retiredmartin

August was a travel-packed month, to be sure, with fifty-three (53) different pubs visited around the country, and only one duffer (and that closed for good the week after my visit). and now in the first week of September we pay the price with both vehicles in for repairs. Probably just need switching on and… Continue reading AUGUST ’25 STOCKTAKE + SEPTEMBER PREVIEW

August 2025. Birmingham. Our Gang of Four left the NEC at 5pm, just as the crowds were arriving at the Great British Beer Festival‘s Friday night session. Except they weren’t. It was eerily quiet, in contrast to central Brum, packed with Hen parties, cricket fans, and Blues heading to St. Andrews for the start of… Continue reading IN SEARCH OF SOUR SMOOTHIES AT THE COLMORE

August 2025. Birmingham. Just back from four days of nu-folk and falafel wraps and Korean cinema at End of the Road Festival, I bet you can’t wait for my reviews of Glasshouse Red Spider Mite and Tropical F**k Storm, coming up in, ooh, 8th November. The defining image of EOTR 25 is not a pretty… Continue reading CRAZY TRAIN

August 2025. Birmingham. This was the view from our £45 B & B hotel. Chinatown (via a grotty, Newport-esque, underpass), the Gay Quarter (1 pub I think) and HS2. The next week we returned and had a south facing view of a derelict building site. Birmingham is, like Manchester and Sheffield, a city of architectural… Continue reading CHERRY REDS

August 2025. Birmingham. I’m currently in a field, in Wiltshire (or possibly Dorset) drinking Verdant murk with James, while Mrs RM guards the house. She doesn’t get the weird alt-folk and craft cans, but she does get WiFi. I don’t. So these next few posts may be minimal. But you don’t need to actually say… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE CRAVEN ARMS, BIRMINGHAM

August 2025. Birmingham. Mrs RM had retired to our B & B hotel in central Brum, probably with a huge bag of crisps, and wasn’t coming out again. So as the train back from Dorridge crawled into Moor Street, a bonus pub. Wonder what BRAPA’s been up to ? It was 6:49 PM on the… Continue reading HOOCH IS BACK !

August 2025. Dorridge. I left Mrs RM to finish her pint under the arches at Indian Brewery so I could catch the fast train to Dorridge, a 17 minute trip with gasping plug sockets the highlight. Obviously I know of Dorridge; I’m a man, I know everywhere. It’s basically a smart Solihull suburb, a Midland… Continue reading WHAT A RACQUET ! DISASTER DODGED IN DORRIDGE

August 2025. Birmingham. Two nights in Birmingham at the reliable (and £45) B & B hotel across the A38 from the Victoria, and with the Great British Beer Festival tomorrow Thursday was the day to explore Brum, unencumbered by GBG ticking. I always reckon you need at least a dozen visits to get to the… Continue reading ON THE BRUM DESI TRAIL

August 2025. Birmingham. I should have been at the Great British Beer Festival on the Wednesday, bringing you tasting notes from the No/Lo Alcohol bar and telling you how the Rolling Stones tribute was worse than the real Oasis. But Father-in-Law’s emergency treatment took precedence, and deferring the Brum trip a couple of days had… Continue reading TROUBLE BRUMMING AT BREWDOG