March 2025. Howden. If this blog has one objective, bar acting as a diary of my travels so I can prove I wasn’t at the scene of that murder on 7th October 2018, it’s to promote the lesser-known gems of the UK. Like Wem, and Stafford, and London. I’d driven through Howden just enough times… Continue reading A FAILED SEARCH FOR MICE IN HOWDEN MINSTER
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HOWDY, HOWDEN
March 2025. Howden. One night back in Sheffield, then straight back out to Goole with Mrs RM in tow, kicking and screaming. “I’ve never been to Howden” she says, like Charlene in that 1982 Motown Number 1. “Have I ?“. Well, we’d certainly passed through enough times, headed for East Yorkshire honeypots like Driffield and… Continue reading HOWDY, HOWDEN
YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO WASTING 25 MINUTES AT DONCASTER STATION
March 2025. Doncaster. The driver did notice me waving frantically on the Saltmarshe platform, and 35 minutes later I was at Doncaster with a dilemma. Sprint the 7 minutes each way to the Donny Brewery for a 10 minute pint schooner of “Gruesome Raspberry: Gravy is Finite”, or stay put at the station pub. What… Continue reading YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO WASTING 25 MINUTES AT DONCASTER STATION
EVEN CHRIS REA CAN’T DAMPEN THE JOY IN LAXTON’S BRICKLAYERS ARMS
March 2024. Laxton. Goole. Some tickers have, I read, been driven to Laxton in the beguiling wilderness east of Goole. That’s denying yourself the true magic of the Blacksmiths Arms, approached on foot through a village replete with mystical farmyard smells and twitching curtains. The one problem with arrival by train is that the pub… Continue reading EVEN CHRIS REA CAN’T DAMPEN THE JOY IN LAXTON’S BRICKLAYERS ARMS
A REQUEST HALT AT SALTMARSHE
March 2025. Saltmarshe. Goole. This year’s Good Beer Guide will take you to new entries in lesser visited Britain. Costessey, Quoyloo, Merthyr Tydfil… And Greater Goole. Not in Goole itself, though a biker we met the next day in Howden told us Brew York were opening up in the town market soon. My tick is… Continue reading A REQUEST HALT AT SALTMARSHE
GOOLE – TOM PUDDING, DAVID DAVIS, AND OTHER FAMOUS RESIDENTS
March 2025. Goole. 9 minutes till the train from Goole to Ye Olde Saltmarshe, the final step in my epic journey, and I would need 2 minutes of that to mispronounce my request stop to the Northern Trains guard. Let’s explore Pasture Road; Pierogi, an unusual career change for a carpenter, and a change of… Continue reading GOOLE – TOM PUDDING, DAVID DAVIS, AND OTHER FAMOUS RESIDENTS
A RETURN TO OLD GOOLE
March 2025. Old Goole. That Discourse discussion about beer scores rather assumed I only go to the “top beer towns” like Sheffield, Manchester and Wem, so the next few posts come from sunny Greater Goole. Two very tricky new Guide entries to the east and north of Goole, in fact: the sort served by one… Continue reading A RETURN TO OLD GOOLE
THE WORLD DOMINATION OF TIMOTHY TAYLOR LANDLORD REACHES THE BLIND MONKEY
March 2025. Sheffield. “ONLY an hour (in the Kelham), why for **** sake!!!If the answer’s Christine then I understand.“ Well, sort of. “Unless you have better idea” is Mrs RM code for “TAKE ME OUT NOW !“. I only stopped to take a pic of the daffodils, and the mural outside Tesco, but still made… Continue reading THE WORLD DOMINATION OF TIMOTHY TAYLOR LANDLORD REACHES THE BLIND MONKEY
AN HOUR IN THE KELHAM ISLAND TAVERN
March 2025. Sheffield. Last week on CAMRA Discourse I attempted to inflame a lively debate about reducing the number of Beer Guide entries by declaring that cask beer in GBG pubs was, all things considered, pretty good. “My own experience of visiting over 500 GBG pubs in the last year is that only a tiny… Continue reading AN HOUR IN THE KELHAM ISLAND TAVERN
THE BEAU NASH, ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS – FINE AND DANDY
March 2025. Royal Tunbridge Wells. A year ago, I was still taking Dad out to pubs regularly, his (and mum’s) weekly little respite. Now it’s my Father-in-law, a sprightly 86 year old who lives for our trips down to Kent and pints of Harvey’s. In truth, he’d been hoping from something more exciting than a… Continue reading THE BEAU NASH, ROYAL TUNBRIDGE WELLS – FINE AND DANDY
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