A very quick post from the Piccadilly Tap (updated in the North Staffs Hotel) to reassure our US readers I haven’t been murdered by Stokies furious at my choosing London murk over their Plum Porter on Saturday. I’m staying in Stoke, which is fun. Good train connections for Manchester and Stone, which has a rare… Continue reading LOVELY LYMESTONE
SURVIVING SOUTH-WEST LONDON PART 2 – TOOTING TO CLAPHAM
The No.44 dropped off us off at Tooting Broadway, allowing us half a mile walk along one of London’s most calorific streets. Yet another place Mrs RM has worked (St Georges) though she claimed to have resisted the lure of the barfi in Nirala back then. Asian sweets and cake shops all the way up to… Continue reading SURVIVING SOUTH-WEST LONDON PART 2 – TOOTING TO CLAPHAM
TAKING SW LONDON BY THE HORNS PART 1 – WIMBLEDON
A lot of folk have been whining about 2016 (as if 2016 cares), but it’s a wonderful life when you can board a train crushed against folk in England “rugby” shirts singing “Hey Ho Sweet Chaaariot“. I bet they had reserved pub tables in Twickers. It’s always a bit of a mixed blessing when the lovely… Continue reading TAKING SW LONDON BY THE HORNS PART 1 – WIMBLEDON
SUTTON – PRIDE, ANTICS AND HALF & HALF SCARVES
I took Mrs RM for a day out pubbing in South West London yesterday. On Waterbeach station she met one of her mates who was off to shop in Liberty for pashminas or something. Some folk don’t know what they’re missing. The full, gory details will follow, but Sutton deserves it’s own post. Partly because it won’t then… Continue reading SUTTON – PRIDE, ANTICS AND HALF & HALF SCARVES
REVISITING TETLEY IN PARBOLD
I’ve really tried but I can’t make a great case for Skelmersdale. Even the legendary 2001 edition of “The Road to Wigan Beer” saw surveying the place as a chore, it seems. But as is so often the case (Harlow, Basingstoke, Watford), Skem is a fairly desperate town for pubs surrounded by some excellent ones.… Continue reading REVISITING TETLEY IN PARBOLD
MELTON MOWBRAY MICROS
Having had to do a post without any photographs yesterday, it was inevitable I’d find a forgotten cache of pictures from the summer while housekeeping today. So here’s a bonus post on the magic of Melton. We visited the town as it opened an impressive new skate park, in those nervy moments before the first burst… Continue reading MELTON MOWBRAY MICROS
POORLY PREPARED FOR THE SHOTLEY PENINSULA
Jeff Bell posted a gorgeous piece on a rural Suffolk pub the other day on Stonch. I’d forgotten that my own piece from January was less generous about the county, if not the Greyhound itself. In penance, we visited the Shotley peninsula just south of Ipswich to tick off a couple of GBG stragglers. Gloriously,… Continue reading POORLY PREPARED FOR THE SHOTLEY PENINSULA
USING UP THE SPOONS VOUCHERS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Mrs RM put the Christmas tree up on 30 November. You can imagine how thrilled I am about that, but I put the figures into my “Quiet Life Model” and it told me to live with it. At least she didn’t ask me to help. I haven’t bought a present for 25 years, and that… Continue reading USING UP THE SPOONS VOUCHERS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
NOVEMBER STOCKTAKE
NOVEMBER REVIEW 57 new Beer Guide pubs in November, in 24 different counties, a geographic high. Some very consistent beer quality in month, with one notable exception. More importantly, it was a month I had some decent beer in that London for a change. Plenty of evidence that CAMRA branches get GBG selection right most… Continue reading NOVEMBER STOCKTAKE
GBG DESPAIR IN WARE
It may be cold but it’s also crisp which is ideal for a walk round East Hertfordshire‘s lethal ‘hoods before ticking off my last Guide entry for the year in Ware. Much Hadham promises much, with my OS Map showing “Winding Hill“, “Palace” and “Waltons“. The latter left for Virginia a century ago, which just… Continue reading GBG DESPAIR IN WARE
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