I was going to do a bumper issue to commemorate a decade of Retired Martin today, but frankly I was down the pub (Borough Beer House in Farnham, since you ask) and couldn’t be bothered. And as you’ll know I’m not one to fuss about dates or anniversaries or commemorations, but 26 July 2015 did… Continue reading 10 YEARS AND 7,387 POSTS OF RETIRED MARTIN

July 2025. Birmingham. Back from the Black Country, with an hour to kill. A walk through the Jewellery Quarter’s weird art, and then a big decision, huge. Wellington or something else ? I hadn’t been in the Colmore since it opened pre-Covid, before the international incident that saw BRAPA barred because he wasn’t a woman*.… Continue reading ALL WELCOME IN THE COLMORE

July 2025. Blackheath (or is it Old Hill ?) What a perfect Monday morning in the Black Country; scratchings, German isotonic beer, a new micro, and now a crusty cob enjoyed waiting for my GBG newbie to open. NCobSS 3.5, I reckon, the crusty exterior the highlight. Good job I succumbed to that temptation as… Continue reading BLACK COUNTRY ALES REACHES BLACKHEATH

July 2025. Blackheath. Rowley Regis. Monday morning in the Black Country, and Blackheath was looking pleasingly vibrant as I waited for my new GBG pub to open at noon. I’d noted the surprising presence of a Carluccio’s cafe, a sure sign of gentrification, and the town’s first micro had just changed from Cyder & Cobb… Continue reading THE LAST JAR, BLACKHEATH

July 2025. Blackheath. Rowley Regis. Two hours is quite a long time to be waiting for pub opening in a Black Country town that isn’t Wolverhampton; I think I managed an hour in Stourbridge once, and 20 minutes in Halesowen. So, after walking all the streets around the market, and pausing to consider a night… Continue reading PRICE BOSTIN’ BLACKHEATH

July 2025. Blackheath. Rowley Regis. Birmingham was celebrating Ozzy and the Sabbath that Monday; I was there to hand deliver some post-probate documents to Wesleyan Assurance, an astonishing edifice resembling the Kremlin Department of Health HQ in Leeds. Dealing with Mum’s estate has been a frustrating and wearying task but at least today I get… Continue reading SCRATCHING THE SURFACE OF ROWLEY REGIS

July 2025. Paull. East Yorkshire. I’m enjoying the new WordPress features showing which cities my blog views come from (the non-bot ones, anyway). Some of these places are plain made up; I do feel an obligation to visit any place I’ve not been to, especially if Blackpool Jane has beat me to it. Who or… Continue reading PAULL WITH TWO “L”s

July 2025. Patrington. East Yorkshire. Our triumphant return from Spurn (hey ! that rhymes) was tinged with reflection that this might have been our last visit to this beguiling part of the East Yorkshire coast, captured beautifully here by BRAPA. Not just because I’m fast approaching middle-age, but the prospects of new GBG entries must… Continue reading ST. PATRICK’S, PATRINGTON. THE QUEEN OF HOLDERNESS

July 2025. Spurn Head. Back in 2019 I wrote about the need for Hull CAMRA to get a move on and re-open the Dolphin, just off Spurn Head’s western edge. Six years on, no progress. Still, let’s blame COVID and Corbyn, eh ? With the threatened deluge nowhere in sight, I set off for Spurn… Continue reading The tide is high but I’m holding on (to my Spurn tick)