retiredmartin

January 2026. South Blackpool.

Another 20 minutes wait for a tram at Blackpool Tower (I’m not making this up); I’d have walked the mile to the Tipsy Seagull quicker. Not only were we meeting Blackpool Jane, in actual Blackpool, we were joining her in the shadow of Bloomfield Road for craft beer and curry.

South of town you get some of the best examples of “Look up !“, attractive buildings ruined by garish frontages,

though you get the thrill of an outpost of a closed Ma Kelly’s (no, never been),

and a complete mystery of a micro.

Bit of a cask desert round here with the closure of Shickers. This is local CAMRA committee going incognito at the nearest real ale pub;

the Sun scoring well for snuff, apparently.

So the Tipsy Seagull fills a gap in the market,

Friendly, perhaps a bit too cosy for Mrs RM, who joined Jane on Theakston’s non-alcholic Nowt Peculier, while I skipped the cask in favour of a Baby Faced Assassin.

Mind the obligatory neighbourhood micropub dog.

Look, I was long gone. But at least I didn’t have a half litre of Old Peculiar with the beer taken out.

A preemptive cert, even though I didn’t actually drink the cask. Just as certain is that those Southworths would have loved the curry across the road at Desi Lounge,

whose staff curry was rich and chewy, but in a good way.

As you can see, the photography had gone to pot by then. Thanks to Jane for the company and Lee for the lift back to St Annes.