11/04/26 - A Kentish Town Pub Crawl

Return of the Mapp

The CAMRA Pub Crawls in London has been a rich source of inspiration. This is my first tick from the Second Edition. A quick check of the first edition shows an identical route - completed in my pre-blogging days. 

October 2007.

In many ways, it is comforting that the pubs remain.

The Assembly House - is not worth the inclusion, unless you are a fan of 1970s British Gangster Films. Let me count the ways. Greene King, with a poor beer choice. Terrible service. Exterior covered in so much scaffolding, it makes a photograph redundant. The interior has been stripped of everything that made it pretty - bar the billiards room skylight. Of course, the billiards table has been replaced by big screen football for the Arsenal fans to worry into.

We tried - and failed - to get served and that was for the best.

It's best I leave you with Richard Burton as your guide;

Over the road for the Bull and Gate. 

Nowhere does handsome quite like London

In the second edition - this is filed under "Try Also". For fans of 1990s Indie Music, it is a Pilgrimage. The bands who played upstairs reads like my end of year Spotify list - Blur, Oasis, PJ Harvey, Suede, Manic Street Preachers and (er) Coldplay.

A far more sedate affair today - a nice place to sit in Chesterfields and ponder that a pint of Landlord is now £7.25. Alas, my record keeping 19 years ago does not allow me to show percentage inflation.

The ghosts of drinkers priced out of London drinking

Higher expense was to come at The Junction. With no cask on, I was forced into a £7.50 Staropramen. This, after working out how to get in. In a terrible case of burning bridges, the main front door has been seriously damaged by a drunk driver.

Up the Junction

The Pineapple to bring a sense of order to the day and reduces the overall price per pint average. Mrs M is watching the joint account being depleted in real time thanks to message alerts to wearable tech.

This is a classic back street local and regular in the Good Beer Guide.

Successful 2001 campaign to stop it being converted to flats

Even as a veteran pub goer, I occasionally get challenged by British Pub Customs. There is no cask on heralded antique bar. Communication only works so well - and it takes a lot of walking around through narrow alcoves and little drinking rooms to find a beer festival in the tiny pub beer garden. A lady hiding behind the barrels tells me all beers are £4 but I have to buy a disc token from the bar. I am not suggesting you take part in counterfeiting, but if you have Connect 4 at home, you could get very, very drunk. With the added benefit that you would never have to play Connect 4 again.

Eventually we settle down in front of one of the two magnificent Bass Mirrors.

Zoom in to see the horror damage

The guide goes on for the compulsory Southampton Arms (recently visited) and optional Bull and Last (we don't need Gastro). So, we leave it at that and head for...... guess where?

Camden of course!

There won't be a blog - but I doubt there is a better pub experience than the Hawley Arms after dark. Superb people, music and now with added Harvey's Sussex Best.

08/04/26 - The Slow Way to Bewdley for the Black Boy Hotel

Political Correctness gone Madri

An easy and often completed walk, which would normally not register on the blog.

But it was completed on the first day of the year when the central heating didn't need to spark up and there was a visit to an Historic Inn of Interest - a 1960s Guide Book to booze.

Plus a chance to review another Slow Way.

From Stourport bridge to Bewdley bridge on the Severn Way. Keep the water to your left and all is good.

Start at the River King

Unnecessary

The End

 Onto the pub; 

1960s Ticking

Those that know Bewdley will know two things. This is not the Black Boy that requires a team of sherpas and oxygen to reach. In some ways I am grateful, but in others sad. That Black Boy is a cracker.

And this Black Boy was renamed as the Bewdley Inn in 2021.

The Bewdley Inn, the sunshine

A Royalist stronghold during the Civil War, history and pub enthusiasts will know that the name Black Boy refers to King Charles II rather than anything more controversial. While I’m on the subject, the Black Bitch in Linlithgow was named after a dog – but that didn’t stop the inevitable rebranding.

There’s little sign of its seventeenth-century origins now, though it still has separate rooms and a few inviting nooks and crannies.

First in, I was greeted with a bit of bad news: the landlord was waiting for a delivery. Given the choice of Madri or Carling, I made a quick exit and headed to the George.

