retiredmartin

September 2026. Grantham.

A few new Beer Guide entries to break up the interminable slog up and down the A1, and a characteristically eclectic bag of Lincolnshire debutants in GBG27.

The one place I didn’t expect a newbie is Grantham, a town I thought I’d done to death over the years, even stayed over in the campervan a couple of nights to cover all options.

Never mind, it’s been a while since I’d taken a look away from the statues of the milk snatcher and that bloke who invented gravity, and admired the market place.

Note an early form of recycling tray at the foot of the conduit.

My notes say “Is Grantham a blousy Burslem ?“.

Bit of a scary approach to the station entrance.

You don’t even need to leave the station to tick the Whistle Stop,

a micropub that had managed to escape the attention of local CAMRA since opening pre-COVID.

Don’t expect Sheffield Tap style luxury, it’s more Stoke bod,

but there’s comfy bench seating (of a sort), and a TV screen with train times so you don’t miss your connection to Skegness.

The Whistle Stop’s inability to make the Guide looks even more bizarre given its support for local microbreweries, including that one from Diddly Squat Farm.

A pint and a very decent pasty (” A “Cornish” pasty ?” I’m asked, by way of clarification) for £7.25, that’s better value than the railway chains,

but it’s an oddly soulless place, and the house blonde could have been crisper.

Never going to replace that chaotic Spoons in my South Kesteven affections.