April 2025. Ely. It’s two nights a week in Cambridge to chat to Dad about grandsons and VE Day (today’s topics) in his care home, so I might yet get enough blog material to do one of those “Town Pub Guides” that I sort of promised at the start of the year (but have been… Continue reading A QUIET SATURDAY NIGHT IN ELY…
WHERE HAS LEICESTER’s CHERRY TREE BEEN ALL MY LIFE ?
April 2025. Leicester. The last knockings of my Big Day Out in Hinckley, as I decide that 24 minutes is, in fact, enough time to see a bit more of Leicester, and somehow squeeze in a pint at the Cherry Tree, which a quick look at my giant spreadsheet confirms I’ve never been to before… Continue reading WHERE HAS LEICESTER’s CHERRY TREE BEEN ALL MY LIFE ?
BACK TO THE (REAL ALE) CLASSROOM
April 2025. Leicester. 45 minutes between connecting trains presents a challenge. Just too little time for goulash in Tatra, and tea only 2 hours after the faggots that would have been almost greedy. All logic says “Oh, go in the Ale Wagon, Retired Martin, you know you want to“, but that’s best reserved for a… Continue reading BACK TO THE (REAL ALE) CLASSROOM
KEG PEDI, PROPER PUB
April 2025. Hinckley. Back, again, through Hinckley’s pedestrianised centre to my final pub before the train home, stopping only to note the dramatic relocation of Mr Tax. Every trip to a UK town gives you a new perspective on the architecture, but to really understand a place you have to visit a tax advisor there,… Continue reading KEG PEDI, PROPER PUB
WILL PAUL BE TEMPTED BY THE DIPAs IN HINCKLEY’S ELBOW ROOM* ?
April 2025. Hinckley. All that Bass taking its toll now, but by law there has to be one GBG craft bar selling LocAles to counteract the evil of the national brown slop, and Elbow Room has established itself over nearly a decade as Hinckley’s purveyor of CAMRA-endorsed indie beer. Paul gamely surveyed the mass of… Continue reading WILL PAUL BE TEMPTED BY THE DIPAs IN HINCKLEY’S ELBOW ROOM* ?
THE WILLIAM BASS TRAIL REACHES THE PESTLE & MORTAR
You try coming up with blog titles for four successive Bass pubs. April 2025. Hinckley. Well, this hastily convened exploration of a rarely visited (for pubs, I’m sure folk visit for the household wares shop) Leicestershire market town was going well, and a fourth pint of Bass in three hours came two minutes from our… Continue reading THE WILLIAM BASS TRAIL REACHES THE PESTLE & MORTAR
TOP 100 PUBS – THE GREYHOUND, HINCKLEY
April 2025. Hinckley. It’s just gone 1pm as our Gang of Four (nice post-punk reference for Quinno there) and we decide on a bus for the mile and a half back into Hinckley and Pub 3. I’d have walked to save 3 quid, but it’s a dull old route, and at least the bus gives… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE GREYHOUND, HINCKLEY
MORE BASS IN BURBAGE
April 2025. Burbage. I do have a number of rules I apply to my blogging. No more than ten pictures, a two minute read so you can read it in the time it takes to sink a pint of Bass, all facts checked independently by ChatGPT, and NO MORE than 100 pubs in the Top… Continue reading MORE BASS IN BURBAGE
THE RED LION. BEAUTIFUL BASS IN BURBAGE
April 2025. Burbage. While I’d been leading Stafford Paul on a curated tour of church doors, horsepools and wildflowers, our fellow toppers Quinno and Leon were on a meandering route to meet up at the Red Lion. A solid place to start, though perhaps not a cask line up to impress folk who believe all… Continue reading THE RED LION. BEAUTIFUL BASS IN BURBAGE
“Putting the world to rights, lads ?”. Banter in Burbage
April 2025. Burbage. I suspect that 98% of the UK couldn’t place Burbage on the map, not that folk have maps in 2025. Tucked in between Leicester, Nuneaton and the world famous Watling Street/M69 junction, it’s virtually contiguous with Hinckley, which leaves you none the wiser.. As Official Custodian of the tour, I’d produced a… Continue reading “Putting the world to rights, lads ?”. Banter in Burbage
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