Happy New Year! Although it was 2022 when I started writing this, surrounded by interesting ales, Bucks Fizz (not the band), party poppers, weird balloon animals and beige snacks. Yes, it is that time again .... the BRAPA Year End Review.
Join me as I go month by month, picking out some of my highlights, favourite pubs, people, beer of the year, and we'll have the odd (mainly punk, sometimes BRAPA relevant) tune.
What a year 2022 was, after two years of lockdown shackles, it was time to properly get back on the pub ticking horse. Neigh. But not NeighBOURS, which got cancelled, then revived. Thirsty Thursdays and a more generous holiday allowance at work helped a lot. My liver and bank balance might disagree but my heart and brain are happy.
A ridiculous 594 pubs were ticked (plus 39 pre-emptives of varying quality), easily surpassing my 450 achieved in 2019, which at the time, I claimed I'd never beat!
January
I started the year on pub number 1990, here at the Shipwreck Brewhouse in Cleveleys, Blackpool Jane making her debut with support from Daddy BRAPA and Colin the Cauliflower, not to mention Keane Lewis Otter, the Pete Best of BRAPA.
The New Year really started with a bang and 6th Jan was a significant date as it saw the dawn of #ThirstyThursdays as Christine Taylor drove me around my remaining South Yorkshire ticks, her husband was away on a pub jaunt of that famous UK Beer Capital ..... Aldershot! More on him later.
Gains in my other Yorkshire areas and good Staffordshire progress followed. It had been the most productive January since records began.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Japandroids - Near to the Wild Heart of Life
February
Feb saw me get cracking with the two counties I was most determined to complete in these opening months.
First up was Hertfordshire where BRAPA Person of the Year Silver Medallist but Gold Standard Runner Up Simon Dewhurst, along with Daddy Dewhurst (the 43rd most influential BRAPA person of the year), were instrumental as they got me out to the wonderful Lordship Arms at Benington, amongst others :
And the first BRAPA holiday followed at the end of the month. Completing Hampshire was the aim, having had a couple of jaunts getting exasperated by the likes of Andover and Basingstoke, I found Portsmouth a lot more rewarding.
My favourite pub, and a serious contender for pub of the year was the Queen's Hotel at Gosport, which did what most pubs do after I visit them, put up a 'for sale' sign.
54 ticks meant 94 for the year so far, eclipsing 2021's effort by errrm, 94!
Tune of the Month 🎶 - Amyl & the Sniffers - Hertz
March
My first act in March was nearly getting myself run over on the way to the Three Tuns at Bransgore. Seriously, I shudder when I think back! I should've given up and rang for a taxi. The pub wasn't even worth it.
But by the 4th, I completed Hants in the wonderful Golden Lion at this interesting privately owned village called Southwick, where the landlord showed his class by walking around the bar, shaking my hand and treated me like a VIP even though he had no idea about my ticking exploits!
I say it a lot but it really is all about the people in this game, well, as long as the ale is passable!
It was back down to earth with boring West London, soggy Coventry and crafty chilly Manchester, but by month end, the weather finally broke. One of my side projects in early 2022 was only my second ever completion of North Yorkshire, the standard of ale and pubs really improved since 2017, Daddy BRAPA's driving exemplary.
Fox & Hounds in Starbotton was majestic, and a low key entry for my pub of the month:
An astonishing 57 ticks meant 151 for the year, an increase on 2021 as, you've guessed it, 151. I used to think 31 ticks per month was good, that'd now be very conservative. I blame my fellow tickers for living rent free in my head!
Tune of the Month 🎶 Direct Hit - Artificial Confidence
April
One big lifestyle change I made in 2022, around this time was going on a Keto diet. Not strictly of course, cos I'm not sure the amounts of ale I drink are strictly allowed. Still, I almost totally have cut out the likes of chips & chocolate, 8kg fell off me, my double chin subsided, and my tummy doesn't look as chubby as it did a year ago. (Ignore tonight's beige snacks)
5th April was BRAPA's 8th birthday and I celebrated it in the way any sane person would, with a four night stay in Reading. Sir Quinno and Tim Thomas looked after me, it was kinda chaotic, messy at times, but with the exception of one pub at Knowl Hill (who are ya, who are ya?), I got all Berkshire green for the first time since 2017.
