June 2023. Kilburn. Just a short post to remind myself how little I really know about London. With five (5) GBG ticks in the bag by 3 it was already a good day, but now the new Guide entries became a little more tucked away and in need of a helping hand from the Overground… Continue reading KILBURN AND THE HIGH ROAD
Tag: Black Lion
TOP 100 PUBS – BLACK LION, BUTTERTON
4th February 2023. Our Search for Sites App, a fiver well spent, told us the next pub would let us leave our campervan in their car park overnight, and sure enough Butterton’s Black Lion seemed delighted to have us hog a space. It really was one of the most unfussy places I’ve been in, considering… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BLACK LION, BUTTERTON
NEW QUAY, HEAVEN BY THE SEA
I wanted to use “New Quay, handy for a pee” but I sense BRAPA has an eye on that one. 2022 is the year of the big push towards the GBG prize, and it’s throwing up some real gems around the UK coast. We’d stayed in New Quay in 2005, in that sprawling caravan park… Continue reading NEW QUAY, HEAVEN BY THE SEA
APPLEDORE WEDDING REMINISCENCES
More from That Kent, and an unexpected tick on the edge of Romney Marsh, though Paul Bailey will no doubt claim it for nearby Ashford given that town’s apparent beery renaissance. People who read this blog, and I don’t even think I count myself in that number, may remember my failed attempt in Autumn to… Continue reading APPLEDORE WEDDING REMINISCENCES
WALT WHITMAN AND THE FIRBECK BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE
Culture you say ? retiredmartin has culture. Even in the vast wilderness between Rotherham, Worksop and Doncaster. There’s practically ZERO new GBG ticks within 90 minutes of me now, so I’m exploring the local(ish) area. I hadn’t been to Firbeck since that Spring of 2001 when I brought Sis and my (then) brother-in-law up to… Continue reading WALT WHITMAN AND THE FIRBECK BOOK OF KNOWLEDGE
BASS BY CANDLELIGHT
Another day, another Bass gem. The 3 weeks since “Freedom Day” have produced enough activity to keep our US readers jealous for years. If they ever return to Leek so Dick can drink strong Belgian beers, I recommend the minute bus journey out to the Black Lion in Cheddleton in the underrated Staffordshire Moorlands. Or… Continue reading BASS BY CANDLELIGHT
GUESS THE PUB GOES TO SALOP
Yes, looks a corker today, doesn’t it. I see you heading to Page 357 of your GBG right now, looking for a place that sells those BBB favourites. It won’t help. Never been in the Guide in my ticking lifetime. A trip to the lounge dispels any hopes you’re in a basic boozer. In fact,… Continue reading GUESS THE PUB GOES TO SALOP
BASS & BAD PLANNING IN BLACKFORDBY
While Burton is unquestionably the place to spend a drunken evening (Bass or Joules carry-out into Balti Towers), the old mining villages of the National Forest have some of my favourite unpretentious pubs. I’ve written about Swadlincote and Ashby recently, and I ought to revisit the Three Horseshoes in Whitwick before it becomes an Ember Inn… Continue reading BASS & BAD PLANNING IN BLACKFORDBY
PILGRIMAGE TO THURSFORD
When I retired I didn’t have a bucket list, at least beyond the one in the annual 1032 pages of the Beer Guide. I do however, have a “Don’t Go There” list of things I will never do. This includes things like Prosecco, Coldplay, polite society and Thursford Christmas Spectacular. Perhaps to keep the peace… Continue reading PILGRIMAGE TO THURSFORD
(BENEATH THE PLASTIC PALM TREES)
Just back from visiting my Aunt in Eaton Bray, a plain Bedfordshire village rescued by it’s proximity to Dunstable Downs on the edge of the Chilterns. Now in her mid-80s, my Aunt is still very sharp, and had quite a bit to say about housing developments in southern Leighton Buzzard, which has usurped Dunstable as the main… Continue reading (BENEATH THE PLASTIC PALM TREES)
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