October 2025. Heaton Chapel to Levenshulme. I’m no fan of night driving these days, it’s almost like I’m approaching middle-age or something. And with my usual cheap option for train to Manchester scuppered (no service to Hyde) it suddenly made sense to stay over in Great(er) Stockport for City’s glamour game with Bournemouth, particularly with… Continue reading STATION TO STATION. HEATON CHAPEL TO LEVENSHULME
Tag: Railway
CURRY, CAMPERVANNING, A “CHEEKY” BASS TO WRAP UP ALSAGER
July 2023. Alsager. Nothing much in life gives me as much pleasure as visiting a place for the first time and getting to know it properly. Scandalously, we’d been in Alsager two hours, visited three decent pubs, but still not seen the actual mere which is the only thing the town is known for (if… Continue reading CURRY, CAMPERVANNING, A “CHEEKY” BASS TO WRAP UP ALSAGER
DARE TO BE A DANIEL
As Kevin Rowland sang on “My Beauty” (one of the greatest but worst selling albums by a major artists), “It’s over it’s over it’s over, let it go“. And so I said goodbye to the epic journey that had led to the completion of the Good Beer Guide on 10/9/22, and like the fish who’d… Continue reading DARE TO BE A DANIEL
CHELTENHAM CRAFT & CANALS
One last Gloucestershire tick and a flying visit to the side streets of regal Cheltenham, with the streets around the Railway Inn proving the hardest to negotiate/park. In a break from the norm, the writing on the wall reads not “dining and rooms” but “Smokey Phi Phi“, as the Railway undergoes the sort of gentrification… Continue reading CHELTENHAM CRAFT & CANALS
QUEUEING ! IN PUBS !!!
A week ago I had to leave Mrs RM in the luxurious Newhaven Premier Inn while I did the hard yards ticking West Sussex. You won’t believe the planning that goes into these trips. TWO (2) train changes on the way to Portslade, the Cheadle of the South. You won’t believe how filthy those Southern… Continue reading QUEUEING ! IN PUBS !!!
LINCOLN GREEN, BELPER BLUE HUMOUR
Greetings from Stafford Station, where Paul Mudge has just introduced me to the joys of the Railway, a wonderful pub. A week ago the Sheffield Codgers, whose album of Dylan covers would make a great Christmas present, were heading for Belper pub No.2. Yes, a bit plain, bit that’s Lincoln Green for you. Inside you’ll… Continue reading LINCOLN GREEN, BELPER BLUE HUMOUR
THE ONLY WAY TO END 2018
Yes, I’m in a rush to finish the 2018 blogging so I can get on to my “Best Of” posts. Will that Milton Keynes Ember Inn make the cut ? Last beer of the year, from rural South Leicestershire. Bass lives here. The Railway in Countesthorpe was closed at 3pm when the GBG said it… Continue reading THE ONLY WAY TO END 2018
TRAINSPOTTING IN RAMSBOTTOM
Not really of course. Trainspotting is, ahem, much too noble a pastime for the likes of me, but hopefully Tom will enjoy these pictures of noisy engines at Ramsbottom Station, where trains pretend to go to interesting places in Rossendale and Rochdale, ignoring the harsh reality that folk here really want to go to Accrington. Still,… Continue reading TRAINSPOTTING IN RAMSBOTTOM
SE15 COMES TO SOUTHEND
While some GBG obssessives completists finish off Loch Ness or Swaledale, I focused on Essex. There’s a hundred and thirteen GBG pubs in this most underrated county, and according to my unique scoring system, only three of those had duff beer. There’s some gorgeous pubs in Old Leigh, but newer Southend isn’t a hotbed of… Continue reading SE15 COMES TO SOUTHEND
PEDIGREE & A COB IN SAWLEY
My Quiz question for Castle Donington was, of course, Nikita Khrushchev, who opened the power station at short notice when “H” from Steps became unavailable. Just over the border in Derbyshire is the large canalside village of Sawley, where no doubt Nikita stopped for a cob and pint of Pedigree back in 1956, though those records have… Continue reading PEDIGREE & A COB IN SAWLEY
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