Manchester Punk Festival meant there was no let up in my high octane start to 2022. 'Dude, you need to slow down' cried my liver as I ticked pubs between bands.
I also got a ticking foothold in Kent , a county I've been chipping away at ever since. It has been slow progress, and I blame the train strikes as much as anything! York to King's Cross 07:01 should be achievable every Saturday, and yet it's been an effin' nightmare.
In fact, I had my BRAPA beer of the month on a Thirsty Thursday where I'd given up on pub ticking due to strikes, and gone for a long walk around outer York with an old work chum. Well, the pub I ended up in (with zero expectation) ending up being pre-emptive, the ale was scintillating.
48 pubs done in April meant 199 for the year so far, compared to the 3 I'd done at this stage in 2021 due to Lockdown 2.0. I could afford to slow down a bit (narrators voice - he didn't slow down).
Tune of the Month 🎶 Jeff Rosenstock - You, in Weird Cities
May
I find May an awkward month for BRAPA. Mine and my sister's birthdays fall two days apart so people want to 'do stuff', plus you have the end of football season thrown in, and the rest of the population waking up from their 4 month winter slumbers, getting outside a bit more, and cluttering up the streets.
Where were all the buggers when I was walking 5 miles down an icy country lane in February? In bed with a hot chocolate, that's where. Ticking always feels a bit more restricted at this time.
I soldiered manfully on, Lancashire and Greater Manchester were my completion focuses up north, what with Hants done and Herts not far away.
I enjoyed many Lancs trips in 2022, many with Matthew 'See The Lizards' Lawrenson. I did end up suffering from 'Preston fatigue' (self diagnosis), and there was with an incidence of arson every time I was in town. We got out to some good places, and the John o' Gaunt in Lancaster (photo above) was a strong contender for pub of the month.
The fruits of my early 2022 labours came to errrm, fruition, as I guess fruits tend to do, with 'Completion Weekend' on 21st-22nd May seeing me complete THREE counties - Herts, North Yorkshire and Durham. The 'churn' had been so low in the latter, I'd only needed a handful of ticks to get Durham fully green.
44 pubs done, up to 243 for the year, that is 20 more than I did in the whole of 2014, my first year of ticking!
Tune of the Month 🎶 Pup - Scorpion Hill
June
Thirsty Thursday's really had been great for bolstering my figures and getting me out of the flat midweek. When you work from home and live alone, that's as important mentally as it is physically.
My favourite TT of the year was on 2nd June, a circular walk around Adlington & Rivington. Truly stunning and plenty of awkward GBG ticks dotted on the route.
Incidentally, my second favourite had been way back on 3rd Feb in the Whitby area, where the Bay Hotel at Robin Hood's Bay had been particularly magical as dusk fell.
I continued to plug away at both Lancashire and Staffordshire, but ultimately, both counties beat me in my quest to get them fully Stabilo'd. Lancs I'll certainly be back for in 2023, once I get over my Preston fatigue. I feel like I've seen Preston, Blackpool and Maidstone (the latter is not technically in Lancs) more than my hometown of York in '22.
But if there was an award for 'biggest comedy farce in BRAPA history', my late Jun/early Jul trip to Cornwall was it! I actually stayed in Plymouth, but my quest was a fully green Cornwall.
Only Tresco on silly Scilly stymied me, and that's cos I lost confidence in boat times. Probably without much basis as it transpired, so that was kinda annoying.
As was the whole week, I just had to laugh in the end. Not a day went by without some bus going off piste, a train cancellation, a drenched Good Beer Guide, a drenched me bobbing on a little boat in Polruan, and an uphill walk to Morwenstow in the heat which nearly killed me. Oh well, Cornwall is beautiful and looking back, I had fun.
