October 2023. Kirkby-in-Ashfield. Now all these trips to honeypot villages in Bradford and Grantham are fine and well, but I know it’s Mansfield you really want to read about. GBG24 brings two (2) new entries in and around Kirkby (not Merseyside) home to Larwood, and once home to four railway stations, impressive for a mining… Continue reading KIRKBY-IN-ASHFIELD – BLUE MONKEY, WORN-OUT LOLA
Author: 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.
CAFE #9. YOU BYO, I’LL HAVE A SMOOTHIE
October 2023. Sheffield. Quite a few gigs in October, always a great month for music. Mrs RM had listened to melodic nu-folkies Adam Beattie and Fiona Evans at the Square Chapel in Halifax and insisted I catch it them in Sheffield. Have YOU tried standing up to Mrs RM ? An hour’s walk round West… Continue reading CAFE #9. YOU BYO, I’LL HAVE A SMOOTHIE
POSING TABLES IN THE LADYBOWER
October 2023. Ladybower Reservoir, Peak District. Mrs RM had been getting jealous of other people’s Instagram posts of the Ladybower sinkhole, so she drove the 5 miles out of Sheffield on Saturday afternoon only to be disappointed by a mere dribble. But Ladybower still looks autumnally gorgeous. and while we were there in it seemed… Continue reading POSING TABLES IN THE LADYBOWER
THACKLEY MICRO v “THE SMITHS”
October 2023. Thackley, Bradford. One more in West Yorkshire and it’s a rare GBG county completion. Still a thrill, even when you’ve completed the Guide, a bit like Amundsen completing a circumnavigation of Oslo IKEA the year after ticking the North Pole or something. Where are we ? Thackley, north Bradford. Near the Isle Working… Continue reading THACKLEY MICRO v “THE SMITHS”
“Kev left his pound at the swimming pool”
October 2023. Shipley. You can’t actually see the dividing line between Saltaire and Shipley, but you certainly know when you’ve crossed it. And the Crafty Kernel meets every requirement of the “modern micro” playbook, though at least it has a nice protruding sign so you only walk past it 3 times, rather than the median… Continue reading “Kev left his pound at the swimming pool”
SALTAIRE !
October 2023. Saltaire. Well, the Shears looked a picture when we got back from our nights out in Halifax, though quite how we passed by a late opportunity to admire the Websters brewerania in the Three Pigeons I’ll never know. Halifax is a town of endless treasures, though I can understand how a visitor might… Continue reading SALTAIRE !
HALIFAX MINSTER – MY FIRST NCSS 5
October 2023. Halifax. I’d actually come to Halifax for a gig, and you’ll be astonished to know this wasn’t a 22 year old Californian singing about duff boyfriends with sportscars. Lisa O’ Neill sings about the Irishwoman who shot Mussolini in the nose, which I guess is a marginally more serious topic, unless you’re a… Continue reading HALIFAX MINSTER – MY FIRST NCSS 5
YOUR HOTEL RECOMMENDATION FOR HIPSTER HALIFAX
October 2023. Halifax. A night in the craft beer capital of, well, the world I guess, but I was there for a gig of traditional Irish music in a medieval minster because I’m not a hipster. I’d have taken the campervan and saved £65, but Mrs RM wanted to come along so I booked the… Continue reading YOUR HOTEL RECOMMENDATION FOR HIPSTER HALIFAX
PUBS YOU DON’T EXPECT TO SEE IN THE GBG. No. 27, HALFWAY HOUSE, BIRKENSHAW
October 2023. Birkenshaw. I’d heard of Birkenshaw, just south of Bradford, but I couldn’t tell you anything about it, except that Simon says the Halfway House is an extraordinarily Proper Pub. And I still do can’t tell you anything about it, except that the Halfway House is an extraordinarily Proper Pub. But that’s OK. Mrs… Continue reading PUBS YOU DON’T EXPECT TO SEE IN THE GBG. No. 27, HALFWAY HOUSE, BIRKENSHAW
THE THIRSTY GIRAFFE
October 2023. Deeping St. James. Two edge-of-Fens highlights for you, either side of Peterborough. I don’t get to take Dad far from home these days, but I did take him to a new garden centre in Chatteris called Seasons. NGCSS 4, I think, for the tremendous cooked breakfast, and model Christmas village, whatever that is.… Continue reading THE THIRSTY GIRAFFE
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