30th December 2022. If you’d prefer the official version of the GBG tickers 1st Annual Meeting in Chesterfield then go straight to Duncan’s notes on Paisley parchment here. It’s one of the most concise sets of minutes of a four (4) hour meeting I’ve ever seen, and I used to write them for a living… Continue reading THE 1st GOOD BEER GUIDE TICKERS AGM STARTS IN THE SHAMBLES AND GOES DOWNHILL
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.
A CHARNWOOD BASS HUNT
29th December 2022. Nearly finished the 2022 posts, then I’ll do a December Stocktake, and I’ll be up-to-date on the blog by next week. “What will you do then ?” asks Mrs RM, a worrying question. Two (2) Charnwood pubs on the River Soar for you tonight, two pubs largely inseparable in style, ambition and… Continue reading A CHARNWOOD BASS HUNT
CRAWLING UP THAT HILL – THE BLAKE BECOMES A CHRISTMAS DAY TRADITION
25th December 2022. Sadly, there is no photographic evidence of Mrs RM’s roast lunch that day, but I did take some photos from our epic 9 minute journey from the Blind Monkey to the foot of Blake Street and back up to the Blake Hotel. No. We weren’t dressed in Santa outfits. Or as Oliver… Continue reading CRAWLING UP THAT HILL – THE BLAKE BECOMES A CHRISTMAS DAY TRADITION
WETHERSPOONS KEEP THE 25th DECEMBER SPECIAL
25th December 2022. It was a joy to have both boys home with us for Christmas, unwrapping presents, singing carols, watching re-runs of Noel Edmonds making folk blub. Don’t be daft. 25th December means the shops are shut and pubs close early, if they open at all. And Mrs RM INSISTED on cooking a roast… Continue reading WETHERSPOONS KEEP THE 25th DECEMBER SPECIAL
CONNED INTO GOING OUT ON CHRISTMAS EVE
24th December 2022. Got a bit worried just now I’d forgot to write up my birthday, but I did that on the day to confuse myself. The George put on the Bass as soon as I’d left. I also mentioned I’d been conned into joining our two lads on their Christmas Eve crawl of Kelham… Continue reading CONNED INTO GOING OUT ON CHRISTMAS EVE
WELL, I STILL LOVE THE CITY ARMS
23rd December 2022. Mrs RM eventually turned up at Manchester’s library (the central one, rather than Rylands or Chetham’s), and thankfully hadn’t bought me a Christmas jumper from Primark. Because she’d lost her purse (left it in the car, detail fans). Matt was just about to finish his last cut; Mrs RM had mysteriously lost… Continue reading WELL, I STILL LOVE THE CITY ARMS
NO BLACK EYE FRIDAY IN CHORLTON
23rd Manchester 2022. We’d paid for our prime site Manchester hotel the night before Christmas Eve (£59, pushing the boat out) and we were going to use it. Or not. Mrs RM had work to do, she’d catch up with me and Matt for tea later. I contemplated the trio of Proper Pubs on Portland… Continue reading NO BLACK EYE FRIDAY IN CHORLTON
“And if a double decker bus, crashes into us…”
….we still have Christmas Eve, Eve in Manchester. 23rd Manchester 2022. Or “Black Eye Friday“, the last working day before Christmas, in my book. A highlight of the year. Except it seemed most folk had packed in work a week early, the lazy sods. Matthew was busy cutting student hair till lunchtime on Christmas Eve,… Continue reading “And if a double decker bus, crashes into us…”
UP ECCLES PIKE
21st December 2022. Back on the train from Marple to Manchester, only a couple of stops till GBG23 tick No. 2 at Whitehough via Chinley. It’s quite possible that James has been in more GBG entries than all but six people in the world, you know, given how many pubs I took him in as… Continue reading UP ECCLES PIKE
A MARPLE MYSTERY
21st December 2022. James has been doing his unfathomable IT job for nearly two years now, has started having “team meetings” in scary Leigh, and seems to have adapted to working life (from home) extremely well after the Covid horrors of 2020. He’d accumulated quite a bit of holiday, and asked, uninvited, to join me… Continue reading A MARPLE MYSTERY
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