
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.
I didn’t know that Indian food objected so strongly to being photographed.
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It’s very shy.
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Noticed that they had Dortmunder Union Pils on tap. I checked that in on Untappd with the comment “The kind of beer that would gift Bayern Munich the title on the final day of the Bundesliga season.” And suddenly 2023 seems like a lifetime ago.
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Dortmunder Union is incredibly common in the sort of small place often called a micro but more a community bar without the dominant cask sales we saw in the early micropubs.
“The kind of beer that would gift Bayern Munich the title on the final day of the Bundesliga season” is an all-time classic insult. I may steal it.
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Thank you for an excuse to have another look at Kane, Muller and co decked out in lederhosen and looking a bit awkward (well not Muller, surprisingly) in Paulaner promo pics. I can’t imagine EPL club players doing this for Carling or Batham’s nowadays.
https://talksport.com/football/1548877/harry-kane-lederhosen-beer-thomas-muller-alphonso-davies/
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‘arry Kane was a figure of fun on this blog for a while but I’ll admit I was wrong. Great player, and looks great in lederhosen. If only the Bayern team was required to drink 2 litres before every game to give other teams a chance.
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As a past chair of Blackpool, Fylde & Wyre CAMRA, I object to your alleged photo of the Committee. Our compulsory dress code for meeting and events is tangerine mankinis, unless you are from Fleetwood when socks are also allowed.
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Sorry, public space, public duty to report and all that.
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I thought that was a photo of Blackpool F.C. celebrating promotion to the Premier League.
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I lived in Blackpool in the early 80s when world cup winner Alan Ball was the manager of Blackpool FC and his dad Alan Ball Sr, who had also been a manager, helped him out.
You’d see them around the town on the piss together.
I remember once my car , an MGBGT, broke down in Lytham St Annes on the seafront and a passing Volvo stopped to help out. It was the two Alan’s. They gave me a tow to the local garage.
How could anyone ever forget being dragged down the road by the Balls ?
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Alan Ball, Manchester City legend.
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What IS up with those trams? Staff shortage maybe.
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They’re new ones now Lana, not the proper old ones.
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Y’know, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a curry menu without vindaloo on it. Bloody Northern softies 🙂
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It’s on their takeaway menu along with Uncle Saroj’s Hottest Curry which they describe as “our spiciest dish yet!”
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At proper curry houses – in the East Midlands e.g. Leicester – vindaloo didn’t used to be the hottest. Ceylon was hotter, and phall the hottest. (In fact I think that madras might have been hotter than vindaloo.)
Is that still so?
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Yes Etu, it’s the Midlands where it all happens, hence Birmingham inventing the Balti for those who don’t like it too hot.
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Shhh. Brummies think it was invented in the mystical land of Baltistan.
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Do love a phall, although a lot of places don’t have it on the menu these days. There used to be a takeaway near here which did a tikka masala but with phall heat. It was incredible!
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“Indian” (often Bangladeshis) restaurants have changed a lot this century, we tend to use South Asian places these days.
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Phal(l) was always the hottest. I remember the finance guys in Stevenage always having chicken phal in the Old Town curry house and the head in the curry moment at the end.
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No phal, either.
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Where is Jane these days, not seen a new blog in months?
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Taking a break to concentrate on studies, hopefully not for too long. She was on very good form.
I miss her blog a lot. It’s harder than Jane makes it look to keep a blog going.
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Yes she always paints an excellent picture. Glad she is doing well
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