December 2025. Waterbeach. Ask anyone about Waterbeach and they’ll say “Ah, that’s where the Southworths ate a Chinese takeaway with folded bits of card“, but it’s also renowned as the place with two breweries and a Brewery Tap that isn’t. Pastore is the fruit sour specialist whose beers pop up in the craft beer places… Continue reading PASTY AND PASTORE
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.
THE TRUE START OF CHRISTMAS
December 2025. Waterbeach. Back at Home (2) after that little Gravesend diversion and 20 minutes between train at Kings Cross that I judged just insufficient for a pint at the King Charles I, I visit Dad in the afternoon (I’ve just missed “Annie” at the care home), hoover Sunnyside and then pop to The Sun.… Continue reading THE TRUE START OF CHRISTMAS
A DIVERSION TO GRAVESEND
December 2025. Gravesend. Kent. The route from home (1) to home (2) to home (3) is fairly well-established now. Friday saw the Rye to Waterbeach via St Pancras leg, interrupted by a short diversion at Ebbsfleet International, one of the UK’s least used (per square foot) railway stations now the Eurostar avoid it on evil… Continue reading A DIVERSION TO GRAVESEND
IS SPOONS CASK QUALITY GETTING BETTER ? BEXHILL THINKS SO
December 2025. Bexhill-on-Sea. We’d entered the gates of Bexhill with such noble intentions. Culture at the De la Warr, a long bracing walk along the front, Eddie Izzard’s model railway… But too much beer early on had scuppered plans, and I wasn’t even in the mood for some clothes shopping for me. Not today. But… Continue reading IS SPOONS CASK QUALITY GETTING BETTER ? BEXHILL THINKS SO
TOP 100 PUBS. THE RUDDY DUCK, BEXHILL-on-SEA
December 2025. Bexhill-on-Sea. Mrs RM enjoyed our lunchtime in Sussex-by-the-Sea, remembering the times that her aunt (it was probably her granny but I’m not strong on genealogy) took her to Bexhill for whatever people used to do at the seaside in the 70s. Look out to sea and shout at France, I guess. The houses… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS. THE RUDDY DUCK, BEXHILL-on-SEA
THE ALBATROSS
December 2025. Bexhill-on-Sea. There’s no point sitting in a caravan in the rain in Rye, waiting for the next elderly parent crisis to hit, when you could be on a train to a town with pubs. Mrs RM hadn’t been to Bexhill in over 40 years, so her memories were of childhood trips to the… Continue reading THE ALBATROSS
FUTURE FOLKESTONE FROLICS
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Lots of pubs in Folkestone to revisit, but the two Harbour taps that interest me (Floc and Iron Pier) don’t open till later in the week, and they’re certainly not on the itinerary for the CAMRA Defenders of the Cask Faith crawl on Saturday. But that list reminds me that, away… Continue reading FUTURE FOLKESTONE FROLICS
FINALLY ! AN UNSCUFFED HARVEY’S GLASS. THE MARINER, FOLKESTONE
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Leaving Folkestone Harbour Arm, with its scary giant seagulls that look like they’ve escaped from Squid Games, we suddenly find it’s nearly half three, the Golden Hour for photos before dusk. Time for a trip along The Stade, replete with souvenirs from the feral Ultras of South London visiting Folkestone Victoria.… Continue reading FINALLY ! AN UNSCUFFED HARVEY’S GLASS. THE MARINER, FOLKESTONE
WHY DID NO-ONE TELL MRS RM ABOUT FOLKESTONE HARBOUR ARM
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Where did you leave us ? Oh yes, clambering up the steps from the Hymn and Hyrs in Folkestone Spoons, about to tackle the High Street (aka Steep Hill). Even the scruffy buildings, like this rhubarb and custard of a curry house, look gorgeous. A 5 minute stroll through the Creative… Continue reading WHY DID NO-ONE TELL MRS RM ABOUT FOLKESTONE HARBOUR ARM
“FOLKESTONE IS AN ART SCHOOL”
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Mrs RM is planning a series of posts on the Kent coast, which by her definition starts at Rochester and skips Gillingham on the way to Whitstable and beyond. Gravesend will have something to say about that. “We should go to Folkestone, only an hour.” I said. “You won’t recognise it“.… Continue reading “FOLKESTONE IS AN ART SCHOOL”
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