BRAPA ..... PRE-EMPTIVES COME GOOD (PART 3/3)
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Welcome back to this rundown of the 34 (THIRTY FOUR) pubs which made the 2027 edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide (best book in history, sorry God), but when I visited them, I had no green Stabilo to wield.
In this blog, we'll have a look at the final 11 (ELEVEN) and how likely I thought they were to make the good book.
Don your V.R. BRAPA headset which was sent to you in the post. Your unscrupulous human cauliflower chauffeur has dumped you in Liverpool City Centre, so that's nice. He'll drop you at London Waterloo before closing time.
Monro, Liverpool (1/8/26)
I blogged about this in my most recent 'proper' blog which (a) I didn't need to because of this yearly feature, and (b) it illustrates just how embarrassingly behind my blogging is. I won't repeat myself but a few comments. What you see above is a Peyton Arms, Stoke Lyne style carefully curated cobweb. It makes sense to visit any '1936 Pub Company' pub you see, whether you are a ticker or just enjoy nice buildings selling ale. Thanks to Daddy BRAPA for spotting it on the horizon when I was facedown in my iPhone trying to guide us to St Peter's Tavern. He'd remembered that I'd mentioned it earlier as a hopeful pre-emptive. See, he DOES listen to me occasionally. Hopeful Rating 9/10
Queen of Hope Street, Liverpool (7/2/24)
One dark wintry wobbly Wednesday evening , I was staying overnight in the city whose secret ingredient is crime. I'd evidently run out of ticks as last orders approached so took a speculative punt on this one. All my own work, although I can't recall how I came to the conclusion. It felt soooo 'GBG', I have been surprised that it didn't appear in 2025 or 2026 but we got there in the end. A long slim sweeping green sorta bar, the atmosphere crackled with youthful enthusiam. They love a drink over here, and I maintain Liverpool should be in the conversation for 'best pub city in the UK'. O.G. Colin bewildered the assembled crowd. The stout frothed. I actually wrote the name of the pub in the GBG margin so I had the satisfaction of something to highlight on the night! Hopeful Rating 9/10
Golden Lion, Todmorden (2/10/25)
Sitting in Tod's flimsy and empty new GBG entry Nan Moor's a year ago. After a deep and meaningful with the boss lady, I spied this across the road and remembered it getting a mention in a CAMRA magazine I'd picked up in Bradford the previous Sunday. Well, it wouldn't do any harm would it? I was impressed beyond my wildest expectations! Lots of well kept exciting ales, a dimly lit bouncing atmosphere, music far too loud but who cares, this was the perfect tonic. I thought this version of Todmorden had vanished years ago, circa January 2014 when I walked to the Staff of Life. "It is getting in the 2027 Guide and nothing you unimaginative micro tosspots can do about it" I manisfested on X at the time. So well done me! Although it hasn't stopped Tod putting their annual flimsy sounding micro in YET AGAIN. The local CAMRA must have some compromising photos of Corbett-Collins in the buff or summat. Hopeful rating 7/10.
Whistlestop Micropub, Grantham (3/8/23)
THREE pre-emptive visits to this impressive (but not top 10 if York Tap and Parcel Yard aren't - silly Guardian!) station tap over the past three years. Last June, I was in Grantham to tick one of shittest inclusions of the whole GBG, miserable cask-free nothing burger the Shite Lion. So when I returned here pre-train home for more great ale and friendly welcomes, I simply had to ask the question. Why don't you get in the GBG? Apparently, local CAMRA wanted a beer discount(!) and the main guy's like "nah, you don't even come in that often!" so they sulked. They don't help themselves do they, the CAMS? Although I respect the incredibly entitled chutzpah. Anyway, there's obviously been a thawing of relations since. I wonder which party backed down?! Hopeful rating 2/10
Dirty Bottles, Alnwick (27/3/25)
Arriving in the town far too early for either of my actual ticks to be open, an icy wind whipping around my cold ears in the truest Northumbrian fashion, this was a hugely speculative punt to say the least. I was lured in by the plaque outside. Cursed bottles untouched since 1725 when the landlord dropped down dead after touching them (so said his wife), now locked away for our safety, but plenty of eerie happenings within. This is the shit I love! Although the majority of indoors was far too twinkly wine bar to pick up any semblance of an 'atmosphere' (even Derek would've strugglde to ascertain if Mary loves Dick) I sat as close to the bottles as possible and reflect on how well kept the one ale was. Especially as both ticks proved a disaster. And that's a bad habit Alnwick's got into in recent years - putting any old shit in the GBG for the sake of churn. Unsuprisingly I need to go back this year too. How very Todmorden. Hopeful rating 5/10
Hen Orsaf, Aberystwyth (8/3/26)
My impromptu soggy Sunday in Aberystwyth was one of the highlights of my Salopian holiday - I'd been forced to think outside the box because there were literally zero buses out of Shrewsbury that day. It was all a bit rushed to make the two-hourly train back down the line, and I put extra pressure on myself by insisting on pre-emptively ticking the 'Spoons because by 2026, I was #SpoonsMindful. A 6% orange wheat beer from Green Jack wasn't the wisest option in the circs, but blimmin' delicious and certainly GBG standard. Hopeful rating 8/10.
