retiredmartin
retiredmartin
Martin
Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.
Latest Posts
December 2025. Bolsover. From folk debating the Beast of Bolsover in Wakefield to the actual town where Dennis Skinner was MP for 49 years. Sometimes this blog doesn’t feel completely random A last tick in Derbyshire for GBG26....
December 2025. Wakefield. I mean, who waits patiently at a station between connections ? 20 minutes, or 45 in Wakefield Kirgate on the way back from Todmorden, is the ideal time for stretching your legs to explore regal street art,...
“Man cannot live by The Word alone“. He also needs pints of Bass and a balanced diet, like the one in Wigan’s Swan and Railway (above). Rushing between 3 homes, Mrs RM has done miracles with a slow cooker, but rarely spending 3 days in a...
Almost forgot ! I wrote the annual awards edition so promptly I missed the monthly round-up that’s part of your contractual entitlement. And who can forget December ? A month of magic and Martin’s birthday, if short on trips to Merthyr...
December 2025. Todmorden. “Look after yourself” says the Old Boy in the Fox with whom I’ve bonded over 5 minutes of dissing trad media, which says a lot about the joy of pubs. My state of mind will depend largely on whether Nan Moor’s is...
December 2025. Todmorden. I’d really needed to get away, anywhere, after the boredom of the Christmas visits, and Todmorden (via Mirfield) provided the perfect day trip. Two hours, two changes of train, perfect winter Calderdale scenery,...
December 2025. Mirfield. Enough of this “Christmas” nonsense scuppering rail plans, the 27th brings a chance to escape Sheffield and gets some steps in. My route skips Leeds for a change, with a stop in Wakefield Kirkgate’s artistic...
You’ve had the pub awards, now it’s time for Retired Martin’s highlights in travel, food and music. And possibly fashion. Though possibly not. Two maps for you, domestic, and international, with a heavy emphasis on countries nervously...
December 26th 2025. Tonbridge. Our boys were keen to get the grandparent visits done early on Boxing Day and head back North, and with no Christmas night entertainment in Waterbeach (they play charades and whist in Histon) we found...
December 25th 2025. Cambridge. Up until COVID we’d try to be away every Christmas, as far from turkey dinners as possible. 10 years ago it was Cuba, one year we were in a Travelodge in Workington. This year, duty calls. As you’ve already...
December 2025. Cambridge. I may have been happy to spend 25th December back in Sheffield reheating Chinese takeaways and eating crisps in the Blake with Will, but “society” insists I follow certain protocols. More to the point, our two...
Welcome to the annual review of Retired Martin’s pubby 2026. Part II can cover life, whatever that is. THE STATS Six hundred and thirty-one (631) pub visits, 580 different pubs, only 160 of those were new Beer Guide pubs but who cares...
December 22nd 2025. Hastings. A solid if unspectacular birthday ends with a last look at Rock-A-Nore, and a half in the Hastings pub I’d meant to have birthday fish pie in. But I’d have needed to book for lunch in the Dolphin, and I...
December 22nd 2025. The Stade. Hastings. One of my most photogenic birthdays, even if one of the dullest. The next post-lunch stretch takes us from the brutalism of Sports Direct in Hastings New Town, past that iconic view of Pelham...
December 22nd 2025. Hastings. I’ve given up on getting the blog up-to-date before year end, and you’ll be wanting my awards issue tomorrow, but I’m not rushing Hastings. In fact, I think I’ve invented the birthday (22/12) equivalent of...