33 Good Beer Guide ticks for the month of July is a typically modest return during this tricky month of zero holidays and a blank Saturday. Elaborate #ThirstyThursdays were required just to keep my often sweaty head above water. York Tap sweaty head above water It's that dangerous time of year where I feel like I'm making good progress, but lurking in the back of my mind is that a mere six weeks from now, the 2027 Good Beer Guide will arrive on my doorstep, and the #CruelChu

Sunday 21st June 2026 The much anticipated evil heatwave ™ was finally upon us, and my knight in shining armour is TheFamilyRug, or Martyn as his loved ones know him. Being a Gwent man (though a former Somersetonian), I'd initially assumed he wouldn't wanna be arsed with coming all the way down to Taunton .... but that's where his MiL lives, and today is her birthday bash. And he's allowed to escape for a few hours to drive me around. That's what we call BRAPpenstance! One

Saturday 20th June 2026 With seven GBG pubs, only Belfast can boast more required BRAPA ticks than Weston-super-Mare in a single location. My long overdue WSM trip had been high on the agenda all week, so I'm glad I'd lasted until day five. It'd prove the most angsty day of the hols, but a six tick outcome was a good result. Today was the final day before the evil heatwave hits the UK, lasting until the day I leave (ugh), so this was my last chance to do something crazy invo

Friday 16th June 2026 'Twas time to crack on and make hay whilst the sun shines (but not too much). With the looming evil heatwave due to kick in on Sunday, and Friday's generous pub opening hours, I had to go the 'full rural shebang' today. The bus driver laughs at me for mispronouncing 'Curry Rivel' as 'Rivell, it is in fact 'Rival'. Who knew? The B3168 is unsafe for walking, so I instead head south into Drayton (where our second pub will be) and keep going towards Mideln

Thursday 18th June 2026 Minehead. Sounds a shithole on paper, but as you can see, it isn't. Well not out on the coast anyway. I'd taken the early bus up from Taunton, which had taken an age but never mind. Asked the driver for a ticket to 'Maidenhead' (FFS!) so he thinks I'm a dork. Was hoping to find a little breakfast café, even if it is just for a coffee. But nothing is open, so I have a paddle. Might be good for my blisters. You can see Cardiff from here if you squ

Wednesday 17th June 2026 A 'Deft' manoeuvre across the 'Tone' (thanks!) and once again I'm in a hedgerow on an OS path in rural Somerset .... To find a small cluster of pubs opening at 12 noon on a Wednesday felt like an achievement in itself, and as the crow flies I wasn't too far from Taunton which was good news because England's World Cup campaign kicked off against Croatia this evening and I want to be settled back in my Air B&B with snacks by then. NOT that these were ea

Tuesday 16th June 2026 With 90 (NINETY) pubs to tick, Somerset was easily my most neglected county in this crazy quest to tick the Good Beer Guide in its entirety. For context, West Wales sits in second place with a mere 60 (SIXTY). I'd ticked 12 pubs down here to date, but one of those is walkable from Bristol City's ground. The other 11 were all in Bath which if we're being honest, is Gloucestershire wrapped in a pink ribbon with farts that smell of strawberry. So as I a

Sunday 14th June 2026 Hi all, getting this one out early before our inevitable Vigintennial / Vicennial / Bidecennial disappointment against the Argies. Probably with FIFA input, who knows? For a second consecutive weekend, it was up to the North Yorkshire / County Durham borderlands by car courtesy of BRAPA #PubMan of the decade Daddy BRAPA, or Bernard Gerald as he used to be known pre-2014. Today had the added twist of being a Sunday BRAP, a rare phenomena found only in J

Saturday 6th June 2026 Daddy BRAPA's bare leg and the remnants of a flask of coffee. It could only be a summer car day, and the only surprise is that isn't Lincolnshire. Approaching the business end of the pub ticking season (final quarter) and I've not touched County Durham (or Merseyside, Cheshire or Leicestershire for that matter). This pleases me. It means I'm not panicking about going too far afield as September approaches. More of this in the 2026/27 ticking season p

Thursday 4th June 2026 Not often you have the opportunity to spread your wings on the 8:18am Grand Central from York to London, but the seat booked next to me (Carol Casey, aged 61, from Ashington) phoned in sick following surgery complications to fix a hernia, so Dudley Duck capitalised. Regarding Surrey, I was not a happy chap. 24 ticks remain, placing it in the unacceptable bracket. And whilst you can forgive a Dorset or a Highlands being in that state, Surrey isn't a h

