8th January 2020 Yes, January 8th was a long day. It ended, as all good things must, ten miles away from my in-laws in west Kent, a few yards from where Mrs RM has been turning computers on and off in Sevenoaks. Sevenoaks is nearly a GBG-free town this year. Just the venerable Anchor, a… Continue reading TONBRIDGE NOT TUNBRIDGE

8th January 2020 More posts brought to you under “contractual negotiations” as I’d never choose to tick micropubs in Thanet for a living, would I ? Thanet though, always worth a visit. I’d walked past Banks when I was in Cliftonville (not the Belfast one) last time out and assumed it was a trendy bar.… Continue reading NO SOLITUDE IN CLIFTONVILLE

8th January 2020 Well folks, I’m writing this in the Sandringham Hotel in Weston-Super-Mare, and I’ve just been to the worst Wetherspoons in the country, which is more exciting than the biggest. Old Mudgie will know which one I mean. Next up on my Thanet Thrust was Broadstairs, the national capital of Dickens tat. It’s… Continue reading WHAT THE DICKENS ! A BROADSTAIRS BEAUTY

6th January 2020 Grantham sports pubs in the Guide are well and good, but it’s blokes in Hi-Vis jackets in Spoons you want. Before we get to the climax of any trip to Grantham, a quick look at one of the GBG stalwarts in a reliable but little-changing town. “Cosmopolitan and contemporary” says WhatPub of… Continue reading HI-VIS HIGH JINKS IN THE TOLLEMACHE

6th January 2020 And so to my night in Grantham, my first since Beerheadz to finish the GBG for Lincs. An underrated town, despite being home to the guy who invented gravity or someting. A quiet Monday in Dryanuary is a good time to explore its charms. I have no idea what the 1855 is… Continue reading GRANTHAM IS THE APPLE OF MY EYE

6th January 2020 Day 3 of the East Coast Challenge, as I complete Lincolnshire GBG20 with a night in Grantham. Always a hard place to come and get a result, even when you’re starting in the Fens rather than Paisley, Lincs also has the worst beer of any GBG county outside Fife, and that’s a… Continue reading BASS TRAIL WOES AT WELBOURN

4th January 2020 Cleethorpes. OK, you’re worryingly close to Tom Irvin, the mastermind behind “BRAPA”, but what a town. “The rich mans’ Grimsby‘ say some. ” Where? ” say others. An astonishing town, say I. And I’m always right. Two station bars, a classic Sam Smiths, a Bass stronghold, and the Nottingham House, which speaks… Continue reading MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

4th January 2020 And so, Cleethorpes, still reeling from not having a Sacha Baron Cohen film named after it. Look closely in the top righthand corner and spot the legendary Dolphin across the water. I’d told laptop man in the last pub I was heading back to Cleethorpes to visit the Spider’s Nest, where the… Continue reading LONG LIVE THE SAM SMITHS MOBILE PHONE BAN

4th January 2020 What a strange beast the GBG is. Five successive Guide entries around the Humber are; A city centre Edwardian drinking palace A Michelin starred Gastropub by the sluice A very basic one beer boozer by a villlage station An ornate Sam Smiths pub (NEXT !) An off-licence The third of them is… Continue reading MORE PUBS WITH JUST DOOM BAR ON