Contrary to what you might think, I’ve nothing against London. It’s one of the top ten cities in the South, with a musical heritage stretching from Adam Ant to Gary Glitter. Music drew me there on a super off-peak slow train on Sunday; a rare one-off gig by alt-country legend William Tyler and a very… Continue reading GOOD BEER IN LONDON SHOCKER
WESTHOUGHTON WETHERSPOONS
Pub Curmudgeon has been exploring Britain’s real ale deserts on his blog. It’s a good read, and like him, I’d rather see a busy keg pub providing an essential service to old folk than an empty ale emporium. Westhoughton is one of those suburbs of Bolton (or Wigan) that in my mind I’d expect to… Continue reading WESTHOUGHTON WETHERSPOONS
THE NEW WIGAN, THANKFULLY JUST LIKE THE OLD WIGAN
I wasn’t the only City fan secretly happy when Wigan nicked the FA Cup in 2013; it’s hard to dislike a town that gave us Stuart Maconie, Limahl and pie on a barm. As I’ve wrote before, it’s a beautiful town with proper shops, unlike one close to home I could name. It’s also fast… Continue reading THE NEW WIGAN, THANKFULLY JUST LIKE THE OLD WIGAN
LIVERPOOL – THREE GRACES, TWO ACES
Always one for an accommodation bargain (£27), I booked the newish Trivelles Liverpool for my Merseyside jaunt. Trivelles has an exclusive range of hotels in the suburbs of Stockport, Salford, Bradford and Liverpool, which tells you all you need to know. There’s some mixed reviews on the web of the latter hotel but I can… Continue reading LIVERPOOL – THREE GRACES, TWO ACES
SOUTHPORT IN NOVEMBER
A good test of the strength of a marriage is whether it can survive four nights in Southport Pontins in September. 13 years ago it was touch and go when Mrs RM saw the hell-hole I’d booked, but a shared acknowledgement of a bargain (£15 a night for a family of four) got us through. Our toddlers… Continue reading SOUTHPORT IN NOVEMBER
A DURHAM DOUBLE
There are some counties where the pubs are better than the beer. My highly subjective scoring system suggests many of Durham’s GBG entries, particularly outside the city, have been very marginal indeed over the years. In the ex-Vaux houses to the west of the county, despite (because ?) of very limited beer ranges, real ale… Continue reading A DURHAM DOUBLE
RITES OF PASSAGE IN NOTTINGHAM
My 15 year old son has acquired a taste for death metal. Nothing wrong with that; I was into The Fall and Joy Division at his age. On Tuesday we took Matt and his mate to Nottingham to see Architects, a metalcore (?) band actually younger than me. Pleasingly, also an opportunity to tick off the last… Continue reading RITES OF PASSAGE IN NOTTINGHAM
DEVONSHIRE ARMS, CAMBRIDGE
Mrs RM and I are working our way through the Cambridge Beer Guide entries, purely for research purposes. At 11.55am we were hovering outside the door of the Devonshire looking very suspicious. This is one of our favourite Cambridge pubs, being a few steps from the shiny but dull station and with a shiny line-up… Continue reading DEVONSHIRE ARMS, CAMBRIDGE
WONDERFUL WELLINGBOROUGH
As you can probably tell Mrs RM has sorted out my laptop. John Lewis wouldn’t help, but Lenovo were happy to talk through their unique TIOTIOA solution. This means I can post on Wellingborough‘s surprisingly attractive centre at last, and put my comments on the Coach & Horses in context. I searched for something interesting… Continue reading WONDERFUL WELLINGBOROUGH
FRENZY IN NORTHAMPTON
Decades of dull but solid progress in Northampton, and suddenly it’s become a must-visit pub destination. The Nuneaton of the civilised world, perhaps. Not since the County Ground stuck up Meccano stands and duckboards for “big” games, just before their move to Sickfields, have I seen such a building frenzy in the county town. First… Continue reading FRENZY IN NORTHAMPTON
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