retiredmartin

September 2025. Sheffield. It’s very important to get your steps in, I recommend 15,000 a day, though if you’re in Sheffield walking up our hill you may consider every step worth double. What you must not do is start a walk but get immediately distracted by pubs, which unfortunately is what I did while trying… Continue reading A HUNT FOR BASS AND SCUFFLERS. THE LORD NELSON, SHEFFIELD

September 2025. Sheffield. Yes ! Into September, and only an estimated 33 posts to catch up before month-end, which will surely thrill reader Russ. A difficult month so far (parental stuff), but the arrival of a new GBG is always joy, and the Sheffield ticker also has a little trail in aid of Mind to… Continue reading THE SHEFFIELD HALF PINT MARATHON. No. 3 – KAPITAL

August 2025. End of the Road Festival. Cranborne Chase. Your annual round-up of my 4 days on the Wiltshire/Dorset listening to music made my people young enough to be Oasis’s grandchildren. Not only do I spend 1.3% of my year in a field, I probably took 3 days listening to all 132 artists and compiling… Continue reading END OF THE ROAD 2025.  THE YEAR THE CEREAL MILK SOUR BEER RAN OUT

August 2025. Coombe Bissett. And so to my, though possibly not your, highlight of the year as we head to Cranborne Chase for a 4 day festival of sad girl pop, nu folk and slow core. Mrs RM has decided she doesn’t much fancy 4 days or sad girl pop, nu folk and slow core,… Continue reading LAST STOP BEFORE THE END OF THE ROAD. THE FOX & GOOSE, COOMBE BISSETT

August 2025. Manchester. A guided tour of Manchester art from Matthew, who has had more changes of hairstyle than Manchester City have alternative strips. A lot of Mancunian art has is commercial, though often you’ll struggle to see what they’re advertsing (and that’s the point !. August brings a return to the Etihad, in the… Continue reading NO REAL ALE AT THE ETIHAD. AGAIN

August 2025. Tamworth. The trip from Sheffield to Atherstone is quite straightforward; head down to Tamworth on CrossCountry, then one stop on West Midlands Rail towards Euston, not much over an hour. HOW MUCH !!!! No wonder it had taken so long to take Stafford Paul’s advice and head for North Warwickshire’s unsung pub town.… Continue reading FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE TAMWORTH TAP

August 2025. Atherstone. And finally, our seventh Atherstone pub of the day, and an actual Beer Guide entry (GBG 25, anyway). The Angel looks classy, if a bit plain, and it has the beers, including a healthy Leatherbritches contingent. I had a good half of Cherry Bock (3+), but my only memory, after a day… Continue reading “The year of the cat”. THE ANGEL, ATHERSTONE

August 2025. Atherstone. Part 6 of the Atherstone Ale Adventure, and a sign that I must be approaching middle-age as after five (5) pints I was ready to retire. So I left the hardened Leicester/Marple/Sheffield contingent to the White Horse (mixed reports, about to change hands, revisit next week), and joined Stafford Paul on the… Continue reading “ELEGANT”. THE MARKET TAVERN TAP, ATHERSTONE

August 2025. Atherstone. Will had given us a superb itinerary for our Alcoholic Adventure in Atherstone, but he’d inexplicably missed out one of the few GBG entries of old. Oh, I remember why. The Hat & Beaver is what we call “unimproved“, or unspoilt if you like. Leaving Will to explore shopfronts, the rest of… Continue reading WHIPPETS AND BASS. THE HAT AND BEAVER, ATHERSTONE.

August 2025. Atherstone. First things first, or thereabouts. It’s great to have Russ back on the blog, after a Lost Weekend that went on for two years, and not just as my unpaid spellceker. And for the delight of another North American reader, news that I’ve found King Dick’s Hole, just north of Atherstone near… Continue reading MY LAST PINT OF BANKS’S FROM WOLVERHAMPTON. THE OLD SWAN, ATHERSTONE.