January 2025. Thriplow. Mum’s carer comes at lunchtime, hopefully to get her to eat more, and we nip out for a quick dose of “not Waterbeach”. The Queen’s Head at Newton is unexpectedly closed, which is frankly something one of the Famous Five should never be. But a couple of miles south, just above Duxford’s… Continue reading INSET DAY IN THRIPLOW

January 2025. Eddington. Cambridge. 25 years ago ALL the pubs in Cambridge had real ale, 100%. I still have the book (thanks, Paul AInsworth) to prove it. It wasn’t always good (looking at you, Pemberton Arms), but that’s not the point, is it ? This century has seen marginal cask outlets in the Cambridge suburbs… Continue reading CASK DROPPED IN EDDINGTON HYATT

January 2025. Waterbeach. A slow start, but having caught up entirely on New Year’s Eve I now have reports on FOUR (4) pubs to bring you. None of them will change the world, or allow me to apply pink Stabilo marker to the Good book, but, unless you’re BRAPA, there’s more to life than marker… Continue reading What beer SHOULD look like

That last post was my 7,000th blog post in my 10th blogging year. Oddly, even with the interruption of “real life” (parental ageing) in recent years the regularity of blogs hasn’t let up. I guess visiting 20 pubs a week helps avoid the risk of writers block. 844 posts last year, just a series of… Continue reading BLOGGING

My lawyers have reminded me that even though I’ve just issued an Annual Report for 2024 I do need to do a December highlights post. I know how litigious old CAMRA members are; they’re still trying to get CAMRA to reinstate their monthly edition of What’s Brewing on papyrus. Gives me chance to recall that… Continue reading DECEMBER ’24 STOCKTAKE AND JANUARY PREVIEW

January 2025. Cottenham. The Fen Edge. There aren’t many blogs which give you TWO Fen Edge pub visits in the first week of 2025. Actually, there aren’t many blogs which write about going to the pub AT ALL. So here I am, stuck in Waterbeach while Mum gets used to her home help/carers who will… Continue reading A SIGN OF THE TIMES – THE WAGGON & HORSES, COTTENHAM

All Duncan McKay wanted for Christmas was a blog post with a GBG spreadsheet in it. I always assumed the Pubmeister was born before the invention of spreadsheets and kept his ticks on Paisley papyrus, but apparently spreadsheets date back to the Babylonians in 1800 BC and despite the appearance of his knees I think… Continue reading GOOD BEER GUIDE SPREADSHEET SPECIAL

Don’t worry, I leave the musical critique to Chris Dyson. His review is probably more eclectic than mine, a few male artists ! But like Chris I still consume a lot of music; it’s just that music is different these days. 40 years ago I was spending about a grand, 20% of my first annual… Continue reading RETIRED MARTIN’S 2024 IN MUSIC