An exciting couple of days to finish off Berks, Bucks and Oxon sections of the GBG (take that, BRAPA), and confirm that Reading really is a classic pub town. My definition probably isn’t yours; all I need is a minimum of three great pubs, a cheap hotel, and a decent Chinese takeaway. So add Reading to… Continue reading NO RATTING ON READING
ROCHFORD RUMBLE
Just occasionally, you need to do a post just because the pun is staring you in the face. The Rochford rumble is the sound of aeroplanes taking off from Southend airport, or my tummy as I look for an independent bakery and fromagerie before ending up at a Sainsbury local. This is the new GBG… Continue reading ROCHFORD RUMBLE
SE15 COMES TO SOUTHEND
While some GBG obssessives completists finish off Loch Ness or Swaledale, I focused on Essex. There’s a hundred and thirteen GBG pubs in this most underrated county, and according to my unique scoring system, only three of those had duff beer. There’s some gorgeous pubs in Old Leigh, but newer Southend isn’t a hotbed of… Continue reading SE15 COMES TO SOUTHEND
MICRO-PUB QUIZZES IN MALDON
It may be due to snobbery that Maldon is so underrated as a coastal resort, compared to Southwold or Heacham. Folk from Cambridge, let alone North London, rarely make the much shorter journey south-east, compared to the slog along the A143 or A10. You’ll know what I think of estuary Essex. Maldon is very popular with urban Essex… Continue reading MICRO-PUB QUIZZES IN MALDON
A LUST FOR LETCHWORTH
Mrs RM and I only lived in Letchworth Garden City a couple of years before downsizing to Hitchin, but I retain some affection for the place. It was, after all, in the Arena Tavern that I had my first ever NBSS 4 beer, Flowers IPA. Sadly the internet hadn’t been invented back then so the score… Continue reading A LUST FOR LETCHWORTH
RETIRED MARTIN MAKES PEACE WITH FARSLEY
Never hold grudges. There’s no money in it. In March 2008 I really fell out with Farsley for complex reasons involving teenagers, spit and a Cambridge United defeat to a team of part-timers with an axe to grind in their sole season in National League football. In more than 40 years of watching football, this was the most… Continue reading RETIRED MARTIN MAKES PEACE WITH FARSLEY
ODD FELLOWS, SHIPLEY – HOW TO DO A MICRO-PUB
Last post from wonderful Bradford, ’till Monday at least, when I need to start making up some ground on BRAPA as he closes in on a full set of Yorkie ticks. I could have lumped Shipley in with Bradford, I suppose, but that sort of carelessness has no doubt started wars in CAMRA circles before.… Continue reading ODD FELLOWS, SHIPLEY – HOW TO DO A MICRO-PUB
BRADFORD’S INNER BEAUTY
There may be better beer to the west, but for the money there’s few better overnighters than Bradford. £21 on Sunday night at the Ibis Budget, and it’s only marginally scarier a location than the Travelodge in Maidenhead. If it wasn’t for the fog there’d be a glorious view of Valley Parade out of my… Continue reading BRADFORD’S INNER BEAUTY
TOP 100 PUBS – BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY
Keighley gets a bad press in Bill Bryson’s “Notes From a Small Island“, but then so do Milton Keynes and Worksop, so you can ignore him. And no town that boasts Eric Pickles, Dennis Healey, Kiki Dee and Terrorvision among its famous sons can be that bad. That would have been a supergroup and a… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY
IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
Taking the train from Bradford to Manchester gives you superb views of Iron Man art at Mytholmroyd, and peerless Calderdale views on the way past more pronounceable small towns. Only the Sheffield-Manchester line can match it. The train also gives me the chance to break my journey back at Hebden Bridge. 1.30pm kick-offs at the… Continue reading IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
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