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.
July 2026
August 2026
September 2026
Top Words
- pubs
- pint
- sheffield
- spoons
- cask
- bass
- beer
- stocktake
- preview
- arms
All posts (720)
February 2026. Hull. Getting your GBG tick done early is a good idea, as anyone who’s been on Orkney worrying if the death of the Queen will mean your penultimate Guide pubs will close as a mark of “respect” will confirm. But it does raise the question, “What next ?”. There’s plenty of heritage pubs like the Black...
February 2026. Hull. Great excitement in the Pub Ticker community as I note a Draught Bass check-in on the way to Hull, but sadly Nolan’s (next to Ye Olde White Hart) was experiencing a lack of the amber nectar. Has there ever been a cask beer so frequently out of stock as Bass ? Never mind, Hull has beer, notably...
February 2026. Hull. Mrs RM was away in Rome with mystery chum, leaving me to fend for myself in Sheffield. Middle age (59 to 99) is supposed to see you settle down to home comforts, isn’t it ? But by Sunday lunchtime I was itching to get out. Half an hour walk down to Sheffield Station, quick glance at the...
February 2026. East Manchester. From Timperley, a tram back to Manchester interrupted by the racists in Piccadilly Gardens, and an hour in the Art Gallery, before continuing on the metro to Clayton Hall. Just beyond the Etihad stop, not many folk get off at Clayton Hall, but I had two hours before kick-off and it’s...
February 2026. Timperley. Greater Manchester. At Sunday School we used to sing “Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam“. No, not the Wolverhampton pub serving 9am pints of Abbot, Paul. I guess I’ve maintained that positive outlook on life, finding the best in everyone and everything. Even Maidenhead. But that relentless...
February 2026. Timperley. Greater Manchester. On Saturday I dropped Mrs RM off at Manchester Airport after an exciting trip through Wynatt’s Pass and less absorbing trek along the A555, which let me tell you in no A57. Mrs RM was off on another planet-killing trip with a very famous pub blogger, but it wasn’t me (no...
February 2026. Sheffield. One of the best things about retirement, and goodness knows it’s been epic, has been getting to meet nice people over a pint in comfy pubs. And so it was that I finally met one of the many nice guys from Yorkshire, Rockin Rich(ard) Clark from Harrogate. He’d been trying to arrange a...
With apologies to Devo. February 2026. Lichfield. My third GBG pub ticked before five, I actually felt wiped out as a night in Lichfield lay before me. Young BRAPA really needs to finish the Guide before he hits middle age and loses that ticking energy. But with, er, zero pounds spent on my night’s luxury...
February 2026. Lichfield. Quite a rarity for me to get three new GBG pubs in quick succession these days, on a bus line as well. The number 36 rumbles between Walsall and Lichfield every half hour purely for the benefit of Beer Guide tickers, and Lichfield Council have also provided some parking spaces for...
February 2026. Stonnall. A rare new GBG pub double, and just a 20 minute stroll from Lazy Hill in the West Midlands down to Stonnall over the Staffs border. I am delighted to find I know nothing about Stonnall (pop. 1,546) so I use AI. Chat GPT tells me it’s the 3,756th dullest town on earth, but that may be an...
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