TAKE THE FIRST TRAIN TO MILFORD HAVEN

July 2026. Heading towards Wales.

Regular readers will know that “family issues” have conspired to keep our travels to a circuit between Sheffield, Cambridge and Tunbridge Wells these last few years, with a few interludes in the Balkans and along the Leeds- Liverpool canal to break the monotony.

On Thursday I broke the shackles and headed west for the first time since Wem.

A half hour between trains in the jolly cafe outside Stockport station;

Sadly, Bask is not a cask Bass shrine, but the coffee is good.

Ah, a train heading for Milford Haven; reminds me of that weekend in Pembroke Dock.

There’s a real novelty about being on a train with announcements in a foreign language, even more so a carriage with actual spare seats to sit on.

You’ll have guessed that I’m not heading for the land of the red dragon, but rather the town of white cheese, canal boat hire and two new GBG ticks. A first visit to Whitchurch (Shropshire) in a decade, just long enough to forget anything I ever knew about it. Including just how close it is to the Welsh border (I could have walked across it but forgot my passport).

It feels bigger than you expect, a surprise there’s only 10,141 souls here, but that;’s border market towns for you. A couple of dozen pubs and clubs before a spate of closures,

but does it feel the genteel place I remember from a quarter century ago ?

Your first of faded pub memorabilia comes at the Railway Hotel (RIP),

whose Greenalls signage is fading fast.

No Greenalls, so whose beer are we going to find on the Whitchurch pub crawl in 2026 ?

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

28 thoughts on “TAKE THE FIRST TRAIN TO MILFORD HAVEN”

  1. I’ve a feeling that one or two of your readers might want a word about Welsh being described as a “foreign” language. Especially as it – or something very much like it – was once spoken all over this island as far north as the Forth and Clyde – Yr Hen Ogledd.

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      3. Agreed, although the only time someone’s yelled “Speak English!” at me was not on English public transport, but on a Cardiff bus, somewhat ironically on the night Wales qualified for the 2016 Euros (but also close to Brexit vote).

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      5. I like BRAPA’s blog a lot, but to comment you have to set up an account or something. Well you did last time I looked. I think.

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      6. And it’s foreign when I’ve heard it on a train running only between Crewe and Chester.
        And also on arriving at Euston at 10.35am last Friday, that being a service originating in Holyhead for getting me towards Bath via the Victoria in Paddington.

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    2. With so many Welsh place names, or names derived from Welsh in Shropshire and Herefordshire (Ludlow, Ross on Wye etc) TfW is our Trojan horse, reclaiming our lost lands one station and train announcement at a time.

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    1. I would be lovely to meet for a pint. My daughter might be playing football up in Aberdare until noon, so pre match might be a squeeze. I hope you’re using the municipal campervan park by Sophia Gardens and making a week of it, and not dashing off!

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      3. I haven’t looked at options yet. Either campervan or train, in which case I’d be stay the Sunday night in Cardiff or Newport. Still need to visit Weird Dad !

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      4. Weird Dad is a must, of course. Unless Etu has curated a Cardiff list of classic pubs (Spoiler: there aren’t many), there’s a new bar in Victoria Park (posh Canton) called Pig and Swill, which occasionally has a cask on, but always a decent keg range and fancy small plates. Not a place for solo drinkers I imagine, so I went for first time last week with my wife, and then we went on to nearby keg-only Flowerhorn brewery, again a place best visited with company I would suggest. Neither are places i’d make a real effort to visit unless you’re very keen for new ticks (but I live nearby, and my wife prefers these sorts to proper pubs nowadays).

        Man City probably hadn’t reached their dominance when the big English club games were last held at Stadiwm y Mileniwm, but travelling eastwards post match/concert with 70,000 others is an absolute nightmare, particularly on a Sunday – I’ve not had to do it myself, but I’ve seen the elaborate queuing system in place outside the station, so worth considering when planning I’d say.

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      5. Having warned you of the folly of travelling eastwards from Cardiff after a big game, I’m now about to travel there from other direction, probably sharing a train with non-legacy Man City fans (ugh) from Shrewsbury. If I can’t cope, I’m going to hop off in Newport to see annual pre-season hopes crushed at Rodney Parade and to warn Weird Dad to have at least one 8%+ unsensible keg on, just in case (they normally do though).

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      6. We’re staying in Newport tonight, hope to finally visit Weird Dad and Alexandra tonight.

        Then a couple of nights in Cardiff Zip hotel so won’t need to rush anywhere after match. My only target Cardiff is the Railway Hotel in Penarth.

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      7. Nice. I probably won’t linger too long in Newport today – my adoring family won’t have seen me for 48 hours. I’m now free’er tomorrow as my daughter’s game is off, although evening drink is less drowned on than afternoon, if you’re happy to meet. Can you extract my email from the comments to exchange numbers, or just post here if you’re excerising caution for once in your life!

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      9. A fresh cask of WD’s own Camera Man pale has just gone on, so do ask for a taster of that before ordering a pint of the crazy shit off the keg wall.

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      13. No, Rhys, there are few agreed, but I was pleasantly surprised by The Claude in Roath a couple of weeks back.

        If Martin stayed there then there’s the Cricketers on hand, which seems OK in its latest manifestation. The rebadged VoG – I assume – house beer’s jolly good.

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      14. Ah, the Claude. Although my ‘lodgings’ when I first moved down to Cardiff 26 years was closer to Royal Oak, New Dock and the Bertram (RIP the last two*), the Claude was my local back then. I went back recently, (checks notes, it was 2023!) and GK IPA and Landlord were on cask. I should definitely revisit the Royal Oak sometime as it’s the only survivor in that area.
        *just been googling the New Dock and the Bertram for inside pictures and rediscovered the brilliant sharp-tongued writings of Dic Mortimer, which mentions the two in part 5 (out of currently 17) of his Pubocalypse series.
        https://dicmortimer.com/2016/01/31/pubocalypse-5/
        https://dicmortimer.com/category/cardiff/pubocalypse/

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