Time for one more tonight ? 12th November 2022. The sun shines on the righteous. And the ticker who’s headed for his fourth pub of the day and gets an unexpected lift from Maidstone station. And I assure you, it was pure fate that brought us together in the tight alley leading to Maidstone East… Continue reading TAXI FOR BRAPA (Vol. 376)
Tag: Kent
DON’T PUT BABY IN THE CORNER (OF THE MAIDSTONE GASTROPUB)
12th November 2022. Mrs RM arranged to meet an old work colleague who’d been left with childminding duties in the fair town of Maidstone. Well, Bearsted, which is probably the posh quarter. Pauline will confirm. Overlooking the attractive green, the White Horse looked dreadful, in a faux Brunning & Price way. AND we had to… Continue reading DON’T PUT BABY IN THE CORNER (OF THE MAIDSTONE GASTROPUB)
“mind your head”. Too late, Man of Kent.
One of the “bonuses” of the caravan in Rye is we get to visit the in-laws, about 30 miles up the A21 near Tonbridge/Royal Tunbridge Wells. 11th November 2022. The most challenging aspect of visits to the Spencers used to be actually getting out of the house, as the key to the locked door was… Continue reading “mind your head”. Too late, Man of Kent.
NEW ROMNEY, NEW QUEUE
While I was out conquering chapters of the GBG in July, Mrs RM was in our new caravan in Rye Harbour tarting it up for letting out while we weren’t there. It’s the first step on the slippy road to capitalism, I guess. On my return from Glamorgan we set off to New Romney’s giant… Continue reading NEW ROMNEY, NEW QUEUE
KENT HAS FALLEN
One more to complete the Good Beer Guide for Kent. But will it be for the final time ? Even the hedges were celebrating as I approached the Laughing Barrel. Depending on your proclivities, this is Thanet, or Margate, or Cliftonville, or Botany Bay. But the reality is, it’s in a little bit of suburbia… Continue reading KENT HAS FALLEN
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Right, here we go. Two more Kent posts, both worthy of your time (as are 99.9% of pubs, to be honest), then a GBG completion update. Mrs RM just asked how far behind I was on the blog and I told her “200 pubs“, which tells you about how time is measured in retiredmartin land.… Continue reading THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
IN OR OUT ? – THE BIG QUESTION ANSWERED
It appears that Joan and Dave Southworth have toured the Garden of Kent without visiting its most sacred and historic monument; which shows how little the Americans value history. Should we be surprised ? If they’d come a month or so earlier they could have participated in the Great Debate on sandwiches (ham or otherwise).… Continue reading IN OR OUT ? – THE BIG QUESTION ANSWERED
HOPS ON THE CEILING, HARVEY’S ON THE BAR
There’s an assumption that the annual 500 or so new GBG entries are all micropubs and brewery taps inaccessible by public transport and never open, and of course there’s some truth in that. But not a lot. My final batch of Kent ticks comprised one micro that was really a social pub, a young people’s… Continue reading HOPS ON THE CEILING, HARVEY’S ON THE BAR
DOVER – A HAPPY PLACE
Mrs RM insisted we spend the night in Dover. Well, actually she just insisted we didn’t stay in the campervan before visiting the in-laws as she needed to wash her hair. Vanity, I tell you. Luckily, Dover is home to one of my final GBG22 ticks, and a newish Premier Inn. It was a scruffy… Continue reading DOVER – A HAPPY PLACE
MARTIN POWER, OUTER ASHFORD PUB TICKER EXTRAORDINARY
A mid-June trip to finish Kent. I would have waited till Joan and Dave Southworth arrived a month later so they could have the thrill of pinking a county, but completing the Guide and getting chapters complete had become an obsession and besides, you can’t trust Americans with marker pens. You’ll be seeing a fair… Continue reading MARTIN POWER, OUTER ASHFORD PUB TICKER EXTRAORDINARY