shaun mc

We went around Highgate on the Friday. The highlight was The Southampton Arms with a great selection of beers, including a lovely salted caramel stout Ended up in Camden at the 3 Locks Brewery On Saturday after the game we had a few down the Bermondsey Beer Mile. The beers at The Kernel were outstanding

Thanks for the reply. We usually go from Southwark on the Jubilee line and straight into Wembley, so not so bothered about any pubs around the stadium before the game. Looking for an area with a few good pubs for Friday really

Cup Final this weekend, going down tonight then on the beer tomorrow Any recommendations for pubs in London? Ideally an area that has a few good ones. Bermondsey Beer Mile maybe? We've done Camden many times, and we always go to the Founders Arms on the Thames on Saturday morning. Limited beer selection and a great terrace, but the weather may impact on Saturday Cheers for any suggestions

The standard of zero/low alcohol beers has improved vastly over the past few years. Guinness, Leffe, Erdinger, Ghost Ship Though you have to think why are they as expensive as standard beers, without the duty to pay?

The Tite and Locke is a great place if you have time changing trains. Lancaster Brewery also do a decent Brewery tour (though it's a bit out of town). £15 and includes 6 x 3rds of your choice of what's on at the time. They had about 8 or 9 beers available when I was there. Carlisle station is overdue a decent bar after '301 miles from London' closed. I believe the planning has been going for a few months now.

Its a large site and has been left to decay for c. 2 years. I expect that there will be significant costs to get it up and running and producing beer. There's room to have other stuff on site to bring income in as well as brewing, which to be fair, won't make you rich at the moment. They are coming into brewing at a difficult time for the industry. They do have a good brewing water source from underneath the next door castle. Jennings was the beer I grew up on. Very malty at the time - about 50p a pint IIRC!

Make sure you read the FRA website about kit requirements to participate. They can be loosened on the day by the RD, but you'll still need to bring them all with you, or borrow whilst you are here

From what I've seen (been a bit of an avid watcher) after the snowmelt the conditions weren't too bad at times, at lower levels Kim Collison finished a few hours ago in the 3rd fastest ever time, about 3.5 hours ahead of the 2nd place who is just about to finish. Lucy Gossage will win the womens race and 4th/5th overall There's a runner from my work doing the full Spine. She still has just over 100 miles to go after 86 hours of racing!

Lots of reports of 'swimming' on the Spine after the snow has melted, especially the bit after Tan Hill Was on the Pennine Way above Dufton on Saturday afternoon. The track was treacherous - I see a few have dropped out due to taking a fall, including one of the leaders. Off the track the snow was knee deep. Interestingly, the top 2 female runners are just starting to edge closer to the top male runners in the 2nd half of the race (their splits are slightly better). Lucy Gossage running especially well atm

According to the locals, the Blue Bell now the Heversham Inn is the father Smith's favourite pub in the estate. It had a major expensive refurb before lockdown and has just re-opened a couple of months ago. Mobile phones, electronic devices and swearing are banned

Stout Wars in Kendal this weekend. A number of pubs get some stouts, porters and other dark beers in. I like a dark beer/stout in the winter. Currently in a pub where they are serving a 15% imperial stout......in halves of course. Only realised it was on this weekend, this morning. Finishes tomorrow

The 3.4% beers maybe for the tied pubs? Robinsons & Oakham have recently released a 3.4% beer. Going round a few Preston pubs on Saturday - Winckley Ale House, Plau, Guild Ale House, The Orchard, Plug & Taps. Might even get into the Black Horse for nostalgia purposes. The Moorbrook is good, but a little out of town

Crabbies is now 3.4%? Crabbies brand also owned by Halewood Foods - see posts above. There are a lot of beers at 3.4% now - this is saving duty. Beers 3.5% and above are taxed 2.25 times higher. Every brewery is now brewing a 3.4% beers it seems

Halewood sacked a lot of staff as lockdown kicked in, they lost a whole load of goodwill because of that Good to see that 4 of the sacked employees started up a new brewery, right in the ups and downs of lockdown/no lockdown. Credit to them for making a success of it and perseveering. Lakes Brew do some great brews and open their taproom last weekend of the month, if you are in Kendal There were signs that Hawkshead were turning the corner recently and started to diversify a bit, after years of just concentrating on volume, but no more. I believe that the recent closure of Hawkshead and treatment of staff echos that previous time (couldn't give a flying foook about employees). Not many round here will give Hawkshead time of day now Keeping the theme of the thread going....Kendal is a great place for a few beers after the wilderness years of little choice. If anyone needs anymore info, drop me a line

Joss Naylor - a legend, a trailblazer, a lovely human, being a Cumbrian, I can't say more than that