BRAPA ... STRATEGY AGM 2023/24 : THE NORTHERN PROGRESS

Good evening BRAPees,

Let's kick off the working week with something a bit different. Partly because I know I won't be able to bang out eight Tayside / Fife pub reviews before 9pm, but also because ever since the 2024 Good Beer Guide plopped onto my doormat, I've been deciding on the areas I want to hone in on over the next 12 months.

Now obviously, if I was at 80%+ GBG completion, absolutely any un-Stabilo'd gap is fair game. But being on a modest 54.7%, I feel like I can still be choosy. I like it better this way, makes BRAPA feel more focused, something you can't accuse me of post-Parcel Yard ESB.

I met with the board of directors earlier this evening, a colourful bunch, some you might recognise:

From left to right : Colin, Brekkie, Cousin Collette, Ozan, Pedro, Jean Michael

I've picked out ten regions/counties. The theme this year is 'northern'. Despite living in York, I left a lot of northerly areas alone in 2022/23, buggering about in places like Kent, Wiltshire, Norfolk, Notts and East Sussex so I have plenty of low hanging fruit to grope at, so to speak.

One disclaimer : I did book a few southern train trips back in July-August I'll have to honour so if you see me daarn sarf occasionally in 2023, don't be thinking this whole blog was a waste of time!

1. Yorkshire Mop-up

Tradition for any BRAPA year, mainly cos I live here, I've not failed to fully green West Yorkshire since 2015, and even then, it was only Wetherby. South and East normally come fairly quietly. North is always a bugger despite living there, but I'm going to try a bit harder on it than last time out. Ingleton looks horrid, but there's always a way. I predict North won't fall until 2024, but the other three regions are imminent.

Down to two in East Yorkshire after the weekend (useful for a Hull City evening game?)

2. Lancs / Greater Manchester

A Todmorden tick in West Yorkshire is likely to have me crossing t'hills into more westerly climes. And with a couple of people messaging me with "Siiii, when you coming back over to my patch?" I think the time is right, having largely ignored both in 2022/23. Chorley's looking particularly tasty. Most of my GMR ticks are within a stone's throw of Manchester itself. Metro time! Nothing out Wigan way which is unprecedented. And there's some absolute banter level weirdness on that Preston-Lancaster road. Gets tha juices flowing I tell thee.

Another place I should probably mention at this juncture is Cumbria. Was a bit CBA about it, but this kind Scouse man called Jim with a truck has emailed me, volunteering to drive me around some of it. How kind is that? Gives me renewed Cumbrian flowing juices too! And what about Cheshire, its been nearly five years since I was last there? Doesn't look too hard now I've Wincle'd. Oh I'm getting carried away now.

3. Merseyside

Never remotely tried to crack Merseyside before. But this Wetherspoons & Micropub heavy part of the world is one of the top on my wishlist for #ThirstyThursdays once the more local stuff is done. It doesn't look the most foreboding county on paper, BUT Transpennine train reliability scares me. Still, if I have to sleep in a ditch in Newton-le-Willows and travel back Friday morning, it will all be for the BRAPA greater good. Come 'ead! Time to get mi purple trackie out of cold storage.

4. Lincolnshire

Another county I'm determined to get green in full, and I'll be honest here, I'm not quite as fussed about fully green counties as I used to be five years back, progress is progress even if you've still got a few white bits. But as regular readers will know, I'm addicted to Lincs. And sticking in a thousand new inaccessible villages around Grantham is probably just CAMRA's way of saying "we love you BRAPA, please keep visiting" (or just that they realised total shite like the Blue Pig should never have been in the GBG in the first place). And with Daddy BRAPA at the wheel, anything is possible.

5. The North East

If I'm determined to finally get my Marske (North Yorkshire) tick this year, which I am, it is likely to lead to me to cross the border into County Durham. A county I have completed before, always enjoy (great people, minimal churn) but left alone last year and a half. So much stuff just sounded flimsy despite being very easily attainable, like Crafty Merlin's in Darlington (possibly great, shouldn't single it out), but they've all remained in the 2024 GBG so the time is right to check 'em out.

