July 2025. Darlington. This post is brought to you courtesy WiFi from Sam Turner’s farm shop in Piercebridge, as I conclude the first of three (3) nights in Darlington this month. Yes, a rather slight post, but then much of life is slight, and a diary should record it all. So let the record show… Continue reading A RARE NCTSS 5 AT THE LITTLE FAT BUDDHA

July 2025. Darlington. I have a confession to make. I’m suddenly hilariously behind on the blog, with 62 pubs in the last 3 weeks to write up. It’s almost as if I’m ticking the GBG or something. But I’m not. Only casually, anyway. You join me in Cockerton, a mile east of Darlington, attempting to… Continue reading DARLO REVISITED No. 1. THE QUAKERHOUSE

July 2025. Cockerton. Admit it, you’ve never heard of Cockerton, have you ? Neither had I, even though this small Durham village is virtually contiguous (great word) with Darlington and only a few minutes from Piercebridge and my best-read blog post. And it’s got a free space for my campervan from which I can finish… Continue reading HAMMERED IN COCKERTON

July 2025. Romaldkirk. Back home from Waterbeach on Wednesday afternoon, Mrs RM managed just 2 hours at home before deciding she was off again. A day’s coach trip from Meadowhall later, she was in Nantes, riding mechanical elephants and drinking “oompa loompa“. Rather sooner than that, I was in Durham, attempting to complete a GBG… Continue reading WHY DID NO-ONE TELL ME ABOUT THE KIRK ?

July 2025. Cambridge. Another consequence of this year’s deaths and probate dramas has been a need to visit, in person, more Cambridge banks and financial institutions this year than I had in the previous 30. But every trip to Cambridge Building Society prompts you to explore a bit, and realise how little the city has… Continue reading FOG ON THE CAM

I was going to do a bumper issue to commemorate a decade of Retired Martin today, but frankly I was down the pub (Borough Beer House in Farnham, since you ask) and couldn’t be bothered. And as you’ll know I’m not one to fuss about dates or anniversaries or commemorations, but 26 July 2015 did… Continue reading 10 YEARS AND 7,387 POSTS OF RETIRED MARTIN

July 2025. Birmingham. Back from the Black Country, with an hour to kill. A walk through the Jewellery Quarter’s weird art, and then a big decision, huge. Wellington or something else ? I hadn’t been in the Colmore since it opened pre-Covid, before the international incident that saw BRAPA barred because he wasn’t a woman*.… Continue reading ALL WELCOME IN THE COLMORE

July 2025. Blackheath (or is it Old Hill ?) What a perfect Monday morning in the Black Country; scratchings, German isotonic beer, a new micro, and now a crusty cob enjoyed waiting for my GBG newbie to open. NCobSS 3.5, I reckon, the crusty exterior the highlight. Good job I succumbed to that temptation as… Continue reading BLACK COUNTRY ALES REACHES BLACKHEATH

July 2025. Blackheath. Rowley Regis. Monday morning in the Black Country, and Blackheath was looking pleasingly vibrant as I waited for my new GBG pub to open at noon. I’d noted the surprising presence of a Carluccio’s cafe, a sure sign of gentrification, and the town’s first micro had just changed from Cyder & Cobb… Continue reading THE LAST JAR, BLACKHEATH