Word up pub lovers, hope you've had a successful April.
61* (not out) Good Beer Guide ticks in the month (still one more day to come, stay tuned!) moves me onto 3085/4500 which my trusty Excel spreadsheet tells me is 68.56% completion.
My next minor landmark is 69%, and you know what comes after 69? Mouthwash!
*And it was at that moment that BRAPA realised the British Guild of Pub Writing Gold Medal Award wasn't coming home for another year*
No, what I mean to say is that 70% ain't far off, and that really will feel like a 'moment'. Can I get there in May? A tough ask, but I am expecting another good month.
Hull City are on the verge of relegation after Saturday's disastrous 0-1 defeat to Derby. I'll be very sad for a few hours if it happens, but then I'll reflect that a change of division might be good for BRAPA.....
Petition of National Staropramen Day
New towns, new pubs, new opportunities. In fact, if we do go down, my first blog back will be a relegation special.
In other news, Colin the Cauliflower has officially gone into semi-retirement. His decision, or was he pushed? Despite a thorough wash including Lenor beads (he smells lovely), and a 'colouring in' of his cataracts, he's going grey (aren't we all?) and increasingly seedy (aren't we all?)
A recent Colin outing at the pre-emptive Knave of Clubs, Shoreditch
Talking of old knackered things, I must mention my ailing GBG, as we pass the half way point in the ticking year.
It has now shed a total of ten pages. Pubs actually in Bolton are now in Eltham (SE9), who knew? I'm keeping the loose leaf pages safe at home in a plastic sleeve. Thankfully, the good book has 'stabilised' and no more look like dropping out any time soon.
It has been a month of two halves. A Spitalfields based 'mop up' to celebrate BRAPA's 11th birthday, and then a Staffordshire based long Easter weekend.
Let's end this little blog by seeing where I've been making progress with a bit o' commentary and a pub of the month.
Greater London (20 ticks, 98.6% complete), 4 remaining
Yes, that is right! Only 4 pubs to go in the whole of London, and I'd have only gone and bloody completed the thing if it wasn't for the pesky Cricketers at one of the Woodford's. It was having a refurb whilst I was down there, only reopening the day after I left. Tsk!
As a result, I decided to 'tactically leave' the other Woodford and Barkingside, and once I'd decided to do that, I couldn't really be arsed with James May's pub in Isleworth cos it'd have meant a day in Surrey, probably Staines n co.
Pub of the month was the Grapes, Limehouse. But in reality, it was a 2009 revisit that really won my heart, I went in four times, or was it five .... the Pride of Spitalfields, an incredible place selling cheap(er) ESB than a certain pub at King's Cross station!
What a county Staffs is. The best of pubs, pints and people. Of course annoying High Offley and Knighton with their silly hours and horrid location live to fight another day. Overnighter one summer's day in the recently voted most desirable place to stay in the UK, Eccleshall - or so I heard somewhere?
Might get a few of the above done before September, but I won't be getting the clean sweep.
Burslem, which I always want to spell Burslum was a revelation, but my overall winner is the Red Lion, Checkley, just look at its face.
West Midlands (11 ticks, 89.83% complete, 12 left)
C'mon lads, this HAS to be the year of WM completion. And what great pubs it has. Second only to Staffs as it relies slightly more on Brewery Tappy Microey stuff.
How is it that I need a six pub trip to Stourbridge area every year, and every pub I visit is a famous classic that has been there since time began? And I end up with you lot on BlueSky and X saying "corrr Si, how've ya not been there before?" GBG rotation because local CAMRA knows they just can't pick between them, methinks? Not that I'm complaining.
Pub of the month is Queen's Head, Meriden. Not many people seemed to have heard of it, tucked away between Birm n Cov, but a bona fide gem.
What division are MK Dons in these days? Asking for a friend. Going pretty good is my Bucks, not sure I'll get the full 100% done before September like I reckoned, but southern Chilterns is wrapped up. Pints, pubs and people might all be questionable in Bucks, they hate beermats and carpets just as much as Oxon, but some of that scenery is worth the entrance fee alone.
Tough choice for pub of the month, I feel like I should say the Royal Standard of England at Forty Green, certainly a must visit, but the beer weren't great, so it is a toss up between the George at Great Missenden and the Rose & Crown, High Wycombe. I'll go the latter cos it was a proper boozer.
Early days for Shrops, but if Oakengates and Shifnal are anything to go by, I'm in for a treat.
I think the 2026/27 will be the year of the counties beginning with 'S' so I'll likely book a week down Shrewsbury way and see how much I can get done in one swoop. I've done the classics in Shrewsbury itself, but there's still five in the GBG I need. Sadly, they're getting relegated last I saw.
All five ticks were good enough to be a pub of the month, but overall I'm going for Shifnal's Anvil Inn because it was the most homely, family orientated Black Country Ales pub I've ever witnessed!
There was one other tick, that was in Kent - Foresters in Dartford. It is an 'experience', I'll tell you that for nowt. Good ale but nip your nose and beware bum cracks.
Right, i'm off to drink a Carling in the sun (4:16pm as I write this) gifted to me by a drunk Leyton Orient fan who was impressed with my 'ball' knowledge .... I think he meant 'football'.
See you late on tomorrow for a mystery tick or two.
Comments