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
September 2025. Sheffield. You’ll remember (well, Russ will, he takes notes) that I’d started the Sheffield Half Pint Marathon in full Bass Star kit, spraining a metaphorical ankle by losing the stickered map after a week, having to...
September 2025. Hope to Castleton. Ooh, a tourist pub ! You’d be surprised how few GBG entries there are in the Peak District, with the towns on the edge hogging the entries over the years. But Castletown, home to Blue John as well as...
September 2025. Cambridge. The town of my birth, if not my heart, was experiencing a quiet period in the week before the students return. Cambridge gets steady Asian tourist trade, most of which succumbs to the charm of foppish...
September 2025. Atherstone. One thing about Old Mudgie, he’ll make sure there’s a lunch stop on your pub crawl. What he couldn’t have foreseen was that the White Horse, under new management and with an ambitious lunch menu, would be...
September 2025. Atherstone. Just like Oasis, our revival of August’s massively successful Atherstone crawl was a re-run of the big hits, just with better-looking participants. We start off at the canal pub, where the King’s Head is again...
September 2025. Atherstone. Barely a month after the official CAMRA curated exploration of Atherstone’s public houses, we were back at Warwickshire’s most beguiling small market town. This time Old Mudgie and Jon from Frome joined...
September 2025. Crookes. Two ticks on the Sheffield half-pint marathon, a clever device to get you out of the house in a quiet September visiting pubs. As if I need an excuse. Crookes is a decently pubbed village for middle-class...
September 2025. Sheffield. A lot of short posts, as I don’t want to keep you from Strictly Come Dancing or Softly Softly repeats or whatever you lot watch on telly. Back in Sheffield, I decided to have another go at the Sheffield half...
September 2025. Batley. The suburban towns of Leeds aren’t undiscovered gems, but I really ought to have a better understanding of places like Batley, back with a GBG newbie this year. Ten minutes stroll from the station gives you a good...
September 2025. Werrington. Peterborough. Another year, another micropub in the suburbs of Peterborough, which could really do with something new and exciting in the city centre so I can bore you with descriptions of naves and fan...
September 2025. Bury St Edmunds. It’s hard to tire of Bury St Edmunds warren of streets, though the crowds tend to head to the string of cafes leading to the Abbey, leaving the timber for the toper to enjoy. Some weird stuff here, even...
September 2025. Bury St. Edmunds. T’other Bury, the one without black pudding, is a beguiling place (as is the real one, obvs). Two new Beer Guide entries, a new Tap in an old building for Nethergate, and an unexpected debut for the...
September 2025. Bury St Edmunds. If you were wondering why the blog posts have dried up here’s the answer; checking-in Untappd off-licences near Dracula’s castle. Back home, looks like I’ll be in East Angular for a while yet, which at...
September 2025. Brinkley. Cambridgeshire. Only two (2) new Guide entries in Cambs again this year, and one of them is only 18 minutes from Dad’s care home. The day started in near disaster, as Mrs RM dropped Wilbury on the way to...
September 2025. Stockport. We met Blackpool Jane at Piccadilly and headed for Stockport, after dashing back down to the metro to tap out. Why do all forms of public transport have different rules on tickets tapping ? Plans to finally try...