31/05/21 - Fox and Hounds, Lulsley

Distance - 3.5 Miles

Geocaches - 17

Good Beer Guide Tick - #552

A case of "what to do" on a Bank Holiday Monday.  It could have been a walk to Bewdley to get the two new ticks - a Tap Room and a non-woke pub that will no doubt be under pressure to change its name.

The thought of battling the tourists hoardes for a space proved too much.

Geocaching in the Worcestershire Wilds its is.

Buttercup Geocaching

But that's not nearly enough booze related fun, even when you are walking through the Bulmers Orchards at Woodhouse Farm.

Where Cider comes from

Learning from previous mistakes - I have checked the Good Beer Guide Bible and found that the Fox and Hounds in Lulsley is previously unrecorded.  Their website is also checked and although it's normally closed on Mons and Tues - there is dispensation on Bank Holidays.

Pubs in the Sunshine

We are there at the scrape of the bolt and although I was quite prepared, I wasn't prepared enough to have actually booked a table.  We can be squeezed in to the extensive garden - provided we vacate in two hours.

City rules - even when a reasonable percentage of punters will be turning up on horseback.

Choice of two beers and my hearing is getting as bad as my eyesight.  I have to delete my Untappd checkin on Ludlow Gold for this is a first ever Ledbury Gold.

Gold from Ledbury, not Ludlow

It was OK but if I was rushing to get to Ledbury, it would be for the Prince of Wales.

Good food, efficient service and great to see the place filling up - justifying their decision to open under special circumstances.

29/05/21 - Hospitality goes wrong at the John O'Gaunt - Hungerford

Good Beer Guide Tick - #551

Beers - Vale Brewery Gravitas, Elusive Brewing Mechanism

After an afternoon in Newbury, the Good Beer Guide Ticks keep on coming.  A stones throw from our Greene King Hotel is West Berkshire's CAMRA Pub of the Year.

In the interest of balance, I would like to state that I would happily return to the John O'Gaunt.  This blog is going to sound like a moan but as a punter, I have learned a bit of patience is required.  

Even when we reach Fawlty Towers levels of service.

What a Pub of the Year looks like

Despite its imposing interior, its a little anti-tardis inside.  With low ceilings and entrance via a small corridor, its actually appears smaller inside than out.

We were met by the landlord and offered a seat inside or out, but once we had the tour, there was only one choice.  Experiencing their garden is akin to how the kids felt when they went exploring in the wardrobe that lead to Narnia.

Its a delight of high quality tee-pees, with individually controlled heaters.  Each table has a collection of blankets, the seats are fur topped.

The first mistake we made was by choosing a table next to a lemon jump-suited, "only way is Essex" reject who must have been on the porn star martini's since lunch.  My mastermind specialist subject is her life, as she spent our entire visit screeching it to the table of strangers on the next table.

Once seated, we eventually got hold of a drinks menu and 15 minutes later, an average Vale Brewery was delivered.  Probably no fault of the beer or how it was kept, through lockdown I seem to have lost my taste for traditional Pales and Golds.

So far - So Ok.

All smiles at this point

So what went well, what went wrong? To summarise, Mrs Ms romanic night consisted of 2 hours and 45 minutes of staring at a table adorned with a knife and fork, with only the occasional gin to alleviate the misery.

Here's the details for those I haven't lost in a blog of misery.

When re-negotiating the bill, we had a a good chat with the landlord's daughter.

She told us exactly what the media have been saying.  They cannot get hospitality staff and recruiting non-experienced people who are furloughed from other careers.  The girl who had taken our order and gone home is an Air Hostess.

There's nowhere to escape when she makes a cock up in her day job.  Although the consequences are potentially more serious than a fat Brummie not getting his meatballs.

Role on the (Original Plan) for June 21st. 

29/05/21 - (Some of) The Good Beer Guide Pubs of Newbury

Good Beer Guide Ticks - 548-550

Approaching Newbury on the Avon and Kennet Canal, we were greeted by the grizzled old seadog, operating the electric swing bridge.   

"Are you coming across?" - he shouted, before pressing go and cutting off the opposite bank until we had at least walked another 50m.

"Is the Good Pub on that side?" - I replied - which was met with "Yes, its the best pub in Newbury.  And also the most expensive".

