Aylesbury isn’t all bad. The King’s Head was one of my Top 100 pubs, after all, and there’s some pleasant (damned with faint praise) villages on the bus ride up to Winslow. I’m sure Simon will appreciate the misericords and basilicas in the parish church at Oving, whose Black Boy was benefitting from a wake… Continue reading XT4 & WAKES IN AYLESBURY
WHAT’S GOING ON ?
It’s not my aim to knock our hard-working publicans, they make or break the quality of beer and if this blog has any aim other than as a diary it’s to promote pubs off the beaten track. So I’m going to anonymise my latest problematic trip to a new Beer Guide entry (if you can hack… Continue reading WHAT’S GOING ON ?
BANBURYSHIRE
Banburyshire (source:Wiki) has more to offer than £4 roast dinners. Just down the A4260 is one of the many golden stone villages that make the Oxon/Northants/Warwicks borders a competitor for the Cotswolds. Deddington has the usual minor tourist attractions; a ruined castle, one sided football pitch, snowdrops, antique centre and gun shop. “The quietest place reading… Continue reading BANBURYSHIRE
CHEAP’N’CHEERFUL IN CHERWELL
Very soon the journey from Cambridge to Oxford will be doable at lightning speed, possibly by the complete removal of Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes. Oxford itself has much for the American tourist who can afford £14.75 for a burger, but Scrooge McTaylor recommends instead the less-trod villages to the north. It may look a bit… Continue reading CHEAP’N’CHEERFUL IN CHERWELL
EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY
You can’t begin to imagine how excited I was to be given a visit to Daventry by the new Beer Guide. It’s at least 15 years since the Dun Cow and Coach & Horses bounded hand-in-hand into the GBG and stayed there togetherfor ever, at least until they both dropped out a little while back. … Continue reading EARLY DOORS IN DAVENTRY
HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
Hard to believe, but Mrs RM and I spent a fair few of our early mini-breaks in Wakefield. This was in the days before the internet, when we would find hotels by driving slowly past them, reversing, and asking about rooms. That worked until we got stranded near Skegness one time (ask Mrs RM). The St Pierre in… Continue reading HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
JANUARY STOCKTAKE
A month that started in Leigh and ended in Dublin is quite hard to sum up. Just the paltry 35 new Beer Guide pubs, though at least I’ve cleared most of London now. I lost one week to the after-effects of the Manchester Beer Festival, and another to Dublin, whose best pubs really ought to be… Continue reading JANUARY STOCKTAKE
MONDAY, MONDAY
There’s only one thing better than a trip away exploring cobbled streets, ticking pubs and tasting takeaways. And that’s reading about my fellow GBG completists disasters. It’s like the joy you get from confirmation of an Arsenal defeat to a tiny team like Watford. So my recommended reading is Simon’s report from just outside Drax Power Station,… Continue reading MONDAY, MONDAY
REAL DALESMEN, REAL PUBS
When you think you’ve seen it all, along comes Simon Everitt with a January Sunday night in a Croydon Travelodge. But as a base to do visit rural pubs in Buckinghamshire. Really, my admiration knows no bounds. I can’t even pretend that a crafty night in Swaledale can compete with Penge and Chorleywood, but if… Continue reading REAL DALESMEN, REAL PUBS
SAM SMITHS – QUALITY IN CLIFFORD
It’s always good to sample Sam Smiths OBB close to source, and the Old Star in Clifford is about as close as you can get without braving Tadcasters dead-end (bridge re-opening next week I hear). I was visiting fellow blogger Richard Coldwell (Ouhouse), who knows about quality beer judging by the Clifford Beer Fest (Sat… Continue reading SAM SMITHS – QUALITY IN CLIFFORD
retiredmartin 