delightful rural pub in the middle of nowhere. metres from the M20, cherries for sale from an honesty box, 10am opening for… Continue reading 10am PINTS IN SITTINGBOURNE SUBURBS

August 2024. Headcorn. Kent. A Monday night in the Weald of Kent, then a slow slog home to Sheffield, via two (2) new GBG pubs. Riches indeed. I’d never been to Headcorn, as the Charlene No.1 goes, perhaps one of vanishingly few sizeable villages to have evaded the Beer Guide in my ticking lifetime. 3,387… Continue reading HEADCORN – LITTLE OLD ENGLAND PERSONIFIED

August 2024. Headcorn. On our way home from the in-laws we stopped for the night in the Weald of Kent Golf Club near Maidstone, which in fairness is a huge diversion but needs must, as Mrs RM never wants to spend the night in her childhood bedroom again. A bit of a surprise that a… Continue reading The 19th hole

August 2024 – Sutton Valence. Trips down south to my parents every week this year, but only a couple of visits to the in-laws, which we remedied with a day in Southborough and a meal for four from the UK’s second-best Chinese takeaway. And than an ultra-rare new GBG tick in a near fallow year… Continue reading IN THE BALANCE IN SUTTON VALENCE

August 2024. Sheffield. Another day, another new pub (re)opening in Sheffield, as the Harlequin bounces back from the departure of Liz. I’ve just read some beer folk claim the Harlequin is a bit of a slog from the Kelham Island circuit; folks, it takes six (6) minutes walk from the Fat Cat and KIT across… Continue reading (NEARLY) NEW IN SHEFFIELD – THE HARLEQUIN

August 2024. Chorley. Matt was in recovery when we arrived back at Buckshaw’s shiny hospital, an advert for health care under a US Libertarian model if ever I saw one*. The receptionist phoned the surgical team for a release time, which we judged it too tight to visit Blackpool but more than sufficient for an… Continue reading ASTLEY HALL

August 2024. Buckshaw. Chorley. An early start on Friday morning, driving Matt the short hop from our luxury Travelodge to Buckshaw Hospital for an NHS contacted out nose job under general anaesthetic. I helpfully reminded Matt there was a 99%+ chance of survival as he booked into Ramsay Health’s swish facility (free parking, WiFi, cheery… Continue reading THE GREEN MAN OF BUCKSHAW

August 2024. Chorley. Well, Greater Chorley, really. Clayton-le-Woods, really, but although that’s got a lot of pubs, or did have till recently, Wiki has nothing to say about Whittle. The most interesting feature on the 3 miles north to our hotel for the night is the Mormon Church dominating your M61 journey from Manchester to… Continue reading ” Pubs closing before 11 ? Wimps ! “

August (finally !) 2024. Chorley. Family dramas have meant a “difficult” start to August, in the same way that the lockdown of November 2020 meant a “difficult” month for pub ticking. Six trips from Sheffield to Cambridge and back, a visit to Tunbridge Wells, and a rush to Chorley to get Matthew to an early… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – MALT N HOPS, CHORLEY