July 2025. Alton. Hampshire. Last time in Alton I’d shown the in-laws the parish church, admired the simplicity of the Eight Bells, but declared the Railway Arms the town’s essential stop. Well, that was wrong, as the Eight Bells is clearly your reason to divert from Jane Austen’s birthplace. But time your visit, as this… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE EIGHT BELLS, ALTON

July 2025. Alton & Sheffield. You might thing this blog is cobbled together haphazardly in breaks between pubs and waits for Chinese takeaways, but you’d be right. You might also assume that as it’s a diary (or dairy as I wrote at 8, I also spelled Wales with an “h”), it’s strictly chronological. And broadly,… Continue reading A CLEAR HEAD

July 2025. Alton. Hampshire. The Beer & Pubs Forum offer Old Codger-approved “pub crawls”, but once the invite gets extended to CAMRA Discourse members the ante is upped. Whatever an ante is. It becomes a “curated pub exploration”, participants are required to sign an NDA, and strict timetables with new CAMRA logo are produced on… Continue reading ALTON’S CULTURAL DIVERSIONS

July 2025. Wolverton. Milton Keynes. A rare post-GBG completion venture in bucolic but boring Bucks, and a first central Milton Keynes mission since (astonishingly) 2018. An Ember Inn then, and a Brewhouse & Kitchen and Spoons before that. Chains in the centre, brewery taps and craft bars in the villages. Wolverton, like New Bradwell next… Continue reading TRYING TO FIND MILTON KEYNES BIERGARTEN ? GOOD LUCK MATE

July 2025. Northampton. Apart from the market square, Rifle Drum, county cricket and All Saints Church, Northampton also has some subtly gorgeous architecture, some pleasing hotels from its time as a commercial centre, and even a bit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. But it’s shoes it’s most famous for, just as Stockport is best known for… Continue reading COBBLERS ! NORTHANTS HAS FALLEN

July 2025. Northampton. These 4pm pub openers that dominate even the busiest towns nowadays force us tickers to seek out cultural diversions. And at the end of Drum Lane lies Northampton’s gem, the parish church rebuilt after the 1675 fire. I always thought the great fire was in 1666, forgetting that London was a different… Continue reading ALL SAINTS, NORTHAMPTON (NCSS 4.5)

July 2025. Hundall. Drone Valley. Mrs RM called to say “Old Shoe at 5 ?”, which meant I’d have to get a shift on to walk the 20 minutes down the valley from the Travellers to the second GBG regular, and Top 100 debutant. Yes, yes, I know that the Retired Martin Top 100 Pubs… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – MINER’S ARMS, HUNDALL, DERBYSHIRE