Update the Maps!
Haven’t updated the maps on here for an age. I’ve got a few to add to, which I guess in the world of hospitality is a nice problem to have. Better going on here to add to pubs rather than delete them. Unfortunately things are never as straightforward as you hope. I used Vectornator to make all the maps, which no longer exists. It has changed to Linearity Curve, unfortunately to have a number of documents you need to have a paid for plan. I hate all these pay monthly options. Like most people I’d rather just pay once for a program and leave it at that.
I’m gonna have to go back to OpenStreetMap and create the base maps from there and then I’ll guess I’ll use Procreate for editing them to the form I’ll use. I know Procreate is a bit overkill for the job I’ll do on them, but hey ho it IS an App I have.
I’ll try and get to this over the next week or two. Promise.
I’m gonna have to go back to OpenStreetMap and create the base maps from there and then I’ll guess I’ll use Procreate for editing them to the form I’ll use. I know Procreate is a bit overkill for the job I’ll do on them, but hey ho it IS an App I have.
I’ll try and get to this over the next week or two. Promise.
A Reintroduction of Beer Mats
17/02/26 23:38 Filed in: Liverpool
I was looking at some old gig tickets the other day and then adding some dates from them of gigs I’ve been to—way back when—into the Concert Archive app. They were all in tins on the top of shelves in the kitchen. When I opened one box though it contained old beer mats I’ve picked up over the years. But it’s not like I was a collector, and there weren’t that many really. I was never going to do anything with them; maybe I should have. At one point last week I was simply going to throw them out.
But hey, the environmental ethos is: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle, isn’t it? And so rather than just throw them out into the Blue bin for recycling I decided reuse comes first (well, second). So I had the idea of taking them out one by one and using in a pub and leaving them there.
And so for the last few day that’s what I’ve been doing. Anyone spot a Belgian, German, or Hungarian beer mat out in the wilds around Liverpool? Well it was the environmentally friendly thing for me to do. Who knows, a ticker may want to collect them more than my bin man, in any case there is a general shortage of beer mats around at the moment (maybe because they’re all in random kitchen tins) so me randomly setting them free is a good thing all around. Fly to freedom my once forgotten babies. Good luck out there!
But hey, the environmental ethos is: Reduce-Reuse-Recycle, isn’t it? And so rather than just throw them out into the Blue bin for recycling I decided reuse comes first (well, second). So I had the idea of taking them out one by one and using in a pub and leaving them there.
And so for the last few day that’s what I’ve been doing. Anyone spot a Belgian, German, or Hungarian beer mat out in the wilds around Liverpool? Well it was the environmentally friendly thing for me to do. Who knows, a ticker may want to collect them more than my bin man, in any case there is a general shortage of beer mats around at the moment (maybe because they’re all in random kitchen tins) so me randomly setting them free is a good thing all around. Fly to freedom my once forgotten babies. Good luck out there!
Liverpool POTY 26
The Liverpool Pub of the Year (POTY) vote is open for CAMRA Members who live in the Liverpool area. If you have an opinion on which ones you’d like to go forward to be judged then put in your vote now.
The pubs shortlisted are:
City Centre
Baltic Fleet
Doctor Duncan’s
Lion Tavern
Peter Kavanagh’s
Roscoe Head
Vernon Arms
Suburbs
Black Cat—Rose Lane
Cobden
Coop
Four Ashes
The Liverpool CAMRA website is a total mess at the moment, looks like there’s a problem with the hosting or an upload has gone wrong and overwritten newer stuff with old items. There’s the old 404 errors—which I haven’t seen for ages—and old pages which certainly aren’t recent or relevant. I’m assuming there’s not even a working link on it to do this vote (certainly not easy to find anyway). Which could be seen as a bit susp if you were of a cynical mind…
I’m a bit surprised by some of the missing pubs (the Vines, Grapes, etc). Personally I like to think the best pubs would be the ones you'd recommend to friends or new visitors to the city first. But hey ho, I guess we are where we are and we work with what we’ve got.
