May 2024. Warwick. One more GBG entry to complete the nap hand of Warwick Guide pubs in a night. From the Wild Boar a long, drab walk past rambling hospital buildings and factories brings you to the Grand Union Canal, and the obligatory canalside pub. Obviously, I arrived here on the wrong side of the… Continue reading “AN ISSUE” AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

May 2024. Warwick. It’s always good to walk the bounds, and I reckon I got more of a sense of Warwick last Tuesday than in half a dozen previous visits. It’s no Bewdley, or Buxton; more a Bromsgrove with a castle, perhaps, but approaching the Wild Boar I felt unusual excitement at a revisit of… Continue reading MORE PLAIN, EXCELLENT, WARWICK PUBS

May 2024. Warwick. A bit of moderation, moving on to halves on pub 3, then a slight relapse as I realise you’ll expect me to do the craft bar. No, you probably will. It gives me a chance to make a full circuit of a town that looks more interesting on paper than reality, though… Continue reading A CRAFT DIVERSION IN WARWICK

May 2022. Warwick. Pub three on the “curated Warwick pub exploration trail”, though my notes suggest “most of Warwick is completely p****d”, which just shows that in middle class middle England there’s still parts of society who value pubgoing over a bottle of Malbec at home. Warwick really surprised me, nowhere more so than the… Continue reading THE OLD FOURPENNY SHOP

May 2024. Warwick. You left me in the Eagle discussing leg fractures and Newton Abbot cider houses with a lovely couple of Mo-Homers who I tried to persuade to do the Warwick Pub Crawl. I never saw them in the next four pubs, so either they did it in reverse or they (more likely) took… Continue reading ACCEPTING A TASTER (SORRY)

May 2024. Warwick. Last year I finished Warwickshire’s Guide entries in a modern craft beer bar in “luscious” Leamington Spa, drinking rather too much (even a Bud !) and messily munching a Chinese takeaway in a campervan parked in the town car park. And now here I am, parked up 3 miles west in virtually… Continue reading RACING PUB WARWICK

May 2024. Great Alne. Alcester. Yes, Warwickshire has fallen. Not a great personal achievement, with a mere three (3) GBG newbies, one up north where the four counties meet in Austrey and two edging away from Shakespeare-land in the south. A bit disappointing if I’m honest; nothing new in Nuneaton or Rugby or those weird… Continue reading ARDENT ABOUT ARDEN

May 2024. Sheffield. The rain stopped on Monday afternoon.Time for a lengthy walk, I think. Often I’ll just head off randomly uphill, and today I found myself up Bole Hill Road for this view over the Rivelin. But never mind bucolic valleys, there’s alpacas at the top of that walk. No, not you lot; Actually,… Continue reading ALPACAS AND ITCHY PIGS

May 2024. Sheffield. You might think from recent posts complaining about early calling of last orders and unfinished pints being cleared that I’ve got the grump on with pubs, but nothing could be further from the truth. Beer and banter in boozers has been as bountiful as ever this year, and my traditional inability to… Continue reading THE HOLY TRINITY – GRAPEFRUIT MURK, CHEESE AND ONION COB, CHEESE AND ONION CRISPS

May 2024. Sheffield. A day without a new post ! Dave will be writing to my Subscriptions Office (P.O. Box 666, Maidenhead SL9) asking for his money back. You left me in a quiet Harlequin front room, paying my respects to one of Sheffield’s great publicans, and wishing I hadn’t drunk a can of 8%… Continue reading END OF TIMES : A PINT OVER £3 IN SHEFFIELD SPOONS