December 2024. Manchester. Back to Shudehill, after another interminable wait outside Middleton Spoons where I compared bus notes with a wizened lady from Blackley with seventeen grandchildren. She was probably 40. I had so many questions, none about Blackley pubs. The hardest question for Mancunians to answer is “How do we get to This &… Continue reading RICE AND THREE
Month: December 2024
THE BUS TO HARBORD HARBORD
December 2024. Middleton. The train to Leeds on Saturday afternoon had been so empty that the driver was able to walk around collecting old coffee cups, put the Christmas decorations up and invite a 9 year old lad we’ll call Tom to join him in his cab to press buttons. “This is probably one of… Continue reading THE BUS TO HARBORD HARBORD
BANTAMS IN BRADFORD’S RECORD CAFE
December 2024. Bradford. After a new Bratfud tick and an old classic, surely it’s time for a curry ? The route back into town from the Fighting Cock is an urban classic. That art installation, prepared for the UK City of Culture bid, is entitled “Tyres“. Now, you won’t believe this, but my chosen curry… Continue reading BANTAMS IN BRADFORD’S RECORD CAFE
LACINGS IN THE FIGHTING COCK
December 2024. Bradford. 3pm and I’d ticked Bradford’s Guide debutant and was too early/late for culture, which in Bratfud means curry and the cinema centre. I really ought to have caught the first train back to Leeds and then a bus north to tick Meanwood’s brewery tap. But that’s so 2022. In 2024 I’d want… Continue reading LACINGS IN THE FIGHTING COCK
WELCOME BACK TO THE LORD CLYDE, BRADFORD
December 2024. Bradford. Back in Sheffield for a couple of days respite, a man’s thoughts turn to ticking in distant lands. Well, they do until they see a procession (?) of delayed of the Northern trains that would take me any distance, and I cut my losses and just head to Bradford via a virtually… Continue reading WELCOME BACK TO THE LORD CLYDE, BRADFORD
MINING CASK GOLD IN HUTHWAITE
December 2024. Huthwaite. Notts. This year’s Beer Guide has been packed with uncompromising new entries in unsung parts of the UK. Yes, I like “uncompromising” as a description of villages like Huthwaite (famous son : Lee Anderson MP) in the broken heart of Notts mining land. Unless you live there, or get horribly lost, the… Continue reading MINING CASK GOLD IN HUTHWAITE
RIGHT BEER, WRONG GLASS. BASS IN GLENFIELD
December 2024. Glenfield. Leicester. Glenfield ? I asked ChatGPT what this village is famous for. You can trust ChatGPT. ChatGPT itself told me that. I’d been in town once before, an obviously forgettable visit to the Forge, a “Beautiful Pubs” house famed for its campaign to “bring back jugs”, possibly a call to reinstate Gary… Continue reading RIGHT BEER, WRONG GLASS. BASS IN GLENFIELD
(OVER)DUE A DEUCHARS. THE SIX BELLS, COVENT GARDEN, CAMBRIDGE
December 2024. Cambridge. Yes, another Covent Garden, this one tucked away between Fenners and the GBG pubs off Mill Road. Keep walking past the Six Bells and you’ll end up at that pub CAMRA used to run and the Live & Let Live, so why would a plain looking backstreet Greene King pub detain you… Continue reading (OVER)DUE A DEUCHARS. THE SIX BELLS, COVENT GARDEN, CAMBRIDGE
MORE UNSUNG CAMBRIDGE PUBS – THE TRAM DEPOT
December 2024. Cambridge. “Never forget where you’ve come here from” sang Take That in their plodding 1995 hit, shortly before forgetting where the band’s talent lay and letting Robbie Williams leave for Burslem on a free transfer. I come from Cambridge, of course, and circumstances have conspired to keep me in Cambridge rather longer than… Continue reading MORE UNSUNG CAMBRIDGE PUBS – THE TRAM DEPOT
WELL, THE CROWN HAS GOT GUINNESS
December 2024. Rye. Yes, Rye does have another pre-noon opener for the desperate adventurous pub man, though you might not even notice The Crown if not for the twin flags, promise of Sky Sports, and window sticker advertising Old Speckled Hen. OK, it’s not Rother Valley or even Harvey’s, but if you can only justify… Continue reading WELL, THE CROWN HAS GOT GUINNESS
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