June 2025. Lichfield. You don’t come to Lichfield and not admire the tri-towered cathedral. Of course, it’s a city more famous for it’s micros these days, though Paul Mudge may have found the odd Proper Pub here. Another town (whatever) notably quieter than pre-2020, but pedestrianisation has helped it retain its calm charms, and we… Continue reading LICHFIELD CATHEDRAL HONOURS THE MICROPUB HOURS

June 2025. Lichfield. Unable to rest a single day in Sheffield I drove Mrs RM down to Lichfield, pausing at the National Memorial Arboretum one of Dad’s last big adventures with me before dementia. That day I took Dad to a trad pub for faggots and veg in Barton. Mrs RM gets the rather more… Continue reading A bod IN LICHFIELD

June 2025. Cambridge. Scorchio in Cambridge again, as I bravely tackle the train, the tourists and the Marks & Spencers till to buy Dad another pair of trousers and slippers. It’s the only clothes shopping I’ll do all year and it’s not for me. A reminder that Cambridge’s top architecture isn’t the colleges, it’s Lloyds… Continue reading CASK v KEG AT CAMBRIDGE BREWHOUSE

June 2025. Newcastle upon Tyne. Right, let’s finish the Big Newcastle Weekender, disappointingly early, but Mrs RM knows my limits and they weren’t as vast as Blackpool Jane and Karen, who was keen to revisit the Strawberry. This is the football pub, within sight of the vast stand where away fans risk heart attacks climbing… Continue reading HO’WAY THE LADS (AND LASSES). THE STRAWBERRY, NEWCASTLE

June 2025. Newcastle upon Tyne. Coming to the end of the Big Newcastle Weekend now, as we catch an Uber from Byker to the heart of studentland. Blackpool Karen wanted to revisit some pubs from her Uni days, and I was keen to see some central boozers outside of the football season. And I’d never… Continue reading “PLEASE : TONY WOODCOCK”.  BACK TO THE TRENT HOUSE

June 2025. Byker. An immutable rule of this blog is that it must always have 100 pubs in the Top 100 pubs. And with the unfortunate deletion of Sheffield’s Christmas Alpine Bar (it melted) it becomes imperative I fill that vacancy with all haste. And why not the Cumberland, Ouseburn’s GBG perennial, the music led… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE CUMBERLAND ARMS, BYKER, NEWCASTLE

June 2025. Byker. Newcastle. That photo from the garden of the Free Trade was a dud so here’s one from the other angle; Folk always think of Sheffield and Bristol and Wolverhampton Rock as centres of the UK microbrewing scene, but look (!), Byker has five (5) brewery taps in a 5 (five) minute walk… Continue reading PUGH, PUGH, BARNEY McGREW. BYKER’S CURIOUS BRINKBURN ST.

June 2025. Newcastle upon Tyne. Why does every trip to Newcastle end up as a never ending pub crawl ? And where was the culture? I guess, the culture is in the pubs, no more so than in the Free Trade. Blackpool Karen had been to Uni up here when Byker/Ouseburn was a no-go area,… Continue reading CRAIG DAVID REMEMBERED AT THE FREE TRADE

June 2025. Byker. Newcastle. Thanks to Pub Curmudgeon for the blog title. Only took me 3 years to use it. Usual half pint of Doom Bar, Mudgie ? Day 2 of 2 on the Great Tyne Tick, and this is where Greater Newcastle’s normally impeccable metro let us down. Stuck at Tynemouth without any sign… Continue reading BYKER TROVE