2025 has been a record breaking year here at BRAPA towers. 664 Good Beer Guide ticks, bettering the 619 I managed in 2024. I'd never have believed I'd come close to that twelve months ago.
The mascots are drunk, are you? You should be!
Colin (retired), Ivor Panda, Pedro Plum, Oscar (suspended), Dudley T. Duck, Owlie McBurnie.
So pour yourself a strong drink (ESB, red wine, whisky, I don't mind), or if this is hangover reading, an icy glass of water, apply a couple of slices of cucumber to your eyes (with holes in so you can still read this blog, though it is mainly pictures), and join me on this lookback of the pub ticking year.
I'll follow the regular format of a small monthly review, featuring the best pubs, the songs I was enjoying at the time or felt were apt to BRAPA, a few stand out pints and a few stale turkeys which had me wailing 'HOW DID THIS PLACE GET ANYWHERE NEAR THE GOOD BEER GUIDE?'
We'll also give some awards out to BRAPA heroes who drove me around / helped me out, and then I'll pick an overall BRAPA pub of the year from the twelve monthly winners.
Ready? Ready ......
January : What's it Like to See a Crowd? (.... in a pub)
The possessed dolls of Litherland
January began as it always does .... chilly, grey and quiet. I'm secretly pleased that the pubs are so much quieter than they were in in the run up to Christmas, but it doesn't stop me decrying those December 'part timers' and saying stuff like '....looks like I'll have to save the pubs single-handedly' like it is national service or something.
My first tick of 2025 is the Arthur Robertson in Perry Bar near Birmingham. The first of an eye-watering year for 'Wetherspoons ticks. A pied wagtail tried to stop me from entering. True story. Tick 2892 (I'm on 3214 as I write), which gives you some idea of my progress even allowing for September's #CruelChurn which I'll moan about later.
Don't Wanna Be An American Lydiate
Pub of the Month - Scotch Piper, Lydiate, Merseyside
Try Also : Crooked Billet, Owston Ferry / Royal Oak, West Bromwich / Docks Beers, Grimsby / Volunteer Canteen, Waterloo.
Song of the Month - Titus Andronicus - Fired Up
Avoid Like the Plague- Perch, Sheffield (Furry Convention, yuck)
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Daddy BRAPA (he took me around Lincs in freezing fog).
February : Bland of our Fathers?
A typical Sunday morning in Neath
Winter drags on doesn't it? No doubt I'll be moaning about the heat by May (I was). But I'm ready for spring by late Feb, even more ready for the first BRAPA 'holiday' of 2025.
Glamorgan. With Cardiff as my base. Top Air B & B, good towels. Really solid pubs. Beer not too pale. I only failed to tick eight Glam pubs. Would've been seven but for a lazy landlord at Hendreforgan. And 62 ticks is a new BRAPA Feb record.
Borough Arms, Neath
Pub of the Month - Borough Arms, Neath
Try Also - Bell, Castle Hedingham, Essex / Winchester, Merthyr Tydfil / Blue Anchor, East Aberthaw
Song of the Month - Amyl & the Sniffers - You Should Not be Doing That
Avoid Like the Plague- Ale Hub, Mere Green, West Midlands (gosh I've never been more bored in a pub. Chilly. Poor beer. And we lost at home to Stoke, which probably isn't the pub's fault but bearing in mind our fixture later today, this is not a great time to mention that!)
BRAPA Guest of the Month (three-way tie) : Pub Ticker (outer Cardiff), Si Dewhurst (mid Essex), Ian Sutton (East Lancs).
Games Room of the Year - Bell, Casle Hedingham
Let's go to the Winchester until it all blows over
Thawing out in East Aberthaw
March : BRAPA Springs a Leak/Leek
As I walk up to the Blue Ball at Asheridge Bucks on 1st March, clear blue sky, red kites circling for my carcass in case I drop dead, spring was finally here.
Not a hugely productive month but Malvern/Worcester with Daddy BRAPA was a revelation. Kent twice with the iconic Paul G. and Northumberland Thirsty Thursdays were other highlights.
