BRAPA in .... HAPPY GOOD BEER GUIDE 2026 DAY (PART 1 OF 2)

Thursday 25th September 2025

Good morning! The CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2026 is officially released today, meaning an end to the embargo period which has been preventing me from openly revealing the contents until now.

Because for desperados like me, you can sign up to the 'GBG Privilege Club', and receive the 'greatest book in the world' approximately two weeks before the official publication date.

For a hardcore pub ticker, this is great, because it allows you to perform the brutal 'cross ticking exercise' in advance, and start planning for the cruel year ahead / make a head start.

As I arrived back from Scotland at BRAPA Towers in York, 11pm on Sunday 14th September, a GBG shaped package was sitting on my outdoor mat ......

Live action shot ......

With work the following day, I only really had time to unpack, brush my teeth, get a glass of water, and jump into bed with the book, for a quick half hour skeg at it 'til my eyes closed .... I'd travelled back from Edinburgh via Carlisle which had taken over 4 hrs.

Last sighting of the 2025 GBG in the wild. Note, the Mid Wales pages trying to escape

I had been expecting its arrival. The previous morning, on a train between Waverley and Tweedbank, my phone started pinging with excited notifications of folk receiving it up and down the country. Shout out to four special chaps for volunteering to DM me the Edinburgh, Lothians and Borders pages to save me from missing any obvious new ticks whilst I was up there - John W2 of Poppleton, Derby Steve, Boro' Chris of Stockport and Axholme Rob of Lincs fame).

Work didn't help my hopes of a 'quiet' week by sticking me on 'inbox'. Meaning I'm responsible for keeping the workflow moving, prepping any Business loans that come in etc. Take your eye off the ball for more than a few minutes and you get burnt, so even a cheeky few mins here and there sneakily highlighting Bedfordshire was hard to do. Tsk, working at work? The cheek! What do they pay me for?

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

Therefore, it was long Monday and Tuesday evenings/nights, eating takeaways, drinking tea, finishing approx 1am, and a big Thursday final push where I finally got the job done.

Wednesday was a washout because I attended York Beer Festival, and because I've gotta make everything into a little challenge, I tried for a beery A-Z .... my friends helped out (those pubs in brackets). Only two letters weren't available on the day, Q and U, beers WERE available on European key keg, but annoying I was told they weren't putting them on til Friday ......

Best was B, worst was G

.... but I wasn't too hungover for my final day's ticking on the Thursday, so that helped greatly!

I always say that I can tell from the first three counties, Beds, Berks and Bucks, how cruel the churn is going to be i.e. what percentage of pubs I'll lose, and I was 16 down after these three which is a bad indicator. 'Ouch!' I shout across the room to Colin and Owlie McB. Especially on Bucks (-9) which I've been paying close attention to this year. In fact, Milton Keynes will be my next blog after these so we'll see which pubs remained or got binned.

I'd 'declared' for the 2025 GBG ticking season on 3359/4500 (74.6% completion), about 25 pubs above what I'd predicted earlier this summer. Amazing progress. A bloody good job I did this many as it became clear by about midway through the book that the best I could hope for is to stay above the 3,000 mark .... anything lower would be really demoralising.

So it was with much relief when Wilts and Worcs didn't screw me over like West Midlands had so I end on 3019.

I'd lost 341, Down to 3018. OOOOF. But it could've been oofier. I was sweating in that final half hour. Most dramatic cross tick yet. Loved and hated it in equal measures.

I've since clawed my total back to 3035 as a result of my 'secret ticks' in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester (did you guess them correctly?), plus a Bridlington micropub that reckoned it had moved but actually hasn't done so yet, so I'm adding one for that as I'd been to their original gaff (well, for the time being!) But then I had to take one off for a Hartshill misstep. Confused? I am.

A better churn than last year though- I lost 10.15% this time compared with 10.42% in 2024. Plus I'm happier mood-wise, in that I'm not all 'woe is me' like last year, I'm more like 'Si ya daft sod' .....

3,359th and last official tick from the 2025 edition, Bridge Inn (Trust) Peebles. Excellent. Owlie McBurnie psyches out a local pirate. Colin would never be so brave.

