September 2025. Stockport.
We met Blackpool Jane at Piccadilly and headed for Stockport, after dashing back down to the metro to tap out. Why do all forms of public transport have different rules on tickets tapping ?
Plans to finally try curry at the Pyramid had been scaled back on the realisation that none of us could manage a thirty (30 !) quid buffet, and that the venerable Last Monsoon would do fine, thank you.
Closer to the Crown on Heaton Lane, too.
Just re-opened by those nice Petersgate Tap folk, a chance to sell their immaculate cask in a trad setting.
“By eck, it’s gorgeous !”
Someone should use that line to promote their beer.
Yes, the Crown has reopened with Bass, and Boddies, and Oregon Trail.
I challenge you to choose between those three.
Mrs RM and Jane, who never do what they’re supposed to, went round the corner and spied something called “Attack the Choc” and all hope was lost.
My phone tells me we spent 82 minutes in the Crown, an unheard of time for a pub stay.
So you can assume the bench seating was comfy, the beer good,
and the snackage impressive.
But you can’t see that the team there were all really friendly, and that’s the truth. A triumph.
The Boddies was OK, but I was really here for the 🔺.
Which started off good, but by the 3rd pint was reaching Bass Top 10 levels.
And if 3 pints of Bass sounds a bad idea, right, you’d be right.
So we skipped the Olde Vic and headed straight to Last Monsoon for superior dhansak and pickle trays.
They didn’t give us free Bailey’s at the end. Just as well.
retiredmartin 
I know it’s all about being northern there but proper Bass is still from Burton not a fictional Shamlesbury in Lancashire.
I think my most recent three pints of Bass was three months ago with ninety minutes in the wonderful Vine at Pitshill, a cert for the 2027 GBG.
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Cask bass is brewed at Marston’s.
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Indeed, “proper Bass is still from Burton”
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A long blog post, who’d have thunk it!
You’ll be talking about barmcakes next, rather than silly cobs, rolls, or buns.
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Bass. Then Boddingtons. Now Donnington.
Yes, Cotswold Gold in a pub not ten miles away this afternoon, the first Donnington beer I can remember in Staffordshire since we fetched a couple of casks for a beer festival fifty years ago.
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Are you trying to tempt Martin to visit?
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The Last Monsoon is very good!!
Dick
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“Why do all forms of public transport have different rules on tickets tapping ?”
I never found that when flying.
(technically flying is public transport, unless it’s a charter or private jet) 😉
“Plans to finally try curry at the Pyramid had been scaled back on the realisation that none of us could manage a thirty (30 !) quid buffet”
Oof. Quite agree!
“a chance to sell their immaculate cask in a trad setting.”
(looks down)
Yep, trad indeed.
“Someone should use that line to promote their beer.”
Heh. 😊
“I challenge you to choose between those three.”
Pfft, easy! Bass obvs, if only for the price. 😁
“Mrs RM and Jane, who never do what they’re supposed to”
Does any woman? (ducks!)
“and the snackage impressive.”
(looks down)
The only time ‘warm crackling’ should be used is in front of ‘fire’; at Christmas.
“And if 3 pints of Bass sounds a bad idea, right, you’d be right.”
Partly because they were crammed into 82 (or less) minutes. I find when I’m chatting to my brother, sister, or ex-military buddy each week, my usual intake is about 12oz per half hour. So, ya, 60 ounces in 80 minutes would be almost double what I partake of.
“They didn’t give us free Bailey’s at the end. Just as well.”
Egad, quite agree! Cream-based liqueurs and that much beer do NOT go well together.
Cheers
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Tapping on and off planes. That’s the future.
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Just as long as it’s not tap ‘dancing’ on and off the bloody things!
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