On Friday, I finally crossed Rotherfield off from my list of pub places to visit. This followed one reconnaissance visit, whilst on the return journey of a bus trip to neighbouring Mayfield, and then a failed attempt, two weeks later as part of a CAMRA bus outing. The latter was … | Continue reading
One would have thought that switching to part time working would have meant a significant increase in the amount of available leisure time. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to have worked out that way, and whilst this is partially my own fault, I’m sure it’s a situation that many p … | Continue reading
It was the lad’s birthday this weekend, and as well as going out for a meal, or perhaps ordering a decent takeaway, to mark the occasion, Matthew informed me that he fancied popping up to London for some pie and mash. This was after his interest was sparked by the following incid … | Continue reading
You left our group of intrepid pub explorers, as we departed the Salamander, a pub that turned out to be something of a disappointment and headed off towards one which we all knew was going to be the star of the show – in more ways than one! We were making for the famous Star Inn … | Continue reading
Last Tuesday’s trip to Bath was probably my 5th visit to this attractive city and whilst most of the previous ones had taken place during a fairly concentrated period, 30 or more years ago, this day out in the city was a follow-up to the one I made back in March 2022, with a sele … | Continue reading
Regular readers of this blog may remember a post I wrote at the start of the year, with the title “Swan looks to the village for salvation”. The Swan in question, is the pub of that name, which stands on the green of the tiny, tucked away village of West Peckham, roughly half-way … | Continue reading
It was a case of “second time lucky” on Saturday lunchtime when it came to tracking down a drop of Harvey’s Bonfire Boy. The latter is the company’s seasonal offering for the month of November and was first brewed in tribute to the fire services who extinguished the fire which th … | Continue reading
A few years after my late father retired from his job with the Royal Mail, my parents moved from their bungalow, located in a small Kent village, to a similar, but slightly smaller one floor dwelling, situated in a much larger Norfolk village. Dad had joined the Royal Mail, after … | Continue reading
As forecast in the previous post, I managed a visit to the Festival of Green Hop Beers, hosted by the excellent Dovecote Inn at Capel. My visit was almost a last-minute decision, following on, as it did, from a number of “errands” in Tonbridge (mainly banking and other boring stu … | Continue reading
There was a lot happening last weekend, and my little jaunt out to the Wheatsheaf at Jarvis Brook was only a small part of it. I mentioned quite early on in the previous post, that I was looking for a pub selling Harvey’s Old Ale, the dark and delicious seasonal offering from the … | Continue reading
It’s 19th October, just past the middle of the month, and soon it will be all downhill towards December and the onset of winter. Fortunately, two or three of days of unseasonably warm weather, fuelled by some most welcome sunshine, has helped lift spirits and allowed me to get so … | Continue reading
In his autobiography, “A Sort of Life,” the author, Graham Greene, wrote about his first taste of beer. He described how, after initially hating the taste, and having to force it down to prove his manhood, he later found the memory of the taste coming back to haunt his thirst dur … | Continue reading
Continuing the narrative surrounding a cycling holiday in the Cotswolds, 40 years ago, you left the previous Mrs PBT’s and I sheltering in our tent, away from the cold north wind. We were waiting for the pubs to reopen because, unlike in these more enlightened times, licensed pre … | Continue reading
In my most recent post I explored the prospect of a trip to the Cotswolds, with the aim of visiting a few of the pubs that make up the Donnington Brewery tied estate. This trip wouldn’t be the first that I’ve made to this idyllic area of England, but it would only be the second, … | Continue reading
Well, we’re approaching the end of second week in October, and the nights are really starting to draw in. Although the weather was kind last weekend, the incessant wind and rain have now returned with a vengeance. As I’ve mentioned in a couple of previous posts, the deluges we’ve … | Continue reading
I seem to have experienced a run of bad luck recently when it comes to household systems and technology, and just when I thought my troubles were over, up crops a new issue. Since June there’s been a problem with the central heating system - necessitating the replacement of a mot … | Continue reading
