retiredmartin

March 2025. Ripon.

It’s not every pub that gets in my prized Top 100, you know.

In truth, parked up in Ripon there wasn’t much enthusiasm for a “curated exploration of local taverns”, or whatever we’re suppose to call pub crawls in 202.

And GBG regular the Royal Oak had that “meh” Tim Taylor look about it. At £2.40 to park the campervan overnight I might revisit next time.

Instead, Mrs RM headed through the market square to Booths.

She’d been having an energetic debate with ChatGPT, her new best friend, about the relative merits of that Spanish tapas place compared to a Booths picnic, and ended up with a shopping bag of Rioja, cheese and salami that might actually have cost more than dining in comfort.

“Rate my Booths” Mrs RM asks her phone.

“Oooh, exciting !” said ChatGPT, who I suspect is actually a 29 year old called Derek in an office in Bracknell.

Time for one more pub, but not this one;

let’s head down Ripon’s quirkiest lane,

to a boozer I see in my notes I compared to Cambridge’s Live and Let Live, or perhaps, Stockport’s Old Vic.

I mean, GBG perennial the One Eyed Rat isn’t an architectural gem,

but it carries off “bustling but cosy” effortlessly.

Yes, it’s 5pm, the Golden Hour, and it’s packed.

It’s so famous they’re selling their own branded bucket hats for a tenner;

I stick to White Rat and an Anarchy on keg. The landlord pulls the Anarchy on cask.

“Oh sorry, you asked for the Flat Out IPA, didn’t you ?“.

“No problem, that one’s fine“.

“That’s good I was trying to get rid of this one“.

I can’t imagine an American barman saying that.

You’ll judge that White Rat for yourself. Superb presentation, perhaps lacking that last bit of crispness (NBSS 3+).

An NPSS 5 of a pub, though.

The sort you feel daft leaving, even with the prospect of drinking Rioja out of a plastic mug 2 minutes away.