I suspect I’m not going to be getting the honorarium as Widnes Tourism Officer after this post. But I can do better than those quoted in Wikipedia; In 1888 the town was described as “the dirtiest, ugliest and most depressing town in England”[22] and in 1905 as a “poisonous hell-town“. It really isn’t that bad.… Continue reading PICKING WINNERS IN WIDNES
Tag: Cheshire
DODGING CRAFT IN KNUTSFORD
Two nights in Heaton Chapel, and a choice between the Manchester Beer Fest or a trundling train trip to Knutsford in the company of posh school children. We knew we’d made the right choice when young “Monkman” announced that a “Slag” was someone who liked slagging someone off. That’s the education you get for your… Continue reading DODGING CRAFT IN KNUTSFORD
MIXING PUBS AND POLITICS IN STOCKPORT
And so after “HandbagGate“, we come to the great Dick & Dave meet-up. An early start for Stockport that seemed pointless as I flew up a deserted M6 for the first time all year. I assume I haven’t accidentally brought my 90mph driving speeds from Germany home with me. Parked in the Premier Inn (home of rubbish Wi-Fi) by 11.30,… Continue reading MIXING PUBS AND POLITICS IN STOCKPORT
HOLMES CHAPEL GETS THE EMBER INN IT DESERVES
You’ll know I’ve not overjoyed about the growing numbers of Ember Inns in the Guide. I’m not the only pub tourist with that view. It does seem that Wetherspoons get a lot more flak for running identikit dining places than Ember, Marstons and Greene King, and I generally find Spoons have a lot more of… Continue reading HOLMES CHAPEL GETS THE EMBER INN IT DESERVES
NO NEED TO BYPASS TARPORLEY
My earliest experiences of Robinsons pubs were the slightly run-down but cheery places in the Dark Peak, close to the train carriage B&B at the Little Mill in Rowarth. It wasn’t just the cheap beer that impressed in the unknown lands of Marple Bridge and Romiley; some of our group had never seen a hill before,… Continue reading NO NEED TO BYPASS TARPORLEY
FRODSHAM
Frodsham was a good place to finish Cheshire’s Beer Guide entries this year, a typically attractive market town with an excellent tuna cob from the Devonshire bakery. Lots of smart people in a town looking like a Beaconsfield with half-timbered buildings. More listed buildings than you could ever wish for too, though lacking the petro-chemical illumination beauty… Continue reading FRODSHAM
MOULTON’S LION – SALT OF THE EARTH
I finished the Cheshire Guide entries at the weekend, and the county’s new GBG pubs were as varied as you could hope. There was a clutch of entries south of Northwich, many with the irksome opening hours that Beer Guide tickers love so much. I seem to have missed Moulton off my travels, and I… Continue reading MOULTON’S LION – SALT OF THE EARTH
WINSFORD – SUBSTANCE OVER FORM
South Cheshire has some of the biggest contrasts between adjacent places anywhere. Old fashioned Nantwich struggles against craft-capital Crewe, while Sandbach and Holmes Chapel feel a world apart from the salt mining towns on the Weaver and Wheelock rivers. Middlewich has a pleasant canal network, but it was harder to see the merits of Winsford… Continue reading WINSFORD – SUBSTANCE OVER FORM
WARRINGTON – LOOK UP
When Mrs RM and I first started crossing into the The North (at Catchems Corner) 25 years ago, Warrington was a bit of a bellwether town. Multi-room pubs, boarded-up shops, folk dressed up for their curry as if they were going to a wedding. Don’t see that in Cambridge. I still stay there occasionally; there’s half a… Continue reading WARRINGTON – LOOK UP
SQUAWK
Mrs RM used to have Cheshire Building Society as a client, before they were taken over by Nationwide is a move seemingly designed to annoy Macclesfield Town. For a resident of Cambridge, she’s therefore more than usually familiar with East Cheshire’s underrated little towns and overrated hotels. Macclesfield and Congleton are still favourites of ours,… Continue reading SQUAWK
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