July 2026, Sawley. Derbyshire. Well I clearly wasn’t taking proper notes last Friday as I can’t remember what we talked about, but since Oxford Nick was there it must have been very intellectual or c oncerned obscure pysch-pop. I’m arrogannt enough to thing I must have been everywhere in the UK ticking pubs, but...

July 2026. Sawley. Derbyshire. A really great day’s pubbing organised by Super Shawn of Leicester; half a dozen stops in suburban Derby close to the Trent. The only issue is the anti-social inclinations of some pub crawlers surveyors. Folk who leave the main group to drink halves (ugh) off the main trail or, even...

July 2026. Sawley. Derbyshire. A fair few pubs for the 6,629 good folk of Sawley, most of them in the Good Beer this century. I’d started at the smart allrounder and GBG perennial White Lion, by which time the breakaway group had already declared the Ay Up at the similar Harrington Arms “not drinking well”. When it...

July 2026. Sawley. Derbyshire. Another month, another top pub crawl, again organised by the estimable Shawn Collier of Leicester. Long Eaton station for Derbyshire’s Sawley and the Trent; can this unsung corner of the East Midlands match Nottingham, Derby and Burton ? Only 43 minutes on the train, 42 minutes of...

Learn more July 2026. Crosby. Merseyside. Attempting to rescue gig night in Liverpool without the gig, I’d at least done the culture and the beach, and could now get a new GBG tick in curious Crosby, where even the safetywear outlets serve Bass. Perhaps. The Southport line on the Merseyrail network gives you a good...

July 2026. Waterloo/Crosby. Merseyside. An afternoon in Liverpool before a gig that had just been cancelled; what to do ? Loads of museums, but most of the Scouse culture comes in the pubs, and the Globe or the Vines would have been top places to drink it in, but my ticket took me up the coast to Crosby, and on a...

July 2026. Liverpool. Since we got back from all that foreign muck in Armenia you’ve had a string of classic UK pubs. The Harp, the Cock, the Rutland, the New Barrack, the KIT, the Tunbridge Wells Spoons…. And a trip to Liverpool on Thursday to see long-term RM favourite Julia Jacklin preview her upcoming 4th album...

July 2026. Sheffield. As you’ll know by now, I care little about beer, but much about beer quality in pubs. Perhaps only someone who’s had an NBSS 5 Doom Bar and an NBSS 2 Harvey’s Sussex will understand the distinction. In truth, I reckon cask quality has got a little worse over the last year or two, having...

Late with the highlights, but at least the blog is now virtually up-to-date, or was before this week’s Proper Day Out in Sawley. Always best to start the month with a Dalek. A typical looking June map, lots of Lancashire, Yorkshire, London and Kent, but not much else. No idea why I’ve stuck a red marker in Norwich;...

June 2026. Holme. Cambridgeshire. We popped down early on Tuesday to see Dad on his 91st birthday with card and chocolate. He barely stirred from sleep, at least until the Salvation Army band turned up after lunch to play for him. I couldn’t face staying down in Cambridge, so we came straight back. Finding an...

June 2026. Shipley. Despite the lure of a pint in Shipley’s top-rated pub, and a chance for Mrs RM to use David Hockney for a boost in views like I did with Humphrey, we called it a night after that curry. But as we headed back to the Travelodge, next to the half-decent Noble Comb (not its original name, I warrant),...

June 2026. Shipley. West Yorkshire. Well, I know two (2) readers who’ll want to see pictures of Bradford curry. We called it a day at Gallows Bridge, a memorable place from which to restart the Cask Camino, and headed to the £29.99 Travelodge next to the Noble Comb. You’ll be expecting that we’d then hit the town...