He was correct.   It was a Fullers House - who need to make money since they stopped the brewing.

Lock, Stock and Barrel, Northbrook Street, ESB

Technically, still on the Walk from Hungerford

Nothing - and I mean nothing would be stopping me from my first cask ESB of 2021.

Not the velvet rope.

Not the man asking if we had booked.

Not the thought of taking out a second mortgage.

Negotiation with "The Man" - who left us at the rope to watch him de-fumigate -  and we were offered a little table under the right hand umbrella you can see in the above photo. 

I left Mrs M to work out the App booking and went in search of facilities.

My return was both greeted with a prime example of what I had been missing and a cry of "£11.50".

TBF, her Stowford Press was more expensive

The Catherine Wheel, Cheap Street, Otter Ale

A pork pie on a bench (don't ask, I forgot to include a lunch stop on the walk) and an amble through the pretty town that is Newbury.  Less thirsty punters would have stopped to peruse the street market but I was on a mission to get the three good ticks before the 15:03 train.

To explain - the micro - the Cow and Cask - although easily on route would not have presented the most socially distanced of experiences and there probably would have been low odds of gaining entrance in any case.  Regular blogfans will now that Mrs M will not cross the threshold of a JDW.

So this left the Cathernine Wheel - a fine traditional pub, that we briefly saw as we were shown to a rather charming courtyard.  Observations?  No one wants the news on the 65" screen when they go for a pint.  Its all 3rd Wave this, Prince Harry that.

The footpath was narrow.  The road was busy.

A menu was presented and if the sun was over the yard arm, I may have experimented with bottles of 10% Belgian Dancing Juice.

Otter in a Good Old Boy Glass

Instead, I settled on a unexpectedly thin Otter Ale.  I suspect gravity fed barrels but have little proof.

Mrs M found a dog - and its owner to talk to.  She explained that we were ticking off the good beer guide pubs - which he found more fascinating that the reaction normally elicited.  He may be the next ticker, as despite living in Newbury for 16 years, he was unaware of the Cow and Cask.

He agreed with us about JDW - where he had previously been chucked out for sitting at a pavement table outside with his dog.  He recommended the next pub, the KC and gave us the lingo that meant we would be accepted by the regulars.

The King Charles, Cheap Street, Exmoor Ale

This is all going swimmingly well, this is both a short distance away and we are making our way to the station.

But wait - Mrs M spots a problem.   "Aren't Greene King Pubs a bit shite?" she asks.

Sometimes I don't know whether she is joining in with the pub ticking a little too hard.

Eezer Goode...  Mrs M spotting danger signs

Anyone who had tasted Greene King IPA would surely agree with Mrs M, but I am reasonably sure that this was not on offer.

Instead, on our side of the bar, we had a choice of many of the West Country's finest.  Dartmoor Jail Ale, Wickwar Bob and Exmoor Ale.  It felt like we were on our holidays.

Pub Ticking - 2021 Style

Train tickets ordered from the above table - with realisation that a 12 minute journey for two could have bought a round at the Lock Stock and we are whisked away for a freshen up before tea at West Berkshire Pub of the Year.

Lovely afternoon - but will the evening continue in the same vein?  Future blog to report.

29/05/21 - Hungerford to Newbury on the Kennet and Avon Canal

Distance - 9 Miles

Geocaches - 3

 

It was all Greene King's fault.  They sent me a bargain offer for the Bear Hotel in Hungerford and I knew there was a walk that I wanted to do.  A review of my extensive to-do list revealed that this was the canal walk to Newbury and return on the train.

I'm not a massive fan of canal walks but I am a sucker for a linear walk that returns on public transport.  I also expected a high number of canal side pubs.

So I accepted their generous offer and with good weather promised, Mrs M decided she liked the sound of it.

The Walk

Navigation couldn't be easier and at times, where you walk with the Kennet to your left and the canal to your right, its very pretty. 

I should have really completed more research first.  If I want to do all 87 miles of the canal - and who knows, I may live long enough - I probably should have started at Reading.  Or Bath.  Instead, I have ticked off a middle section.  

Also - a quick look at the map would have revealed little civilisation (read pubs).  There was one on route - a passed by too early Dundas Arms in Kintbury - a mere 2.5 miles into the walk.

But fear not, Newbury has 5 Good Beer Guide entries to explore - worthy of a separate blog.  