40 pubs for the month, oooh my lowest since Jan, was I slipping?! Well, not really, 283 for the year, I'd now surpassed my 2020 total.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Dirty Nil - Doom Boy
July
I finished mainland Cornwall on 3rd July sat outside the rather crummy White Hart in Chilsworthy, a recent Kernow Pub of the Year winner but was hard to see how on this showing.
As I'll mention when we get to October, the 2023 GBG churn was particularly punishing this year, and no where did I feel more exasperated about it than in Cornwall, where I lost 13, unlucky for some, and this is a county I have a solid base in, having gone most years since 2016! I still favour Devon for my next summer holiday though.
As the weather warmed up to unbearable levels mid-month, we said goodbye to our second favourite mascot, Keane Lewis Otter. Hull City had sold Potter to Brentford, so I didn't see a future for KLO so packed him off to British Heart Foundation F.C. Farewell old chum!
In happier news, I was getting close to Greater Manchester completion, Lancs progress was going well at this point.
Our annual summer day out with our old football friends was a cracker, and the Vale Cottage at Gorton was on particularly good form :
I'd almost forgotten I'd booked another holiday, this time up in Cumbria at the end of the month. I'd been close to completing this impossible county back in Feb 2020, but then Lockdown hit, and ruined everything! I've been clawing it back ever since, and this time Carlisle was a good base to explore the West Coast.
Although it wasn't aesthetically the most interesting or beautiful pub in 2022, there was a certain quality about the Inn at Ravenglass (pictured above) that has really stuck with me, so for that reason alone, I'm making it pub of the month.
I'm sure the local CAMRA know better than me, visiting more regularly, surveying etc. but it seems astonishing they've binned it off in favour of the Pennington Hotel, which on my recent visit offered no more than a swallowing settee, mezze of bell ends and farty pint of Wainwrights.
51 pubs for the month now meant I stood at 334, surpassing my yearly totals in 2015 & 2016. What a year this was turning into!
Tune of the Month 🎶 The Chats - Ticket Inspector
August
Blackpool was the destination for my second punk festival of the year, and by the last day, I needed a break from the bands so it was the perfect opportunity to meet up with Blackpool Jane again, who showed me a few quality pre-emptives, many of which came good but I'm really hoping the Waterloo makes the 2024 GBG because I loved it most ......
Brilliant as Blackpool was, I drank the BRAPA Worst Pint of the Year between bands. It was called 'Baby Cakes' by Tiny Rebel, and was supposed to be an IPA based on rusks and oat milk. Am sure the pub I had it in. 1887 Brewroom, kept it as it should be, I just thought it was a dreadful sludge that should never have got out of the planning stages. Tiny Rebel, they've done some crackers over the years but I think they are trolling beer drinkers now with their ultra weird experimental stuff.
With the sun still high in the sky, and trains temporarily behaving themselves, a bit more progress in Kent was possible, where the Cock Inn at Luddesdown threw its hat into the ring for pub of the year contender:
More majestic chauffeuring by Daddy BRAPA saw me back for a bit of Cumbrian awkwardness, and the Old Crown at Hesket Newmarket said to Luddesdown, 'I'll see yer pub hand and raise you'
33 pubs for the month, my lowest of the year by 7, and I was sort of pleased, in a weird kinda way, that 'slowing down' was possible. 367 for the year, I used to say 'one tick a day keeps the doctor away' , well I'd surpassed that already.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Titus Andronicus - The Lion Inside
September
My decision to focus on Kent in 2022 meant I was often distracted by South London on the way back in towards King's Cross.
But in early September, I decided to shun Kent in favour of my most neglected part of London, the South West. I stayed in Sutton, and on an epic weekend which left me with a sore head, I got 12 ticks done in 1.5 days. The highlight was this place, the Sultan in South Wimbledon, a must visit:
Another stand out weekend followed, an overnighter in Cardiff where Penarth shone as a fantastic place on the other side of the Bay. But as I crossed the Welsh border, the real pub ticking story of the year was happening on an Orkney Island ......
