The last photos before my phone battery died were from Ledbury. I reckoned the street above would be easily recognised, but Mrs RM’s rapid identification of the pub did surprised me. I then recalled an infamous afternoon in April 2013 when I was driven round rural Herefordshire to tick 16 pubs in an afternoon, including the whole… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – PRINCE OF WALES, LEDBURY
JULY STOCKTAKE
The bad news is I still haven’t seen “Finding Dory” as we’re saving it up for the wet day next week in Wales. That will be my third trip over Offa’s Dyke in a month, as I hope to make some overdue inroads into the 170 Welsh Beer Guide pubs I’ve still to do before… Continue reading JULY STOCKTAKE
PUB FOOD IN THE MARCHES
Tandleman revisited the issue of pub food this week, following his trip to the Black Country. Whether it’s pies and cobs or trencherman meals, that area seems to get it right. I recommend the Harrow in Coven (posh Wolves) for cobs. Contrary to comments expressed by C. Tevez and believed by most Londoners, Manchester has… Continue reading PUB FOOD IN THE MARCHES
CHERRY TREE MEMORIES IN TINTERN
It was typical that my phone battery would die just as I reached one of the most attractive places on earth, Tintern Abbey. Mrs RM will sort me out once she’s ridiculed me, and made me switch it on and off for a 100th time (that didn’t work). I could have used my laptop for… Continue reading CHERRY TREE MEMORIES IN TINTERN
PROPER PUBS IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE
Pub Curmudgeon rightly picked me up for placing the Railway Tavern in Powys. I’ll be sticking to historic counties from now on. For a week or so till I get to West Wales. I popped to Montgomeryshire‘s old county town (pop.1,200) to see if anything had changed since Mrs RM got a room at the… Continue reading PROPER PUBS IN MONTGOMERYSHIRE
PUB CATS IN BISHOP’S CASTLE
Camping has it’s drawbacks, but if the rain holds and you have a footpath from the campsite to the pubs it can be the way to go. Foxholes also provided an immaculate little site for £8, which is pretty much as good as it gets. No new Guide pubs in Bishops Castle but you do… Continue reading PUB CATS IN BISHOP’S CASTLE
THE IMPERIAL, SOUTHBOROUGH
It’s only in the last few years that our regular trips to the in-laws have become bearable. By that, I mean of course the pubs in Tunbridge Wells have improved, as Paul Bailey has reported recently. Little Southborough isn’t Tunbridge Wells though. What it gains in views over the Weald it loses in terms of any… Continue reading THE IMPERIAL, SOUTHBOROUGH
NO ROOM FOR SENTIMENT IN HEREFORDSHIRE
As Pub Curmudgeon can attest, the Welsh Marches is one of the most attractive areas, anywhere. You can define the Marches how you like; I’m sure some Londoners think it means Hay and Ludlow. The stretch between Bishops Castle and Hereford is one of my personal favourites, and it takes in Leintwardine, as unpronounceable now as on my… Continue reading NO ROOM FOR SENTIMENT IN HEREFORDSHIRE
AND NO MORE WILL I HANKER, FOR THE ANCHOR, ANCHOR
Visiting the Good Beer Guide is a total joy, of course, but some of the pubs have been more keenly anticipated than others. That anticipation is rarely about the number of handpumps or the historic interior; weirdness and inaccessibility score much higher. The Sixpenny Brewery Tap was one such place last year (see opening hours), and… Continue reading AND NO MORE WILL I HANKER, FOR THE ANCHOR, ANCHOR
TOP 100 PUBS – RAILWAY TAVERN, NEWTOWN, POWYS
Yesterday I had one of the great half-hours in a pub in unsung Newtown. Until the Wi-Fi died I wrote it up in the new and very decent Wetherspoons, which is as far from the Railway Tavern in feel as it’s possible to get. The Railway has an unprepossessing exterior straight from the Welsh Valleys, in contrast to the… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – RAILWAY TAVERN, NEWTOWN, POWYS
