Chris_OGrady

Tried the new pub in Seagrave last night- it was nice. Has the same feel as the White Hart and Castle. They had 3 cask on- Blue Fox, Pedigree and a guest (Full Circle Brewery). Blue Fox was in immaculate condition. Nothing interesting on keg though.

I did the Bricklayers a couple of weeks ago- it's very good. Also walked past the Eight Bells which looked good. Both pubs had Augustiner on tap and plenty of cask options.

Started playing golf properly this summer (dabbled a few years ago and a played a bit when I was 13, but nothing sustained). I played 18 yesterday for the only the 5th time ever (usually do 9). I played pretty well for 14 holes and then went to complete shit on the last 4 holes (similar to last few times I've played 18). Someone said to me "you should have used a trolley, it's proven to give you a 2-4 shots over 18". Then I've also had someone tell me that you should put without a glove, another person saying you always need to clean your clubheads and ball etc. TBH I naturally dismiss a lot of these things as I think there's a lot of pretentiousness/bollocks in golf, but which of these things actually matter and make a difference from people's experiences? What other stuff is worth taking into account?

It's obv a massive shame that those big international breweries have ****ed our beer and pub landscape, but i think cask should be specialist. People tend to think cask is shit because they've tried a gone off Doombar in a Stonegate pub. I don't really get the Bass hype- it's a decent pint, but it can't be trusted as its in the wrong hands and there's surely much better bitters made by local independent breweries.

It could be back on the cards now Groby has given it the seal of approval

The happy clappers have no idea about any of that stuff, they go for the balloon festival and that alone. Check it out It’s more instagram girlies than middle aged happy clappers

Yeah fair, it was just the balloon festival that i thought would be a complete happy clapper paradise!

Interesting! My partner wanted to go to Cappodocia and I've never pushed back so hard on a holiday before. I thought it looked like my hell! Agree, Istanbul is great!

I think the Tobie Norris is your main go to and then also take a look at Kings Head (more craft beer), Jolly Brewer and The Green Man.

You literally have nothing to go off on the first week so I think they'll end up booting him off

Silo season 3 was excellent. A lot of shows have a great first series and then go to shit (House of Dragon and Severance). Silo season 1 was good, 2 decent, and 3 excellent.

Swan beer festival on Friday at Quorn village hall too Been hammering a load of blue fox on cask at charnwood golf club over the last few months

Guildford Arms is great. Very impressive interior and loads of independent cask and keg

The Magnet and Crown in Stockport last week were absolutely class

Was in Liverpool on Sunday for the Everton United game with work. Was very impressed with the new stadium, especially the setting. Walked back into town past loads of good pubs which were all busy. Then did a little crawl- Ship and Mitre, Bridewell, Grapes, Roscoe Head and Dispensary- all excellent and very different. Really liked the Roscoe Head- the owner is retiring so hopefully it remains a freehouse. Think Liverpool is my favourite Uk city for pubs (the centre, suburbs aren't great). Still haven't done Sheffield properly though!

Nice! Aberdale is the same people as the Broadway so should be pretty good!

Did Pelt Trader yesterday in the city. Good little spot @grobyfox1990 . A refuge in the heart of M&B and Greene King land

Went to the new Thornbridge pub near Farringdon yesterday - The Wild Swan. It wasn't that busy which is worrying considering they probably have/are spending a fortune on it. Hopefully it was just an off day. I thought it would do well down there, but maybe the local punters just want a perfect pint of the black in Stonegate and M&B pubs.

Looking forward to Stockport away- there's some good drinking options: The Magnet, The Crown Inn, Runaway Brewery, a few decent Robinsons pubs, and then a stop off at the Sheffield Tap on the way back

Our away support has always been pretty tame. I remember having the same sort of discussions on this forum back in the last 2000s. Did seem to get a bit better 2013-2015, but was hardly groundbreaking. Fundamentally, no one has any pride in the city of Leicester (it's only going to get worse) and I think that's an important precursor to passionate support. Also most of our fans won't even live in the city and we have a more rural support compared to other clubs.

I saw Broad on a night out in Nottingham and he bought me and my mates a tray of jagerbombs. Top bloke!

I went to the Market Tavern in Atherstone last night- fantastic pub

I did have an eggy one at the Fox Cub a month or so back. Maybe it's because it doesn't get the throughput

I've read about your tactics before and thought they seemed very sound (Friday and Sat only). My only issue would be the rigidity of it (which is probably why it works). For example, I'm in Bakewell on Sunday and there's no way i'd be able to forego going to the Thornbridge taproom because it was outside my drinking days lol. I find half pints a little bit too small, 2/3rds are perfect but not everywhere does them. I think you're right and I need to do the same. It's a great research tool though and I use it to scope places out. My worst nightmare is going to a new place and ending up at some generic pub that only does macrolager, Guinness, and Doombar and therefore I'm wasting a good chunk of my weekly allowance I think the non alcoholic beers are great. They definitely scratch the itch if you want a beer midweek at home. The 0.5% ones are much better than the 0% ones. I recently bought a load of Mash Gang Chug IPA off their website- it's the closest thing to a NEIPA i've had. I also like Charnwood Brewery Masquerade and Erdinger 0.5%. The non alcoholic selection is usually just the crap macro lagers when you go out, but I find the Guinness zero to be decent.

I've started counting my alcohol units on an app and I average about 25-30 units a week. If i didn't do this, I suspect I'd be at 30-40. There's obv some weeks that are way higher (eg stag dos/holidays) and lower when i try and have a week or two off. I started counting because i read an article about how consuming 35 units or more is really bad for your brain. When i looked up how much I drank, I realised I wasn't far off. I also have friends who drink far more than me so I'd always assumed I was fine. I'd like to get my average down a bit further but i do find it hard. My issue is that beer and pubs are one of my main hobbies. I don't really drink anything apart from beer, and could happily leave alcohol if I was somewhere where the drink selection didn't interest me. When i go out, i exclusively go to places with a good beer selection and like to drink 3-4 pints so I can try a few different ones. I find if I can avoid drinking in the week I can get my units down as it's so ingrained in me to have a drink at the weekend.