My Good Beer Guide was showing serious wear and tear by now, and started to lose a few pages around Greater Manchester and West London. I swear the binding and thickness of paper gets worse each year, but look, I know CAMRA are skint and I'm just grateful to have a paper copy of any description!
You can buy 2.33 cheese & onion rolls in the Plough for a pint of Parcel Yard ESB
Pub of the Month - Plough, Worcester
Try Also - Hop House, St Michaels / Weavers, Malvern / Queen's Head, Chesham / Pele, Corbridge / Black Bull, Haltwhistle / Plough, Cramlington.
Song of the Month - Clowns - Freezing in the Sun
Avoid Like the Plague- Monument, Canterbury (lied about their beer being dodgy, made it really difficult for me to get a replacement, but then changed it whilst I wasn't looking!)
BRAPA Guest of the Month : Paul Godden, Kent (+ bonus point for his Aussie brother)
Paul (rockin' the Man of Kent look) with bro at the George, Bethersden
Daddy BRAPA returns to the Parcel Yard triumphantly brandishing train snacks
Grate ESB in Chesham
April : London Colin' in a Faraway Land
Oh Colin, you didn't!
BRAPA's 11th birthday was celebrated daaahhn in London. Staying in a Premier Hub in Whitechapel like Jack the Ripper used to. Could I complete G.London for the first time ever? I bloody would've done if it wasn't for the pesky Cricketers at Woodford Green, closing for refurbishment, only opening the day I returned home. Tsk. Pubs eh? Can't trust them.
67 ticks made it the third most productive month of the year. To bolster my London numbers, I spent Easter in Stafford Travelodge, a near religious experience, and by month end I was in Chichester. I was really sucking BRAPA diesel by now, the days were longer and the sun occasionally hot.
Pub of the Month - Grapes, Limehouse
Try Also - Red Lion, Checkley / Queen's Head, Meriden / Rose & Crown, High Wycombe / Pride of Spitalfields, Whitechapel.
Song of the Month - Viagra Boys - Uno II
Avoid Like the Plague- Crossways (Bottlecraft), Newcastle-under-Lyme. It was like drinking in a cold grey public toilet on a busy roundabout.
BRAPA Guest of the Month : Me (I did it all by myself, where were you when I needed you?)
High Wycombe Annual Mascot Convention
The most Staffs pub photo ever.
May - Panda Moany Yum : Staying up in Sussex
Not drunk, honest. But which famous artwork was I trying to recreate at the Carlton Social Club, GMR?
Another fine BRAPA month, 66 ticks meaning I fell just one shy of April's tally. A first serious stab at West Sussex did most of the damage during my birthday week.
I also had the small matter of Hull City's last day survival at Pompey to negotiate, and whilst we couldn't hang on for the three points, Luton imploded at WBA so what a relief. Nerve shredding I tell ya! Amazing celebrations. Sunburnt. Dehydrated, and my next tick (a weird but good micropub in Portslade) brought up 69% of the GBG.
The middle of the month found me in the East Midlands, Greater Manchester (where I hit 70% for the first time ever) and my old friend Northumberland, before I bookended the month with a trip to Hove, though that is East Sussex, just.
11:15am Thursday in Seahouses
Yap, yap, Yapton (beard man had a secret mint aero in his back pocket)
Pub of the Month - Olde Ship Inn, Seahouses
Try Also - Maypole, Yapton / Five Bells, West Chitlington / Snug, Droylesden / Duke of Wellington, Shoreham / Three Horseshoes, Elsted / Fox, Felpham / Brittania, Upper Gornal / Neptune, Hove / Pottle, Beeston / Robin Hood, Havant / Olde Cheshire Cheese, Castleton.
Song of the Month - Turnstile - Never Enough
Avoid Like the Plague- Ol's Bier & More, Stalybridge (at least Dukinfield's Wheatsheaf had a bit of old school honesty about its crapness)
BRAPA Beers of the Year Contenders - Thornbridge Jaipur, Hatter's Inn, Bognor Regis / Thornbridge Jaipur, Harbord Harbord, Middleton / Thornbridge Jaipur, Samuel Hall, Sherwood.