BRAPA Person of the Year - Martin 'RetiredMartin' Taylor
Martin even video called his fellow pub tickers and although he held the camera the wrong way round in the glaring sun (an age thing perhaps?) , and I don't mind admitting feeling quite emotional myself as he entered that final pub and got served. Congrats Martin, such a nice man, no one deserves it more.
BRAPA Lifetime Achievement Award In Case He Feels Left Out Cos I Need to Keep Him Sweet For Chauffeuring Purposes in 2023 And He's Great Anyway - Daddy BRAPA
Another moment to celebrate in September was a fully green Greater Manchester, my final tick coming in Stalybridge's Crafty/Cracking Pint. Minutes after Stabilo'ing that final entry, the Queen died. The news broke whilst I was in the pub, I announced it to the barman and customers. I wouldn't say anyone was surprised, but certainly shocked. Subtle difference. I stayed for an extra pint, it just felt right at the time, the atmosphere changed, and we all chatted. A memorable tick.
A mini Kent holiday followed towards the end of the month, my new mate Richard Pitcher (joint bronze medallist but silver standard 2022) kindly drove me around, before dropping me off in his home town Faversham which boasted not one, but two candidates for BRAPA pub of the year .......
59 ticks for the month was my best tally yet, 426 for the year and not even October yet, this was getting obscene!
Tune of the Month 🎶 Snuff - Martin
October
Gwent wins my award for BRAPA county of the year. My holiday started 1st October, ending on 8th, and only train strikes and a silly bus stopped me going from zero pubs to a fully Stabilo'd county!
The people, the beer quality, the scenery and the pubs were all very strong. Honestly fell in love with Abergavenny, close to where I stayed. I walked a stupid distance, my poor right knee that I don't like to talk about suffered. 50K steps (have I mentioned that before?) on 1st. By no means an easy place to get around, but compared with Cornwall in June/July, almost a gentle stroll in the park. A bit like Hull City winning at Birmingham, cheers!
I went to several splendid pubs, but the Wheatsheaf at Llanhennock, a few miles north of Newport, was my pub of the week, and a strong candidate for pub of the year.
My GBG front cover had fallen off by now, it had never recovered from the water bottle explosion of Ruan Minor back in June which had weakened the spine, my thumbing through it every day of the year probably didn't help either.
But dry your eyes mates, towards the end of my jury service (I was gonna let him off, but new evidence came to light at the eleventh hour and we got thrown out!), a gaunt looking man knocked weakly on my door whilst I was watching 1986 Neighbours and having lunch, and handed me the 2023 GBG which had come via Luton. He did look like Nathan Jones now I think about it.
I quickly got West Yorkshire tidied up (if you don't count Castleford .... no one counts Castleford) and got myself back to Kent where I was suitably impressed by the Anchor in Sevenoaks, even if locals I spoke to kept laughing at the thought I'd even remotely enjoy it! For that, I'm making it joint pub of the month.
I visited my worst pub of the year in October too, the horrific Westbury at Wood Green in North London. 🤮 How it remained in the 2023 GBG, well you'd have to ask the local CAMRAs.
66 pubs for the month was a new BRAPA record, eclipsing the 61 I'd managed in November 2021. Having a brand new GBG certainly makes ticks that little bit easier to come by.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Turnstile - Holiday
November
I WILL finally crack Lancashire in the 2022/23 season, of that I'm determined.
And November saw a step in the right direction when joint BRAPA bronze medallist but silver standard individual, Blackburn's favourite Titanic Plum Porter hater, Ian Sutton, drove me around some of those hard to reach around the rimmers like Barlick, Briercliffe and Sawley.
