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BRAPA in ..... HERE COMES A STOKE SAVER (Part 1 of 2)
All aboard the 8:15 to Manchester (loved that show) and at this early stage of the day, I felt like everything was coming up roses. A quick glance up at the York departures board showed me the carnage...
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BRAPA in ..... HERE COMES A STOKE SAVER (PART 2/2 - BURSLEM TO HANLEY)
With the Port Vale and Hartlepool fans now presumably safely locked inside Vale Park for two hours, the coast was clear to tick off my two required Burslem pubs, having enjoyed the delights of the...
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BRAPA in ..... TRULY, MADLY, CONONLEY (Thirsty Thursday by the Seat of Your...
Sometimes, post-BRAP, you just have to lay back on your pillow the morning after, take a long drag at your imaginary cigarette because you don't smoke, and reflect on one of the most exquisitely...
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BRAPA in .... LONDON CAULIN' (NOT to faraway towns)
When Daddy BRAPA revealed that more engineering works on that York-London line meant we wouldn't arrive in Kings Cross until 11:30am, I decided remaining in London for a days ticking made most sense....
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BRAPA in ..... WUTHERING HEIGHTS & SMOTHERING NIGHTS (From Oxenhope to Leeds)
When Kate Bush wrote her best selling novel Wuthering Heights back in 1978 about these three sisters called Bronte who lived on the hills above Keighley with their no-good vampiric pub ticking brother...
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BRAPA is ....... ONE SANDRIDGE SHORT OF A TICK-NIC - PART 1 OF 2
Finally! A York to London Saturday with no Lincolnshire diversions. Two hours it took me to get down, I'd forgotten it could be this good. In St Albans for 09:40am. My only problem now was the long...
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BRAPA in ..... CLOSE TO YOU : CHRISTMAS AT THE CARPENTERS (FROM HARPENDEN TO...
It had been a difficult start to the day, as you poor souls who suffered through part one will know.But with two pubs down, and me now in Harpenden, provider of two required pub ticks and with...
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BRAPA is ...... ON MI' TOD TIL BRIGHOUSE : COMPLETING WEST YORKSHIRE
Thursday 16th December would be the final Thirsty Thursday â„¢ of 2021, and wouldn't it be a morale booster to complete my first county of the 2022 Good Beer Guide before the year was out? I turned to...
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BRAPA in ...... SET YOUR FAZELEYS TO STUN (TAMWORTH TALES : PART 1 OF 2)
All aboard the Polesworth Express for the annual BRAPA Christmas Special, and with Daddy BRAPA and Colin the Cauliflower in tow, we'd arrived in Birmingham/Tamworth so deliciously early, we really...
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BRAPPY NEW YEAR! A PUB TICKERS REVIEW OF 2021
BRAPPY New Year all! 2022, wow can you believe it? Well I can't, especially as it is 19:41 on New Year's Eve when I write this intro, a can of 'Shifting Tides' by Burnt Mill to my right, some cherry...
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BRAPA .... ANNUAL STRATEGY MEETING : THE TEN COUNTIES 'IN FOCUS' FOR 2022
The BRAPA Board of Directors gathered on Sunday evening for the Annual Strategy Meeting (ASM), to discuss which counties I'll be focussing on mostly during the coming twelve months. The bouncers...
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BRAPA in ..... TAMWORTH TWOS, BRUMMIE BLUES (PART 2/2)
If you remember part 1 (which I wrote sometime towards the end of 2021 which was like, SO last year), you'd know that the first three pubs I'd visited on that fateful pre-Christmas Saturday were...
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BRAPA in ...... ALES IN T'DALES : FINISHING 2021 IN STYLE
Between 2014-17, I worked hard at getting the county of North Yorkshire fully greened up. A fine achievement, though the chauffeuring of Daddy BRAPA was key. I need a Devon Daddy BRAPA when I start...
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BRAPA in ..... DON'T CLEVE ME THIS WAY, IT IS BLACKPOOL ON NEW YEAR'S DAY
Tried to send this 9pm at night, but Twitter had weirdly suspended me for 12 hrs for saying nice things about Hartlepool, hence the unusual 9am BRAPA blog release time!Welcome to the future! 2022 was...
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BRAPA in ..... HERE WI'GAN AGAIN : BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY - THE FINAL SOLUTION
Has there ever been a harder day in recent history to ascertain which pubs are open and ready for their once in a lifetime BRAPA visit than Monday 3rd January 2022? SIX attempts it took me to come up...
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BRAPA in ..... PHOENIX FRIGHTS : COMPLETING SOUTH YORKSHIRE (Thirsty...
The Thirsty Thursday bugle sounded for the first time in 2022, at 2pm sharpish outside a wet and windy Sheffield station, as I looked for the three ticks needed to fully green up South Yorkshire.I was...
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BRAPA in ..... IF IT AIN'T STOKE, DON'T FIX IT (PART 1/2)
A rare Saturday outing for KLOCrossing the Pennines last Saturday morning, somewhere 'twixt Marsden and Greenfield, I looked out of the train window where the sleet was coming down sideways. I...
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BRAPA in ..... PARTNERS IN KRYME IN NEWCASTLE UNDER LYME (Turtley Brilliant...
Now living in the sewers beneath Stoke town centreToday was going pretty well after a slow start. Wellers and the Boat & Horses had earned their BRAPA gold stars, and it was time for pub #3.Time...
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BRAPA in ..... THE MAGIC AYTON BALL (Thirsty Thursdays Pt 2/52)
Ain't Middlesbrough great? I was here yet again in my ancestral home last Thursday, again using it as a handy transport interchange in my quest to complete North Yorkshire ticking for the first time...
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BRAPA in ..... MOULIN RUGELEY / CANNOCK KNOCK JOKES (More Laughs from Staffs...
I might be neglecting my southern counties of Herts and Hants in these early weeks of 2022, but on the plus side, North Yorkshire and Staffordshire are receiving much attention from the Green Stabilo....
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