Tyne and Wear is another area I've completed before, but with a Sunderland away game, and a nice easy train journey up to Newcastle from York, I can see myself getting back there a few times.

The one I really want though is Northumberland. Neglected for far too long. I must be the only person in the UK who hasn't admired the famous coast at Seahouses. A bit like Merseyside, this has gotta change in the new season. C'mon, let's get hyped for Morpeth!

Hope this blog isn't too turgid. Here's a morale boosting halfway point kitten from Snaith to take the edge off.

6. West Midlands

Not sure I can spin this one into a 'northern' theme, other than to say the quality of the beer, traditional nature of the pubs and welcome smiley people with cute accents give off more northern vibes to me. That's not to say the south doesn't have plenty of loveliness, I've been to Gillingham AND Chatham so stick it up your jumper, but on my odd sporadic visits to Brum, the Black Country and beyond, it is invariably a winning day.

My excuse for having so many gaps here is the expensive train fare from York to Birmingham, but that feels a lame excuse when I think of some of the stuff I tackle, and with a couple of football matches coming up soon, I can see myself getting a taste for a very green West Midlands by the spring of '24. Never ticked in Walsall, that's just embarrassing.

7. Leicestershire

Talking of embarrassing, what a pig's ear I made of my attempts at Leics progress in 2022/23. Loughborough / Charnwood went well, I circled the Leicester drain okay, but then pretty much stalled. I've come to the conclusion it is much more of a Sozzled Saturday place than a Thirsty Thursday place. I need the pubs open before 4-5pm which not many do on a Thu. And I need the flexibility to be back home late / stay over because I tell ya, some of those places take a lot of getting around.

A rare terrible 'churn' too for the 2024 GBG. Perfect storm. Expect to see me, a few months from now, getting a few more trips in.

8. Northamptonshire

Well, it has 'North' in the name. The sort of county you could easily forget exists, not being horrid, perhaps it is underrated and one of those 'best kept secrets'. I heard it is like the Cotswolds without the tourist scum (an almost direct quote from Sunday's 'Escape to the Country'). Intriguing. Expect to see me wandering a country lane somewhere outside Abthorpe in the coming months. No point showing you my map cos I only have 7 ticks in the whole darn place.

9. Scotland

My recent Tayside/Fife holiday wasn't without its ale quality problems, and some pretty questionable restaurants posing as pubs, but great people, great scenery, and I suspect one of the lowest churn places in the entire GBG. Question is, where next?

Northern Isles has the word 'northern' in it. That would mean Orkney. Oof. But then again, Stirling is catching my eye this year. And Glasgow always does because mad work colleagues I've never met in person say they'll join me for a pint or seven. But then, if I'm serious about Northumberland, how about basing myself in Berwick and attacking 'Borders' at the same time? Decisions, decisions, aye.

You've gotta Fife for your right to partyyyy

10. Devon

Hmmm, how do we spin this out as northern? North Cornwall? I'm SURE I'd get a warm reception down there if I went around saying stuff like that(!) Jam before cream, cream before jam, let's call the whole thing off.

But no, this time I mean it, next summer holidays, June, basing myself Exmouth/Exeter, somewhere like that, South Devon, high density, sorry Barnstaple, I'm gonna attack it for 9-10 days solid. Livertastic. I might also be down there when Hull City play Plymouth on my birthday weekend. Though I've done a lot of Plymouth before, gaps keep appearing.

But Devon bugs me as a whole, I've barely touched it, yet done Cornwall loads. Can't wait.

So there we have it. Northern Ireland the only place I wanted to mention which I didn't, would love to make my NI debut but I think I've given myself more than enough to go at.

Just hope I can stay disciplined and keep my promises to myself. We'll revisit this next August and see! There will be the odd time I pop up in London or Herts/Essex for football or meeting a friend, but that's just life innit.

Thanks for reading and keep it pub!

Si