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
May 2026. Bradford. Time flies. Five years ago I was sitting outside the Jacobs Well (aka Beer House aka Jacobs etc etc), waiting for BRAPA to be vaccinated. Afternoon all! Pre vaccine fun at Jacobs Beer House, Bradford. The Abbeydale...
May 2026. Bradford. You can always trust a person who likes Bradford, or Blackpool, or is torn on the virtues of Maidenhead. The Southworths always seem impressed by Bradford’s centenary square; the city hall, the fountains, the...
May 2026. Bradford. We’ve been stalking the Southworths on their 2026 UK (well, mainly Yorkshire) Tour, which inevitably reached Bradford last Sunday. I’m sure Dave really comes for the marvellous street art, recently enhanced by the...
May 2026. Sheffield. I’m no glory-hunter. Not for me the trip to Crewe Alex to see Cambridge United promoted. I couldn’t get a ticket. I chose the last Saturday of the grass roots season to watch “Proper Football”. Bramall Lane, home of...
May 2026. Sheffield. A rare Saturday in Sheffield, and a designated “dry” day, which is quite an effort in my hometown. On a whim, I thought “about time I went to Bramall Lane“, and was a bit miffed to see the Cricketers Arms opposite...
April 2026. Cannon Street. London. I’m always interested in The Honest View on Beer Quality. Chris Dyson and Paul Bailey always give their beers scores; folk on the “We love Bass, us” Facebook page seem reluctant to admit Bass can...
April 2026. Spitalfields. London. I had a sneaking suspicion that Dave had picked the King’s Arms for his post-museum pint as it provided a direct route to the Pride of Spitalfields, one of the London classics on his Pub Bucket List. The...
April 2026. Bethnal Green. London. An afternoon in east London with Joan and Dave, barely mentioning the T***p at all; just culture and cask and the Columbia Road. It helps as a tourist, UK or American, if you like a bit of scruff with...
April 2026. London. I’d never been to the Museum of the Home at Hoxton Station (blue M at the red dot), not sure I’d ever heard of it. Standing proud in old almshouses on the A10 next to the famous Vietmamese cafés, close to the cultural...
April 2026. London. Staying overnight in Tunbridge Wells meant an easy rail journey the next morning; half-full Southeastern train to London Bridge, Northern Line to Old Street, 20 minute walk to the Museum of the Home next to Hoxton...
April 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. An evening in a sunny Pantiles, mainly spent in the subterranean bar of the Mad Dog, and again we’d forgot to eat. I’m sure the Pantiles has many dining options, most outside our budget, so we headed...
April 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. “Well, I’m back in Tunbridge Wells again” says Mrs RM as we re-enter the Pantiles, almost getting nostalgic for her childhood home again, much as I might almost get nostalgic for the Sun and Chung Hwa....
April 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. A gorgeous Tuesday night in Royal Tunbridge Wells, as blogging royalty headed out to see the state of pubs in commuterville. Mrs RM was racing down to the Pantiles, the picture postcard quarter, where...
April 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. Two nights in T’Wells as we tick parents and Americans (patience !) in quick order, and on a Schorchio ! day I get a chance to see posh Kent out enjoying pubs in the sun. Perhaps. Mrs RM has important...
April 2026. Royal Tunbridge Wells. I’m still driving down to see Dad every week, that smile is worth any journey, but now without the stress of checking on a house that had been “Sold Subject to Contract” for a year. We combined the trip...