retiredmartin

September 2024. Driffield, Bridlington, Filey.

Armed with our “Southworth Groupies on tour ’24” T-shirts Mrs RM and I set off to the east coast towards Filey.

Friendly Filey doesn’t welcome campervans, unless they pay £30 a night to stay on a patch of grass a mile from town, so we parked up in Delightful Driffield, who merely ask a donation to camp by the canal.

A train change in Bridlington gave me hope of ticking new entry the Brunswick, but Mrs RM cruelly decided that 19 minutes was insufficient to walk the 0.8 miles there and back AND neck a pint;

so instead we admired the gorgeous Barrow Boy of Bridlington statue and wondered when the Station Buffet would re-open as the Brid Tap.

Another feature is that century old mosaic showing the rail network from a time when Tyne and Wear had zero (0) micro pubs.

20 minutes later we’re in Filey (6,981), along with 3,200 school children, for the first time in seven years.

Our Sheffield neighbours head there regularly, Richard Coldwell raved about it, and the Southworths seem to have bought into the place, but Filey’s not a town you warm to immediately on leaving the station.

Very much a Felixstowe rather than a Southwold if you’re doing Suffolk seaside analogies.

But that’s OK with me, I’ve never been a Southwold stan.

And the thing that hits you about Guide newbie the Station is the friendliness of the welcome,

the Guvnor checking we know that food service has stopped before we waste 10 steps to the bar.

Love these 2024 ultra-modern beer ranges.

I ask for mild and a Pride, and get mild and Blonde in Pride glasses.

Four simple and unfussy rooms, a good mix of bench seating and squidgy chairs, we take a table with a reservation for “Bingo” in 3 hours time. “Bingo” was a popular boys name in the ’50s, along with Bunty and Bungo.

Two Old Boys talk passionately about Websters Yorkshire Bitter, Dave quizzes me on the merits of the Rudgate Mild.

“3.5” I say, stridently.

But in truth, it fades a bit towards the end, and Mrs RM’s Blonde would have been a better bet. But no worries, we’re here to chat US politics (a very dull topic), rather than to see if the Pride’s drinking well.

Still, when the Big Question gets asked.

“Shall we stay here for another ?”

The answer is negative.