April 2026. Loftus. North Yorkshire.
As an old Cleveland mining town with a population about the size of Waterbeach, Loftus didn’t promise much more than a couple of cheery micropubs, and the run of boarded up shops and chippies where the A174 meets the old station road is grim.
But walk east up the hill from Mad Alice and you’re in a different world.
It’s like starting a walk in Peterlee and suddenly finding yourself in Sedgefield, to pick two contrasting Durham towns.
Smart residences,
a pretty church on a hill,
and a run of graceful pubs.
Sadly the Golden Lion,
White Horse,
and the residential Arlington are long-term closed, but with micros, beach and mining museums I could see Loftus as a left-field tourist definition.
The Chinese takeaway is good enough,
and the Station hotel is, well, plain weird
retiredmartin 
That’s classic. He’s everywhere. Maybe we can ignore him into obscurity.
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I’d been to the Station in 2019 in its short lived Beer Guide stay, remarkably shabby. Had average Bass on for £2.50 a pint. Needs a revisit.
I’m determined to make Loftus a tourist hot spot but may need Mrs RM help.
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Is the Station Hotel trying to attract American visitors and aren’t the hands too big.
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No and yes !
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At the moment you’re driving away 61% of Americans. Put up a Carney statue to pull people.
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On the back of a cartoon coaster
In the blue TV screen light
I drew a map of Canada
Oh Canada
With (Carney’s) face sketched on it twice…
Apologies to Joni Mitchell
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By an extraordinary (?) coincidence I read this with “Oh Canada” playing.
Different song by Nadia Reid, who I saw sing on Saturday.
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Blog titles that go hard. Could this be the first in a series that obliquely references Englishmen who have played for AC Milan?
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Must be loads of Hateleys.
And of course, the hamlet of Fikayo Tomori in Digbeth has a new Black Country pub.
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