Leaving Hungerford and finding the Canal

Arriving in Kintbury

Blossoms

Arrival into Newbury

The Bear, Hungerford

Exceeded expectations.  Its an old coaching house, which claims to date back to the C13th.  It would appear to have been closed down for a while before a re-fit and reopening.

There's a pretty little courtyard for outdoor drinking and some vague interpretation of the rules, that were leaving other punters perplexed.  I asked how the system worked to a young couple on the next table and they said "You order a drink and then wait 30 minutes for it to arrive".

If only it was that simple.  In reality, you went inside, found a man - who then said I will come with you to your table to take your order.  Which he did.  And then said I had to come back to the bar to pay for my drink.  Which I was then able to collect.  So it was kind of like the good old days, when you go to a bar and see what is on offer and order appropriately.

And what was appropriate - a rather decent Timothy Taylor Landlord.

The room was fantastic - spacious, with a lovely bathroom and a view from the bedroom window to CAMRA West Berkshire's Pub of the Year.  

Which Mrs M had the foresight to book at table for tea.  Results of which to follow.

See if you can spot who booked John O' Gaunt

26/05/21 - Centenary Way - Stage 3 - Furnace End

 Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 0

Pub - The Griffin (Indoors), Furnace End

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2

There's little to recommend this walk unless you are a massive fan of Warwickshire Field Edges.

• There are no geocaches
• The pub that was formally known as the Boars Head is now the Bubble Inn
• And is a Gastropub
• But fear not, you cannot get there - as the rape is blocking the footpath
• The walk follows a stream valley
• And they couldn't even be arsed to name the stream

I start at Birchley Heath - where council estates meet the countryside - work my way nearly to Furnace End, returning with a thirst.

Using Rape Fields to avoid going Gastro

When the only highlight on the walk is a Chimney Stack - left incongruously in a Cow field since about the C17th, you know you will have blogging problems.

Worth the 8 Mile Walk.  The Cow was lovely.

Bright skies on the return, suggesting that Spring may have finally arrived in time for Summer.  

First signs of Spring.  26/5/21.

Time to try and improve the day.

A look at Google Maps suggests the Centenary Way will get into its Stride on the next leg.  For the first time since starting, I am excited to go exploring - on a Thursday to Sunday.

If you know, you know.  Goat's Milk all round.

But I need something more immediate than June Joy.  I ponder rushing home for the Europa League Final (I bloody love a Pen Shoot Out till the early hours) but settle on a return visit to The Griffin Inn.

Not now, locksmith.

The dubious ticks panel met and stated that being as I only went outside this Good Beer Guide Pub on the Stage 2 Walk, I had to declare my tick void.   Unless you can report on the status of the bogs, its doesn't count.

Its a Tick Now OK

First sip of a Thornbridge Lord Marples and I decide that random wanderings in Warwickshire are indeed a fine way to spend an evening.

What a joy, the Griffin is.  6 real ales on and friendliness that extends beyond the barstaff.  In these days of unsplendid isolation, how lovely it is to have a maskless man plonk himself on my bench made for two and then ask me if its OK if he sits here. For this is the Church Parish Councillor on his second visit of the day, who then proceeds to whisper in my ear that he always gets on the Church meeting agenda first, so he can sneak off for a pint before the end.

Jesus Protects.  Hopefully.  And the pandemic gives the regulars a perfect excuse to reclaim their favourite seat from interlopers.

22/05/21 - Buxton - Good Beer Guide (mainly) Pub Crawl

Pubs - 3 Gained Entry, 2 Barred Entry, 1 Dead

Good Beer Guide Ticks #546 - 547

Recovery time needed in the Premier Inn, following a grim weather walk to Three Shires Head.

At 5pm we are ready to attempt something that has not been tried for well over 6 months - an on-spec Pub Crawl. No bookings. Vague notes made on the four Good Beer Guide Pubs in Buxton. With Mrs M on board, we can already knock off the Wetherspoons. I'm braced for disappointment - its just a question of how much.

Cheshire Cheese, 37-39 High Street, Titanic Anchor and Steerage

Away from the Opera House and conservation area is a high concentration of pubs along the high street and in the Market Square. The second encountered on our short walk - after the intriguingly named Blazing Rag - is the Cheshire Cheese.

