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
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- spoons
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All posts (720)
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Where did you leave us ? Oh yes, clambering up the steps from the Hymn and Hyrs in Folkestone Spoons, about to tackle the High Street (aka Steep Hill). Even the scruffy buildings, like this rhubarb and custard of a curry house, look gorgeous. A 5 minute stroll through the Creative...
December 2025. Folkestone. Kent. Mrs RM is planning a series of posts on the Kent coast, which by her definition starts at Rochester and skips Gillingham on the way to Whitstable and beyond. Gravesend will have something to say about that. “We should go to Folkestone, only an hour.” I said. “You won’t recognise it“....
Finally from Burgess Hill, an unexpected source of blog material, a bit of art, and a bit of craft. The Signalbox opens at 4pm, and I’ll skip over the question of why craft bars open when it’s dark while Wetherspoons are serving beer at 9am. I can’t pretend it’s the most astonishing looking bar of the year, a single...
December 2025. Burgess Hill. If this blog had a Mission Statement, it it would be “to promote the UK’s lesser known highlights” (Leek, Leicester, Leigh) and to warn people away from Maidenhead. I was aware, from a half hour in Quench a decade ago, that Burgess Hill was rather less alluring than Lewes, 20 minutes...
December 2025. Hassocks. The vagaries of pub opening times laid bare in one day’s ticking. 1. Burgess Hill Spoons, open from 9am 2. Hassocks BN6 craft bar, open from 3pm 3. Burgess Hill Signalman, open from 4pm With my return train from Burgess Hill I had to do them in that order, too, and as you’re about to see a...
December 2025. Keymer and Hassocks. An exciting Tuesday in the South Downs, but not exciting enough to attract Mrs RM away from the comfort of her caravan in Rye Harbour where she had a) working WiFi, b) crisps, c) that can of 10% Imperial stout that would later prevent her from collecting me from Rye Station. In...
December 2025. Burgess Hill. West Sussex Ah, Bucolic Burgess Hill. I’d been before, just the once, when Quench got in the GBG over a decade ago. Even Harvey’s can’t keep Quench in the Guide, replaced by a craft bar and a Spoons. Which might make you think that Burgess Hill is worthy of a detour from Lewes. It’s not....
December 2025. Wivelsfield. West Sussex. But first, “Where, Wivelsfield ?” Firmly Mid Sussex, though as Mid Sussex doesn’t exist in the GBG, it’s a dip into the West Sussex chapter. Here’s one I completed earlier; Simon is making some inroads into this underrated county at the moment, a mix of micropubs along the...
December 2025. Rye Harbour. Back in Rye from Waterbeach last Sunday, stunned at the news that Peter had died, I spent the next day writing about Mudgie and reading tributes to the man. Mrs RM had enjoyed his company on his last Proper Day Out in Atherstone and was equally shocked. Everyone seemed to be heading out...
December 2025. Waterbeach. I forgot this photo last time, Dale’s Brewery converted to Hot Numbers coffee shop, one of Cambridge’s premier meeting points for folk who don’t pub. While in Waterbeach we invited Curry Charles and Julia (not sure of her prefix) over from Dereham for a curry at the Nepalese pub that has...
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