Pubs and beer
As inveterate pubgoers and beer drinkers Ted and I have been to plenty of pubs in our time and the aim of this page is to share some of our favourites ( actually Steve’s favourites – the bear is not very discriminating about what and where he drinks). To find out more follow the links here.
The pub guides
- For details of our Top 20 and other favourite pubs from the Scottish border to the Tees click here:- Northumbria Pub Guide 2021
- The 2021 guide to our favourite pubs in Edinburgh and Glasgow is located here: – Pub Guide – Edinburgh and Glasgow.
- For the remainder of the UK (and Isle of Man) click here – Good UK Pubs 2021 – for a list of the best pubs we have visited recently, and which we think are worth a visit.
These pages are updated annually, most recently in February / March 2021. Due to restricted travel and lockdown there are fewer changes than usual, though we have added a few pubs in Scotland. We hope that all the pubs listed will still be there, once restrictions are lifted.
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)
Steve is a member of CAMRA, though an inactive one, due to being away so much. We aren’t sure what the membership arrangements for small bears are. It is through the efforts of more active members that many of our favourite pubs and 
beers are thriving. We never travel anywhere in the UK without consulting the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, available as a book or iphone/Android smartphone app, to point our way to the best boozers. We also use their www.whatpub.com website, which include most local pubs wherever you are. (the entries can also be reached via the Good Beer Guide app. CAMRA local branch newsletters are always worth a read 
if there are some lying around the pub.
A couple of books.
Two books which we regularly use to help us plan our jaunts around the UK are The Pub, by Pete Brown (jacqui small, 2016) and Great British Pubs by Adrian Tierney-Jones, (Camra, 2011) which feature the authors’ favourite pubs. Both remain available and useful – as the best pubs don’t change very much. In nerd mode Steve has calculated that he has visited around 95 of the over 300 pubs in The Pub and around 85 of the over 200 Great British Pubs and there was only one he didn’t enjoy – because it was packed and the music was very loud – the beer was fine.
In the Northeast Cheers magazine (available free in many pubs) has been useful to help plan walks and days out by train and bus which take in decent pubs.
Beer, pubs and travel
Since a beer or two is a key component of any travel (well..it is for us) there is plenty more about pubs and beer in the journeys, tours and walks on the Europe, Spain and UK travel pages:-
Bear on the lash
As you will have guessed the bear likes a few. Here are a few pictures of Ted on the hoy during last couple of years.
And there is plenty more evidence from previous years of the bear’s dissolute lifestyle.
Beer is good for you….
Finally, just a couple of reminders that beer is good for you (honest)……….
BEER ADVERT
Hi there, fellas.
You know, a few years ago, I used to have this daft idea that maybe some women might find my penis a bit on the small side.
That I’d go to bed with some chick, and she’d just tell me it was too wee. It really used to screw me up – you can imagine.
I think it was this stuff that saved me. Younger’s Tartan Special. It’s got a full body. It satisfies. and it really attacks your thirst. These days, if ever I spot a chick I’d really like to hit the sack with, I just order up half-a-dozen pints of Younger’s Tartan Special.
And I go and get pished.
Tom Leonard, Satires & Profanities, STUC, 1984. Tartan Special photo by ralph & dot via flickr.com
