retiredmartin

August 2025. Long Lawford nr Rugby. Mrs RM decided that she wanted an immediate return to finalise blog material  on Birmingham, a city (like Chisinau) that has obviously never been blogged on before. I reckoned I could finish a few GBG chapters as well, starting off with a rare trip just west of Rugby. Long… Continue reading BEER AND SKITTLES (AND ARTISAN BURGERS) IN LONG LAWFORD

August 2025. Norwich. Outside of festivals, August gigs in cities are a bit of a rarity due to the lack of students, though the Americana folk I bore you with tend to mix up the festivals with the odd gig in small venues. Norwich Arts Centre’s converted church isn’t that small, but the intimacy and… Continue reading SURPRISING CASK STATS IN NORWICH

August 2025. Norwich. A night in Norwich, whose Arts Centre is one of my favourite gig venues in the country, along with Leeds’s Brudenell and London’s Lexington. But with no new GBG entries in the centre, how do you gainfully spend an hour before the first act? Well, no serious pub blogger should say he… Continue reading FAT CAT, TOM CAT. (NEARLY) 5*

August 2025. Great Moulton. Norfolk. I’ve made a historically poor effort to visit Norfolk’s newbies this year, they’re incredibly remote, even by Norfolk standards. But August brings a night in Norwich, and a rare pub in South Norfolk, of which Wiki says; A full-time career travelling the country visiting pubs, churches and Chinese takeaways, and… Continue reading FOLLOW THE TRACTORS TO GREAT MOULTON

August 2025. Newton. Cambridge. After an evening with a sleepy Dad in his care home we dropped a friend off near Addenbrookes and kept heading randomly south. Oh, look, a nice pub. “This looks like the Queen’s Head“. Mrs RM, who’d been paying no attention to the route, astonishes me with her powers of perception.… Continue reading “This looks like the Queen’s Head” says Mrs RM

August 2025. South Milford/Sherburn-in-Elmet. It’s 4:20pm, an hour and a quarter till my train home, plenty of time for a fifth and last pint on the Sherburn/South Milford curated pub survey. “Make sure you get the right side of the barrier” says a surprisingly sober Leon as we head past his home village’s UNESCO World… Continue reading STUCK THE WRONG SIDE OF THE GATE AT SHERBURN STATION SWINGING A BAG OF CRISPY BEEF

August 2025. South Milford. We leave Oddfellows playing Rick Wakeman and adverts for cremation, which is Sherburn in a nutshell, and walk the mile to Leon’s home village of South Milford, where his lovely wife and child would be standing on the doorstep to cheer him on. A Monday afternoon in two rural Yorkshire farming… Continue reading SWANNING INTO SOUTH MILFORD

August 2025. Sherburn-in-Elmet. So*, should you be cancelling your vacations in Shanghai and Sheerness and booking a holiday in Sherburn ? Well, that will depend on the quality of the Chinese takeaway obviously. You could so the Elmet “Where’s Wally ?” trail, try to identify the street art, and find someone who’ll let you see… Continue reading P**SHEAD CORNER, ODDFELLOWS, SHERBURN IN ELMET

August 2025. Sherburn-in-Elmet. Leon was giving me the Deluxe Curated Tour of Sherburn, even though he doesn’t actually live there or use the pubs regularly. Sherburn is a town of 6,657 souls, who all seemed cheerful enough despite the absence of regular trains to Sheffield. Or a Wetherspoons. It has a Sam Smiths pub, though,… Continue reading TURNING THE PHONE OFF AT THE DOOR OF THE RED BEAR IN SHERBURN IN ELMET

August 2025. Sherburn-in-Elmet. A prime example of the distractions I face having completed the GBG; this Monday Meander round Milford was the sort of pubbing for fun you don’t get when on a ticking mission. South Milford (is there a North ?) Leon, Wetherspoons completist and Park Run ticker, had invited me to join him… Continue reading MARCHING ON TOGETHER. RM AND LEON DO SHERBURN IN ELMET