September was a pretty lean month as far as articles were concerned, with just seven posted on the blog, which constitutes the lowest monthly total for a long, long time. I’m not sure of the reason, especially as our trip to Northumberland provided plenty of material for blog art … | Continue reading
It’s good at times, to stumble upon a book that strikes a real chord with one, especially as it doesn’t seem to happen that often. “Back to the Local” is such a book, even though I can’t recall which news source or information service it was that first brought this excellent publ … | Continue reading
It’s been a peculiar summer really, and one that I would describe as “bitty”. It's been characterised by a sense of things not quite going to plan, although it’s difficult to pin-point exactly what has brought this feeling on. Frustrating, might be a more appropriate term, becaus … | Continue reading
There’s absolutely no mistaking the fact that I’m a dyed-in-the-wool beer-lover and have been so since my late teens. Beer is my go-to drink, regardless of situation, location or occasion, with the obvious provisos that I don’t mix beer drinking with work, early mornings (the sun … | Continue reading
Last week, following our return from Northumberland, we were treated to a reminder from mother nature, that autumn was finally upon us. Strong winds, cold temperatures, and driving rain during the start of our first week back to normality, served as a reminder that we are now jus … | Continue reading
Apart from the two posts I wrote whilst we were in Northumberland last week, I haven’t written much on the blog recently, This isn’t down to laziness or indifference, but more so because we left our return to Tonbridge until the last possible minute. We arrived home at around 4 p … | Continue reading
Northumberland is an area of the country that I’ve never been to before, but have wanted to visit for a long time. I’ve travelled through the area by train, on several occasions, on visits by rail to Edinburgh, and certainly on the first trip between the English and Scottish capi … | Continue reading
The Bailey family are on holiday, and it is a rare occasion for all three of us to be away from home at the same time. We’ve driven up to Northumberland, all the way from Kent stopping off for the night at Harrogate, in order to break the journey. There will be a similar arrangem … | Continue reading
Sometimes the old beers are the best, a strange comment possibly in these days of IPA’s Double and even Triple IPA’s, to say nothing of all the murk that’s on tap or on the shelves, at the moment. So, it’s good to see one of the remaining, independent, family brewers not particul … | Continue reading
A couple of Friday’s ago I finally finished the Tunbridge Wells Circular Walk, a task that took far longer than it should have done. For the uninitiated, the TWCW is a cross-country walk which, as its name suggests, is a route around the rural periphery of Tunbridge Wells. The ro … | Continue reading
On Thursday, I joined a small group of local CAMRA members on what promised to be my second foray into darkest Sussex. The branch social secretary had arranged a visit to the village of Rotherfield, stopping off at the tiny settlement of Mark Cross on the way. Rotherfield is the … | Continue reading
Next year, if I’m spared, I will have lived in Tonbridge for 40 years, with 30 of them spent in the same property. That's quite a record in this day and age, especially given that people are far more mobile than they would have been three or four generations ago. When you've live … | Continue reading
The other day I read a blog article, by Benjamin Nunn, in which he bemoans the fact that there will be no CAMRA Great British Beer Festival this year. Ben writes under the name of Ben Viveur, a title that gives more than a hints of what his blog is about, namely enjoying real foo … | Continue reading
I expected a certain amount of flack in the aftermath of my “umbrella” post, although one or two trolls did take things further than they perhaps should have done, but my forgetfulness took a new twist last Friday, when I headed out by bus to the village that would see me complet … | Continue reading
In the previous post, I wrote a brief piece mentioning the British Guild of Beer Writers summer party, that I attended last Wednesday evening. The event was held at Hackney-based Five Points Brewing, and I have to say the company were perfect hosts, providing plentiful beer and p … | Continue reading
This semi-retirement malarkey isn't quite or what it's cracked up to be. I say this because already this morning, I've tidied up got full load of washing on the line, sorted out yesterday's box off beer arrived from Braybrook Brewing, responded to a couple of work-related emails … | Continue reading
