August 2026. Newport. Gwent. I challenge you to find anyone who’s written as much or as positively about Newport over the years. See also : Stockton, Paisley, Dereham. But I’ve still never been to the Transporter Bridge, or done the museum justice, so it won’t be the last time I subject you to pics of faded...

August 2026. Newport. Gwent. Four years since my last visit to Newport, but I’ve still probably blogged more about this wonderful town than anywhere outside “home”. Four years means a couple of Beer Guide debutants have crept in, that Weird Dad micro over the Usk, and a lively town pub run by Rhymney Brewery in the...

August 2026. Newport. The east side of Newport into Maindee doesn’t have the haute couture shops and artisanal delis of the city centre, but it does have the Chicken Man. And it has a GBG newbie that’s been awaiting my visit for a while. Weird Dad (“I know you are, Dad“, says Matt), plays to the stereotypes with a...

August 2026. Newport. (The Gwent one). It had been too long. A first night in Newport’s historic IBIS Budget (it wasn’t) since The Great Year of GBG Completion when it was only £34. Well, rather pricier 4 years later, with City and Arsenal fans fighting over Cardiff hotels after The Weeknd (who ?) had priority over...

August 2026. Ross-on-Wye. Surely you’ve caught up on the blog after subjecting us to a torrent of posts, Retired Martin ? Er, no. Last weekend saw a third big trip of the week (nothing compared to the real ticker who cross continents on a daily basis) as we headed down to Cardiff for the traditional curtain raiser...

August 2026. Coventry. The last of our eight/nine/ten (appropriate as appropiate) Coventry pubs last Wednesday, though just because you have “Tavern” in your name doesn’t make you a pub. Things get more interesting on the approach to the station from Chapelfields, with many, many, decisions about crossing the dual...

August 2026. Coventry. Nearly finished. But not quite. Oxford Nick and I found a short cut to the legendary Broomfield Tavern tucked away off Spon End, and I immediately sighed “Oh, that’s the Broomfield“. In my mind, I visited all the 14,000 odd pubs on my spreadsheet (the big one) in either 1996, 2001 or 2022. If...

August 2026. Coventry. I thought I’d picked an ambitious crawl around Coventry last Wednesday, and so it proved as we tackled the wonderful terraced pubs of Chapelfields. Never mind a “scratch ‘n’ sniff” edition of this blog; you need something on your laptop to give you a whoosh of 33 degree heat* as you approach...

August 2026. Coventry. Right, let’s leave inner Coventry and head to the underpass, follow those scooters. Spon End is the heart of the light manufacturing quarter west of town, watchmaking mainly, a place few tourists tread. Of course, most tourists tick the cathedral(s) and the music museum that Lana just found,...

August 2026. Coventry. When I suggested a route for the Cov Crawl a month ago I’d used the Beer Guide as my starting point, but skipped the newish micropub in favour of an extra trad pub out west. Will gently chided me for this omission, and 3 years ago I’d noted of Hops D’Amour the cheery drinkers, lovely staff and...

August 2026. Coventry. Life After Football is that essential component you need on a pub crawl, the bloke who will veer you away from the GBG craft micro (ugh) in favour of the desi boozer, keg bar with pick-pockets, or Shisha bar with Jamaica tonic wine. I guess those are the sort of places that top professional...

August 2026. Coventry. See how many times I nick Nick’s map of the Official Proper Day Out in Cov. I didn’t really need to think about a half dozen Coventry pubs* for our half dozen Pub Men. Town Wall Tavern (temporarily closed), Gatehouse Tavern, Broomfield Tavern, Nursery Tavern (there’s a theme here), Old...