BRAPA Worst Beer of the Year Contender - Thornbridge Jaipur, Dolphin & Anchor, Chichester
BRAPA Guest of the Month : Alex Quosh (East Manc)
Dad n Quosh probably talking about model railways whilst I get the Guinness in at Dukinfield
Bathing in Bathams at Upper Gornal
June : Boiling my Blood in the Cotswolds
Morning snacks at Cheltenham Spa Tesco Express
A record-breaking 77 ticks for the month of June had me reaching for the Andrews Liver Salts (if they still exist, I'm not sure) by early July after a fruitful Gloucestershire debut, with occasional strayage into the likes of Worcs, Wilts and Gwent.
I stayed in sweltering Cheltenham, no air con despite 30+ degree days in an upstairs apartment of one of those posh old Victorian townhouses. Feet in buckets of water every night!
Before all that, I'd made steady progress in Notts, Rutland and Lincs, but only 17 ticks in the first 19 days just shows how much I paggered it during the final couple of weeks!
Nosebleed and bad cricket : Bell, Avening
Pub of the Month - Crown & Sceptre, Stroud
Try Also - Pelican, Gloucester / White Horse Inn, Misson / Victoria, Kirkby Malham / Fountain Inn, Trellach Grange / Exeter Arms, Uppingham / Bell Inn, Moreton-in-Marsh / Cross House Tavern, Tewkesbury / Drillman's Arms, Cirencester.
Pint of the Year Contender - Victoria, Kirkby Malham
Song of the Month - C.O.F.F.I.N. (Children of Finland Fighting in Norway)- Fast Love
Avoid Like the Plague- Fox & Hounds, Bredon / King's Arms, Newent / Dog House, Coleford
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Joint winners (Paul G - Cotswolds & MyFamilyRug - Forest of Dean) Honourable mentions for Ian S. (North Yorkshire) & Daddy BRAPA (Lincs)
BRAPA Not a Pre-Emptive But Should Be of the Year - Joules, Cirencester
Mousetrap, Bourton-on-the Water
MyFamilyRug - Fountain Inn, Trellach Grange
Fleece, Bretforton - Colin 'wooden settle' for anything less
Oi mate, the pub is behind you. Ebrington Arms.
July : Calm After the Storm / Sunshine after the Rain
What goes up must come down - obviously not Sunderland or dirty L**ds ..... I'm talking BRAPA pub numbers and 34 ticks in July. I'd gone from steaming to abstemious. And it was probably just as well for my poor brittle liver.
It started with a bang though as Paul G offered me a SECOND day circling the Cotswolds, what a gent. Though he has since got married where part of his vows may well have been "I will pay my wife more attention than BRAPA" which I guess is reasonable, even I'll be the first to admit.
Summer Saturday day trip with a football-free Daddy BRAPA, a first ever tick in the Borders, and Derbyshire completion were other highlights, but I won't lie, it was nice to have Thursday's off and catch up on the blogs, clean the oven, defrost the freezer and feed Jim the hamster.
Pub of the Month - Black Boy, Bewdley
Try Also - Bewdley Brewery Tap / Black Horse, Shipstone-on-Stour / Holly Bush, Greenhaugh / Hole in the Wall, Brighton / Flowing Spring, Playhatch .
Song of the Month - Chixdiggit - I Remember You
Avoid Like the Plague- Black Horse, Emmer Green - but watching Dad play darts against himself (he lost) and plant pot his beer was fun.
BRAPA Pub Town of the Year - Bewdley, Worcs
BRAPA Guest of the Month : Paul G (outer Cotswolds)
Plant pots at Black Horse, Emmer Green.
Pub carpet of the year not in a 'Spoons - Black Boy, Bewdley
Flowing Spring - Playhatch
At the start of the River Thames - Ashton Keynes (nicer than brother Milton)
August - School's Out for Scummer
Gryphon, Bristol
August is traditionally another quiet BRAPA month, my thinking is usually along the lines of :
"I won't book any holidays in Aug because the country will be crawling with kiddies, Mummies and Daddies, most of which will need a 'Tw..' adding the beginning, especially if I encounter them in pubs".
Yet in 2025, I broke all previous BRAPA records with a bonus Oxfordshire long weekend mid-month, and then my so-called September holiday to Bristol actually started at the end of Aug. 53 ticks easily eclipsed the previous record of 43 in 2024.