I have bruises all over my ankles from kicking myself under the table so often during the cross-tick. So many missed opportunities. I could write a blog called 'Si's Pub Ticking Failure Fuckwittery' and list you an example from virtually every county. You'd probably like that, you sadists.

Ignoring Norfolk (which I always try to, but can't forever), it seemed more a case of several historic re-entries and random Wetherspoons than brand new stuff - I notice significantly fewer new juicy brewery taps on shit awkward chilly industrial units than the past few Guides.

Funny how these things come full circle isn't it? (that wasn't a Newcastle brewery tap pun by the way but should've been). A bit like football. I'm sensing tippy tappy 'Pep-ball' getting a bit 'old hat' this season. Rosenior, you're finished! Will Will Still still be at Saints at Christmas? No! We want a long cross field ball. Lump it up to the big man! 'Tis like GBG pubs. Get yer Sam Smith's, Holts, John Willie Lees back in the Guide, and stop fucking about at the back.

My churn around Covid time was only approx 7-8% but CAMRA branches have emerged from the shackles more imaginative than ever in BRAPA's existence during these past 2-3 years and the churn has ramped up again. Healthier I guess, apart from the good pubs which have closed down obviously. So long as they aren't just putting pubs in for the sake of it.

From what I've seen of the new West Yorks and GMR entries so far, the standard of ale is excellent, and there's some decent places too. None I've so far thought 'why the bloody 'ell is this in?' Still, 'tis very early days.

"How'd you get the new book so quick?" asks Miss Victoria Tap in Manchester, so after explaining BRAPA (poor her) I let her become the first guest ticker of the new season

So why does my churn continue to be so brutal when by now, 11 years into my challenge, I'm building up a base of 'gross' pubs? (i.e. those which have featured in any addition, which stands at 5,880 at the time of writing).

Well, my insistence on pint drinking and 25 mins minimum visits does limit how much I can do in a day (plus I'm a lightweight). But I don't regret my rules, I think back to all the amazing experiences I've had and people I'd never have chatted to if I'd been swallowing down quick vertical halves in 3 mins and buggering off.

But it really pays to tick any Wetherspoons that you see. And pubs that have featured in previous editions. I've never done that. Partly because I don't have capacity, but even so I should be more mindful of these points (my rules state I CAN actually have a half in non GBG pubs). It'd hugely reduce my 'churn'.

Even more than that though, and here's the tricky bit, my current strategy is still to get into 'new' counties each year. For example, this year I attacked Gloucs/Bristol, West Sussex and Oxfordshire for the first time ever. Therefore, I knew my churn would be particularly brutal in those areas because I just don't have any base yet, unlike Yorkshire which I've been paggering relentlessly since 2014. Therefore, minimal comparative churn. This theory doesn't help me explain why West Midlands is always so cruel to me though. I always fill in the gaps. But Sedgeley and Lower Gornal will always find a new Holdens, Bathams, BCA et al to stick in. But in happier news, Lincs was uncharacteristically kind this time around. Run out of obscure village dining pubs selling Doom, Bateman's and FAB between Grantham and Sleaford, lads?

Guest ticker Joe, and his injured hip, in Sale's airy pink breezster, Pray Tell - great Kernel Porter

So in conclusion, until I stop going to brand new counties and I can fully focus on plugging gaps, my churn will probably remain high. And I've still not really looked at Somerset, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Channel Islands and half of Wales & Scotland yet, so expect an identical blog a year from now. Oh well, as a wise man wearing Paisley in Preston once told me "the best hobbies are the ones you never quite finish".

As long as I'm making progress, I'm satisfied. Which I am. This time last year, I'd dropped down from 3003 to 2691. So I have effectively gained 344 pubs for the year in reality. I just had to do 668 to achieve it!

Look, I've wittered on long enough. Tonight, in part 2 (yes, TWO blogs on the same day ..... RetiredMartin says 'hold my pint') we'll look at the BRAPA success stories (11 pre & post emptives which have come good for me), plus a little strategy plan for 2025/26 - i.e. the areas I'm looking to focus on.

Cheers, that was cathartic. Oh, and 'keep it pub'. I certainly need to ....

Si