October 2025. Matlock. Your £10.15 day return to Matlock from Sheff gives you an hour and six minutes, which is just enough time to tick your new GBG entry, consider how pretty England is in The Fall*, wonder if there’s a bar in that castle on that hill, leaving all of 28 minutes to add… Continue reading HOMEBREW OR BASS ? A MOOT POINT IN MATLOCK
Tag: Beer
MEETING YOUNG BOYS (BERN) AT GROUND ZERO
October 2025. Bucharest. Six hours on the Bucharest tourist trail, time for a beer. Luckily for Mrs RM, a brand new bar awaited yards from our coach drop-off. Seven years on from our first trip, the capital has lost a couple of Old Town craft bars, including one with London Pride on handpump, denying BRAPA… Continue reading MEETING YOUNG BOYS (BERN) AT GROUND ZERO
SEPTEMBER ’25 STOCKTAKE + OCTOBER PREVIEW
A few hours early for the contractually obligated monthly highlights post, let’s hope it’s not tempting fate and something really significant happens this afternoon. September was a month of returns. Biggest of all, Russ returned to the comments page after a traumatic period out, and how we’d missed him (and not just to correct the… Continue reading SEPTEMBER ’25 STOCKTAKE + OCTOBER PREVIEW
GORDON HILL ! A WALK TO THE JOLLY BUTCHERS IN ENFIELD
September 2025. Enfield. Home from Carshalton, and straight back into London the next day. “Proper” tickers would have squeezed in halves in all three remaining London pubs that Friday night, but post-completion I only deal in pints, and want to take the time to appreciate the culture in places like Carshalton, and Atherstone, and Enfield.… Continue reading GORDON HILL ! A WALK TO THE JOLLY BUTCHERS IN ENFIELD
MATCHING M & B MILD WITH DESI BAKRA IN SMETHWICK’S RED COW
August 2025. Smethwick. Our last day in Birmingham, though the new GBG is going to send me back there soon enough (NO SPOILERS) and a rare stop in Smethwick, famed for its Gurdwara. The fast train from Kiddy to Brum takes you past fields of pumpkins at Blakedown and drops you at Galton Bridge, handy… Continue reading MATCHING M & B MILD WITH DESI BAKRA IN SMETHWICK’S RED COW
DID I ENJOY THE GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL ?
August 2025. Birmingham (or is it Solihull ?) I’m not a beer festival fan. I always say this to folk who equate beer with pubs. Frankly, the venues are dull, the beer not as cool and crisp as in the pub next door and if I’m going solo I find it hard to start the… Continue reading DID I ENJOY THE GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL ?
LACINGS DON’T LIE. THE COMMERCIAL, BURNLEY
August 2025. Burnley. My feeble attempts to visit GBG pubs since Guide completion seem limited by a) having to spend the weekends ploughing up and down the A1 between Sheffield and Cambridge, b) only drinking pints and c) using public transport. Just as well none of the other tickers would do b) and c)…. Shockingly,… Continue reading LACINGS DON’T LIE. THE COMMERCIAL, BURNLEY
A WISTFUL LOOK AT THE RIFLE DRUM
July 2025. Northampton. I’m drowning in blog material at present, but resisting the temptation to rush through some of our loveliest unsung towns. Like Northampton, on a first visit to the centre in seven years, an old codgers trip where we met the actual Mayor of that fine town. It seems to be a town… Continue reading A WISTFUL LOOK AT THE RIFLE DRUM
SCANADALOUSLY, MY FIRST TIME IN LIVERPOOL’S VINES
July 2025. Liverpool. Thursday night brought a gig at Manchester’s New Century Hall, and I really didn’t fancy any GBG ticking before hand after that Stannington Stagger. As Simon will find out when he completes in 2044, the chase is better than the catch (Lemmy, 1980). So goodness knows how I dragged myself to Sheffield… Continue reading SCANADALOUSLY, MY FIRST TIME IN LIVERPOOL’S VINES
STANNINGTON BRASS
July 2025. Stannington. Sheffield. Back from Newcastle, GBG ticks in the bag, I then added an NCTSS 4 with a “cheeky” crispy beef and Singapore rice from China Dragon outside Darlington station. It deserves an extra half mark, really, for being open after 10pm when Google says it’s shut. I genuinely have no idea if… Continue reading STANNINGTON BRASS
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