Anyhoo, there’s a link here to the voting form. You can vote for between one and three of those pubs selected above. You’ll need your CAMRA membership number to complete the form. Closing Date for voting is January 30th.
Liverpool POTY 2026 voting form
PS Someone take over the CAMRA Website and get it sorted for everyone. Please.
The pubs shortlisted are:
City Centre
Baltic Fleet
Doctor Duncan’s
Lion Tavern
Peter Kavanagh’s
Roscoe Head
Vernon Arms
Suburbs
Black Cat—Rose Lane
Cobden
Coop
Four Ashes
The Liverpool CAMRA website is a total mess at the moment, looks like there’s a problem with the hosting or an upload has gone wrong and overwritten newer stuff with old items. There’s the old 404 errors—which I haven’t seen for ages—and old pages which certainly aren’t recent or relevant. I’m assuming there’s not even a working link on it to do this vote (certainly not easy to find anyway). Which could be seen as a bit susp if you were of a cynical mind…
I’m a bit surprised by some of the missing pubs (the Vines, Grapes, etc). Personally I like to think the best pubs would be the ones you'd recommend to friends or new visitors to the city first. But hey ho, I guess we are where we are and we work with what we’ve got.
Anyhoo, there’s a link here to the voting form. You can vote for between one and three of those pubs selected above. You’ll need your CAMRA membership number to complete the form. Closing Date for voting is January 30th.
Liverpool POTY 2026 voting form
PS Someone take over the CAMRA Website and get it sorted for everyone. Please.
Nottingham, It's Bin a While
Haven’t been to Nottingham for a few years so I decided one evening last week to pop over for a few beverages and a bit of a stroll. ‘Twas a good call all in all—despite the periodic torrential rain. After all the pubs largely have walls and roofs and the people/venues/beers pretty fine too.
Lime Street Station. A dry start to the day.
Train beer (a Cloudwater lager) and a book.
Made it to quite a few pubs in the town, but the first one was barely out of the station itself: the Brew Tavern at the southern side of the station on Queen’s Road by the steps to the station. A new pub to me and a great location, akin to Victoria Tap or Manchester Oxford Road Tap; probably closer to the latter in terms of venue size. Had a pint of Green Hop (Hukins Hops Bullion) from Five Points brewery. Think it was actually the most expensive pint of the trip—but I guess that’s down to its Location, Location, Location.
Brew Tavern at Nottingham Station
Next up was the Canalside, which I’ve been to every time I’ve been to Nottingham. It’s quite a cool place on the canal with a barge berth within the pub itself. I had a pint of ‘Mysterons’ from Castle Rock. It was pretty busy for a lunchtime, but some groups had kids I guess (school holidays and all that). The rain started whilst I was in here.
The Canalhouse.
By the time I left to go to The Navigation the rain was purely biblical. It hadn’t seemed like rain was due earlier, and it was a bit of a surprise. Got chatting to the barmaid and she’d been over to Liverpool recently to do a Beatles’ Pilgrimage. She’d loved the place. I asked her to not advertise the fact—we don’t need any more tourists coming over and spoiling the place after all. Good chat though. Ended up with a pint of ‘Weizen Up’ by Brewster’s.
The Navigation.
'Weizen Up!'
The rain calmed down a bit, and I almost dried out, whilst I was Navigating. It was a short walk to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, a famous ale pub beneath the castle. Despite the route being a walk on Google Maps it showed me a longer incorrect way to get there, thankfully I can read a map, even if the algorithm can’t. ‘Twas still raining but not too bad by the time I got there.
It was a Brewster again for me here. This time a ‘Decadence’. The pub was busy and I ended up chatting to a few visitors. Some local, some no so.
Umm, Me thinks there may be a shorter way to get there. Google Maps wanting me to get y steps in.
Was another short walk from here, left out of the pub, up the road past the Robin Hood statue to the Crow. After the two Brewsters I had myself a second Castle Rock (I was next to the Castle Rock after all). This time if was a red ale, ‘Preservation’. No chatting here but I did grab myself a nice butty.
