May 2025. Sheffield. And so we leave Georgia, the capital’s airport so comfortable we arrived there over 3 hours early and still nearly missed Last Call. Great name for a bar; but with Staropramen at a tenner I gave it a miss. Back home in Sheffield I lasted almost a day before sneaking out up… Continue reading ROOSTERS AND CHICKEN WINGS
Tag: Beer
A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA. YOUR TBILISI CRAFT BEER GUIDE
May 2025. Tblisi. Georgia. Your final post of holiday snaps; I’ll skip over the Vardzia cave network, and return to good ol’ English BBB tomorrow. I had to squeeze Randy in here somewhere; she’s a big fan of the Caucasus craft scene, particularly tomato gose. Due to Independence Day our Uber into Tbilisi had to… Continue reading A RAINY NIGHT IN GEORGIA. YOUR TBILISI CRAFT BEER GUIDE
A DASH ROUND DALSTON
May 2025. Dalston Kingsland. London. I know how to get to Dalston Kingsland from Waterbeach; down the M11 to the North Circular, A12 past the Olympic site, slow bit past Homerton Hospital and the Pembury Tavern in Hackney, then park, anywhere. I hadn’t driven this far into London for an age, reminds be why I’ll… Continue reading A DASH ROUND DALSTON
RETIRED MARTIN ON VOCATION
April 2025. Sheffield. Mrs RM was in full “am blogging, don’t disturb me” mode last Thursday so couldn’t accompany me on my calorie burning walk into town to check out a new Bass tip. The refurbished Foresters had a turned round pump clip that day, turning it round as soon as I’d gone past, to… Continue reading RETIRED MARTIN ON VOCATION
APRIL ’25 STOCKTAKE + MAY PREVIEW
Seventy (70) posts published in an month that was my second best for blog views ever, and I still end April a week and sixteen pubs adrift. It didn’t seem an especially exciting month, the usual ploughing up and down that strip from Manchester to Tunbridge Wells via Waterbeach, but there were fifty-six different pubs… Continue reading APRIL ’25 STOCKTAKE + MAY PREVIEW
GILLINGHAM, PAST AND PRESENT
April 2025. Gillingham. The in-laws took a post-Dockyard nap at the Travelodge; I reckoned two hours, plus half an hour to make themselves a cup of tea, which gave me 150 minutes to restore my sanity. Absolutely no new GBG ticks possible in that time, so let’s revisit much maligned Gillingham. You’ll see from the… Continue reading GILLINGHAM, PAST AND PRESENT
TOP 100 PUBS – THE ROCK INN, CHIDDINGSTONE HOATH
February 2025. Chiddingstone Hoath. Kent. You left us out in the gorgeous, straggly, villages west of Royal Tunbridge Wells, cheering up an octogenarian who’s not allowed out much except to have medical interventions and rehearse Handel’s “Messiah”. My last commenter (commentator ?) writes “You should have walked 30 minutes along the road to The Rock,… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – THE ROCK INN, CHIDDINGSTONE HOATH
PRIDE DRINKING WELL ON THE (DELAYED) BIG RETIRED MARTIN 60th BIRTHDAY TRIP TO UXBRIDGE.
February 2025. Uxbridge. You’ll remember the trauma of my significant birthday (22 December, but you knew that), as plans to mark the day with a fancy trip to Uxbridge were scuppered by my mum, bless her, staging a sit down protest. Last Wednesday I finally took that pilgrimage to the end of the Metropolitan line.… Continue reading PRIDE DRINKING WELL ON THE (DELAYED) BIG RETIRED MARTIN 60th BIRTHDAY TRIP TO UXBRIDGE.
EDALE WITHOUT THE HIKING BOOTS
January 2025. Edale. Everyone told me that death (don’t panic, not my own) would be time-consuming, but it also casts an invisible barrier over your travel, daring you to travel too far from home (whatever that is) lest something unexpectedly requiring your presence to find a green slip for no obvious purpose crops up. So… Continue reading EDALE WITHOUT THE HIKING BOOTS
RETIRED MARTIN’S GASTRONOMIC 2024
This blog is a diary, and if it’s dominated by pub visits that’s often because the pub is where you’re most likely to eavesdrop on meet people*. To steal from and corrupt Pete Postlethwaite; “Truth is, I THOUGHT it mattered. I thought that BEER mattered. But does it? Bollocks! Not compared to how PEOPLE matter.“… Continue reading RETIRED MARTIN’S GASTRONOMIC 2024
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