5th December 2022. My marathon* pub ticking day continued on t’tram toward Bury, but I jumped off at Radcliffe. As Will Hawkes astutely remarked in our interview, ticking the GBG forces you to visit places where others fear to tread. Dear reader, I had never been to Radcliffe before, and my visit to the New… Continue reading AN URGENT LOO STOP FOR RADCLIFFE
A HOLT AND A HYDE’S IN HEATON PARK
The Retired Martin household spent 25 December in Sheffield. No presents at all, but we did allow Mrs RM to serve a Christmas pudding she’d picked up cheap at Aldi late on Christmas Eve. I do not approve, but I have no say in my own house. All I want now I’m 58 (I know,… Continue reading A HOLT AND A HYDE’S IN HEATON PARK
NO POLITICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE BREWER’S PRIDE, SO CONVERSATION TURNS TO CAVITY INSULATION
When I was drawn back to Ossett the other week for a first new tick in a decade I remembered with affection the local brewery tap in that town. So I thought I’d go back and find it. I might need a third visit to do the Horse & Jockey, an ultra-rare OPEN Sam Smiths.… Continue reading NO POLITICS TO BE DISCUSSED IN THE BREWER’S PRIDE, SO CONVERSATION TURNS TO CAVITY INSULATION
PARTIZANAL
2nd December 2022. Sheffield’s railway station is the starting point for many exciting journeys. but increasingly there’s slim ticking pickings at the end. Never mind, at least a fourth trip to Nottingham in a year for gigs and cricket allows me to finish a Guide county, and pretend I’m “Doing the GBG” again. Or perhaps… Continue reading PARTIZANAL
WILL MAKES THE CASE FOR THE HEMEL HEMPSTEAD MAGIC ROUNDABOUT
1st December 2022. We should have called this little Sheffield pub crawl of unsung boozers something memorable like “Tipsy Thursday Trio” or “West Street Wobble” or whatever but then we’d breach CAMRA’s stringent rules on not taking the tutored tasting of ale and cultured exploration of public houses seriously and Mrs RM would be struck… Continue reading WILL MAKES THE CASE FOR THE HEMEL HEMPSTEAD MAGIC ROUNDABOUT
UNSUNG SHEFFIELD – THE RED DEER
Finally, the blog reaches December. Worryingly, there’s 44 pubs to write about in that last month already, so you should set aside the evening of the 31st to read a lot of posts. 1st December 2022. Time for Baa Baa Toure‘s quarterly spin. See how Alfie the Alpaca looks on, nervously/ With the day’s work… Continue reading UNSUNG SHEFFIELD – THE RED DEER
THE PROBLEM WITH BEING A GBG COMPLETIST IS THAT YOU HAVE TO GO IN THE LINCOLN STONEGATE PUB
You left me in the Strugglers where a chap on his x-th pub had plonked down next to me to discuss, apropos of nothing, Sigmund Freud. A dog dived into the intellectual’s bag (“He’s after my fricadella“); I feared for my plum bread and made a move. Suddenly, Lincoln made perfect sense, but I was… Continue reading THE PROBLEM WITH BEING A GBG COMPLETIST IS THAT YOU HAVE TO GO IN THE LINCOLN STONEGATE PUB
STRUGGLERS
Done the tick, done the Belgian thirds, time for a Lincoln classic. Let’s go up the Steep Hill. The puff of white smoke sadly doesn’t herald the reopening of Widow Cullens Well, as the city remains a Sam Smiths free zone. But there’s still Proper Pubs near the cathedral and castle, though the Victoria is… Continue reading STRUGGLERS
BLACKPOOL JANE WAS RIGHT (AS USUAL) ABOUT THE STRAIT & NARROW
I’d travelled by train to Lincoln, got the lone new GBG tick, there was nothing new in the exciting towns (Gainsborough, Worksop) on the way home; where now ? As always, I turn to Blackpool Jane… The Strait & Narrow ditched cask, often a good idea, and when I visited with Mrs RM in 2016… Continue reading BLACKPOOL JANE WAS RIGHT (AS USUAL) ABOUT THE STRAIT & NARROW
BEATING THE LINCOLN CHRISTMAS MARKETS RUSH TO THE NBSS 3.5 DOOM BAR
30th November 2022. The UK may not be quite back to normal post-Covid, but many of the rituals and traditions we took for granted in 2019 have returned. Some later than others, I see that Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival finally returns next month. Another tradition is moaning about our Christmas markets, which never look like… Continue reading BEATING THE LINCOLN CHRISTMAS MARKETS RUSH TO THE NBSS 3.5 DOOM BAR
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