Cambridge folk are supposed to be at war with Peterborough, something to do with a Dion Dublin hat trick in 1989, but I’ve always got on fine with the ones I understood. It appears I also have relatives in their fine city, so I will tread carefully here. Best known for their giant, KeyKeg friendly… Continue reading PETERBOROUGH – YOU BIMBLE INN, YOU BUMBLE OUT
WELBECK GETS A FOOTHOLD IN SHEFFIELD
Another new pub in Sheffield, this one visited while our Son was unpacking boxes (10 minutes) and setting up Wi-Fi (50 minutes) in his residences. It’s a 20 minutes stroll through the Botanic Gardens to Sharrow, or Ecclesall Road as you’ll know it better. Home to one of Sheffield’s many great clusters of pubs, including the Beer… Continue reading WELBECK GETS A FOOTHOLD IN SHEFFIELD
WHATPUB SNOBBERY IN THE BARNSLEY BORDERS
Pigs are in the news again, I hear (possibly not in Canada). Any excuse for a classic “pig head on the Barnsley pub bar” shot. I still can’t work out what it was for. Hotel prices in University cities always rocket up when students move in. As a revered “tight git”, this meant swerving the usual… Continue reading WHATPUB SNOBBERY IN THE BARNSLEY BORDERS
SEPTEMBER ’17 STOCKTAKE & OCTOBER PREVIEW
No month that starts with Car Seat Headrest at End of the Road and ends with a Slade fan being subjected to ambient weirdness at Indy Man can be deemed a disaster. Throw in a top pint of Draught Bass and you’re smiling. Music and beer festivals tend to eat into pub ticking, but 40 pubs from the… Continue reading SEPTEMBER ’17 STOCKTAKE & OCTOBER PREVIEW
INDY MAN ’17 – AMONGST WOLVES
Two competing blog posts to finish today; the monthly review and my annual reflection on Indy Man Beer Con, which at least this year I can remember. Once more, the Bath’s the Star. One of the great venues anywhere, and the main reason I come back each year despite telling you consistently that beer festivals… Continue reading INDY MAN ’17 – AMONGST WOLVES
BOING BOING BAGGIES BLOW HOT AND COLD
I appreciate I’ve kept you waiting more than a week for a match report on West Brom v Man City. Apologies for that, but City won. A new hero in Sane, and a new entry in the Guide for West Brom, but it’s not The Bromwic that I predicted last April. Instead, flying a lonely… Continue reading BOING BOING BAGGIES BLOW HOT AND COLD
WILLENHALL’S SCRATCHINGS MAN
Is there a finer sight in PubDom than a pint of Enville (OK, a half) settling in a glass (OK, it’s a Wye Valley glass) in front of a giant bag of Black Country scratchings in a pub playing ’70s soul classics ? I think not. But you’ll have to guess the soul classic from the following;… Continue reading WILLENHALL’S SCRATCHINGS MAN
GONNA LIVE, ALUM ROCK
Today’s blog title comes to you (indirectly) courtesy of Dire Straits, a cult band from the early ’80s now ripe for re-evaluation, I feel*. One of the joys of Britainbeermat’s new blog lifeafterfootball839 is the way he delves into corners of east Brum most of us would rather not go. I have a suspicion that 839… Continue reading GONNA LIVE, ALUM ROCK
SUPER SUSSEX IN ST. ALBANS
I feel a con writing about St Albans when Alec has that gig covered, but this was my last tick in Hertfordshire and a goodie. To be fair to CAMRA-HQ, I don’t think I’ve ever been to a bad Beer Guide pub in the city, though the homebrew at the Farmer’s Boy was always a… Continue reading SUPER SUSSEX IN ST. ALBANS
FIRKIN’ WATFORD
Well, the committee that makes up my blog titles went into overdrive on this one. Nothing rhymes with Watford, a place I can’t love, but whose brightly-shirted team of unpronounceable players kindly let my beloved City trample all over them at regular intervals these days. And then leaves their calling cards in pub toilets.… Continue reading FIRKIN’ WATFORD
