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
I’ve never been to Chicago (or Minneapolis), but it’s been on my Bucket List since Ferris took us there on his day off forty (40) years ago. Yes, yes, press PLAY now. Having had their bit of Peak onm Saturday, Sunday was for culture. No,...
March 2025. Hilsborough. Sheffield. Much of the non-political discussion that Saturday night with our guests from Chicago centred on “service” culture and Wetherspoons. Dave (not THAT Dave) was in awe as I described folk drinking beer...
March 2026. Sheffield and the Peak. Last weekend we “hosted” (ugh) Meighan and Dave from Chicago during their whirlwind tour of Europe. I have never seen Mrs RM go into such a cleaning frenzy, which sadly extended to getting me to mow...
March 2026. Nottingham. My Nottingham gig ends at a quarter to ten so Rescue Rooms can put on a Harry Styles “Fandom Party” (aka disco), a change from my usual London gigs that start just before 10pm and ensure I’m dashing to Kings Cross...
March 2026. Nottingham. Gig night in Nottingham, a first pint in the Olde Trip in years, and I would have had tea in another contender for the “Oldest pub” title, but the Bell looked a bit scruffy and unloved, so the Joseph Else, my...
March 2026. Nottingham. The Americans were in town in early March, giving me as busy a gig schedule as I’ve ever had. Actually, Leith Ross is from Ontario, but since Russ is taking a break from commenting I can confidently tell you that...
March 2026. Maltby. Rotherham. To add some colour to the monotony of the Waterbeach to Sheffield run I stopped in Maltby on the way home. It only adds 5 minutes to the trip, but gives you the joys of the A634, Roche Abbey and all, before...
March 2026. Shepherd’s Bush. London. Half an hour till my Shepherd’s Bush gig, ought to squeeze in one GBG revisit, surely ? Not a lot of choice in W12, the Defectors Weld has really fallen from grace, but the Crown & Sceptre is one of...
March 2026. Shepherds Bush. London. From Balham, a trip across a foggy Thames to Shepherd Bush, where I suddenly found I had nearly two hours to fill and Westfield in front of me. Just like Charlene, I’d never been to Westfield W12’s...
March 2026. Balham. London. A second London pub tick in quick succession, the Southeastern service presumably making a request stop just for me at Balham, where I had a restorative double espresso in a cute station obssessed with the...
March 2026. Beddington. South London. Wallington. Bandonhill. Hackbridge. Beddington, where I head now to explore the vibrant cultural scene. Names to conjure with, as you wander aimlessly west of Croydon and stare back to where the...
March 2026. Wallington. South London. Another week, another American troubador*, another chance to makes inroads into London GBG, another chance to marvel at the capital’s integrated transport system as I whizz from St Pancras around...
March 2026. Tuxford. Nottinghamshire. Mr Protz wrote the definitive book about the pubs along the Great North Road, but there’s far less of them than you’d hope if you had to make the trek up and down the A1 weekly. I took the sliproad...
March 2026. Sheffield. Back from Driffield in triumph, East Yorkshire GBG complete, I find Mrs RM in full-on “Operation Yank Invasion” mode, with a list of jobs to make the house ready for Chicago guests (not Dick and Barb) last weekend....
March 2026. Beverley. Well, this may prove to be a completely pointless post, attempting to describe the magic of a Sam Smiths pub without pictures. But the route to the White Horse (aka Nellies) takes you past St Mary’s, which is almost...