Let’s press on, the Black Dog was a bit depressing, and head to another tick in Greater Accrington. Apart from glorious countryside, Baxenden is best known as the home of Hollands. I somehow missed this post-retirement job opportunity; The Dog & Partridge is yet more proof that there’s more to the 2021 GBG than brewery… Continue reading BAXENDEN – MORE THAN JUST THE HOME OF HOLLAND’S PIES
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.
NO THWAITES IN OSWALDTWISTLE
Life After Football takes you in his chauffer-driven Merc* to the outer reaches of Tamworth, I drag you on foot to the foothills of Accrington. Only on pub blogs will you visit the REAL England. I assumed that Oswaldtwistle was named after the Accrington left back from the season they were expelled from the League,… Continue reading NO THWAITES IN OSWALDTWISTLE
CLIMBING UP ON DARWEN HILL…
Right, Darwen. Always a joy, albeit an irregular one of late. 5 years ago I raved about the espresso and paninis at Deli Carlo, so with an hour to wait till Bird In Th’ Hand opened (I thought) it was time to join the hipsters for lunch. Look VERY closely and you’ll see Jubilee Tower… Continue reading CLIMBING UP ON DARWEN HILL…
FULWOOD ALE CLUB
“Every Pub In Sheffield On Foot” sounds easy, till you look at my next pre-emptive trek. See how the blue dots eat up 2:27 hours but barely scratch the surface of the city. Fulwood is a suburb on the western edge of the Porter Valley, just shy of the Peak District boundary, home to Hallam… Continue reading FULWOOD ALE CLUB
A BURTON TRINITY
Oh, go on then. Have some quick and nasty hand pump porn. No better place than the A50 corridor for your Bass and Pedi handpumps. This was actually just a fish and chips stop in “Estimable Etwall”, a title the Tourist Office can have for the price of a pint (£3.40). The Spread Eagle isn’t… Continue reading A BURTON TRINITY
SOMETHING FISHY IN CULCHETH
More Woolyback excitement for you as I enter the rarely visited Culceth, the Yarm of the West (checks compass, yes, west). One of the least visited large villages in England, after Waterbeach, and seemingly only famous as the birthplace of Andy Burnham. But look closely just south-west and note “Little Town”, which inspired a famous… Continue reading SOMETHING FISHY IN CULCHETH
A BRIEF HOLT IN BOOTHSTOWN
Onto Boothstown. A rare visit beyond posh Worsley, but the Royal Oak looked familiar. Ah yes, it was my anonymised pub 2 years ago, serving one of the best pints of Holt I’ve had outside the Hare & Hounds. Don’t see much Holt in the GBG these days, do you ? You do see a… Continue reading A BRIEF HOLT IN BOOTHSTOWN
FACEBOOK FARCE IN MESNES
Pubs have been through hell in the last 18 months, and I’m delighted (though surprised) that so many of them seem to have survived into the Autumn of 2021. Of my GBG targets so far, only one (Urmston) hasn’t yet re-opened, and that’s more due to growth than decline. So I remain positive about pubs,… Continue reading FACEBOOK FARCE IN MESNES
DALSTON IN WIGAN
Part II of the Great Wigan Wobble, which somehow squeezes 3 posts out of a lone half pint. In 1937 George Arthur Blair wrote a piece that so infuriated Wigan folk that he had to change his name before releasing that dreadful Eurythmics record nearly 5 decades later. And George didn’t have micropub opening times… Continue reading DALSTON IN WIGAN
A WIGAN WANDER
With Mrs RM wardrobe restored, I could refocus on my day job of finishing GBG counties, starting with Greater Manchester’s hipster central. Yes, it’s Wigan, innit. I SHOULD have popped in the newly-reopened Swan & Railway, shouldn’t I ? But despite it being gorgeous, and selling pies (what else in Wigan) and possibly even Bass,… Continue reading A WIGAN WANDER
retiredmartin 