February 2024. “Coton”. Tamworth. The Good Beer Guide is a delight, but it has a quaint view of geographic labelling. Not just the decision to divide the country into regions, but the way some pubs get stuck under their hamlets within towns, like the Fox in Coton. Sticking the Fox under “Coton” rather than Lichfield,… Continue reading IT’S TAMWORTH, NOT COTON. GET OVER IT.
Tag: Fox
FOX ON THE RUN, IN FOREST GATE
December 2023. Forest Gate. London. The walk from the “Iron Maiden” pub on the edge of Stratford to the Holly Tree on the edge of Wanstead Flats was uneventful, and no-one wants that. Row after row of neat East London terraces, with not a single micropub or cereal cafe to break the monotony. Oh, what’s… Continue reading FOX ON THE RUN, IN FOREST GATE
THE 40th BIRTHDAY PARTY IN THE FOX
October 2023. Wem. Shropshire. Pub two on our pub crawl “curated pub appreciation in Northern Salop tour“. 10 minutes back into Wem past the old brewery and a sharp left to the Fox Inn, just past the imposing offices of E. Maund & Sons (Garage). I always find it reassuring when a stop on a… Continue reading THE 40th BIRTHDAY PARTY IN THE FOX
PUB RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
August 2023. Stratford-upon-Avon. Oh, you tease, Retired Martin. Obviously you’re not really going to recommend anything in the home of the Bard (or is that Prescot now ?). Correct, Stratford is an irredeemable dump. Best get your Stratfords mixed up and head for east London. Here, head straight out to the village of Loxley, near… Continue reading PUB RECOMMENDATIONS FOR STRATFORD-UPON-AVON
ALL WELL IN THE WELLAND VALLEY ?
February 2023. Oooh, even more dangerously close to That Corby (the Middlesbrough of the Midlands). You might think this a bit odd given how smug I am about my knowledge of the UK, but I love finding a new GBG entry in a village I’ve never heard of. Wilbarston has 767 souls, and most of… Continue reading ALL WELL IN THE WELLAND VALLEY ?
NUTS IN MAY – CORFE CASTLE CALLS
The Dorset Dawdle next takes us to Corfe Castle for TWO (2) newbie ticks. How is that possible ? Oddly, the most famous Corfe pub, the one with THE view, isn’t one of them, either. In 2022 you’ve a Guide choice of the British Legion, a smart hotel, and this little gem; The Fox looks… Continue reading NUTS IN MAY – CORFE CASTLE CALLS
THE SILVER KING, IN THE FOX
NO ! Not our John, the beer, silly. I’d wanted to revisit Osset’s Fox, a favourite of BRAPA and myself and a test of how midweek lunchtime drinking is holding up in mid-2022. We’d have popped in the Volunteer, a GBG regular, but lunchtime opening isn’t for everyone, and besides there was a scary object… Continue reading THE SILVER KING, IN THE FOX
ON THERFIELD HEATH
I haven’t been particularly fulsome in my praise of South Cambridgeshire, and there’s no new village pubs around there in the Guide, for the 24th year in a row. Just across the border, little change in Hertfordshire and still no GBG pubs in Royston, a town famous only for a hole in the ground*. QUIZ… Continue reading ON THERFIELD HEATH
CONTRASTS IN RUTLAND
Rutland is within range of our Campervan, so I expect we’ll be wobbling round the pond there quite a bit. We might even visit all the pubs in the “county”, and there’s bigger hardships in life. There’s a stereotypical Rutland pub with ivy on the walls, hunting pictures and Barbour-jacketed diners, but Oakham’s newest pub… Continue reading CONTRASTS IN RUTLAND
OSSETT IN YORK
I’ve been a fan of Ossett beers since enjoying them in the Brewer’s Pride in the early 2000s. They’ve grown their own estate of pubs organically since then, with their houses in Liversedge and Marsden really standing out. A high turnover of a tight but distinctive range might the secret to their success, rather like… Continue reading OSSETT IN YORK
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