June 2025. Great Warley. Essex. A day down in Southborough attending to the father-in-law on his 87th birthday. When you get to 87, or 60 for that matter, all you want is a pint and a sumptuous Chinese Meal for Three from Meow’s. His pint would have to wait. Our pint came on the way… Continue reading SOUTH ESSEX IN A NUTSHELL
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.
CURRY NIGHT IN WATERBEACH
June 2025. Waterbeach. A rare Tuesday night in Waterbeach, where The Sun and Chung Hwa are closed and the White Horse (South Asian restaurant and all) is being refurbished. Biryani at the Taps, then. I hadn’t rushed back to the (Brewery) Taps since it was revived last year, but they’ve delivered on their promise to… Continue reading CURRY NIGHT IN WATERBEACH
ONE PUMP IS PLENTY, SOMETIMES MORE THAN ENOUGH
June 2025. Scunthorpe. Our third and final Scunny pub takes us north from the Berkeley, up to the exciting Charnwood estate. Another potential bed for the night (and the cheapest petrol in many years) at Kirk’s Korner. Sadly, Fiona gives a less than glowing endorsement of Kirk’s Motel; When Fiona says she can hear EVERY… Continue reading ONE PUMP IS PLENTY, SOMETIMES MORE THAN ENOUGH
THE BERKELEY. LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT THE DOOR.
June 2025. Scunthorpe. The name doesn’t help, does it ? I didn’t “complete” Scunny on Monday, so I shall be organising a return visit on a day when the Visual Arts Centre is open. Then I’ll scour the town centre for culture, then head for the suburb of Ashby with its GBG perennial and ultra-rare… Continue reading THE BERKELEY. LEAVE YOUR PHONE AT THE DOOR.
SAVING CASK, ONE £1.59 PINT OF JAIPUR AT A TIME
June 2025. Scunthorpe. I’d ticked the Scunny culture, bar waiting till midnight to see if the steelworks light up. I’d ticked the Scunny GBG pubs years ago; they never change. The almost micro Honest Lawyer, a genuine beery place a mile or two south in Ashby, an open/closed/open Sam Smiths by the football ground, and… Continue reading SAVING CASK, ONE £1.59 PINT OF JAIPUR AT A TIME
I AM SCUNTHORPE’S TOURIST
June 2025. Scunthorpe. One of these days I will spend 24 hours at home. But not today. In this endless English Summer, Sheffield is on the first train for the coast. Or at least, the train to Scunthorpe where a bus replacement service awaits. This is the first time I’ve seen “Scunthorpe” as the end… Continue reading I AM SCUNTHORPE’S TOURIST
SUNDAY NIGHT IS QUIZ NIGHT AT SHEFFIELD’S TWO & SIX
June 2025. Sheffield. By Sunday night I’d had two (2) days to recover from the excesses of That Derby, and suddenly realised I had 10,000 more steps to walk. Sunday night in a Sheffield pub, then. The city centre has been improving rapidly since Mrs RM and I arrived to gentrify the place in 2020,… Continue reading SUNDAY NIGHT IS QUIZ NIGHT AT SHEFFIELD’S TWO & SIX
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 9 – THE ALEXANDRA
May 2025. Derby. Right, even I’m bored of Derby now, and I jumped at the chance to slip away early while Life After Football looked for a pub with Jamaican tonic wine as a nightcap (at 4pm). Paul had called time, too, so I had the perfect excuse to escort him back to the station… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 9 – THE ALEXANDRA
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 8 – YE OLDE DOLPHIN
May 2025, Derby. Well the itinerary had gone to pot, but our #PubManHeroes from Leicester, Frome, Sheffield (x 2), Stafford and Worcester (x 2) were at least walking in a straight line, reminiscent of a scene from the Wicker Man. But where was our leader ? Life After Football presumably checking out Bunk and Brooklyn’s… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY” No. 8 – YE OLDE DOLPHIN
THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 7 – THE WOODLARK
May 2025 Derby. And so, to a (third) unscheduled stop on our Derby crawl, and my own highlight of any Derby trip. The Woodlark isn’t a Guide regular, I only discovered it in 2018, but it’s where you’ll want to go to see what pubs were like 40 years ago, an era of Football Specials,… Continue reading THE BIG DERBY “CURATED PUB SURVEY”. No. 7 – THE WOODLARK
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