September 2024. St Albans. Three (3) campervan overnighters in St Albans already this year, and I still haven’t revisited the Lower Red Lion or the Six Bells. Or even the Fighting Cocks. Because they’re virtually all closed by 11, as I arrive back at the City station from St Pancras on a carriage full of… Continue reading LAST ORDERS IN ST ALBANS

September 2024. London. Blimey. A weekday gig ending dead on 10pm, in London as well. Julia Jacklin’s timely finish at the Lyric, with no rockist encore (hurrah !) meant emerging on to Shaftesbury Avenue with the possibility of a late pint in Soho before my 10:30 train. Well, there might be craft (and “dancing“) in… Continue reading A LATE PINT IN THE LYRIC

September 2024. London. A Beer Guide tick, Sweet and Sour Pork, and the greatest living Australian playing live in the West End. Now that’s a great Monday night out in London. A week earlier Julia had been the surprise noon act at End of the Road, a performance we’d missed due to (checks notes) having… Continue reading JULIA JACKLIN IN THE WEST END

September 2024. London. It’s arrived ! (2 days after BRAPA’s copy, but York always gets treated better than Sheffield). Two years after The Great Completion, two years of abject failure to attempt to do a Britney, and repeat the feat. But family comes before ticking, and of course, as Sade sang about finishing the Guide,… Continue reading WONG KEI

September 2024. Edmonton. London. GBG arrived 🥳. Just when I was losing hope for today. Scared the poor Yodel lady by running down my steps to meet her halfway. Let the cross ticking commence. See you on 26/9/24. #BetterThanChristmasDay pic.twitter.com/QhFVFkTn1d — Si BRAPA Everitt (@StymieSi) September 14, 2024 The new GBG (25) is in the… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE RISING SUN, EDMONTON

September 2024. Manchester. The first week after the end of Summer brings gigs from an American, a Canadian and an Australian, which is a joke you don’t want to hear. 4 days after Anastasia Coope I’m straight back to Manchester for another heroine AND another tick in the Matthew Curtis Manc Guide, which is actually… Continue reading ALL THE PUBS IN THE MANCHESTER BEER BOOK – DAY AND NIGHT

September 2024. Sheffield. I’d got my need for a bit of urban exploration out of my system in Mosborough and only 4 hours after saying “Shall we go out ?” Mrs RM was ready to join me in town. “Meet you at Leah’s Yard at 3:30” I text, completely forgetting I’ll be relying on a… Continue reading ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER NEW PUB FOR SHEFFIELD. HOP HIDEOUT, LEAH’S YARD.

September 2024. Mosborough. Sheffield. As a podgy schoolboy version of Retired Martin I actually stayed at a Suffolk caravan site called “Cakes and Ale” in the late ’70s, on the old RAF Leiston site a couple of miles from Sizewell B, a childhood that may explain a lot about me. Mosborough is no Leiston, far… Continue reading CAKE AND ALE – CRAFTWORKS, MOSBOROUGH

September 2024. Mosborough. Sheffield. Life is settling down a bit in Waterbeach now, though the arrival of some boisterous visitors in a week’s time may change that, and I might even be able to contemplate some travel outside the Sheffield-Cambridge-Tunbridge Wells corridor soon. But on Saturday, arriving back in Sheffield at noon, I just needed… Continue reading A MARRIAGE IN MOSBOROUGH