But I'm also determined to move in new directions this season, and Notts & Lincs are two counties I've neglected for far too long. My Notts progress so far has been particularly good, the highlight of which was the wonderful but totally remote Plough at South Leverton as Daddy BRAPA again proved his genius.
I was back in Kent for a final time in 2022, and whilst enjoying the classic Old House in Ightham Common, I realised I'd be converging on Maidstone at the same time as RetiredMartin and Christine. What happy happenstance! And when they volunteered to drive me around to some difficult 'uns, it became an all time classic if slightly hazy end to my 2022 in Kent.
And the end of November saw the start of my final 'official' BRAPA holiday of the year, in Edinburgh & the Lothians where I went in with only 4 ticks to my name.
However, my first pub of a liver shattering week was listed under 'Loch Lomond, Stirling & the Trossachs' and was not only one of the best all week, but a pub of the year contender. The Wheatsheaf, Falkirk.
The following day, the Athletic Arms (Diggers) in the west of Edinburgh was another astonishingly good pub.
An impressive 62 pubs done in November, probably a good job I'd scheduled in a 'winter break', partly because I don't trust pubs around Christmas / New Year, but also these flippin' train strikes were making pub ticking life quite constrictive.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Ted Leo & the Pharmacists - A Bottle of Buckie
December
My month began, still in Edinburgh. The pubs, the people, the city itself, not to mention the wonderful and reliable transport links (much better than England) were superb, and had it not been for some dodgy beer quality, it probably would've beaten Gwent for my 'county' of the year. There were just too many handpumps on in many pubs, where Tennant's was easily the most popular beer, characterised by all those empties with giant red 'T's' on them strewn across bars.
Kay's Bar, just north of the city centre, was my absolute favourite. It just had a stunning atmosphere on a freezing foggy night, and a great pint of Silver King!
I achieved a fully green Edinburgh & Lothians at the Stockbridge Tap a couple of days later, my finest achievement since my fully green Hants back in February.
There was still time for some really strong pubs before I 'broke up' for my Christmas hols. East Cliff Tavern at Folkestone, Station Inn Hull, Boleyn Tavern at Upton Park, Brown Cow Waberthwaite. Pubs that any pub lover would appreciate. It was certainly a strong end to the year.
A flurry of snow stymied my Kentish progress, I had to hide in the Parcel Yard drinking ESB for the most part before heading back outside, so it was hard to know the real cause of my red nose!
And then I chilled in another way, over the Christmas period, though one highlight was being interviewed on CAMRA's Pints Pubs People podcast with the lovely Alison of Hop Inn Hornchurch fame. Listen out for me in the New Year as I discuss stuff like Colin, the other tickers, my favourite beers & pubs and what got me started on this crazy pub ticking adventure.
I did put my ticking boots back on only briefly for the first ever pub tickers meet up in Chesterfield, where I was Carlos Alberto (don't ask).
My final tick of 2022 was the excellent Chesterfield Arms. It was number 2267, meaning I'd gained 277 pubs for the year. Okay, so I'd had to tick 594 pubs to just make that level of progress but that's what we call 'evil churn'.
Tune of the Month 🎶 Cocksparrer - We're Coming Back
Thanks for reading, overall pub of the year? I'll let you decide from the ones I've mentioned cos it is probably time I stuck Jools Holland on for a bit out of tradition (I hate it, but hope it is a punk special for once, there's only so much Ruby Turner I can take).
Happy new Year, Si
Now Matthew has commented I can comment too. I love that song.
(To the tune of the "Blackadder Theme")
Pub staff throughout the land have fear
And Landlords tremble at his power
For when you've served him up his beer
He'll make you hold his cauliflower
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! Stumbled here by luck
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! He's been soaked by a truck!
BRAP! He'll wander round the bar
BRAP! Not held by any strictures
And if you think he's gone to far
He'll still be taking dodgy pictures
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! He's drinking ESB.
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! He really needs a wee!
<key change>
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! He's got his final tick
It's BRAPA! It's BRAPA! He's ended up in Wick!