Living in Sheffield brings Derby within easy reach, 30 minutes by rail in fact, and it’s a mystery, as the song goes, that it took me nearly a year to make the trip. The new GBG offers three new Derby pubs, one of which in Spondon you’ve met already. The other two are new micros… Continue reading CALIFORNIA (DERBY), BUT NO DREAMIN’
WHITELOCK’S
I mentioned yesterday the problem with rail travel, the urge it creates to fill in time between trains with a rushed extra pub visit (See: BRAPA, every Saturday night). And so it was on the way back from Harrogate to Sheffield that I found myself having to kill 44 minutes in Leeds without an obvious… Continue reading WHITELOCK’S
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TAP & SPILES ?
My second Harrogate tick (there’s 11 in the new GBG) was arguably pointless. The Tap on Tower Street was in the Guide as a Tap & Spile a decade or so ago so those who abide by the Paisley Pronouncements on Pubbing would consider it ticked. But I’d paid for my train ticket, fancied a… Continue reading WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE TAP & SPILES ?
THAT’S VELOUTE
Two new pubs in Harrogate for me, though one of them fell into the “arguable” category tickers love to argue about. Both only ten minutes walk from the station, another couple to Harrogate’s astonishing collection of GBG pubs (eleven this year). Those eleven entries are quite capable of changing names, if not location, each year,… Continue reading THAT’S VELOUTE
THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE TRAIN GBG TICKER
A couple of days off, then a hop on t’train to make some more inroads (mixed metaphors here) into that 581 pubs needed to finish GBG22. I’m using the trains a lot more in Sheffield than in Cambridge, for all sorts of reasons and not just because I hate driving in the dark to overpriced… Continue reading THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG-DISTANCE TRAIN GBG TICKER
RETFORD RE-ASSESSED
Having told you I’ve 581 pubs to visit to complete GBG22, let’s make a start, shall we ? Let’s revisit Retford. The most wonderful invention, apart from VAR and pink markers, is the concession that allows rail users to “break their journey” (unless you’ve bought a time specific advance ticket). An hour between trains, but… Continue reading RETFORD RE-ASSESSED
“I’ve seen the cross-ticking and the damage done, a loss of 195 pubs on GBG21. Gone, gone..”
I promised you (well, US Dave), the results of my cross-checking the new Good Beer Guide tonight, so here it is. THE SCORE Having marked in pink all the 4,508 entries in GBG22 that I’ve already done, like this; I calculate I’d visited 3,927 pubs by the time the new GBG “landed” (ugh). That’s 87.1%,… Continue reading “I’ve seen the cross-ticking and the damage done, a loss of 195 pubs on GBG21. Gone, gone..”
TOP 100 PUBS – VICTORIA, LINCOLN
Have I done this one before ? Wouldn’t surprise me. Pauline nearly guessed right, I did look in the window of the Strugglers, named after the ascent from the Wetherspoons to the pubs at the top of the hill. Sadly staff illness had scuppered what look like a good trading day. Such is a publican’s… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – VICTORIA, LINCOLN
IMPISH BEHAVIOUR
Yes, it’s Lincoln ! Living in Sheffield gives you access to all of England’s great towns by rail; Lincoln, Derby, Retford… Mrs RM joined me on my first official ticking expedition of the new Guide year. The Tiny Tavern, a lone new GBG entry and the first for a while, had a locked door but… Continue reading IMPISH BEHAVIOUR
PINK MARKER TO THE READY, LET’S GET STARTED
A week ago, I returned from Norfolk via my parents to find Baa Baa Toure looking like the goat that got the cream. Or something. My new GBG had finally arrived., a mere 2 weeks after some of my rival fellow tickers. Note the damage at bottom left. My GBG22 already looks more worn than… Continue reading PINK MARKER TO THE READY, LET’S GET STARTED
