I might group these pubs together soon, but then I’d go over 500 words and you’d just look at the pictures and try to find typos. And unquestionably, Surbiton’s Black Lion deserves its place in the sun. Excitingly, Surbiton needs a zig zag in and out of Clapham Junction to really increase my dispiritedness levels.… Continue reading “TELL ME SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT SURBITON”
LEAVING THE KEW TO STEW
Look at the sacred scrap of paper with my West London itinerary and you’ll see how I’m sticking to the running order. Can I make it to the very end ? Don’t be daft, that’s sixteen (16) pubs. It was hard enough getting to Richmond’s Tap Tavern, for goodness sake. I waited on the corner… Continue reading LEAVING THE KEW TO STEW
BRENTFORD : BEES, PUB CATS, BLACK DOG
Well, this is an easy post on Brentford. Would have been better if I’d popped back in the Express Tavern for a Bass, of course, but these itineraries need to work like clockwork. So as I stood waiting for the E2 that seemed reluctant to come and staring at a sign for Piri Piri. Second… Continue reading BRENTFORD : BEES, PUB CATS, BLACK DOG
SEXUAL EALING
On the upside, nabbing that title means BRAPA can’t use it. If he already has, I regret nothing. On the downside, it raises expectations I’ve no chance of meeting. For goodness sake, it’s Ealing, not Ely ! I suppose the Nude coffee at South Ealing is titillating in its way* ? Never mind, here’s a… Continue reading SEXUAL EALING
SEEING THE PRESTON
Odd tidy-up post, this, combining Preston, Penwortham and the Queen of Sydney. Quite a good day out from Eccles, five new GBG pubs including two I failed to pre-empt on the legendary Preston trip back in the heady days of August. I was a bit surprised to see Orchard enter the GBG mere days later,… Continue reading SEEING THE PRESTON
DODGING NOROVIRUS OUTBREAKS IN LANCASTER
I’ve been living a charmed life of late, dodging the floods in Yorkshire, BRAPA in Cumbria, and now a Norovirus outbreak in a Lancaster Spoons. I won’t make light of Norovirus (not to be confused with Nostradamus) and tell you that missing BRAPA by a day was the luckier escape. The Richard Owen seemed a… Continue reading DODGING NOROVIRUS OUTBREAKS IN LANCASTER
HEST IS BEST
Lancashire pub life, eh ? Ain’t it grand. Irish Sea Dave is the expert on the basic pubs of Morecambe Bay, and has almost certainly beat me to the Crossing at the, er, crossing at Hest Bank, one of three (3) pubs in a row on my Morecambe meander. A pleasant stroll along the coast… Continue reading HEST IS BEST
AREN’T SAM SMITHS PUBS GORGEOUS ?
It’s such a shame we can’t take photos with our phones in Sam’s anymore. Thank goodness for Kodak. My Sam Smiths experience came at the end of a Sunday spent in loud community pubs in east Lancashire. Having checked into the Milton in Eccles (£31) I toyed with finding a new bar in the Quays,… Continue reading AREN’T SAM SMITHS PUBS GORGEOUS ?
“SHE BELIEVES IN ME” – KARAOKE IN ATHERTON
Can there be a more attractively located place than Atherton, the jewel in the “bit between Wigan and Bolton“. Note “Dangerous Corner”, an area reserved for BRAPA comfort breaks, and Gin Pit, an area reserved for BRAPA after 6 pints. The mining towns between A580 and M61 (“58061 AM”) are largely corkers, though Tyldesley tended… Continue reading “SHE BELIEVES IN ME” – KARAOKE IN ATHERTON
THE DRUGS DON’T WORK IN ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD
Sometimes I feel like the luckiest lad in the world, until I remind myself I can only name one Van Halen track (“Walk this way“) and am therefore culturally redundant. On Sunday I got a haircut from the lad which was almost worth the cost of his barbering course, and then set off for Woollybackland.… Continue reading THE DRUGS DON’T WORK IN ASHTON-IN-MAKERFIELD
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