Just 17 minutes on the train from Aldershot, central Woking feels a different world. Not always a world I’d want to inhabit, with an athletics centre of a football ground and only a Spoons and a Social Club for Beer Guide company. Type “Woking” into WhatPub and the first places you see are an O’Neill’s, a Slug, a… Continue reading OPEN ALL HOURS – KNAPHILL’S ROYAL OAK DOES A PROPER JOB
ASTONISHED IN ALDERSHOT
Enough of the Midlands, as Tuesday brought a trip to the prosperous South-East, which is at least well-supplied with cheap Travelodges and those odd Days Inn places. It’s just a shame they’re all in Fleet. Logic tells me we’ve only been to Aldershot thrice in our lives, which puts it behind Goole on my league table. … Continue reading ASTONISHED IN ALDERSHOT
THE FULL SPOONS BLOW-OUT IN NEWARK
“Not another post from Newark !” I can hear Dick and Dave cry from 2,138 miles away. Well tough, Newark is full of good beer, cheer and isn’t very dear (that should get me a tenner from the Tourist Office). It’s so good we might end up living in our campervan on the free site… Continue reading THE FULL SPOONS BLOW-OUT IN NEWARK
I WOULDN’T LET IT LYE
Here, as promised last night, is the delayed report from Lye, former Balti capital of the West Midlands. And here’s Susan Tully, beautifully rendered in the town’s only noticeable street art. I can find no connection between Susan and the Black Country from a cursory look at the Grange Hill Annual for 1978, no doubt… Continue reading I WOULDN’T LET IT LYE
IN ELLESMERE, ERRONEOUSLY
I wanted to bring you tales of Susan Tully and One Direction cover bands today (ten points for guessing where they’re from) , but circumstances dictate that I confess to a first-order cock-up. I know how much our US readers enjoy my misfortunes, following “locked in Victoria Park-Gate” and “Gatecrashing a Wedding-Gate“. I booked a… Continue reading IN ELLESMERE, ERRONEOUSLY
CARLTON – EDGY IN NOTTS
Having just seen an affectionate BBC programme on Ordnance Survey (theme – only weird men buy OS Maps), I was tempted to give you an extract from Explorer 260. But all that would show you is how built up east Nottingham is, with points of interest having to be hunted down on foot. The faithful navigator… Continue reading CARLTON – EDGY IN NOTTS
NOTTINGHAM IN THE DRY
Any trip out with Mrs RM has some frisson of excitement and potential for disaster. And so it was in Greater Nottingham last Monday, where we searched for the soul of “Rough Notts” that Alan Winfield warns me about all the time. But first a pub-less visit to the centre to track down a piece… Continue reading NOTTINGHAM IN THE DRY
WILLOUGHBY WATERLEYS TO BRUNTINGTHORPE – THE BASS TRAIL
Enough of the Lord Protector, back to Lord Protz, whose Good Book offers us another gem in undiscovered South Leicestershire (unless you live in South Leicestershire, of course). I appreciate that Roger doesn’t write all the Beer Guide, and the entries are down to hardworking CAMRA branches like Leicester, who thankfully aren’t afraid to put a… Continue reading WILLOUGHBY WATERLEYS TO BRUNTINGTHORPE – THE BASS TRAIL
MARCH ’17 STOCKTAKE
Not only do I rely on folk in Crewe, Stockport and Newbury to spell-check my posts, I rather expect anyone to point out the absence of a March stocktake. I was rather thrown by BRAPA summing up before month-end, a heinous crime. So fashionably late, we have; 40 new GBG pubs across 18 GBG counties,… Continue reading MARCH ’17 STOCKTAKE
DON’T BICKER OVER A DUFF HALF
Retired Martins’s first rule of blogging is “There is no post, however slight, that cannot be redeemed by a photo of a cat“. So here (s)he is, perched on a wall near the Red Lion in Bicker in the heart of nowhere, Lincs. In my former life as scum NHS management, I actually stayed in… Continue reading DON’T BICKER OVER A DUFF HALF
