And I can tell you as one of them, completing Beds is MUCH tougher. 13th-15th January 2023. A long weekend in Waterbeach, with 3 days to crack Bedfordshire’s four GBG newbies*. Thrilling. Despite nearly catching up on the blog (take that, BRAPA !), I’m giving you four pubs in one today. Because Beds is Boring.… Continue reading MORE PEOPLE HAVE STOOD ON THE MOON THAN HAVE TICKED BEDFORDSHIRE
Tag: Greene King IPA
“OPENING EARLY ON 19 SEPTEMBER FOR ALL YOUR FUNERAL WATCHING NEEDS”
19th September 2022. While I was in the Blue I had a look at what the other Cambridge pubs were doing on funeral day. Well, that’s clear. BRAPA noted two pubs in the same village, one “closed as a mark of respect“, the next “open as a mark of respect“. The concept of “respect” is… Continue reading “OPENING EARLY ON 19 SEPTEMBER FOR ALL YOUR FUNERAL WATCHING NEEDS”
A SAUNTER IN ST. ANDREWS
A third and hopefully final ticking trip to “saucy St. Andrews“. No, the TIC doesn’t actually call it that put “frightfully upmarket” wouldn’t work well as a slogan. We arrived just before the 150th Golf Open, thereby annoying those annoying Americans who shout “In the hole !” before every shot (instead getting a Yank who… Continue reading A SAUNTER IN ST. ANDREWS
THE ONLY CHOICE YOU NEED
Back into That Cheshire next, for a pub I completely overlooked, having accidentally pinked it in on the GBG map. Hale ? Seen it on the map, but it’s a pub wasteland down there between Penny Lane and Halton, isn’t it ? Come to think of it, Widnes is a wasteland, but at least Simon… Continue reading THE ONLY CHOICE YOU NEED
JUST CHAMPION
You left me at 21:30 outside the Champion of the Thames on Cambridge’s once-mighty King Street, hoping I might nab a table and ensure BRAPA could have a pint in the city’s most proper of Proper Pubs, Is there anything more gorgeous than the light from within a Proper Pub ? Someone came out, I… Continue reading JUST CHAMPION
HITCHIN, HURTS
More local pubbing. Well, Hitchin is only an area away, next door to where I drop James off for his driving lessons. Covid-19 has just cancelled his driving test, AGAIN; perhaps they’ll give him a licence anyway if it happens a 3rd time and he can drive me to a pub. We lived here for… Continue reading HITCHIN, HURTS
“SINK THAT PINT LAD”
If ever there was A Year To Be Generous To Your Children (they pick your care home), then I guess 2020 is it. Not that moving Matt and his flatmates’ stuff from Salford Quays to a giant metal box (not the Public Image Ltd. one) on Ashton Old Road in six goes was FUN. Here’s… Continue reading “SINK THAT PINT LAD”
SERVICE AT THE HATCH
Pub Curmudgeon has recently written how Covid safe pubs can seem very welcoming, or otherwise, on their return. “And customers will remember where they were welcomed, and where they were treated like something the cat dragged in“. My particular bugbear is the blanket exclusion of drinkers from the pub itself, seen in a significant minority… Continue reading SERVICE AT THE HATCH
MORE TERRY JACKS
At the “Official Amber Valley Pub Tickers Convention” yesterday I was discussing with BRAPA the signs of a good pub while comparing notes on Whitley Bay with Mark, who had kindly foregone his train ticking weekend to join us in his local pubs. “Dire Straits is always the sign of a good pub” said Si,… Continue reading MORE TERRY JACKS
BAR-BOUR LAND
While BeerMat presses on with west Leicestershire and its old coal mining town boozers, I get gastro pubs in the land of Barbour and Branston pickle. It’s about time the Saddle got into the Guide; it’s a virtual Beer guide desert in the famous A607/A606/A47 triangle. Quite hilly around John O’ Gaunt, and I gave… Continue reading BAR-BOUR LAND
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