Wednesday began with a typically healthy Dereham breakfast. Black pudding and white pudding from Bathgate, apparently. Charles knows how to live (B&B from £75pppn). With no comfort breaks or flat whites we drove straight to Buxton. The slog through Lincolnshire but the A617 really is the cruellest road. I gave Charles an unintended detour south… Continue reading BUXTON BEGINS WITH BLACK PUDDING & BASS
MORE TERRY JACKS
At the “Official Amber Valley Pub Tickers Convention” yesterday I was discussing with BRAPA the signs of a good pub while comparing notes on Whitley Bay with Mark, who had kindly foregone his train ticking weekend to join us in his local pubs. “Dire Straits is always the sign of a good pub” said Si,… Continue reading MORE TERRY JACKS
CRAFT (UNION) HITS DEREHAM
A night in (east) Dereham before a big day out with the Beer & Pubs Forum gang in Buxton; you need some practice sessions before hitting “the Brunx“. As you’ll remember, Dereham is the home of my Curry Chum Charles, who serves the every need of this little fella. An April Tuesday night in the… Continue reading CRAFT (UNION) HITS DEREHAM
A FINSBURY FROLIC
Less words, more pics from That London, including a rare diversion into unheralded Finsbury. A night at Tower Bridge was inevitably followed by a Miner’s Benedict in the scruffiest (but somehow lovable) Spoons in the kingdom. I resisted the easy-drinking breakfast beer. You risk bumping into folk, of course, but there’s some weird stuff around… Continue reading A FINSBURY FROLIC
GHERKINS & FIRKINS
After Spoons on the Mall, I made a critical mistake. “Shall we walk along Embankment to the Tower, my dear* ?” Mrs RM seemed enthusiastic, but I’d forgotten the law of “inappropriate footwear“, which dictates that the person you’re walking with will never be wearing the right shoes. Even an excellent tea in the Hare… Continue reading GHERKINS & FIRKINS
RUSSIAN BEER TASTERS IN THE MALL
Quite a contrast between Box Hill and Whitehall, where I was meeting Mrs RM for tea beer. What a wonderful sight London is these days. At Victoria I admired the eponymous theatre, currently showing “Hamilton”, a musical about the disallowed Everton goal in the 1977 FA Cup Semi Final. I met Mrs RM at… Continue reading RUSSIAN BEER TASTERS IN THE MALL
“I’VE GOT THE GOOD BEER GUIDE, ON TOP OF BOX HILL”
Yes, a bit of blog title PUNK for you next, courtesy of your favourite country gent and butter expert. 1min 30 secs in for all you lazy types. To think Simon wasn’t quite two when John Lydon ascended Box Hill. Ah, youth ! I was headed to Box Hill & Westhumble for my penultimate Surrey… Continue reading “I’VE GOT THE GOOD BEER GUIDE, ON TOP OF BOX HILL”
THE BUCKINGHAM ARMS – A PASSPORT TO GBG IMMORTALITY
I’m meeting Simon in Belper on Saturday (#PrayForRetiredMartin), and no doubt we will reflect on recent pubbing experiences. Last time we met, down in Dorset, he’d just completed the Famous Five GBG ever-presents at Worth Matravers, treating it with his usual lack of reverence. It’s three years since I last did the FF, and I’d… Continue reading THE BUCKINGHAM ARMS – A PASSPORT TO GBG IMMORTALITY
BASS & BALTI AT BURY ST EDMUNDS BEER FESTIVAL
Yes, that gentleman is actually pouring me a pint of lovely flat Bass yesterday*, at the excellent Bury St Edmunds Beer Festival. I don’t really get Beer Festivals, as you’ll know. In the words of the immortal Richard Coldwell “Beer Festivals Are Killing Pubs !”. But Bury (not that one) is close, the folk are… Continue reading BASS & BALTI AT BURY ST EDMUNDS BEER FESTIVAL
APRIL ’19 STOCKTAKE + MAY PREVIEW
Well, what a disaster this blog is. Sixty-eight posts published (about average) and I’m still only up to 13 April (2019, before the Prof asks). But if I don’t review April now, I never will. THE BARE STATS Fifty-two (52) new GBG pubs. Not as good as Bruce Masters, who’s done 50,000 pubs by doing… Continue reading APRIL ’19 STOCKTAKE + MAY PREVIEW
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