BRAPA MONTH END REVIEW - APRIL 2023 (RECORD BREAKERS!)

Good evening friends, I hope this brief (by my standards) catch up finds you and your lizards (livers) well after the Bank Holiday weekend?

I've spent it mostly eating cucumber sandwiches, fig rolls, drinking turmeric coffee (trust me, it works!), copious water and watching the snooker with a cold flannel on my brow after an epic 8-nighter in Salisbury.

My washing and ironing is done, the Sainsbury's man arrived (he is in brass band and from Robin Hood's Bay so we chatted Bay Hotel), and I've even given myself a haircut. Time to get some normality back (well, as normal as it gets).

April was gruelling, in the best way possible. 75 ticks for the month smashes my previous best of 66 achieved last October, and puts me onto a net total of 2465 - a significant number because it means I am finally back in 'credit' (2464 was my end total in the 2022 Guide before I 'lost' 315 pubs cross-ticking - how careless of me!)

Devizes floors Colin

That means, percentage wise, I'm 54.8% of the way through the Guide. So between now and September (or whatever date the 2024 edition plops through my lettterbox), the key is to create as much distance between my 1st May self and my future September self as possible. If that makes sense.

I've now done 4,359 pubs which have appeared in all Good Beer Guides. Which still isn't a full GBG. That scares me slightly!

Wiltshire was THE county of the month. On the whole, a very positive experience. Some great ales, fantastic pubs and friendly folk. You won't believe me if you read tomorrow's blog! Pub signs too - I don't think I've ever witnessed a county with so many quality inn signs. Nice to see. I was already on 30 ticks going into the holiday, so to bang out in 42 Wiltshire (plus my accidental slippage into Dorset and Somerset) was a good achievement.

70% of Wiltshire done by the end

I won't tell you about any specific pubs now, because I'm going to do a Wiltshire countdown, Norfolk style, from 45 down to 1, detailing the best and worst experiences, starting with the utter dross, culminating with 5 pubs which all could be contenders for my overall pub of the year award. Prepare to laugh, and cry.

Making friends in Chippenham

Earlier in the month, I made decent gains in the counties I've been wanting to get bottomed out by September. Namely Leicestershire, Kent and Lancashire. Progress in Tyne & Wear and North Yorkshire too but I'm less bothered about these this year so these just felt like a jolly bonus.

Duke William, Ickham - an excellent first pub of the month but feels about five years ago now

I'll see you all tomorrow at a slightly earlier time for a bit of Wiltshire horror show.

Thanks for reading, Si