A tied house to the Titanic Brewery - possibly the only good thing to have come out of Stoke.

Double fronted pubs deserve to be photographed from further away

We negotiate our way, via the guardian of the door,  to the final remaining table - high stools and a shelf, looking directly at the bar but not close enough to work out what is on offer.  I'm not having Plum Porter again. I tried that with limited success at the Bree Louise in Euston, before it was knocked down for contravening iffy smells rules.  

So what to have?  All you need to do is ask for random things to do with the Titanic.  Captain Smith?  Yes, that's one but sadly not on here.  

I am offered a walk to the bar to peek at the goods but after a suitably lavish description of the 5 handpulls, I settle on a very fine classic bitter called Anchor, followed by a similarly high quality, but less enjoyed Steerage Golden Ale.

View from a high table

And then comes the decision?  The next on the list is a micro pub.  Unlikely to get in at the best of times.  

Do we risk our fortunately gained seats to be stared at by locals who remember when the building was a haberdashery in the 1950s?

Of course we do.

The Ale Stop, Chapel Street

It's dead.  One for the dubious ticks committee.  

No Entry

Looked more severe than merely closed.  Despite Mrs M shouting "leave it, it's gone" I look through the window at a scene of beery carnage.  A handpull from a beer engine strewn on the floor, amongst various other drinking detritus. 

Further on-line investigation shows that its not dead, just resting.  They aim to be reborn on June 21st.

Kings Head, 53 Degrees North and the New Inn

This leaves us with a 30 minute window before our booking at Itacha (highly recommended Greek Restaurant).  Kings Head looks lively with outdoor overspill.  53 Degrees North looks wonderful.  Both have chalk boards that make me feel like Joseph of Nazareth in December 0.

This leaves the New Inn, where bouncers at the door have been supplanted by a toothless smoker who has lost the ability to pace himself on Saturdays during lockdown.  I honestly thought Mrs M had bolted it back to Lenny Henry's.  

Still, it was a fine Robinsons Unicorn.  Which I know some people class as an oxymoron.

Red Willow Buxton, 1 Cavendish Circus, Wreckless and Strata West Coast IPA

There's a couple of brewery tap rooms in Buxton.  The Buxton Brewery was on my wish list but has not re-opened.  Instead, there is the tap room of the Red Willow Brewery - which unlike BB - is in the Good Beer Guide.

I know little of this brewery but do remember that Virgin Trains used to stock their Tilting Ale before Avanti took over the West Coast Main Line and upped the prices of advance tickets.

Its a former bank and has had a glorious make over that includes the introduction of a Begbie-esque mezzanine floor, a much desired booth that includes Chesterfields and some leather covered benching in the same style.

Impressive enough on its own but along with a good choice of beers, its also a Gin Palace.   

We were both very happy.

External Photos thwarted by the Buxton Yoof being lairly.  Internal photos didnt come out great.  Here's some lifted from the Internet.

"Go in Mate, its not going to hurt you"

"see, its lovely"

22/05/21 - Three Shires Head

Distance - 8 Miles

Geocaches - 10

Walk Inspiration - Country Walking Magazine, Spring 2021, Walk 27

Here we have a classic Peak District walk that really deserved better conditions.  May 2021 just keeps on delivering.  Despite a weather forecast promising dryness, we sit in the car at Clough House Car Park for 10 minutes, listening to the rain bounce off the roof of the car.  Motivation to get on our boots is possibly at an all time low.  Nothing to do with an Afternoon drinking in Manchester, the day before.

Still, we are here and we need to get on.

Instantly, we are out into the Peak wilds, climbing along Cumberland Brook to its waterfall.

Loving the Peak District Signage

Cumberland Brook Waterfall

The highlight of the walk is Three Shires Head.  Located on the River Dane - its a couple of pack horse bridges and waterfalls, famous for being where Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire all meet.  Even on a poor weather day, I couldn't get a photo without muggles dicking around in the water.

Better Photos on the Internet

Some stunning views on the Dane Valley Way (another LDP to google) and the chance of refreshments at Gradbach Mill.  There is a little coffee shop but as its only doing takeaways, we decide to defer refreshment until we get back to the pub at Wildboarclough.  As you read this, I'm sure you will be shaking your head going "that was a mistake".