Saturday 30th May 2026 Encouraged by my recent Aberdeenshire exploits, I head back up to Jockland in optimistic mood for what I hope would be a day of high quality beers + pubs. This will be my last Scottish trip for quite some time, as I have bigger fish to fry. Those fish being Wales, East Anglia and the South West. Riddled with parasites before cooking. But BRAPA history tells me that Edinburgh + The Lothians can be a beery struggle, and Daddy BRAPA's Scottish record is

Saturday 23rd May 2026, 7:20pm A poignant moment. Or as poignant as any moment can be sitting in a hot car on level one of Beaconsfield railway station multi-store carpark, munching a previously cool-bagged cheese & tomato sandwich and guzzling down a litre of weak orange squash in companionable silence with Daddy BRAPA. Dad turns 80 next year, and granted he's the youngest 79 year old on the planet, but important I savour moments like a dramatic Hull City promotion to the P

Thursday 21st May 2026 Oi oi! With 22 pubs still to tick, Essex was teetering on the brink of BRAPA unrespectability so today's aim was to bring it dahn below 20, with another trip to come in mid-July which'll make it look half decent. This is a far cry from my 2021 'full greening' of the county (Bures Hamlet, Woodforde Wherry, never forget) , and although Essex isn't the 'churniest' of counties, leave anywhere alone for five years and you WILL get banged, so to speak. I dec

Saturday 16th May 2026 Look, there's a train over there if you squint. The tip of South Cumbria was the setting for my second consecutive week in Lancs. A Daddy BRAPA car day no less. We'd have all round better pub experiences than the Blackpool coast provided last time out. The journey over t'hills was dominated by Wemberley chat after our shock win at Meewaw the previous Monday. But who will we be playing? What day? What time? We were all of a fluster due to the spyi

Word up pub lovers, Ding dong the Humph is dead, and I'm hoping this illicit photo I took on Saturday didn't hasten his demise ..... It has been a successful month here at BRAPA Towers with 61 Good Beer Guide pubs visited in the month of June, plus 8 pre/post-emptives. This moves me onto 78.26% GBG completion, and most thrillingly (for me) is 978 pubs remaining, under 1,000 for the first time. I'm basking in the glory until September's churn comes along and undoes most of m

Saturday 9th May 2026 Blackpool Winter Gardens minus the drunk punks slumped in the streets with their 2 litre bottles of cider always looks a bit naked to me, but it felt a necessary pilgrimage and Daddy BRAPA humoured me. Besdies, we had to wait until noon for our first pub to open so no point taking the northerly 'Fleetwood Fairy' tram just yet. I was still recovering from that long old week in Aberdeen, so I'm happy to make today a gentle four-ticker. I did have one add

Good evening from BRAPA Towers, I'm not sure I can justify devoting my full attention to Spain (the Man City of World Cup football) versus Cape Verde (the Rotherham of World Cup football). So I've got it on mute with the music by The Dead South on my iPhone because I can't be bothered to turn my stereo on. Here are my four favourite pubs from my recent* holiday to Aberdeen & beyond. *six weeks ago but never mind Globe Inn, Aberdeen 10pm on my opening night, and I'm very much

I can't really justify giving my undivided attention to Qatar (the MK Dons of World Cup football) versus Switzerland (the Preston North End of World Cup football) so I've got it on in the background on mute with Slim Cessna's Auto Club's peculiar grower of a 2024 album on. Anyway, here we are. The first four pubs in our Scottish finale. It should be all eight, but the truth is I've been fragile all day following Poppleton Beer Festival last night, and didn't really surface

Ready for seven pubs which I genuinely enjoyed despite some Scottish limitations? (Look, I know you prefer the pish where I suffered cos you're a bunch of sadists, but I've still to tell you about Tranent in the coming weeks so plenty more misery on the horizon don't ye worry). Balmoral Bar, Ballater They really know how to milk the tourist trade in this parts - Highland Games, royal noncery, Traitors, castles, castles, castles, snowy mountain tops. Despite being hit over t

Ready for seven minor Scottish gripes and occasional weirdness from my recent holiday in Aberdeen and beyond? Good, let's begin ..... Alexandra Hotel, Ballater "ENJOY THA SUN!" barks the elderly landlady, which sounds like an order to bugger off outside and leave this stuffy 1989 Bridlington-esque style stale piss and stewed veg smelling hotel bar for more deserving local crones. Just as well that Friday 1st May 2026 is the warmest day I've ever witnessed in Scotland. I cro