Real Ale, Real Music

This was all brand new to me, a visit to an area that I had never been to before as we headed down to the Sussex Riviera in search of some good beer and a win at football.

As a recent report revealed that sales of cask beer are down year-on-year, I spent an afternoon in York where it appeared to be as popular as ever, not least at the city's annual beer festival....

I went to Manchester last week on a team day out from the Grayston Unity/Meandering Bear in Halifax and rather than traipsing around the usual suspects we mixed it up with one or two places I don't get to visit that often....

Back on another trip down south, with a change to our plans leading us to a tour of some posh pubs in London along with a couple of old favourites, and a second visit in 6 months to the town and football ground of Aldershot....

New blogging territory for me this time around as I headed over to Merseyside and what a great day I had in a town with some excellent community pubs that were chock full of superb beer and lovely, welcoming people....

A bit of a mixed bag this time around with some thoughts on rural pubs and a visit to a classic example of one that is still flourishing, a visit to a local beer festival, and some further consideration on beer scoring.

It was the start of the new football season, and despite a feeling of concern about our team's prospects for the season, four us had decided to visit our first game, away at Forest Green Rovers, who are based in the small Gloucestershire town of Nailswort…

I recently revisited one of my favourite towns in the Midlands where there are 5 pubs listed in the 2026 Good Beer Guide within its attractive and fairly compact town centre, making it an ideal spot for a leisurely Saturday afternoon wander....

With a mere two weeks to go before the 2026-27 National League season kicks off a few of our group of Halifax Town supporters went on an away day to discuss our prospects and sample a few beers in a wander around a number of pubs on the fringes of Manches…

CAMRA have brought out a new, words-based, beer scoring system, about which I have my doubts.

This was my first-ever visit to the administrative centre and county town of North Yorkshire, which sits between York and Darlington on the main East Coast railway line.

A few bits and pieces this time around.

The opening day of a new pub in Manchester provided an excellent excuse to have a wander around what is now another fashionable part of the city, but also one with a rich and fascinating history.

Keeping on my run of Yorkshire-based blogs, I've just been back to the historic Yorkshire Dales market town of Settle recently where I had a walk around the compact town centre and checked out several of the local hostelries, finding some excellent beer in

A Saturday afternoon wander around the centre of Leeds taking in some familiar old haunts and more recent additions to the city's drinking establishments....

Join me as I take a walk through the warren of streets and narrow alleyways that criss-cross Hull's historic Old Town, during which I visit some of the area's old pubs along the way, many of them having their own fascinating stories....

I went on a lovely trip this weekend on as part of the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the opening of the original micro pub in Halifax, the Grayston Unity.

I recently got involved in the creation of a special beer to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Grayston Unity in Halifax.

A visit to a town in a part of the country I love, but not somewhere I had visited before.

And just like that, Manchester has yet another new pub, which was good enough reason on a blank Sunday for me to have a wander over there to check it out.

A final weekend away of the 2025-26 football season saw us heading back down south once again.

A return to sample a few different places in what surely has to be one of the best beer towns in the country.

It was the annual Good Friday Day Out which this year saw a group of us visit, for the first time on this long-established event, the North Yorkshire town of Harrogate where we enjoyed a tour around some of the town's finest pubs and bars....

Following my trip to Hartlepool last time out, I've been back in the North East, checking out a few places I'd not visited in ages, plus a few old favourites.

Another football away trip, this time to Teesside, which gave us the opportunity to pay another visit to a fantastic and famous little micro pub in Hartlepool.

This was my first-ever visit to this proud city at the western end of the West Midlands where I only managed to visit two pubs in what I found was a very welcoming place, but what good pubs they were....

Another post from Manchester where, with my original plans for the day thwarted, I spend an afternoon roaming the city centre and dodging the showers as the weather turns increasingly wet.

I've been back over the Pennines and revisited a few old favourite haunts followed by a gig in a new venue on a typically wet Manchester evening.