So where are we off to in the summer?
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So where are we off to in the summer?
Well done for raising this so quickly as it seems to take ages for decisions to be made. I believe it's the turn of the Midlands to have this inflicted upon them. I'm going to make two suggestions from left field, Loughborough and Newcastle Under Lyme, A bus goes from Stoke Rail Station to Newcastle but is the only one required.
The SVR is another left field suggestion already aired. I've never been on the line and would love to give it a go but for me there would be just too much waking to include pubs in Kidderminster, Bridgnorth and Bewdley. However, I've not been to either of the pubs at each of the line and for me "two pubs is a crawl". I would have thought that Bridgnorth is worthy of a full day.
Bridgnorth is well worth a day out but is a right pain in the backside to get to , the nearest main stations are Telford about 12 miles away and Wolverhampton about 14 miles away , the buses stop running around 5/530 ish to Telford/Wolvo , its better to do Bridgnorth as an overnighter .
Lichfield is good but not sure how it’s fixed for public transport. My last visit was a coach trip. There’s also Stamford ditto transport. Burton of course ticks all boxes but has anyone not been?
New street to Lichfield takes about half an hour and is £6.40 return. Trains are regular - about every 10 - 20 minutes.
I know because they go through Aston !
We are happy to go anywhere but can only do 15th or 16th June or 13th or 14th July as a last resort 6th July.
We've usually done July in the past, but as discussion has started early, June is certainly doable. However, train tickets for 15th/16th will already be on sale, so agreeing the destination pretty damned quick would also be good.
I think this info is now slightly out of date. Didn't London Midland lose the franchise last year? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-40886873
You're absolutely right and if I thought Abellio were going to make any better a job of it I might bother to use the correct names. Their performance on the lines out of Liverpool Street is dismal and when they were forced to hand over stock to TFL when Overground took over the Chingford and Cheshunt lines they handed over all the dross that was only fit for scrapping. A fine example of their competence is the fact they planned to take over the Wales franchise from Arriva in partnership with er, Carillion.
More than Newcastle-u-Lyme or Lichfield, on a rough count. I last did Lichfield in 2013 - eight pubs in just over two hours with my Luton mates before attending what I hope will turn out to be our last ever game at Tamworth (we held on for a 4-3 win after going 4-1 up with half an hour to play - I did wonder if the team had done their own pre-match pub crawl too). Too many Marstons pubs, though mostly very nice pubs. Now two micros and a "we're not really a micro", so a bit of variety and competition. Could be interesting. (Trains from Tamworth to Lichfield are frequent and it's a quick journey; Tamworth is fairly easy to get to from all parts of the country because of the lines crossing over. Hint: it can be cheaper to buy a ticket to Tamworth and then a separate day return from Tam to Lich City.)
Loughborough has over 40 pubs in the centre (Lichfield only 49 in the entire postal district). Downside: lots of student pubs.
I've only ever been to one pub in Newcastle-u-Lyme, so wouldn't mind seeing what else there is. Anyone want to make a case for it? Or Stamford?
Is Lincoln in the Midlands? And how about Norwich - fantastic city for pubs but almost as far east as Moscow.
How about a poll? (With closing date, say the end of next week so that people can get their train tickets sorted before they become too pricey.)
Can't make June, will be in Ciutadella. July is fine.
Newcastle has 2 GBG listed micropubs, the Lymestone Vaults (also GBG), a good Joules pub with a couple of decent guests, a Titanic pub with a GBG listed Free House on the way back to town, a biker's GBG listed Free House that doesn't open until 17:00 on Fridays and a Weal Ales outlet called Wellers. The Spoons is average and there may well be more to add to that list.
I can't make a case for Stamford at all, having visited the JDW I doubt that I would go back.
They're in East Anglia of course!
I've been to Norwich a few times while doing the JDWs and only managed one "proper" pub which I didn't like. It strikes me that to get around places involves a hell of a lot of walking. I don't think either are very good for travelling to.
"Strictly speaking, East Anglia is made up of just three counties – Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire, which were settled in the fifth century by Angles from today’s Schleswig-Holstein – but it has come to be loosely applied to parts of Essex too." (Rough Guides) Other authorities agree, so you're on your own in placing Lincoln in East Anglia! I hope you were joking...
Lincoln is not so hard to get to as it used to be, as there are trains from London, Nottingham, Sheffield and Doncaster. And it has loads of excellent pubs. Though I'd have to concede that [a hell of a lot of] walking is necessary to get from one pub to another. Some of it is even uphill. (Consequently, as luck would have it, some is [slightly] downhill.)
If people thought there were a lot of pubs in Brighton, just look at how many have closed and this list doesn't include Hove!
http://closedpubs.co.uk/sussex/brighton.html
The five GBG2018 pubs are, Bridge Street Ale House, Freebird, Hop Inn, Hopwater Cellar, Lymestone vaults. I used to drive through the place and wasn't impressed but I've never drunk there so couldn't possibly comment. Inconveniently it doesn't have a railway station so it's a bus from Stoke.
Stamford is good, four GBG2018 pubs plus a couple of other decent ones, it's compact and has rail connections (via Peterborough I believe so ECML).
I think it would be pushing things to call Lincoln the Midlands but it's great for pubs apart from that bloody hill. Rail links are still a little bit convoluted, especially from Leeds, it's usually a change at Peterborough from London. While we're in the Lincoln/ECML area, Newark isn't bad for a day out either just a bit of a walk from the ECML station (North Gate).
I'd go to Kidderminster any time but Stourbridge was mostly shut when I went there and there's the rattler from Stourbridge Junction to "enjoy", but I could be persuaded.
How do we set up a poll?
Contenders so far (with GBG pubs)
Bridgnorth (6)
Kidderminster (7)
Lichfield (4)
Lincoln (9)
Loughborough (6)
Newark (5)
Newcastle UL (5)
Norwich (26)
Stamford (4)
Stourbridge (5)
I have seen trains for Lincoln when at St Pancras, but on checking it turns out they are in the evenings (presumably for commuters?). There are some trains from St P, changing at Nottingham, but the fastest route from London is change at Peterborough, as you suggest.
From the north, there are some trains from Doncaster to Lincoln, for example depart Leeds 9:45, change at Doncaster 10:16/10:24, arrive at Lincoln 11:16.
Newark is good. I went there a few years back and had a good day out, and I believe it has got better since then. Didn't we have Newark on a poll a couple of years ago?
I hope a certain person from Nottingham doesn't see that! That hill and distances are a deal breaker for me plus the fact that I'd rather not go to a Bateman's pub after they so brazenly watered down XXXB some years ago.
I thoroughly enjoyed a day in Newark and seem to recall the trek from the station is the only one.
I'm not sure anything would be shut in Stourbridge on a Friday or Saturday. The Batham's one and the Duke William are killer pubs but are there enough others? I haven't been to the micropub. The boneshaker makes the idea of a combined visit with Kidderminster a bit impractical.
Pass!
Creating a new poll
http://forums.pubsgalore.co.uk/faq.p...xt=1&match=all