Draught Bass has the best trademark, but John Smiths has the best pub signs. Shame half the Johns pubs in Yorkshire are long closed. From the Westbourn Hotel (oddly marked as Lynn’s cafe on the map) I headed randomly north-eastward in the direction of Darnall. Whatever that is. The voyage of discovery takes you past… Continue reading THE BOXER
FISHING FOR JOHN SMITHS IN WOODBOURNE
It’s snowing again. We MUST be in the North. Luckily for Mrs RM, this will scupper the walk she promised me we’d make today (and the trip to the Dram Off-Licence, hey-ho). Talking of Mrs RM, she’s just invested in a weird world travel map to highlight the places she hasn’t been to yet. Note… Continue reading FISHING FOR JOHN SMITHS IN WOODBOURNE
UP THE SKI SLOPE
A bit of off-piste posting, before I return you to closed John Smiths boozers tomorrow. James and I ended up climbing the abandoned artificial slope at Parkwood Springs more in desperation than plan, having decided it’d be nightfall before we reached Rotherham. The light industrial streets north of the Valley of Beer aren’t the obvious… Continue reading UP THE SKI SLOPE
JANUARY STOCKTAKE + FEBRUARY PREVIEW (no, not really)
Contractual obligation requires me to bring you the “highlights” from January 2021. OK, it was the snow, giving Walkley a magical feel. Snow that brought children to the grassy knoll opposite our house with their sleds, only to be berated on Wonderful Walkley for spreading Covid in the frosty air. Covid kept our pubs and… Continue reading JANUARY STOCKTAKE + FEBRUARY PREVIEW (no, not really)
SAVED BY THE BELL
The estimable Tim Thomas has asked me to compile a “Guess the Pub” for his local branch. Sadly, there are very few Craft Union or Sizzlin’ pubs in Newbury, but I have one idea. This isn’t a Guess the Pub. I bet 75% of you can identify this famous place from the picture above, or… Continue reading SAVED BY THE BELL
TAX RETURNS
Don’t panic; you’ve still got 13 hours to get yours in. The Inland Revenue just let me off doing mine after I gave up claiming travel to tick GBG pubs was a deductible expense and my tax affairs became rather simpler. That leaves Mrs RM and my 19 year old barber to do theirs, if… Continue reading TAX RETURNS
IN THE SPRING, BECOMES THE ROSE
Enough “Guess the Pub” for today, time for some Bette Midler. Hard to believe this classic sold less copies than Spizz Energi’s “Where’s Captain Kirk” when it was released at the end of ’79, but then we Brits failed to see the merit of a number of overblown soppy epics. Did you know that “Lost… Continue reading IN THE SPRING, BECOMES THE ROSE
GUESS THE PUB GOES “NORTH”
It’s snowing in Sheffield, so my trip to explore the closed pubs of industrial Attercliffe on foot will have to wait. Have another quiz, as I head north. Or do I ? Depends on your view of when “North” starts, I guess. If it helps, today’s mystery was selling this “substantial meal” in December; “Hot… Continue reading GUESS THE PUB GOES “NORTH”
SHISHA
More “Guess the Pub” fun for your Saturday, as I bring you another of the brilliant “360 degrees pub tours on Google Maps”. Admit it, if I hadn’t told you this was a Shisha lounge you’d have guessed it was communal bench seating from the Black Country, wouldn’t you ? Here’s the first clue to… Continue reading SHISHA
IT’S…………THE WALDEGRAVE ARMS
While England sleeps, Dave “US” Southworth creates Bernie memes solves the Guess the Pub. I thought I was going to have to give you more clues like the Brunel photos. Yes, it’s the Waldegrave Arms in East Harptree, a pub I’d never heard of till yesterday, and will probably never hear of again. Tucked in… Continue reading IT’S…………THE WALDEGRAVE ARMS
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