retiredmartin

September 2025. Sheffield. You’ll remember (well, Russ will, he takes notes) that I’d started the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon in full Bass Star kit, spraining a metaphorical ankle by losing the stickered map after a week, having to start again, then losing interest when the new GBG “dropped” (ugh). I actually made three (3) trips… Continue reading THE SHEFFIELD HALF PINT MARATHON. A BIT OF A SPRINT AT THE END

September 2025. Hope to Castleton. Ooh, a tourist pub ! You’d be surprised how few GBG entries there are in the Peak District, with the towns on the edge hogging the entries over the years. But Castletown, home to Blue John as well as the gateway to Stockport, gets a third different Guide pub since… Continue reading TO CASTLETON, IN HOPE RATHER THAN EXPECTATION

September 2025. Cambridge. The town of my birth, if not my heart, was experiencing a quiet period in the week before the students return. Cambridge gets steady Asian tourist trade, most of which succumbs to the charm of foppish undergrads and books a £30 (ouch !) punting tour by the Quayside. If you do one… Continue reading YOUR CLOSEST GBG PUB TO THE CAMBRIDGE PUNTS

September 2025. Atherstone. One thing about Old Mudgie, he’ll make sure there’s a lunch stop on your pub crawl. What he couldn’t have foreseen was that the White Horse, under new management and with an ambitious lunch menu, would be quite so overstretched. We turned up at 13:40, my fish and chips 50 minutes later.… Continue reading ATHERSTONE – A SLIGHT RETURN. (iii) HAUTE CUISINE

September 2025. Atherstone. Just like Oasis, our revival of August’s massively successful Atherstone crawl was a re-run of the big hits, just with better-looking participants. We start off at the canal pub, where the King’s Head is again solid but unexciting, but the Landlord is a good chewy pint (NBSS 3+). The walk along the… Continue reading ATHERSTONE – A SLIGHT RETURN. (ii) MAID OF THE MILL

September 2025. Atherstone. Barely a month after the official CAMRA curated exploration of Atherstone’s public houses, we were back at Warwickshire’s most beguiling small market town. This time Old Mudgie and Jon from Frome joined Stafford Paul and me on what we on the breakaway Beer and Pubs Forum call “A p**s-up“. Mrs RM joined… Continue reading ATHERSTONE – A SLIGHT RETURN. (i) HERITAGE

September 2025. Crookes. Two ticks on the Sheffield half-pint marathon, a clever device to get you out of the house in a quiet September visiting pubs. As if I need an excuse. Crookes is a decently pubbed village for middle-class Sheffield, and Two Sheds is a pleasant bar-cum-bottle shop that would be a permanent fixture… Continue reading MUSICAL DIFFERENCES

September 2025. Sheffield. A lot of short posts, as I don’t want to keep you from Strictly Come Dancing or Softly Softly repeats or whatever you lot watch on telly. Back in Sheffield, I decided to have another go at the Sheffield half pint marathon after that setback of losing the pub map. Crookes looked… Continue reading PIE NIGHT 🥧 AT THE PUNCH BOWL

September 2025. Batley. The suburban towns of Leeds aren’t undiscovered gems, but I really ought to have a better understanding of places like Batley, back with a GBG newbie this year. Ten minutes stroll from the  station gives you a good sense of the faded grandeur of the mills, it’s a little like Bradford’s Little… Continue reading INTO BATLEY