This is to date on my blog, the most nostalgic, inspiring and melancholic post yet and it warps your poisoned mind back to 1997 – when life was good, when “the smiles were genuine.” I’m not being deeply ironic, cynical, acting like an old man, I’m just appreciating that period of my life when everything Read more about The Windsor, Bangor, Northern Ireland (1997)[…]
I’m always intrigued by pubs and drinking locations that are just that wee bit different, hence why brand name pubs such as Yateses and Wankabout (really called Walkabout) actually annoy me – they clone custom made pubs, and lack character. Pubs with history, facts or just something a bit extra ordinary are much more up Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Visiting The Ponderosa, Ireland’s Highest Pub![…]
I was walking past Fulham Broadway station in July 2006 trying to sort out my car parking permit, having just moved to London. Then my phone rang and it was John Johnson who was in Ibiza. John is one of my mates, I used to live with him for a while and I know him Read more about The Big Reunion in Skegness, England, December 2006[…]
I had been working in Lymington since June 2008 on Wightlink ferries which take only 30 minutes to get you from Lymington in Hampshire to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight. My drive to work would range from 23 minutes to over an hour depending on traffic, time of day and roadworks, so I never Read more about The Lymington Pub Crawl – 1st October 2008[…]
I have always been a massive George Best (and football) fan. This is one story which happened by chance and I simply could not have contemplated would happen. The mistakes we make in life and the way fate falls makes life so interesting. One Monday in Los Angeles during July 2007 I found myself in Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Bestie’s Bar!! Hermosa Avenue, Los Angeles, USA[…]
It wasn’t until 2001 that I first worked in a bar (probably by then I had spent enough time on the other side of over 100 bars). I got the job through my good mate Darren Latimer. I was employed mainly as a barman on the downstairs bar at McMillen’s Bar, Bangor. The bar is Read more about Working Wednesdays: Barman in McMillen’s Bar & Restaurant, Bangor, Northern Ireland☘️🔴✋[…]
I had the pleasure of working in a busy Bournemouth Hotel for six months in 2004. It was a strange destiny that ended me up in there but anyway, I’ll give this blog entry my thoughts on it. Just another one of those jobs in a long line of ones I’ve tried and enjoyed for Read more about Six months in a hotel[…]
The question which really needs to be asked at this point is: how the fuck do you do a ‘countries of the world pub tour’ in just one day? The answer is easy go to London. You’ll notice that place names in London are named after countries quite a lot, obvious examples are China Town, Read more about Thirsty Thursdays: Countries of the World Pub Tour in London (10 nations in one day)[…]