Today's Playground - The Dane Valley Way

Gradmach Mill

A small section of a very impressive looking Geocache Trail provides distraction on the way back.  Looking for tubs in rocks on wild moorland does a wonderful job of taking Mrs M's mind off the fact she could be wrapped up under the purple throw on a Premier Inn Hypnos Mattress.

One of us is Happy

Views to Shutlingsloe on the Return

I'd completed my research on the Crag Inn in Wildboarclough - the Google Maps Opening Hours were a slight concern, but this was a Saturday Afternoon and we felt blessed.

Nothing had prepared me for the two large vans emblazoned with "Demolition Services" on the side.  We still went closer but couldn't shout over the noise from the digger hacking away at the frontage to tell if this was a temporary closure or something more sinister.

For once, the Internet cannot help.  Their last FB post is simply the Peak District in the Snow.  Last December.

Things can only improve when we get to Buxton!

21/05/21 - Back in Manc for the new Good Beer Guide Ticks

Good Beer Guide Ticks - #544 and #545

Other Manchester Pub Days Out - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 

With both kids living in Manchester, I've made steady progress with Good Beer Guide Ticking in the City.  18 months since my last visit - a Mark Lanegan Gig (remember gigs?) - and a new edition of the bible has surprisingly been published.

In typical fashion, it holds new delights at both ends of the beer drinking spectrum.

Hare and Hounds - 46 Shudehill, Holts Bitter

The blog is nothing if not a cliche.  We had to get out of the rain.

Should your eyes get distracted by street art, you probably walk straight on past this inconspicuous boozer.

Street Art

An unassuming exterior

All the beauty remains within - you know you will be spoiled when you learn its in CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors book.  I'll leave them to discuss the half-height wall tiling, the glazed panels and the central serving lobby.  I was more delighted to be back inside a living, breathing pub - complete with cast of characters you would expect at 11am on a Friday morning.  The bloke taking work calls.  The bloke with his paper spread out across his table - knowing that his day was both sorted and better than 95% of the populations Friday.

Mrs M channeling her hidden Bet Lynch.

My favourable untappd check in of Holts Bitter was met with a brewery response that if I like it there, I should move on to the Lower Turks Head.

However, we have made arrangements to meet the kids - and I've found somewhere that may suit a 23 year old final year student, a marketing executive and their pub ticking parents.

Beatnikz Republic Bar, Dale Street. Kernel IPA

The other end of the scale.  A shared door entry could lead to confusion and you ending in the Idle Hands Cafe.  If I was going to be 100% honest, I'd tell you I mistakenly checked in hear.  Pub ticking in Covid is fraught with confusion and new rules.

In the correct entrance and we are in a light industrial unit canteen - with hard furniture, harsh lighting and exposed ducting.  Possibly being added to be historic pub interiors book in 2090.

But a couple of things have been enjoyed in lockdown....  Beer Podcasts and sampling my DIPAS, NEIPAs and West Coast IPAs.  I am so unfazed by their menu, I take the chance to have a (first ever in public) 2/3rds of Kernel IPA.  

C21st Good Beer Guide Ticking

Camera is already on a wobble and its only pub 2.

A third tick was attempted at Northern Monk but we had no booking, so they couldn't fit us into an empty bar.  We'll no doubt be back but for now, will leave them to work on their weather forecasting.

Summertime, Manchester

We spend the rest of the day/evening looking at more street art in the Northern Quarter, dining out Spanish Style, something called "Escape to Freight Island" and an ill advised, yet much enjoyed visit to the Temple Bar to ensure they still had Coniston Bluebird in bottles.

Two Ian's Mappiman and Curtis - 40 years + 1 Day since he left us

Still haven't got the hang of tapas

15/05/21 - Chiltern Chain Walk - Stage 11 - Prestwood

Distance - 13 Miles

Geocaches - 5

Walk Inspiration

Previous Stages - Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5, Stage 6, Stage 7, Stage 8, Stage 9, Stage 10

Two things are guaranteed as a Rambler;

Guarantee 1 - If you don full hardshell waterproofs, top and bottom, it will not rain. This is regardless of how angry the sky looks or the forecast.

Guarantee 2 - If a walk shows a high number of big blue cups of joy (BBCOJ) on the OS Map, they will have no doubt have disappeared, been converted into houses or you are passing them too early.

