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
August 2026. Newport. The east side of Newport into Maindee doesn’t have the haute couture shops and artisanal delis of the city centre, but it does have the Chicken Man. And it has a GBG newbie that’s been awaiting my visit for a while....
August 2026. Newport. (The Gwent one). It had been too long. A first night in Newport’s historic IBIS Budget (it wasn’t) since The Great Year of GBG Completion when it was only £34. Well, rather pricier 4 years later, with City and...
August 2026. Ross-on-Wye. Surely you’ve caught up on the blog after subjecting us to a torrent of posts, Retired Martin ? Er, no. Last weekend saw a third big trip of the week (nothing compared to the real ticker who cross continents on...
August 2026. Coventry. The last of our eight/nine/ten (appropriate as appropiate) Coventry pubs last Wednesday, though just because you have “Tavern” in your name doesn’t make you a pub. Things get more interesting on the approach to the...
August 2026. Coventry. Nearly finished. But not quite. Oxford Nick and I found a short cut to the legendary Broomfield Tavern tucked away off Spon End, and I immediately sighed “Oh, that’s the Broomfield“. In my mind, I visited all the...
August 2026. Coventry. I thought I’d picked an ambitious crawl around Coventry last Wednesday, and so it proved as we tackled the wonderful terraced pubs of Chapelfields. Never mind a “scratch ‘n’ sniff” edition of this blog; you need...
August 2026. Coventry. Right, let’s leave inner Coventry and head to the underpass, follow those scooters. Spon End is the heart of the light manufacturing quarter west of town, watchmaking mainly, a place few tourists tread. Of course,...
August 2026. Coventry. When I suggested a route for the Cov Crawl a month ago I’d used the Beer Guide as my starting point, but skipped the newish micropub in favour of an extra trad pub out west. Will gently chided me for this omission,...
August 2026. Coventry. Life After Football is that essential component you need on a pub crawl, the bloke who will veer you away from the GBG craft micro (ugh) in favour of the desi boozer, keg bar with pick-pockets, or Shisha bar with...
August 2026. Coventry. See how many times I nick Nick’s map of the Official Proper Day Out in Cov. I didn’t really need to think about a half dozen Coventry pubs* for our half dozen Pub Men. Town Wall Tavern (temporarily closed),...
August 2026. Coventry. Right, let’s steal Oxford Nick’s map; I did ask him if I could nick it from his excellent Prop Up The Bar blog (better photos than me) 5 minutes ago, which is plenty of notice. Last Wednesday was another Proper Day...
August 2026. Coventry. A decent break from pubs between Frome and my next Big Trip Out, which I used dreaming up alternative blog titles to “Sent to Coventry“. I’ve been struggling with the relentless driving of the last few years (never...
August 2026. Bristol. A day in Bath, a day in Frome, two (2) identical Chinese takeaways from Twerton’s wonderful Bamboo Garden, which proves I know how to live. After the Zig Zag beer in Frome, the Zig Zag rail journey home, as a fallen...
August 2026. Frome. Finally, Frome finshed. The mile back to the station from the Royal Oak has the odd closed pub, but overall there’s a healthy mix of pubs left, and our last one firmly in the “smart family pub” camp. A rambling place,...
August 2026. Frome. A long, long, day in Frome moves towards its conclusion with an actual NEW Beer Guide pub west of town, away from the cutting-edge art and scary shops, and neatly kept courtyards. The Royal Oak is your roadside pub on...