Flying Standard, Coventry (18/8/07)
The photo is actually of a drowned rat me with a drowned rat Keane Lewis-Otter enjoying a Plum Porter in the Golden Cross in 2022 before a midweek away win. Because this is hands down the most historic of all my pre-emptives. So old, it wasn't even on my spreadsheet! I certainly don't have any photos. I'd have had to take a Boots disposable camera. Seven years before BRAPA / pub ticking even became a thing. I can't be sure of the date, but I'm going with this early season 1-1 clash (WHY do we always play them away in August?) where 4 foot tall Nicky Barmby equalised a Leon McKenzie goal with a towering header in front of us in the second half. What I do remember is that we'd arrived in Cov far too early for most pub openings, so had a wander around the transport museum to kill time, noticed this was one of those 'Wetherspoons' houses people talk about. Our (Dad and I, obvs) abiding memory, and it still gets a mention today, was the pain of getting served. In the days before coffee auto refill machines, a never ending stream of old blokes lined the bar asking for coffee. Pain staking. Was the beer worth the wait? Not really, 'a pint of Wetherspoons' wasn't it? Dark brown slop. And as we approached 12 noon so we will have wandered down to the Town Wall Tavern where we remained until about 2pm before catching a bus up to the Ricoh, cos that's what we did in those days! Hopeful rating 4/10
Whitley, Halesowen (30/7/26)
Another pub I recently blogged about when I should've saved time by typing 'if it ever makes the GBG, I'll review it then' , it was a hot day and the beer really struggled. Rare for a Black Country Ales pub, but then they do put a helluva LOT on. Afterwards, I crossed the road and went to the Hawne Tavern, still on my pre-emptive list, and had a majestic Batham's Bitter. So you just never can tell. Two wheezing pugs with flat faces who could hardly breathe were being badly treated by their owners on the astroturf outside. But a BCA pub coming good feels like ' double tick' to me. Of the remaining ten BCA's I need, five are in the GBG and five aren't. So expect to see more BRAPA BCA action over the next 12 months. Hopeful rating 5/10
Edmund Tylney, Leatherhead (22/8/26)
Despite dreadfully mardy staff which I'm putting down to the 'Surrey effect' and a grotty 6/10 carpet, this 'Spoons still stood out for being above the national average. Both in terms of ale and pub interior. Even more impressively, a smattering of boozehounds are knocking about to give the place a decidedly non-chain feel. Not bad for 10am. When one bloke is brought a bacon and egg bap, a guy on a neighbouring table takes exception to the way it has been 'deconstructed' and asks the barmaid to query it with the kitchen! The intended eater (a complete stranger to him) couldn't care less. Perhaps the beers on offer had something to do with such behaviour? Oakham Green Devil, Wobbly Bob and Burning Sky Aurora at £1.90 with Wickingman voucher. I bottled it and went Ranmore. Very well kept. And then went off to Surrey Hills brewery which remains pre-emptive. Hopeful rating 8/10
George, Staines (4/6/26)
An explosive carpet that I think we can all appreciate, local BRAPA debutant Steve Jackson came to meet me after work at the Thames Side Brewery Tap, and we wandered down here before he kindly dropped me back at the station (or did he drive me here and I walked to station? I forget!) I'd seen this 'Spoons in several previous GBGs, and been to Staines many times since 2020 but hadn't been here. A wrong that needed righting in my new era of #SpoonsMindfulness and even Taylor Swift hasn't had that era. Felt a pretty classy gaff (Staines? Classy?) with a spiral staircase but don't think it was a Lloyds No.1. Picture Guildford's Rodboro' Buildings without the blood dripping from the ceiling. Wobbly Bob drank terrifyingly. I don't need a 2027 GBG visit to Staines, and for that we can all be thankful. Hopeful rating 8.5/10
The Lion & The Unicorn, Waterloo (17/1/26)
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