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"Now a drop of good beer is good for a man Who's thirsty and tired and hot, And I sometimes has a drop for myself From a very special lot; But a fat and healthy working class Is the thing that I most fear, So I reaches my hand for the water tap, And I waters the workers' beer." I've used this...
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How has the weather been suiting you? Is the so called heat wave a good or bad thing, putting aside, if one can, the fact that when we are all brown bread, it will likely be even hotter? At my age there is nothing I can do about it anyway - if ever I could have in real terms. Well, for me, I...
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Boak and Bailey made a point a couple of weeks ago which struck a chord with me. They said "We’ve decided to spend a week blogging like it’s 2008 again: more posts, shorter posts, and more bouncing off other bloggers." Ah the good old days.Back then when I used to post a lot - and I've been...
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In late June, we headed up to the North East last week for a couple of nights to celebrate the E's birthday. Now, I used to spend a fair bit of time in Newcastle back in my working days, but the Northumberland coast? Completely unknown territory. What would we find apart from dodgy weather?Our...
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The news broke late yesterday morning that Humphrey Smith had passed away. The doyen of Samuel Smith Brewery was only 81 - though to some he had been around forever - and seemingly had been in poor health for some time though details are, as you'd expect rather scarce. Some insiders refer to him...
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Way back in the past I wrote about how the modern mannerism "You all right there" at the bar had become a kind of of substitute for previous greetings such as "what can I get you?" or "what would you like?" For the record, it was a short blogpost, as this one will be, and it was over fifteen years...
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I was talking to a local pub landlord recently and during the conversation, was disappointed, but not surprised, how in winter particularly, when it is pissing down as it often has been in recent months, just how many times he had to make recourse to his reserves to pay the bills as the pub was...
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Like buses, they all come more or less at once. Hard on the heels of Northern Bar was the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) big annual thrash held in the Liverpool Exhibition Centre.SIBA BeerX 26 is a massive trade show with a beer competition, many bars featuring independent...
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It scarcely seems like a year since I last attended the Northern Bar Show, which I reported on here. Reflecting on that, one thing for sure is at my age, that while often the hours drag, the years fly by all too quickly. I went with my old pal Graham. Manchester Central exhibition centre, the...
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I first mentioned the Hand and Marigold in Bermondsey last July. It is a handsome free house, and we've been a few times and like it. If you want to know a bit more about it, I suggest you read this piece from the Southwark News which lays out the story of the pub's resurrection in excellent...
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Leaving the delightful Wilton's Music Hall, we set off along Cable Street towards Commercial Road and our planned stop at the Clement Attlee in Limehouse.The first part of the walk passes through a mix of housing, some old and some much newer. On the way we passed several long-closed pubs. First ...
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Wilton's Music Hall in Graces Alley, E1, is less than a five-minute walk from our London flat. It’s the oldest surviving music hall in the world and has stood in its current form since 1859. There’s also a bar selling cask beer that’s open to the public during performances. We’ve owned our flat...
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We returned to London for the first time this year last Thursday afternoon. We should have been there earlier the week before, but we had overlooked the revamping of signals and track at Manchester Piccadilly, resulting in its effective closure and trains starting at Stockport. Bugger that, so we...
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Years ago, we used to visit a pub at the far end of the Minories, fairly near our flat. And I mean years ago - probably fifteen or so since we last went in. Then the Three Lords was a Young's pub and I recall it being fairly traditional and selling cask beer. Over time though it was pulled...
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There has been much coverage in the press - almost all of it sensational - in the past few days about the Government's proposals to review and modernise the laws which govern licensing. The laws and rules have not been looked at in any great depth since the Licensing Act of 2003 which at the time...
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While many members of the Campaign for Real Ale were sceptical about moving the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) from its London home to the NEC in Birmingham, it is doubtful if many of us were prepared for how badly it would turn out. A whopping £320,000 loss was surely not in anyone's mind,...