This post is especially for Volvo Cruiser, who specifically requested another article about our recent cruise. This post sort of is, as it is based on observations made whilst cruising around the western Mediterranean, back in June, but it also looks to the future, particularly a … | Continue reading
There's not much worse than returning home, following an enjoyable and well-earned holiday, to find that during your absence, a minor disaster has occurred on the home front. This is what happened to Mrs PBT's and I, after our most recent cruise, and it was a problem with our hot … | Continue reading
After the previous introductory article about the former channel port of Folkestone, here’s the post you’ve all been waiting for, namely some narrative about the pubs and bars my friends and I visited in the town the other Friday. The first pub of the day, and in my view the best … | Continue reading
On what turned out to be hottest day of the year to date in the UK, I joined nine other beer enthusiasts, most of them local CAMRA members, on a trip to Folkestone. A day out at the seaside if you like, but also the opportunity to explore some of the pubs and bars in this once po … | Continue reading
Three months ago, I published a post that begged the question “Is a cheap and cheerful pub lunch too much to ask for? It was a straightforward question, and a genuine one at that, but it stemmed from a desire to find a pub selling simple, but solid pub fayre, such as a cheese rol … | Continue reading
Nuremberg is the second largest city in Bavaria, but it is also the capital of Franconia; a region, which was once a separate state, until Napoleon came on the scene. Its inhabitants, like those of the rest of Franconia, see themselves as Franks rather than Bavarians and tend to … | Continue reading
Some of you might remember that for a period of approximately two years I hosted my own website called, Paul's Beer Travels. It was a self-hosted site, which meant that, unlike Google's Blogger, I had to pay an annual fee to a company (Bluehost, in my case), just to host the site … | Continue reading
Just under a year ago, son Matthew and I paid a brief visit to the High Rocks, a country pub, restaurant and wedding venue situated down a quiet country lane, about 15 minutes’ drive from the centre of Tunbridge Wells. The pub and restaurant complex is named after the adjacent Hi … | Continue reading
One of the two excursions I opted for on our recent Mediterranean cruise, was the 9½ hour “Introduction to Rome” tour. This was marketed as a high activity (lots of walking), excursion around the main sights of the eternal city. Despite not being on my all-time “bucket list”, Rom … | Continue reading
Córdoba is a city in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia, and the capital of the province of Córdoba. It was an important city during Roman times and in the Middle Ages, was a major Islamic centre. Its best known, and most impressive monument from its time under Muslim rule, … | Continue reading
Our cruise itinerary took us from Southampton and across the Bay of Biscay, to the north west corner of the Iberian peninsula. This is the area known as Galicia, an autonomous region of Spain with a rich history dating back to the 8th century. Our first and last ports of call wer … | Continue reading
I’m still playing catch-up, so apologies for the paucity of blog posts but, as noted in a previous article, it wasn’t perhaps the wisest thing going straight back to work, immediately after our return to the UK. Three days of my first “long weekend” at home were spent tackling th … | Continue reading
You will probably guess that I wrote a substantial chunk of this piece, whilst on the cruise, which is why it alternates between the present and past tenses, but rather than a complete re-write, here, in all their glory, are some of my thoughts about life onboard ship. I’ve given … | Continue reading
The Queen Anne is the latest addition to Cunard’s flotilla of cruise ships and, as we are finding out, is considerably different to the other Cunard’s vessels. Having caught the cruising bug, so to speak, Mrs PBT’s and I have previously sailed on the company’s three other ships, … | Continue reading
The Sunday before our cruise, the lad and I treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast, at the Ivy House pub in Tonbridge, before attending a protest meeting in the town centre. No before going any further I'd like to add that whilst I've been on a number of marches and demonstratio … | Continue reading
I spent much of the second Saturday of our voyage, ashore in Northern Sardinia, exploring the picturesque, narrow streets of Alghero. With a population of just over 40,000 inhabitants, the town is the second largest settlement on the island, and overlooks a large and attractive b … | Continue reading