Sunday’s beer garden joy in Welford reminded me we’re coming to the time when non-smokers suddenly wish smokers were back in the pub, instead of contaminating their fresh air. Whingers. When the weather is nice, should the pub smoking ban be reversed to force the smokers indoors and leave the beer garden smelling nicer? —… Continue reading FIRST OF THE SUMMER WHINE
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TOP 100 PUBS – WHARF INN, WELFORD
I’m debating whether to tell you about the Ember Inn in Camberley. It’s as bad as it sounds, but not in a good way. Think the 3rd Millennium novel, or Tin Machine II. No doubt there’ll be a locust infestation when Simon gets there in 2032. If you ask for it, you get it. But… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – WHARF INN, WELFORD
IN FAIRNESS TO BRUNNING & PRICE…
This blog is guilty of inverse snobbery and proud of it. However, Mrs RM is a fine lady with great appreciation of the real ale, but will always prefer the shiny craft bar to the scruffy “old men’s pub”, which is why I’ve never taken her in the Olde Vic (her loss). But then she is… Continue reading IN FAIRNESS TO BRUNNING & PRICE…
OPEN ALL HOURS – KNAPHILL’S ROYAL OAK DOES A PROPER JOB
Just 17 minutes on the train from Aldershot, central Woking feels a different world. Not always a world I’d want to inhabit, with an athletics centre of a football ground and only a Spoons and a Social Club for Beer Guide company. Type “Woking” into WhatPub and the first places you see are an O’Neill’s, a Slug, a… Continue reading OPEN ALL HOURS – KNAPHILL’S ROYAL OAK DOES A PROPER JOB
ASTONISHED IN ALDERSHOT
Enough of the Midlands, as Tuesday brought a trip to the prosperous South-East, which is at least well-supplied with cheap Travelodges and those odd Days Inn places. It’s just a shame they’re all in Fleet. Logic tells me we’ve only been to Aldershot thrice in our lives, which puts it behind Goole on my league table. … Continue reading ASTONISHED IN ALDERSHOT
THE FULL SPOONS BLOW-OUT IN NEWARK
“Not another post from Newark !” I can hear Dick and Dave cry from 2,138 miles away. Well tough, Newark is full of good beer, cheer and isn’t very dear (that should get me a tenner from the Tourist Office). It’s so good we might end up living in our campervan on the free site… Continue reading THE FULL SPOONS BLOW-OUT IN NEWARK
I WOULDN’T LET IT LYE
Here, as promised last night, is the delayed report from Lye, former Balti capital of the West Midlands. And here’s Susan Tully, beautifully rendered in the town’s only noticeable street art. I can find no connection between Susan and the Black Country from a cursory look at the Grange Hill Annual for 1978, no doubt… Continue reading I WOULDN’T LET IT LYE
IN ELLESMERE, ERRONEOUSLY
I wanted to bring you tales of Susan Tully and One Direction cover bands today (ten points for guessing where they’re from) , but circumstances dictate that I confess to a first-order cock-up. I know how much our US readers enjoy my misfortunes, following “locked in Victoria Park-Gate” and “Gatecrashing a Wedding-Gate“. I booked a… Continue reading IN ELLESMERE, ERRONEOUSLY
CARLTON – EDGY IN NOTTS
Having just seen an affectionate BBC programme on Ordnance Survey (theme – only weird men buy OS Maps), I was tempted to give you an extract from Explorer 260. But all that would show you is how built up east Nottingham is, with points of interest having to be hunted down on foot. The faithful navigator… Continue reading CARLTON – EDGY IN NOTTS
NOTTINGHAM IN THE DRY
Any trip out with Mrs RM has some frisson of excitement and potential for disaster. And so it was in Greater Nottingham last Monday, where we searched for the soul of “Rough Notts” that Alan Winfield warns me about all the time. But first a pub-less visit to the centre to track down a piece… Continue reading NOTTINGHAM IN THE DRY
