Chris_OGrady

What were the highlights?

Anyone get any recommendations for good beer shops - selling local/independent/interesting beers - in north Leicestershire? I find Bradleys in Quorn has a decent selection.

I've done a blind taste test on macro lagers and didn't do great. I also challenged my mates, who thought they would be able to smash it, and they didn't fare any better. Admittedly, after after each pint your judgement goes to shit...

I was meant to be going Tamil Crown, Old Fountain, Wenlock Arms, and the Earl of Essex next week, but railworks on the EMR line have put an end to that... For any Charnwood heads, the Navigation in Barrow has upped it's Cask game with 5 on yesterday and most of them small/local offerings too!

Agreed. I've just got back from Croatia. Dubrovnik is beautiful, but quite expensive and rammed with tourists. It tends to quieten down in the evening though so I'd recommend staying over one night. You can do it easily in one day. Deffo worth visiting though! I also did Zagreb, Plitvice, Trogir, Split and Hvar. It's a beautiful country and I thoroughly enjoyed my trip. All the costal towns (Trogir, Split, Hvar and Dubrovnik) are very pretty, but fairly similar. My favourite place was Zagreb- reminded me of Prague in terms of its architecture. It was significantly cheaper and less touristy than everywhere else too. Most of the coastal towns seemed to be rammed with big tourist groups (especially Americans). I've had similar experiences in Italy too. Have Americans always flocked to European towns en masse, or is this a new phenomenon? I suppose America is growing richer than Europe by the year so they must have significant purchasing power over here.

Castel San Pietro for sunset. Cappa Cafe for a pint (good outside area). Bell tower is worth going up too. It’s a beautiful city!

It’s just part of the sanitisation of football (especially at the top level). We can’t possibly interact with these £100k per week superstars who have literally nothing in common with us anymore and we must bow down to them. There were more pitch invasions in 70/80/90s before social media even existed. The top clubs used to pitch invade (Man Utd/Liverpool) but now they are soulless, corporate entities devoid of young people. I’m too old for it now personally, but it’s always good to witness. Looks like i’l be bringing along my clapper in future to tap along to Uptown Funk with the majority of this thread!

Okay my first post was very facetious. I always just enjoy seeing footage (old and new) of people celebrating and spilling onto the pitch. Obv it’s much better when there’s an actual reason to pitch invade (promotion, avoiding relegation, winning something). It’s just part of the joy/emotion/atmosphere of football. The fact we don’t do it anymore, and the way our club acts towards it, just kind of reinforces the idea that we are corporate customers rather than actual fans. We have our celebrations dictated to us by the club, through their tinpot music and annoying pitch displays, rather than doing it ourselves. I get your points, and there are a lot of clubs that do pointless pitch invasions with annoying lads running around filming themselves, but in the right circumstances pitch invasions are great. I just find that people who are against them are just anti atmosphere in general (i’l try not to dip back into stereotypes 😂).

The only teams that don’t pitch invade are tourist clubs (Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal etc) or family clubs like ourselves. Anyone who is against pitch invasions is probably also pro VAR.

https://www.alltrails.com/en-gb/explore/trail/england/derbyshire/bamford-edge-and-stanage-edge-circular This one I did recently was great. Views over Ladybower Reservoir were stunning. There was lots of roadside parking around the start point too.

Off to Croatia on Saturday for 10 days. Got a day in Zagreb, day at Plitvice Lakes, few days in Split, few days in Hvar, and then a day in Dubrovnik. I've pretty much got my itinerary sorted, but if anyone has any recommendations for bars/restaurants/places to see etc that would be great!

Just having one in the Bankers Cat Leeds- great gaf!

Besiktas and Kadikoy for you then!