With the dawning of the new football season (Hull City predicted to finish 23rd by EVERY Championship prediction channel) we had a new mascot join the ranks as Owlie McBurnie was signed on a free from Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, with Colin the Cauliflower tentatively announcing his semi retirement (we told him to jump before he's pushed! Sorry Col.)
Pub of the Month - Red Lion, Horley, Oxfordshire
Try Also - Peyton Arms, Stoke Lyne / Bag o' Nails, Bristol / Swan with Two Necks, Bristol / Hillgrove Porter Stores, Bristol / Alestones, Tardebigge / Anchor, Caunsall.
Song of the Month - Carter U.S.M. - Rubbish
Avoid Like the Plague- Penny Black, Bicester (one of year's most despicable Wetherspoons)
BRAPA Pub Wedding Crasher of the Year - Butchers Arms, Balscote
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Martin 'Maltmeister' Alsop (outer Bristol)
Docile massive pub cat of the year - Bag of Nails, Hotwells, Bristol
Hillgrove Porter Stores
Mick the Hat struggles to get along with potential new garden seating - Stoke Lyne
Daddy BRAPA finds religion in Tardebigge
September : Run & Hide, it's the New Good Beer Guide!
Yes, September is that most challenging time of the year, both the best and worst if you are a pub ticker. The initial thrill of seeing a brand new book plop onto your doormat is tempered by what I refer to as the #CruelChurn , as you cross-tick your numbers and realise just how many you have lost.
I lost 341 pubs this year. Some might say that's careless. Biggest loss yet, although percentage-wise it was slightly less brutal than a year ago. And because I remained above the 3,000 mark (just at 3,018), I felt less mentally bereft than in 2024 so that was nice!
A classic Thursday GBG cross-ticking scene. Note unfortunate Somerset, weather just preventing them from beating dreadful Hants and thus a billionth consecutive year of no County Championship win
In terms of September ticks, it was a return to form with 64. Suddenly, I have stuff to do in Yorkshire again making ticking easier through the Autumn months. Greater Manchester was also high on my agenda in that period.
The month had started balls-deep in Bristol, an unnecessarily expensive weekend in Edinburgh followed (it was then that the GBG arrived), and I rounded things off with the now traditional 'first look' at Central London's zillion newbies even though the pubs in question have all been standing unaltered for 400 years.
Colin's final tick as a full time mascot was this month in Frampton Cotterell's Rising Sun
Pub of the Month - Bridge Inn (Trust), Peebles
Try Also - Horseshoe, Chipping Sodbury / Cornubia, Bristol / Draper's Arms, Horfield / Coeur de Lion, Bath / Ladybarn Social Club.
Song of the Month - Otoboke Beaver - S'il Vous Plait
Avoid Like the Plague- Nag's Head, Covent Garden & Portwall Tavern, Redcliffe, Bristol.
BRAPA Guest of the Month - MyFamilyRug (awkward outer Bristol)
Beer of the Month - Thornbridge Jaipur, Moon under Water, Watford
Late night aerobics : Albert Hotel, Disley
Ivor refuses to be a plaything : Sun & Castle, Stockport
First wet nose in my new GBG : Victoria Tap, Manchester
Owlie McBurnie v Eyepatch Guy : Bridge Inn (Trust), Peebles
October : Gimme Gimme Jock Treatment
Paddle Steamer, Largs (BRAPA fire of the year .... and 8th best carpet!)
October is all about looking forward to the new ticking year, no sulking or wistful ' what might've been's' regarding the recent Good Beer Guide churn. Armed with a new found urge to tick absolutely any Wetherspoons I see, it became a fruitful month with 65 ticks and 9 pre-emptives.
Scotland took a pounding as I completed Greater Glasgow, got to within one in the Borders, made good progress in Ayrshire, and even slid into Argyll & The Isles for the first time.
There were 26 English ticks too, in fact I spent so long in rural Bucks I could feel a change coming on ....
Pub of the Month - Lismore, Partick
Try Also - Black Swan, Belford / Red Lion, Chinnor / Cross Keys, Thame / Paddle Steamer, Largs / Weavers, Strathaven / Scotia Bar, Glasgow / Brown Bull, Lochwinnoch / Fox & Hounds, Houston / Mac's Bar, Rothesay / Allanton Inn, Allanton.
