September 2025. Cambridge. Not quite sure why I was spending this Thursday afternoon in Cambridge, between visits to Dad’s care home. Possibly the cancellation of the London train, or the tip-off about Bass at the Free Press, or more likely I needed a personal visit to the ornate Lloyds Bank on Gonville Place. Acting as… Continue reading OOH, NICE GLASS ! THE MILL, CAMBRIDGE

September 2025. Cambridge. Cambridge has gone Bass crazy. The Kingston started the trend, and now there’s a check-in at a Greene King flagship. I mean, it’s not their biggest public house, but the Free Press is where I learnt to love Greene King IPA, before CAMRA folk decided it was rubbish (shortly after declaring it… Continue reading BASS AT THE FREE PRESS

September 2025. Cambridge. You know where Cambridge is by now. Unless you’re in Boston (US). On our mammoth Atherstone curated pub exploration crawl yesterday it was suggested we plan a day in Cambridge, and for the first time since leaving my home town for The North I can contemplate that. I was delighted to see… Continue reading FINALLY! THE KINGSTON ARMS GETS THE BASS RIGHT

September 2025. Sheffield. Another one on the Half Pint Marathon, and one of the few GBG regulars on the map. A skip across Derek Dooley Way (ask your uncle) sits the Harlequin, struggling a bit till the folk behind the Rutland and Crow took it on, at which point it became an essential stop on… Continue reading A HOP TO THE HARLEQUIN

September 2025. Sheffield. Another of those pubs on the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon; do all 26 in September and you’ve donated £6.50 to Mind and won a print. Easier than doing the GBG, I thought. It’s a collection of pubs largely on the periphery of the Beer Guide, like the Riverside (No. 7, Russ), down… Continue reading BERTIE BASSETT AND THE HARNESSING OF THE GIANT SQUIDS

September 2025. Sheffield. Back home (I think I still live in Sheffield) I set off back on the marathon trail in S*x City. It’s all about s*x with Jarvis, isn’t it ? The Shakespeare greets me with Dylan on a Tuesday afternoon; two master wordsmiths, though the real art is in these Wards windows. The… Continue reading DYLAN AND SHAKESPEARE

September 2025. Enfield. You’ve had Enfield’s new GBG pub, and its watch man, and a decent Spoons. But you MUST NOT come here and miss the aptly named Wonder. Except….it didn’t look the basic and unreconstructed McMullen boozer I remember, positively female-friendly in fact (as was the Jolly Butchers). But there’s nothing with that, and… Continue reading ENFIELD’S WONDER

As is traditional, the new Beer Guide is greeted by some of the newer Retired Martin family. This year it’s Snuggles, Wilbury and Buzzy Bee. They come to praise the Guide, officially released this morning with little fanfare and seemingly even less interest amongst CAMRA members. Bit of a brick compared to those early editions… Continue reading THE GOOD BEER GUIDE 2026. A TRIUMPH

September 2025. Enfield. Or “The joy of being wrong about a neglected Greater London town” (see also : Carshalton, Brentford). With an alleged population of 333,587, almost as big as Waterbeach when it’s finished, Enfield ought to have something to commend it. But my impression of it, based largely on a few floodlit matches at… Continue reading HOW I CAME TO LOVE ENFIELD