I would say you ideally want 4 full days for Istanbul (I only had 3). Here's a breakdown of some of the areas from my experience: Old Town: - Do a free walking tour of the old town. This will give you a good introduction to the history and sites, and you'll get some good recommendations along the way from a local. This is the one we did which was really good https://www.freetour.com/istanbul/free-tour-in-istanbul - Hagia Sofia is definitely worth paying the £25 to go inside, but you need to go really early or just before closing time. - You can walk into the Blue Mosque pretty easily and have a look around. Apparently Suleymaniye Mosque is just as impressive and less busy. That's in the old town too - Don't buy anything from Grand Bazaar cus it's touristy and not cheap. Worth a look though - Veer off west from the grand bazaar and you've got Roman viaducts and beautiful eastern orthodox churches which are now mosques - Fener/Balat is the old Jewish area and is now a hip area with colourful houses/restaurants etc. Didn't get to go here. Galata/Karakoy - It's nice around Galata Tower and down in Karakoy, but it's a bit touristy and the prices are Western Europe rather than Turkey (same can be said with most of the old town too). Worth a look though for sure, but don't eat/drink round here. Besiktas: - One of my favourite areas- buzzing nightlife with lots of bars/restaurants where locals hang out. Turkish prices too. Got told this place does the best Kebab in Istanbul- Karadeniz Döner Asım Usta (didn't get to try it). Also went to a quality rooftop bar here called Vogue. Üsküdar: - Over on the Asian side and dead easy on the ferry. Really nice coastal walk which gives you great views of the European side. A bit more peaceful here too Kadikoy: - Similar to Besiktas but on the Asian side. Really easy to access via ferry and buzzing restaurant/bar scene with Turkish rather than European prices. You can walk a bit further down to Moda which is nice and peaceful Arnavutköy/Bebek: - Didn't get to go here but apparently its' where the Turkish celebs and wealthy live. Meant to be worth a visit Other points: - Stick to Efes- it was about £3.50-£4.00 a pint in Turkish areas. I went to a craft beer place in Besiktas and I'm not joking they were charging about £15 for a Punk IPA - Taksim Square is wank - don't bother - Public transport is surprisingly good. Check out the Istanbul Kart on google/youtube. The ferries are dead easy to zip over to the Asian side and back. Also the tram and underground is good. Easy to navigate around with google maps. - Sabiha Gökçen Airport is ****ing chaos . Hopefully you're going to one of the other ones It's a fascinating city, but quite chaotic! The prices vary massively from area to area.

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/finance/buxton-brewery-looking-at-all-options-to-ward-off-administration-threat/691024.article Very sad news

I went in March - will send over some recommendations later

No chance haha! I'll try and do a few of the city centre pubs though

This sounds right up my street! I'm doing the Leeds one in a few weeks. The Buxton Brewery taproom by the Crescent is great. Thornbridge taproom nearby in Bakewell too

Leeds in League 1, Forest 3-0 at home the following season, Man Utd 5-3, Everton in title winning season. Wasn't there for Seville.

I was in the middle of the west stand and what's interesting is that the middle of the Kop and SK4 are some of the least energic parts of the ground, probably along with the middle of the east stand. For example, when the whole stadium was going you'd have the family stand and other parts of the stadium on their feet joining in. The rest of the kop likes to stay seated and clap along a bit. In an ideal world you'd completely re-allocate the Kop. A bit like Derby did years ago and Boro have done (never going to happen though).

What's the beer choice in there out of interest?

A shedload of Guinness over the weekend in Dublin. We did a few of the famous/recommended pubs- Mulligans, Bowe's, Doheny & Nesbit, Bleeding Horse. None of them blew me away but they were all enjoyable. Unfortunately the beer selection is pretty limited in Dublin, with near identical selections everywhere you go and hardly any craft beer/independent brewery offerings. I just mainly stuck to the Guinness which went down very nicely. As expected, the Temple Bar area was very gimmicky and touristy. However, like most places, once you push out from the city centre and away from the touristy areas it gets much better. Drury Street was excellent- everybody out drinking on the street in the sun (none of the plastic cup bollocks). Baggot Street lower and Camden Street were great for boozing and general vibe. We ended up spending the night out at Devitts which was absolutely bouncing. The area around the university is incredibly nice, a bit like the Georgian Quarter in Liverpool but bigger and better. Overall I'd say it exceeded my expectations and I'd definitely go back. Just a great general vibe and the people were sound as ****.

They have it on at the Real Ale Classroom

Toilet situation there is a bit of a shame

I don't mind Guinness but I would only order it if I fancied a more Cask type of pint in a place that didn't do Cask. It is indeed very, very popular atm. Their marketing team has nailed it. You even see girls drinking it! Talking of Guinness I'm in Dublin this weekend. Any recommendations for pubs?