June 2025. Scunthorpe. The name doesn’t help, does it ? I didn’t “complete” Scunny on Monday, so I shall be organising a return visit on a day when the Visual Arts Centre is open. Then I’ll scour the town centre for culture, then head for the suburb of Ashby with its GBG perennial and ultra-rare… Continue reading THE BERKELEY. LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT THE DOOR.
Month: June 2025
SAVING CASK, ONE £1.59 PINT OF JAIPUR AT A TIME
June 2025. Scunthorpe. I’d ticked the Scunny culture, bar waiting till midnight to see if the steelworks light up. I’d ticked the Scunny GBG pubs years ago; they never change. The almost micro Honest Lawyer, a genuine beery place a mile or two south in Ashby, an open/closed/open Sam Smiths by the football ground, and… Continue reading SAVING CASK, ONE £1.59 PINT OF JAIPUR AT A TIME
I AM SCUNTHORPE’S TOURIST
June 2025. Scunthorpe. One of these days I will spend 24 hours at home. But not today. In this endless English Summer, Sheffield is on the first train for the coast. Or at least, the train to Scunthorpe where a bus replacement service awaits. This is the first time I’ve seen “Scunthorpe” as the end… Continue reading I AM SCUNTHORPE’S TOURIST
SUNDAY NIGHT IS QUIZ NIGHT AT SHEFFIELD’S TWO & SIX
June 2025. Sheffield. By Sunday night I’d had two (2) days to recover from the excesses of That Derby, and suddenly realised I had 10,000 more steps to walk. Sunday night in a Sheffield pub, then. The city centre has been improving rapidly since Mrs RM and I arrived to gentrify the place in 2020,… Continue reading SUNDAY NIGHT IS QUIZ NIGHT AT SHEFFIELD’S TWO & SIX
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 9 – THE ALEXANDRA
May 2025. Derby. Right, even I’m bored of Derby now, and I jumped at the chance to slip away early while Life After Football looked for a pub with Jamaican tonic wine as a nightcap (at 4pm). Paul had called time, too, so I had the perfect excuse to escort him back to the station… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 9 – THE ALEXANDRA
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 8 – YE OLDE DOLPHIN
May 2025, Derby. Well the itinerary had gone to pot, but our #PubManHeroes from Leicester, Frome, Sheffield (x 2), Stafford and Worcester (x 2) were at least walking in a straight line, reminiscent of a scene from the Wicker Man. But where was our leader ? Life After Football presumably checking out Bunk and Brooklyn’s… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 8 – YE OLDE DOLPHIN
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 7 – THE WOODLARK
May 2025 Derby. And so, to a (third) unscheduled stop on our Derby crawl, and my own highlight of any Derby trip. The Woodlark isn’t a Guide regular, I only discovered it in 2018, but it’s where you’ll want to go to see what pubs were like 40 years ago, an era of Football Specials,… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 7 – THE WOODLARK
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 6 – THE MAYPOLE
May 2025. Derby. Well, where to start ? Life After Football had curated a top quality pub crawl, all your old Derby favourites on a circulat route minimising walking. But I’d reckoned you couldn’t skip the Woodlark, in and out of the Guide after I described it as “perfect”, a pub performing the same function… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 6 – THE MAYPOLE
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 5 – THE FIVE LAMPS
May 2025. Derby. Pub No. 4 for most of our Magnificent Seven, or was it Eight ?, but a 5th for Will and I as we tracked Stafford Paul down to the sprawling but still cosy Five Lamps. Paul should know that social media disapproves of this new “trend” of solo drinking, so fortunately we… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 5 – THE FIVE LAMPS
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 4 – FURNACE
May 2025. Derby. I’d already dragged Will off the approved route, but with barely 15 minutes in the Exeter we felt confident that a sprint to the backstreet Furnace would allow us to catch up with reprimand and suspension of Old Codger privileges. But the sight of Stafford Paul sprinting towards the Five Lamps suggested… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 4 – FURNACE
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