February 2023. I’ve neglected you. I’ve hardly mentioned MumsNet in months, while it’s been discussing the issues that define/divide the nation; I don’t know how folk in Northampton pronounce Ice Cream, but then I never know if it’s in the East Midlands (where it sits in the GBG) or the East (where it’s generally lumped… Continue reading A FLAT ROOF PUB TO END NORTHANTS FOR GBG23
Tag: Northamptonshire
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 ?
MIDLAND BAND CLUB – HI VIS, HIGH NBSS SCORES
February 2023. When I finished the GBG in September, I’d visited and been to a Guide pub in every GBG “county”. Except one. Poor old Northants decided not to provided any new entries in the first post-Covid Guide, either because they hadn’t been able to visit pubs properly, or because the county’s pubs are particularly… Continue reading MIDLAND BAND CLUB – HI VIS, HIGH NBSS SCORES
WELLINGBOROUGH WOBBLING
You left me in Wellingborough, you sods, contemplating my fate in a second new Guide pub in an otherwise unremarkable Midlands town (don’t start arguing with me, it’s Midlands). Would it be another 10 pump ale shrine like the Coach & Horses so beloved of Alan Winfield, a brewery tap selling undrinkable beers from a… Continue reading WELLINGBOROUGH WOBBLING
LASAGNE v MOUSSAKA
Along with Bedfordshire, Northants is a bit of a doddle to do each year. The odd estate pub putting on some microbrew, a village pub going gastro, perhaps a micro in a town you’d assumed would never trouble the GBG scorers again.. In 2021 that town is Wellingborough. Pub ticking teaches you many things; when… Continue reading LASAGNE v MOUSSAKA
TITCHMARSH LACINGS SPECTACULAR
Is there no end to the wonders of east Northamptonshire ? Posh schools, Scottish enclaves, world conker championships (pre-Covid), and pubs called Duke. There’s also a little place called Polopit, right next to Titchmarsh. I thought I’d go and explore for no reason whatsoever. As ever, Polopit is best seen from my drone, which would… Continue reading TITCHMARSH LACINGS SPECTACULAR
EASY LIKE A (BARTON SEAGRAVE) WEDNESDAY LUNCHTIME
More of that blogging from places on the edge of Kettering that you’ve never heard of, even if you live there. Dave will be thrilled. Barton Seagrave, eh ? Sounds like a latter day Madness album, doesn’t it ?, with video set in a disused Wicksteed Park next door and loads of primary school children… Continue reading EASY LIKE A (BARTON SEAGRAVE) WEDNESDAY LUNCHTIME
WELFORD’S WHARF – AS GOOD AS IT GETS
From Bristol, the by now weekly slog back up/down the M5/M42/M6/A14 was completed in just under the 3 hours, there being no pressing reason to stop in Bromsgrove until the new GBG comes out. But Mrs RM needed a refreshment stop (new term) half way. “Pub stop do you ?” “Oh yes.“ You’ll remember the… Continue reading WELFORD’S WHARF – AS GOOD AS IT GETS
KETTERING’S FADED GLORIES
Thousands of years in the future, artificial life forms will read this blog* and wonder; Why folk were queuing to buy trowels from Wilko and take cash out of Halifax ? and, Why a renowned pub blogger had driven 47 miles to to take photos of an unheralded Northamptonshire town with everything closed. I’m… Continue reading KETTERING’S FADED GLORIES
WELFORD – POSH, P****D AND PEDI
I can’t say I enjoy writing these retrospectives, but I DO enjoy reading some of my old posts (and Pubmeister, BRAPA, LifeAfterFootball et al). And blogging beats trying to find something exciting in Waterbeach. Look closely at the “Mon” symbol next to the cutlasses marking the Battle of Naseby, where Curry Charles and I fought… Continue reading WELFORD – POSH, P****D AND PEDI