Song of the Month - The World / Inferno Friendship Society - Pumpkin Time
Avoid Like the Plague- Hay Stook, East Kilbride (enforced queueing in 'Spoons, 'tis the end of days!)
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Komakino /Dave / Sladey : Oxon / Bucks
Beer of the Month - Rev James Reserve, Brains (Red Lion, Chinnor) & Motorhead Porter, Metalhead (Black Swan, Belford)
Lismore, Partick
Black Swan, Belford
Cross Keys, Thame
November : Croydon Cravings
White Swan, Richmond
A fourth BRAPA holiday in the last three months! No wonder I was delving into my savings, over a month behind on my blogs and feeling physically fragile ..... DUDE, YOU NEED TO SLOW DOWN. Note to 2026 self, just because I have a week off work doesn't mean I HAVE to use every single day pub ticking. I doubt I'll heed such advice but it is nice to wise in this moment.
72 ticks. Only June bettered Nov. Most of the damage was done in London, and if it wasn't for that pesky Botany Bay Club near Enfield, I'd be confident of a full on greening in 2026 (I'm only 2 pubs away as I write this).
Beds, Stirling, Lincs, Sussex (West) and the West Midlands were other areas I made some progress in.
Pub of the Month - Lamp Tavern, Dudley (beef & onion cob wins BRAPA pub food of the year)
Try Also - Anchor & Hope, Clapton / Eight Bells, Fulham / Dog House, Beddington / Mansfield Arms, Sauchie / Bell Inn, Halton Holegate / Ibo's Bunker, Loftus / Brewery Shades, Crawley / Robin, Stroud Green
Song of the Month - Laura Jane Grace - Your God (God's Dick)
Avoid Like the Plague- Royal Arms, Tillicoultry (two of the worst beers I've tried all year)
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Rich Birley (Derbyshire Birthday Boy in London)
BRAPA Slowest Service of 2025 - Wibbas Down Inn, Wimbledon
Dog House, Beddington
Trinity, Borough
Ma Pardoe's, Netherton
December : Limping into Christmas
Work Christmas do - Ship Inn, L**ds
Tough month for pubbing innit? I'm happy to work every day I can in and around Christmas. Let the idiots have their fun! A record low 33 monthly ticks ain't surprising, though to be honest I said I'd be happy with anything over 30+. I was in York's magnificent Swan the other night, post-Christmas and a pub you'd expect people to behave in, but even there, I noticed a shift away from normal pub etiquette. People just a bit lamer, ruder and less spatially aware than they would be in January.
The month began on a sad note as we lost one of the pubbiest #PubMen out there Peter the Pub Curmudgeon, though I had to chuckle a couple of days before Christmas when Apple Music put on a random playlist, and when 'Stop the Cavalry' by Jona Lewie came on (a song he famously despised!), my speaker toppled onto the floor. Didn't do it for any of the other 20 or so tracks, just that one!
Ticking-wise, there was a bit more London, Herts, East Sussex, 100% East Yorkshire completion (sort of), and a bit of Warwickshire which I never do well in, it all bodes well for 2026 though Jan will be low on ticks and high on blog catching up and getting healthy. Also I wanna get back into Football Manager this year. Got my Raja Casablanca top, I'm good to go.
Table 13, what can possibly go wrong in Nunhead?
Pub of the Month - Ivy House, Nunhead
Try Also - Moon Tap, Bridlington / Black Boy, Bricket Wood / Three Horseshoes, Cheddington / Eagle, Warwick / Haus on the Hill, Brighton
Song of the Month - Big Sandy & His
Fly-Rite Boys - Mad
Avoid Like the Plague- Lady Ottoline, Bloomsbury
BRAPA Guest of the Month - Steve Halstead (Derby - Grand Central train aficionado)
Most Pissed Clientele of Year - Bridge Inn, Newhaven, East Sussex
Eagle, Warwick - grottoey, not grotty
Moon Tap, Bridlington
Black Boy, Bricket Wood
So there you have it. Oh, our overall pub winners .....
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