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Many happy returns?

It’s JD Wetherspoon’s 30th birthday, and to celebrate they are having a real ale and cider festival – it started on October 28th, and runs until 15th November, so you’ve still got a few days to sample a few good beers. Their bars will be offering a range of guest beers, and some beers specially […]

Beer behaving badly

Don’t you just wish that some people would stick to their day job? Neil Morrissey, of “Men Behaving Badly” fame, has teamed up with Richard Fox (of no fame whatsoever as far as I’m aware), not only to buy a pub (Ye Olde Punch Bowl Inn in Marton cum Grafton, near York) but also to […]

Leader of the pack

Yesterday evening we went to a jazz concert – “Jazz in a Summer Meadow” at Harcourt Arboretum, which is part of the Botanical Department of Oxford University. A the name suggests, it is an open-air event where you can take your own picnic, and eat and drink while listening to the music. The weather was […]

Black and Greene

On Monday evening we went out to the Black Boy at Shinfield. Sarah had acquired some vouchers for a special offer that meant we could get a 2-course meal for a tenner each. The Black Boy is only 2 or 3 miles from where we live, and has seen a number of managers come and […]

Go West young(?) man!

We’re having a weekend away in Cornwall. It’s a special deal from CAMRA – or rather the St. Austell Brewery CAMRA Club – bed & breakfast in one of the brewery’s hotels at very reasonable rates, plus a free tour of the brewery – so we’re off tomorrow morning, touring the brewery on Monday morning […]

Public (house) holiday

Monday was a public holiday (in England at least) and we abandoned the gardening and DIY for a little while to get a change of scenery. We went for a walk around Moor Copse, a local wildlife trust reserve, which at this time of year is carpetted with bluebells – very spectacular. Afterwards we stopped […]

Return Trip

Well I couldn’t resist going back to The Sportsman to sample some of the other beers in their beer festival. The Greene King IPA (3.6%) was a good start. This is a regularly available beer in The Sportsman, and has become the usual session bitter (which used to be Morland Bitter in the olden days). […]

Enjoy your Trip

Our local pub, The Sportsman in Reading, is having a bit of a beer festival at the moment – half a dozen cask ales – so we popped along yesterday evening for a couple of pre-dinner “sharpeners”. Most of the beers are from the Greene King stable – some familiar ones like IPA, Abbot Ale […]

Mad? You bet!

As yesterday was my birthday (or, as I like to put it, the 26th anniversary of my 29th birthday) we took the day off and Sarah and I went up to London to visit the Ideal Homes Show. Only plastic beer available in the bars at Earls Court, but there was a temporary bar in […]

What’s original about it?

Last night (Sunday), Sarah and I took a stroll up to The Sportsman for something to eat. This is our nearest pub, and we go up there reasonably often for a meal (more often in the nice weather, as it’s about a 15 minute walk). This was one of the first pubs I went to […]