Pub Curmudgeon kindly reminds me I’m slipping ever further behind, which is encouraging. Even worse, after some over-celebration last night I’m in no frame of mind to write about the next extraordinary Buxton stop just yet. So here’s the rather more straightforward Buxton Brewery Tap, a few yards round from the Crescent in Buxton’s craft… Continue reading CONSULTING THE MAPS
PEAK CRAFT
The normal protocol on these organised pub crawls is that you stick together, suffering the dodgy cask or keg craft, the pashminas and poodles, as a group. Well, stuff that. For a start our two Sheffield stars were On A Mission To Tick, running ahead to later return with tales of “warm Wainwright” and “weird… Continue reading PEAK CRAFT
SWANNING AROUND BUXTON
Greetings from Weaste, the less posh bit of Eccles, where the WiFi is good and the Chinese takeaway makes an excellent job of recycling the local cat and dog population. Post 2 from Buxton, as Charles and I try to catch up with “Ye Olde Official Itinerary” and fail miserably. Again. This was the timetable,… Continue reading SWANNING AROUND BUXTON
BUXTON BEGINS WITH BLACK PUDDING & BASS
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”
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