Greetings friends of the BRAP.
A joint record breaking liver-shattering month of 75 ticks moves me onto 2899 current Good Beer Guide pubs, that is 64.4% complete, and although I have two quiet months coming up, I'll be somewhere around the 3,000 mark by the time the 2025 edition drops onto my doormat approx mid Sept and the #CruelChurn kicks in.
What front cover are you going for? Rovers Return or Woolpack? Personally, I think there should be a special pub tickers edition which is the Waterhole in Erinsborough with Harold and Lou (#Pubmen) stood outside doing a BRAPA pose.
Let's have a look at the seven counties I've made progress in, plus a helpful 'bonus closure'.
Devon (49 new ticks, 67.2% completion)
No surprise that most of the damage was done in Devon, a newish county for me where I far exceeded my own expectations when I landed in Exmouth on day one of an epic nine day stay.
Huge thanks to Pete for driving me around Dartmoor on evenings in week two, making the map look a lot greener than it otherwise would've done. He must now be pushing Daddy BRAPA for the Pub Person of the Year award.
Can't reveal the best Devon pub for fear of ruining my ongoing 'Devon Countdown' but if you can think of a worse £2.3M spent than on Talk of the Town Wetherspoons in Paignton I'd like to hear it. You could buy 46 Regan Slater's with that. Madness!
Plans to get back down to Plymouth before next summer's tour of Barnstaple and the #CruelNorth have been scuppered by the evil fixture list, but it has been kind to me re Oxfordshire so swings n roundabouts innit mate.
West Midlands (7 new ticks, 72.65% completion)
If the high standard of Devon's pints, pubs and people surprised me somewhat, then West Midlands didn't, because it is always so good. In fact, it must be the best of all counties. Probably shouldn't say that before getting stuck into the likes of Borders, Channel Islands and West Wales but so far, it is my winner.
And a tough day south of Wolverhampton was full of babs, cobs and the usual bonhomie.
Not got any huge plans to push for the 100%, but it is a nice kinda 'go a few times a year' area. Birmingham City got themselves relegated which wasn't very helpful of them.
Joint Pub of the Month - Mount Pleasant / Beacon Hotel, Sedgley
Rutland (5 ticks, 100% completion)
My sixth county completion of the year came in Rutland. You might kind of see it as a 'quick win' but some of the locations and opening hours mean a sunny Saturday in the Daddy BRAPA mobile really was the only way I could guarantee glory.
I was AMAZED how good the quality was. After all, Leics and Northants are both 'decent' but always have the potential to be moody disappointments, particularly on that border, and Stamford in Lincs really grinds my gears for all its obvious 'prettiness', and any seasoned ticker knows North West Cambridgeshire you're basically taking your sanity into your own hands.
And this wasn't my first Rutland rodeo. I'd previously completed the damn thing back in 2018, but today the standard of pubs was superb all day. Well done Rutters. See you again in 2028.
Pub of the Month - Plough Inn, Caldecott
Derbyshire (5 ticks, 88% completion)
Another county that rarely disappoints (unless you go to Banter Buxton) is reliable ole' Derbys. Pints, pubs, ducks (people), all spot on.
And a day around Chesterfield at the beginning of the month might've started with a ropey pint in Hasland, but just got better and better as the day went on.
Now the fixture list is out and I can see we are away to Derby in 2025 GBG territory, I think I'll crack on over the summer and try and a get a bit more done.
Pub of the Month - Lamb Inn, Holymoorside
Greater Manchester (4 ticks, 100% completion)
My second full completion of GMR, and if King Charles III had keeled over and died at the same time that Jim Brunt wielded the green Staedtler in Mossley's excellent Gillery, it would've kept up my 100% record of a reigning British monarch carking it in my final GMR pub.
But he didn't, so it didn't.
Errm, what can you say about GMR. Mixed bag. Definitely top third though if you take it as a whole. Oh, and always great to catch up with Alex Quosh and Chris Moran.
Pub of the Month - Half Way House, Ashton-under-Lyne
Lincolnshire (4 ticks, 93.75% completion)
Just seven left in Lincs after a gentle Sunday car day with Daddy BRAPA, I've never been closer to completion. Might get down for my Spalding debut soon which I hear is beautiful at this time of year (not really) but I think I'll probably wait to see what the new GBG brings.
The churn is notoriously cruel in Lincs, as you often find in the weaker counties where they aren't quite sure what to include.
Pub of the Month - Ebrington Arms, Kirkby on Bain
Northamptonshire (1 tick, 77.8% complete)
Is Northants looking a bit hazy or have I still not recovered from that pint at Totnes Brewing Company?
Just the one tick, but it was quality despite the FBW, not to mention crazily rural making it June's Daddy BRAPA equivalent of Pete's Hennock, so I don't mind giving it a pub award!
Ten left, and I'm concocting a plan to get back to Northants in Aug. Addictive isn't it? Said no one ever.
Pub of the Month - Cross Keys, King's Cliffe
North Yorkshire (0 ticks, 99.3% completion)
I only had two ticks left .... but despite not visiting any, I now have just one after I discovered that the Black Horse in Hellifield has been shut since 2/3/24.
Like winning promotion without kicking a ball (so I've heard).
Not sure if it is related but I found out that a few months previously, an argument over whether to serve a drunk bloke at last orders led to the landlady kicking her former partner in the lower back, exacerbating an existing injury, and he took her to court. What drama!
