Norwich … have done 3 nights out there … one in the old skool era back in 2002/3 focus being the original Fat Cat … couldn’t get over how many beers were offered in total with gravity dispense racked up in the side room!
Also did 2 nights in Norwich in more recent times … 2017/2018 IIRC so have mixed the craftier side of things … top pick … the Plasterers Arms.
Birmingham … not as regular as you @imdownthepub but the city I’ve drank the most in after London.
As you say Craven Arms not what it was … Never been overly impressed by Cherry Reds tbh … Big fan of Tilt for big boost and rarer ticks, also love the old skool of the Wellington. Will be revisiting these in February.
And the Elephant in the room that is Glasgow!!!
The only big city in the UK i’ve never had a pint in!
Used to pass through Glasgow a lot in my very young drinking days in the early mid 90’s but was only ever a quick 30/60 minute transfer between Queen St and Central stations whilst travelling around on trains … nothing more than a chip supper or a quick breakfast.
Last stepped foot there in summer 1994 !!!
I’m actually on a rail trip in Scotland in February but the overnights are in Edinburgh and Inverness … we actually visit Glasgow twice but I think it’s just 2 quick 15/20 minute reversals.
Did Glasgow earlier this year for first time in 15 years, really liked it. The Irn Bru haggis pizza in Shilling was epic!
Brum I’m very surprised to see so high, I’ve always found it pretty poor for a so-called second city. There’s some good places but very spread out. Tilt gets some superb beers but yeah need a mortgage to buy them. As mentioned the Craven is a has-been, the high ratings definitely out of date
Norwich - not been in 25 years! Gather it’s still good for cask ticking but not so much for craft. Was supposed to do a tap takeover/meet the brewer a few years ago but Lost Industry poached it
Hello all! Thanks to Glen for an interesting thread.
In the last 20 years Rune and myself have travelled around with well prepared pub crawls. In the start The Good Beer Guide and BITE were our best sources for information. Little by little RB Places took over. It’s been interesting to see how our favorite cities/areas perform.
A week ago I made myself a list of places that I missed. Now there are 4 left - with only three spots to be claimed. My guess for top 3 are Bermondsey, Bristol Centre and Manchester Centre. But Edinburgh should also figure in the top-3…
Exciting reading this thread - looking forward to the great three spots tomorrow; my guess is Edinburgh Centre, Manchester Centre and, of course, Bermondsey.
Hope to see some of you in Burton-On-Trent in mid February.
The price of the internet on our cruise ship was stupid, so I wouldn’t pay it. The package also included 3 nights in Las Vegas, so got to the new Brewdog and another decent bar; 20ish ticks.
At my daughters place in California now (for a month); Hawaii was fun, managed four islands and about 30 beers, one day in Mexico will also help me move up the top 50 list a little.
Thank you everyone for your very kind words. As I explained at the start of this I did it for a bit of fun and to see if I could highlight some new places for me to visit. It became much bigger than I expected, but still an enjoyable thing to do, so I thought I would share it on here, particularly as it is you guys that are reviewing places and making this possible in the first place.
I know that this is going to disappoint some, but there were places that didn’t survive the thinning down process and probably the biggest of these is Bermondsey, but there were others. Just not enough drinking establishments open on a Friday afternoon to trouble the scorers. It would have been way up there if I had concentrated on Weekends only, but unfortunately it isn’t a midweek place to visit.
As most of you have established, the top 3 are as follows -
3rd - Bristol (Centre), Gloucestershire with 543 Points. HR = Small Bar, Beer Emporium, Three Tuns, Famous Royal Navy Volunteer, Brewdog Bristol, Bag O’Nails (Cat Pub).
2nd - Edinburgh (Centre), Lothians with 556 Points. HR = Hanging Bat Beer Cafe, Salt Horse Beer Bar, Bow Bar, Cloisters, Brauhaus, Brewdog Edinburgh.
And Ratebeers Best Beer Day Out in the UK is -
1st - Manchester (Centre), Greater Manchester with 562 Points. HR = Port Street Beer House, Cafe Beermoth, Marble Arch Inn, Cloudwater Unit 9 Taproom, Brewdog Manchester, Bundobust.
