retiredmartin

January 2026. Waterbeach.

It takes great resolve to take the train to Bradford and only have one pint; no-one ever completed the GBG like that.

But the Crown out on the western suburbs was the totality of my toping that Monday, partly because I was doing The Culture.

A £2 bus (only 6 minutes late) out from the Interchange, and a 3 mile walk back downhill for some cultural observation, mainly of Pakistani grills,

kitchenware (top), and a rubbish collection problem that scars the whole of Great Horton Road.

An unfussy, traditional, suburban Greene King pub, exactly the sort of pub folk used to tell you would never get in the GBG with all that micro competition,

but now they do, because beer quality beats pump count. Told ya.

Absolutely nothing here says “Good Beer Guide” apart from the CAMRA voucher sign, and the presence of Rocking Rudolph in the last week of January,

coupled with Tetley in a Guinness glass are major warning signs.

But it’s brilliant, honest. Cool and chewy, an easy NBSS 4, and only £3.60; the best Tetley since the last best Tetley since it left Leeds.

If there’s any food trade it’s modest, the bustling (aka loud) atmosphere comes more from darts than the TV showing the Under-19 cricket (a win for America !), and a soundtrack from Now That’s What I Call Music 1987 runs from Whitney to Johnny.

Who else thinks that bloke on the right looks like a young Barack Obama ?

Anyway, lacings never lie Part 437.

It was a drab walk back,

enlivend only by the sight of a car even older than my beloved Aygo.

But while it may not be cuddly, Bradford does have curry…