It’s a year since Richard Coldwell left us, and I still miss him a lot. I didn’t know him as well as some, but you can tell a lot from a smile. Nearly all the photos of him on the Proper Pub days out show a wide beam on his face. I like to think… Continue reading STILL MISSING RICHARD
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.
TOP 100 PUBS – THE BLIND TIGER, NEW YORK
Grief. It’s been five months since my last Top 100 pub; how have you coped ? One last American memory from a year ago today. New York is gigantic, isn’t it ? It takes an artist to pick out the detail at ground level. Dylan may not have explicitly written about the Blind Tiger in… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE BLIND TIGER, NEW YORK
IF YOU’RE GOING TO BOURNEMOUTH, STOP IN CHRISTCHURCH BAY INSTEAD
This blog exists partly as a diary to let Mrs RM know where I am (not that I’ve been out of her sight these last 3 months) and partly to promote lesser-known Britain, in what used to be known as “a public service“. Instead of heading down to the Sodom and Gomorrah that is Bournemouth,… Continue reading IF YOU’RE GOING TO BOURNEMOUTH, STOP IN CHRISTCHURCH BAY INSTEAD
READING – BISCUITS AND BBB
Today’s programme, a titchy affair, comes from one of our many underrated pub towns along the M4. If you’re lucky I might get to Swindon before pubs return. Duncan might have been a teeny ballboy at this gripping 2-2 draw with eventual champions Coventry. I don’t know, I wasn’t born. Perhaps he made ballboy for… Continue reading READING – BISCUITS AND BBB
KEEP IT CHILL ! (IN THE EAST VILL)
I know how many of you have missed my musical interludes, and that a bit of Mozart hasn’t made up for those nu-folkie gig reviews you love. I’d started a little post of some of the great music released since mid-March; if you’ve got Spotify (and if you haven’t your name is either Peter… Continue reading KEEP IT CHILL ! (IN THE EAST VILL)
SWAFFHAM PRIOR – TWO WINDMILLS, TWO CHURCHES, ONE PUB, ONE DITCH
Nine days to go and counting until life returns. I’m positive, even if I’ve yet to find a single person on CAMRA Discourse who intends to be in a pub on the 4th. They’re all too busy staying at home, saving pubs by slagging off Wetherspoons. My latest jaunt into the modest charms of the… Continue reading SWAFFHAM PRIOR – TWO WINDMILLS, TWO CHURCHES, ONE PUB, ONE DITCH
STREET DRINKING IN CHIPPING SODBURY
“Welcome back to Chipping Sodbury You can have another chance It must all seem like second nature Chopping down the people where they stand” (John Cale – Graham Greene from Paris 1919) Good grief, prescient lyrics 47 years on, as Chipping Sodbury once more makes the front pages of Bristol Live and CAMRA Discourse. I realise… Continue reading STREET DRINKING IN CHIPPING SODBURY
CONEY ISLAND CRIMINALS
Another 30 degree scorcher today, as the sun gets it all out of its system before 4 July. A year ago we were also sizzling in 30 degrees in Coney Island, the highlight of every trip to New York (joking, it’s the Bass in the Ear). Brought up on songs from Lou Reed, the Ramones… Continue reading CONEY ISLAND CRIMINALS
BRIXTON TO BRESCIA
I’ve checked my “Blog Post Request Book“, and “Opera and shopping malls in Brescia” has zero votes. So here its is while I countdown to the glorious 4th. At the tail-end of my illustrious NHS career I managed to cadge a couple of lecturing gigs at the University of Pavia just south of Milan. … Continue reading BRIXTON TO BRESCIA
REGISTERING FOR PUB VISITS – ALL 1,128 OF THEM ?
Some reflections on the New Normal, but more importantly the answer to the question posed 2 months ago – How many pubs did I visit last year ? I’m wary of speculation about what pubs will be like on 4th July (if they even open). In fact I’m not sure I’ll be rushing back. You… Continue reading REGISTERING FOR PUB VISITS – ALL 1,128 OF THEM ?
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