retiredmartin

June 2024. Stansted. Basel. Two years ago I was in the middle of unrelenting UK travel that would only end with the completion of the Beer Guide. I really must tell you about that someday. Now it’s Mrs RM’s time to tick, as she homes in on European glory as surely as Scotland in Stuttgart… Continue reading A SWISS TICK

June 2024. Waterbeach. First up, let’s pause to pray for BRAPA’s liver as he recovers from 49 pints in a week in Devon. Good to see him taking a well-earned rest this morning… …oh. Back in Waterbeach, we have pub news. The Taps ? Sounds exciting. Actually there’s two actual brewery taps on the famous… Continue reading More Greater Waterbeach news. The Taps is back.

June 2024. Cambridge. Back “home” last weekend before another Mrs RM raid on the map of Europe, just long enough to admire the view from Sunnyside, Greater Waterbeach‘s top tourist attraction (4.8 on Trip Advisor). The main purpose of our weekly trips is make life easier for Mum and Dad, so it’s a little exasperating… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE WRESTLERS, CAMBRIDGE

June 2024. Manchester. A Wednesday gig and pub night in Manchester lacked one major item; a curry. Why not combine the two ? Society, home to a third entry in the Matt Curtis guide, which may get its own spreadsheet soon, beautifully situated next to the concert hall in Barbirolli Square, Blimey, packed again (and… Continue reading ALL THE PUBS IN THE MANCHESTER BEER BOOK – SOCIETY

June 2024. Manchester. Perhaps one of the most unsung pubs in the city, behind the Nags Head and Rising Sun (never been in those). I nearly went in this classic, but at the golden hour (5) it was just the wrong side of busy, so I’ll do it justice next time. The Peveril is a… Continue reading ALL THE PUBS IN THE MANCHESTER BEER BOOK – THE RAIN BAR

June 2024. Manchester. Another week, another midweek trip to Manchester for a gig and this time a successful attempt to get Matt’s record player going again. And it works ! “Master of Puppets” never sounded so good, says Emma. I leave their Piccadilly flat with 3 hours till my gig at YES, time enough for… Continue reading ALL THE PUBS IN THE MANCHESTER BEER BOOK – THE CIRCUS TAVERN

June 2024. Dorking. We’d spent the night in a public car park in Dorking with three (3) alpacas and a sheep, so that in the morning (after a large “regular” Americano at a rare decent Costa) we could nip down the A25 past the wealth management offices above Horsham to give our campervan (still not… Continue reading “Reserved for the Larry Grayson Society”. Proper Pubs in the Surrey Hills.

June 2024. Dorking. Oh, go on then. Cobbetts was closed on Sunday night, so all Dorking really has to offer is the Cricketers, the GBG Fullers perennial and one of the great Surrey pubs. Particularly good this Sunday night, as blokes (it is mainly blokes) come to discuss ailments, and by ailments I don’t mean… Continue reading TMI ! MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS NIGHT IN DORKING’S CRICKETERS

June 2024. Dorking. Our little campervan was looking all lonely in the council car park on our return from Wimbledon, but, unlike Redhill or Leatherhead or any other scruffian Surrey town I reckoned we were safe there with boy racers doing wheelies. Having said she wasn’t hungry and hour earlier, Mrs RM now dispatched me… Continue reading DISPATCHED INTO DORKING FOR CRISPS AND BEER

June 2024. Wimbledon. Some bad planning on my part meant that after ticking that Plough Lane brewery tap I’d run out of time to add an Ewell Ember entry by breaking our journey on the way home to Dorking, and I know how keen you folk are to read about Ember inns in Ewell. In… Continue reading WIMBLEDON’S PRINCE OF WALES PASSES “THE LANDLORD TEST”