Stage 11 of the Chiltern Chain Walk promised 4 watering holes. I came home dry, both within and without.

The walk is very typical of what I have found in the Chilterns. It is pretty. There are excellent paths.  There's little of real interest.

This is a mixture of interchangeable dense woodland and agricultural fields.  If you like bluebells, then mid May is the time to do it. 

Plenty of Bluebells - This in Peterley Woods

When you're not in woods, you're looking at these sort of views

So the pubs.  Far too early in the day, the Full Moon in Little Kingshill.  Garden Marquee that will be functional for at least two more days and an idyllic looking country pub.  10am is not the time to be walking past - so note to future self - do the route in reverse.

The Full Moon - Little Kingshill

The next one of note required a little investigation as to its fate.  My elderly OS Map has the BBCOJ at the end of a dead end lane in Little Hampden Common.  Its now about 1pm and the water supply is perilously low.  However, all I can see are a row of houses.

Its not necessarily a surprise that a pub in such a remote location has gone and I do find a couple to ask of it's fate.  The lady launched into a diatribe about how criminal it was that the Rising Sun had been converted into a private house around 10 years ago.  If she had been canvassing for votes last week, she would have had a convert.

The Rising Sun - as it was. 

Her information gives me something to work with when I get back on line.

One of the last reviews on Beer In The Evening in 2012;

drove all the way up to find this pub, only to find out im a couple of years late. sad.

Looking further on that site it talks about a miserable landlord who wouldn't let ramblers eat their own sandwiches in his garden and moaning about them coming in with muddy boots.  Who'd be in hospitality eh?  Although £3 for half an orange juice and lemonade sounds expensive now but this was 2008.

And it could have been a Good Beer Guide Tick, if I had a time machine.  This from 1983 - where it must have been the same angry, muddy boot hating landlord..

Splendidly placed for walks in the Chilterns, this pub has a big inglenook fireplace to stretch your legs in front of in its quarry-tiled public bar (get the mud off your boots first, though, or they won't let you in). There are comfortable seats around the tables in the Turkey-carpeted lounge bar, which does a brisk trade in big helping of ploughman's (£1.10), jacket potatoes filled with cottage cheese and fruit (£1.50), smoked mackerel (£1.80), moussaka, lasagne and herby sausagemeat pie (£2.30). A separate restaurant which opened in the spring of 1983 specialises in fish (closed Sunday evening and Monday). Well-kept Adnams, Brakspears Special, Greene King Abbot and Sam Smith on handpumps; darts, shove-ha'penny and dominoes in the public bar. A pretty back garden slopes up behind the plain brick house, and there are tables among some roses on the sloping grass in front. Though the lane peters out here, bridle paths lead on through the woods both to Coombe Hill (National Trust - with fine views) and to Dunsmore, about a mile away.

I'm sure there is a German word for missing something you never knew.  I am feeling it now. 

06/05/21 - Operation Little Angel, Whitby for Good Beer Guide Tick #543

 A whole week in Whitby, North Yorkshire.  In normal times there would be 5 Good Beer Guide Ticks to aim for.

Two are micro pubs - its highly unlikely they have indoor space, yet alone outdoor space.

The Black Horse and the Station Inn were both walked past and all closed up.  Shout out to the Black Horse who were super quick on their Facebook messages and pointed me in the direction of the Whitby Brewery  It would have been a crime to miss this.

This leaves the Little Angel in Flowergate.  Three attempts at an on-spec visit were met by the folded arms of the Urban Genie Bouncer that would not let us pass.  

Its a good job Mrs M had the foresight to book us in for the Thursday Quiz on the final night of our holiday.

Bouncers Not Required on Quiz Night

The reason they can open is they have the rarest of pub things in Whitby - a pub garden.  They've done a fine job, adding a roof and fairly lights and staffing it with the most wonderful people who will happily bring you Three Brothers ThaIPA on demand.

With a team of two humans and a dog, we presented a similar effort to the Baggies in the Prem.  Finishing 2nd Bottom with the talent on display was not a disgrace.

Failing to know who took charge of the Tory party in 1975 was.  Good job we scored highly on the food picture round.  It would have been 100% if I hadn't have convinced Mrs M that her correct answer of "Scouse" was "Stew".

She forgave me the day after.  At about the point we reached Sheffield.

Great Pub, Great Pint