February 2024. Leek. An hour till Benks, my second Leek Guide debutant opened (hopefully), time to walk the bounds and take pictures of leaks in Leek. and recall the “Dick Southworth Cheese Incident” in the Wilkes Head, whose sign surely needs a trip to the Repair Workshop. Mrs RM needed a trip to the Repair… Continue reading ONE BEER IS PLENTY, OFTEN MORE THAN ENOUGH
Tag: Leek
LEEK MAKES A LATE PITCH TO BE ENGLAND’S TOP BASS TOWN
Don’t worry, Uttoxeter, it’s got a way to go yet. January 2024. Leek. But a couple of Guide newbies promised Bass. Oddly, despite a dozen visits over two dozen years, I had no recollection of either Benks or Cobblers, the latter just yards from the oatcake van and the Titanic pub. Isn’t golden light pouring… Continue reading LEEK MAKES A LATE PITCH TO BE ENGLAND’S TOP BASS TOWN
A QUICK LEEK
February 2024. Leek. Back from a week in Waterbeach, Mrs RM joined me on a weekend taking advantage of bargain hotel prices. First up, Stoke, via breakfast at Hope’s Grasshopper cafe. May it be noted that Mrs RM resisted both the cakes, and the breakfast stout from the cans on the shelves. Quality sourdough nduja… Continue reading A QUICK LEEK
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
BASS, BASS, EVERYWHERE…
…but not a drop to drink, as I was driving, so I just get a sip to confirm the NBSS for the official record. I know this makes me a hypocrite as I’ve said a pint’s a taster but there you go. 4th February 2023. Having completed Derbyshire, thoughts turned to an afternoon of invigorating… Continue reading BASS, BASS, EVERYWHERE…
OATCAKES
I couldn’t leave Leek without some more culinary highlights, starting with breakfast at the Green Man. It really is staggering how readily Dick and Dave follow my lead; next year I’ll order a Phal (hot) in a Manchester curry house, washed down with conker milk DIPA. Over cheese and ham oatcakes from Leek Oatcakes round… Continue reading OATCAKES
THE WILKES HEAD CRACKER THIEVES
One more pub for the Southworths in Leek last Thursday, and one more for me before the obligatory curry. Across the road to the Wilkes Head, Paul Mudge’s pick. It looks inviting during the day, but comes into its own at dusk. A Proper Pub always has a raffle of some sort, even if this… Continue reading THE WILKES HEAD CRACKER THIEVES
A SENTIMENTAL BOLLOCK OF DE KONINCK
Feels like I’m picking on the Southworths as soon as they land back in the States, but I guess that’s what they read the blog for. Only one and a half more pubs in Leek on Thursday, and the pace was telling on our Pub Heroes as I caught up with them after checking in… Continue reading A SENTIMENTAL BOLLOCK OF DE KONINCK
EARL GREY
Oh dear, another pub, another paucity of notes. BRAPA would be ashamed. Anyway, I’ll make it up, as we approach the first of a trio of classic revisits. My only note says “Less hoppy in the mouth than on the nose” which we can only hope was something Dick was saying about Sherbert Dip Dabs… Continue reading EARL GREY
BLUE MUGGE, PINK TICK, LEEK STAR
One of the most iconic photos on my blog, as Dick (pink pen) and Dave (out of shot, MAGA hat) combine effortlessly to tick the Blue Mugge in Leek. A few months ago I was in the Ship in Shaftesbury with BRAPA, wondering how many other great pubs I’d still to discover for the first… Continue reading BLUE MUGGE, PINK TICK, LEEK STAR
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