I can lump Barrowford in with Barnoldswick, but Colne stands alone. The last stop at the end of the M65, a million miles from posh Skipton but a world way from “difficult-to-love” Nelson, whose only Beer Guide pub in recent memory was a (very good) Hungry Horse. Colne, like Darwen, is an undiscovered gem. Steep… Continue reading A COLNE COLOSSUS
WISTFUL MICROS FOR PENDLE WITCHES
Today we start #PrayForSi week, as BRAPA ventures into Cornwall with only a Good Beer Guide and the sure and certain knowledge that Newquay is a very bad base for tackling the county. To cheer him up, I found a programme (above) of a Hull Tigers match that, by my reckoning, he might well have been conceived… Continue reading WISTFUL MICROS FOR PENDLE WITCHES
A CLAYTON-LE-MOORS TOURISM BOOST
I’m writing this in Copenhagen after two of the great pub visits, which I really ought to be writing about instead of Clayton-le-Moors (which I always confuse with Clayton-le-Woods). But discipline is needed if I’m going to maintain any sense of chronology. As if to prove I’m abroad, Bing won’t let me show you the… Continue reading A CLAYTON-LE-MOORS TOURISM BOOST
TRAINSPOTTING IN RAMSBOTTOM
Not really of course. Trainspotting is, ahem, much too noble a pastime for the likes of me, but hopefully Tom will enjoy these pictures of noisy engines at Ramsbottom Station, where trains pretend to go to interesting places in Rossendale and Rochdale, ignoring the harsh reality that folk here really want to go to Accrington. Still,… Continue reading TRAINSPOTTING IN RAMSBOTTOM
JUNE ’17 STOCKTAKE
About time I did a quick review of June, as you’ll be wanting to know if “Table, Table” has won the coveted “New Pub of the Month” award. No. That goes to an estate pub in a Cannock suburb. New Pub of the Month – The Bridge, Hednesford A community melting pot, where folk of… Continue reading JUNE ’17 STOCKTAKE
HITCHIN CRAFT INVASION
I’d always thought the real sign of a craft breakthrough would be a bar with keg fonts on the back wall in the North Hertfordshire towns of my youth. Well, Letchworth suddenly has a modern brewery tap and a bottle shop to rival anything in Glossop. And now, from possibly the lowest starting point of… Continue reading HITCHIN CRAFT INVASION
JAIPUR @ OSCAR’S
A year into our campervan adventures, and we’ve stayed at Newark four nights already. This is partly because the nice people at Brownhills Motorhomes let us stay there free and give us vouchers for free pies and Chuckle Brothers tribute acts, but also because Newark is pretty special. We visited again last week while clever… Continue reading JAIPUR @ OSCAR’S
10pm, “TABLE TABLE”, NEWARK
I get to drink at some wonderful places and write about them on this blog; the King’s Head, Boar’s Head and North Riding are going to make June’s Pub of the Month selection as tough as the 1994 Matt le Tissier Goal of the Year contest. They were all overdue revisits, and finding new GBG… Continue reading 10pm, “TABLE TABLE”, NEWARK
WILTING IN LODSWORTH
One last pub in Lodsworth to complete The Sussex Chapters (good band name) of the Guide. A couple of miles from peerless Petworth, this is posh Sussex at its best. Best walking, anyway. I managed about five miles in the heat, bumping into exactly zero other walkers, before wilting and succumbing to the call of… Continue reading WILTING IN LODSWORTH
BITTER & TWISTED IN LITTLEHAMPTON
It’s just ocurred to me that East Preston might also align itself with Littlehampton. No idea why, but then CAMRA branch geography is equally weird. I’d been looking forward to an overdue return to Littlehampton, which seems to have upped its game since my last visit, with an average visitor age some 37 years below… Continue reading BITTER & TWISTED IN LITTLEHAMPTON
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