Short walk again from here and another left turn from the door. This time to Ye Olde Salutation Inn. An old pub but with more modern music (rock and heavy metal). This was another pub I’d been to before. It was to be my third (and last) Castle Rock pint, this time a ‘Screech Owl’ American IPA.
Next up was the Malt Cross, and you guessed it. Not a long way at all up the road from the Salutation. It wasn’t a Castle Rock or a Brewsters this time. It was a Verdant ‘Fresh Hop - Harlequin’.
I did go to two other pubs but I didn’t write it down or take any appropriate helpful photos (partly due to a flat phone battery). Dang!
I’ll add a map before too long in case you wanna check some of these places out for yourself. All in all a fine trip. Makes me think I should also revisit a couple more midlands cities that I haven’t been to for a while, like Derby and Leicester. Watch this space.
Lime Street Station. A dry start to the day.
Train beer (a Cloudwater lager) and a book.
Made it to quite a few pubs in the town, but the first one was barely out of the station itself: the Brew Tavern at the southern side of the station on Queen’s Road by the steps to the station. A new pub to me and a great location, akin to Victoria Tap or Manchester Oxford Road Tap; probably closer to the latter in terms of venue size. Had a pint of Green Hop (Hukins Hops Bullion) from Five Points brewery. Think it was actually the most expensive pint of the trip—but I guess that’s down to its Location, Location, Location.
Brew Tavern at Nottingham Station
Next up was the Canalside, which I’ve been to every time I’ve been to Nottingham. It’s quite a cool place on the canal with a barge berth within the pub itself. I had a pint of ‘Mysterons’ from Castle Rock. It was pretty busy for a lunchtime, but some groups had kids I guess (school holidays and all that). The rain started whilst I was in here.
The Canalhouse.
By the time I left to go to The Navigation the rain was purely biblical. It hadn’t seemed like rain was due earlier, and it was a bit of a surprise. Got chatting to the barmaid and she’d been over to Liverpool recently to do a Beatles’ Pilgrimage. She’d loved the place. I asked her to not advertise the fact—we don’t need any more tourists coming over and spoiling the place after all. Good chat though. Ended up with a pint of ‘Weizen Up’ by Brewster’s.
The Navigation.
'Weizen Up!'
The rain calmed down a bit, and I almost dried out, whilst I was Navigating. It was a short walk to Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, a famous ale pub beneath the castle. Despite the route being a walk on Google Maps it showed me a longer incorrect way to get there, thankfully I can read a map, even if the algorithm can’t. ‘Twas still raining but not too bad by the time I got there.
It was a Brewster again for me here. This time a ‘Decadence’. The pub was busy and I ended up chatting to a few visitors. Some local, some no so.
Umm, Me thinks there may be a shorter way to get there. Google Maps wanting me to get y steps in.
Was another short walk from here, left out of the pub, up the road past the Robin Hood statue to the Crow. After the two Brewsters I had myself a second Castle Rock (I was next to the Castle Rock after all). This time if was a red ale, ‘Preservation’. No chatting here but I did grab myself a nice butty.
Short walk again from here and another left turn from the door. This time to Ye Olde Salutation Inn. An old pub but with more modern music (rock and heavy metal). This was another pub I’d been to before. It was to be my third (and last) Castle Rock pint, this time a ‘Screech Owl’ American IPA.
Next up was the Malt Cross, and you guessed it. Not a long way at all up the road from the Salutation. It wasn’t a Castle Rock or a Brewsters this time. It was a Verdant ‘Fresh Hop - Harlequin’.
I did go to two other pubs but I didn’t write it down or take any appropriate helpful photos (partly due to a flat phone battery). Dang!
I’ll add a map before too long in case you wanna check some of these places out for yourself. All in all a fine trip. Makes me think I should also revisit a couple more midlands cities that I haven’t been to for a while, like Derby and Leicester. Watch this space.
Lancaster: A Most Painful Journey
To be completed…
