I stayed in Cheltenham last night, largely so that I no longer had the embarrassment of not having been to the National Pub of the Year. I also wanted to get to grips with a town that never seems as posh as its reputation, particularly if you’ve even been to Whaddon Road or the Adam… Continue reading A SLUMMERS GUIDE TO CHELTENHAM
SANDFORD PARK ALE HOUSE, CAMRA PUB OF THE YEAR
I’m in Cheltenham finishing off northern Gloucestershire. It is a mixed experience which I’ll tell you about tomorrow. The CAMRA national Pub of the Year is as good as you could hope for though. Looking back, quite a lot of POTYs seem to win the award a couple of years from opening, having first won the regional… Continue reading SANDFORD PARK ALE HOUSE, CAMRA PUB OF THE YEAR
AMBER TAVERNS GET IT RIGHT IN WORKSOP
One of the surprises in St Helens the other week was the quality of the Unicorn in the Market Tavern, a straight-forward opened up town pub serving a lot of JS Smooth and Fosters. Owners Amber Taverns have over a hundred pubs now, mainly in large industrial towns in the cheaper parts of the Midlands and North (the… Continue reading AMBER TAVERNS GET IT RIGHT IN WORKSOP
MRS RM SURVIVES HUNTINGDON’S CROMWELLIAN LEGACY
The post retirement deal with Mrs RM seems to be that I cook, take her to East Anglia’s delightful market towns, and do the arduous work of ticking pubs in grim Northern towns on overnight trips. It’s not a deal she’s happy with, so her Grand Design to build a flat pack house in Preston continues.… Continue reading MRS RM SURVIVES HUNTINGDON’S CROMWELLIAN LEGACY
BROMSGROVE NAILS IT
My trip to Charlton yesterday was my first there in a while. It’s not a place you’d ever pass on the way to anywhere else. A bit like Withernsea. In contrast, I seem to be whizzing past Bromsgrove on a monthly basis these days on the way down to Somerset and Cornwall. Occasionally I use… Continue reading BROMSGROVE NAILS IT
CHARLTON – HAPPY VALLEY ?
South-east London has some great urban countryside, and some very decent pubs when you track them down. I had one new Guide pub on Shooters Hill (the A2) and an old favourite on nearby Plumstead Common to visit, but to make a 15 miler out of it I added in Charlton. Unexpectedly, it was quite… Continue reading CHARLTON – HAPPY VALLEY ?
NORTH WOOLWICH – FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES
Very occasionally I’ll go to a pub that I’ve been to before, or that isn’t in the Beer Guide. That counts as a major weakness when you’re doing the Guide pubs in your lifetime, like drinking at home or Beer Fests, but we’re all human. I can’t resist Bass in a pub, however unlikely it is… Continue reading NORTH WOOLWICH – FOREVER BLOWING BUBBLES
RYE – THE WELL OF LOW-NBSS
Rye is a small town of big beauty, which is why it seems to attract hordes of young and old French tourists at this time of year. Those, and a few more local visitors, were filling up an impressive collection of pubs when I visited from Hastings on Friday. I managed to walk the town,… Continue reading RYE – THE WELL OF LOW-NBSS
TOP 100 PUBS – THE JENNY LIND, HASTINGS
My Top 100 pubs are picked purely on merit, just like Beer Guide entries (#discountvouchers). However, I was glad I was able to confirm at least one of those pubs to be in Hastings, one of the great pub towns, a Ramsgate without the micros if you like. It’s also one of our most picturesque… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE JENNY LIND, HASTINGS
LET IT GO – A HIT TO THE HEART IN HASTINGS
There’s a real joy about hearing a great new song live for the first time, especially by a band you’ve never heard of in a pub. Let It Go by the Wildflowers is 2016’s first classic, a real tearjerker that had more one old bloke welling up a bit. “Well, that’s the hit of the… Continue reading LET IT GO – A HIT TO THE HEART IN HASTINGS
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