There, a suntrap beer garden, table service, and a £2.35 pint of Redemption Big Chief IPA made up for it nicely — with a view of the church clock to keep an eye on the return bus time.

Walk Details

Distance - 3.75 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration

07/04/26 - Slow Ways - Highley to Cleobury Mortimer

My Kingdom for a Pint

There was only one way to approach this Slow Way. Highley has only one pub, and I think it is a dead pub. The Bache Arms, a wild experience, whilst it was open. Cleobury has four. One of them must be open on a Tuesday lunchtime, surely?

The Slow Ways web site is an excellent resource, aiming to connect every major town in the UK through walking. I am unsure as to who creates the routes. This route was unreviewed (until I came along) and was fine apart from a couple of lengthy road sections. One such section is avoidable. My feedback has been submitted.

Overall, a fine walk, completed is Spring sunshine across rolling agricultural landscapes.

Highley Church

The Walk looked mainly like this

My diversion to Cleobury Lodge Farm

Cleobury's Twisted Spire

Into Cleobury - with an hour to wait for the bus. I made the mistake of ignoring the Royal Fountain. The best pub in town, based on my previous Slow Way. The others - The Kings Arms, The Talbot and the Stables - all closed up on a Tuesday lunch time.

What's that I spy opposite the bus stop? Bargain Booze for a trampy wait in the sunshine.

Walk Details

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Walk Inspiration

05/04/26 - The Tipsey Toad, Bromyard

Avenbury Hauntings

The approach into Bromyard brings on PTSD. Over five years since my last visit. You can guess what was going on then. Lockdown #3. I got to look at the handsome black and white timbered pubs but none were open to investigate. 

Nice to look back at the blog. I made do with a delicatessen ram raid and a Baggies victory at the Molineux. Maybe lockdowns weren't so bad. Trump probably ensuring they are coming back in one form or another.

Today's visit was inspired by the Mysteries of Mercia. A book that I need to order at some point, but Hugh, the author, teases with frequent FaceBook posts. Last week, he discussed the ruined church at the abandoned village of Avenbury.

A mooch around the town centre, solving Adventure Lab Caches and looking for post-walk refreshment options and then we are out into the Herefordshire Countryside.

I took an identical picture 5 years ago

There's a couple of walkers ahead of us. When they stop for coffee we learn that they are working the Herefordshire Trail as a series of day walks. Their wives helping with the logistics by dropping them off/picking them up as required. Mrs M gives me the look to say "don't get any ideas". 

When I get a spare five minutes, I will look into public transport availability.

I demand more of the Herefordshire Trail

Through agricultural land, including hop growing trellises before we find the River Frome. Following the banks until we reach Avenbury and its sinister ruins.

Ruins

It's not the ghosts that you need to worry about. The comments on the FaceBook post talked of people living in the churchyard in a makeshift camp. Battling my way through the undergrowth, I found evidence of the camp - loads of rubbish, tarpaulin and a huge water tank. A darting squirrel is the only sign of life, but enough to get the heartbeat raised.

Onwards to Bromyard Downs - always a fine place to walk - before the land attached to Buckenhill Manor.

Views from the Bromyard Downs

Perfect paths through Buckenhill Manor

Lockdown had me jealous for the pubs I could have visited last time. But how many of them remain actually open? A terraced boozer called the Railway (tied house to Johnson's?) looks in perfect condition, but is doors firmly shut. Bizarrely, it closed in the 1970s but has been perfectly preserved.

Residential Use now - wonder how many thirsty people look through the windows.

Other disasters? The Hop Pole looks in danger or matched the Avenbury Church in the ruins stakes. The King's Arms in the high street crying out to be rescued. I'll stop there before I get too maudlin.

The Falcon was a strong contender for the Mappiman dollar but in the end, we chose the newest of micros - the Tipsey Toad. A shop conversion next-door to the dead King's Arms - an actual pub. Maybe it costs less to heat.

A fine example of the micropub blueprint, with friendly locals/staff and a comfortably snug experience split over two floors. The slightly underwhelming and obvious choice of HPA or Butty forgiven, as they shared out the mini Easter eggs.

Mrs M already celebrating the "Bischoff with Coffee" win

Walk Details

Distance - 8.75 Miles 

Geocaches - 13

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, April 2016, Walk 8