British Beer Breaks

01/11/2023

He quaffs as he scoffs - Phil why good food deserves a good beer

By Phil Mellows Among my most embarrassing moments – I have many to choose from – was the tasting at the E & J Gallo winery in California when a prominent member of the Gallo family asked me what I thought about their wine. My mind was a complete blank. I had nothing to say. The awkward silence ...

22/08/2023

Don't ignore what's in front of your eyes as you go about Britain, says Kate, it could enrich your travels. Visit Chester and Cheshire Historic England Dunham Massey Brewing Company The Lymm Brewing CompanyCostello's Bar - Time Square The Hop Emporium Anchor & Hops The Brewery Tap, Lymm

By Kate Simon Unearthing quirky local stories is the ultimate goal of the guidebook writer. When I co-wrote Slow Travel Cheshire for Bradt Guides with Suzanne King, my fellow author uncovered a gem, the Travellers’ Rest. I’m not talking about a pub, these are the stone blocks that started appear...

04/07/2023

The US graphic novelist on having her comic strip D***s to Watch Out For, turned into an audio series, growing up in a funeral home, and her famous women-in-film test

12/05/2023

In our new Between the Pubs post, Kate hunts down the best things to do in historic Chester - when you're not enjoying the city's Craft Beer Festival next weekend. Phil sticks to the beer
Visit Chester and Cheshire Chester BID Grosvenor Museum and Stretton Watermill Tours Around Chester Women of Chester - Guided Walk Beer Heroes Chester Lowe & Sons New Chester Market English Heritage Chester Mystery Plays StoryhouseLive Chester Visual Arts Spitting Feathers That Beer Place The Cavern of the Curious Gnome

By Kate Simon Hands up, I have a vested interest in Chester – it’s part of my day job to promote this city. Nice work for sure; if ever I were to return to the North to live, this is where I would move to. Set on the border of England and Wales, Chester is a beauty, layered with history from Rom...

14/04/2023

Phil's gone for a Burton - in a good way. It's a town that deserves to be promoted as the capital of British beer, he says

By Phil Mellows The moment you step out of Burton-upon-Trent railway station, you know you’re in a brewing town. Punctuating the skyline, those nests of tall steel towers gleaming in the sunlight are full of beer, and they belong to global giant Molson Coors. Marston’s Brewery, now merged with C...

06/04/2023

Pubs are second only to hotels as our preferred choice of accommodation. They're constantly upping their game, according to a new report, so why not make one your first choice, says Kate

By Kate Simon I went to an interesting seminar last week, Profitable Beds, hosted by Stay In A Pub, a collection promoting quality inns with rooms, and supported by Visit Britain, the British tourist authority. The audience of publicans and other organisations gathered to hear the findings of the

27/01/2023

Kate on the highs - and lows - of greenways. And where to get a good beer nearby National Trust Visit Chester and Cheshire Enjoy Staffs I love Cornwall Padstow Brewing Company East Sussex County Council The Anchor Inn Beartown Brewery

By Kate Simon I do like a repurposed railway line. Being a bit of a townie, it’s my kind of country walk with the dog – away from any possible conflict with cows and no need to wrestle with an OS map. I’ll leave the yomping across fields to my co-writer Phil, a seasoned hiker.

12/12/2022

Kate takes her eye off the ball to look at footie-based breaks, while Phil provides the pitch-side beer notes

By Kate Simon It was good to be back at Old Trafford last weekend to see Manchester United s***k Aston Villa 5-0 in the Women’s Super League. The game attracted a record crowd of 30,196, a sure sign that the women’s game is picking up fans, many of whom, I’m delighted to report, were young and...

01/12/2022

No and low-alcohol beers are suddenly sexy. Phil Mellows explains how it's down to ingenious brewing techniques and, of course, good looks

By Phil Mellows Mindful drinking organisation Club Soda’s new shop in London’s Drury Lane is a sign of a growing confidence in low and no-alcohol drinks, not least in beers. For a few years, it’s been clear that the current AF wave is not going to follow previous attempts to launch the categor...

29/11/2022

Phil recently joined the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the first IPA Allsopp's in Burton upon Trent. Read all about it

By Phil Mellows Walk into a bar, order an IPA, and what will you get? It’s hard to say. During the past 200 years, the style has evolved into a great, sprawling family of beers, and the special event staged by the British Guild of Beer Writers last week to mark the bicentenary was, above all, a ce...

29/11/2022

Our Kate popped into the new Club Soda shop in Covent Garden today. Bought a couple of bottles of 0% wine and a 0.5% Neipa The Cosmic Turtle by Lowtide Brewing Co. Great to meet the staff - good luck with the new shop

09/11/2022

'Green travels on home turf' - our Kate reviews the new book from greentraveller Richard Hammond. While Phil recommends some eco-friendly beers

The Green Traveller (Richard Hammond, Pavilion, £18.99) By Kate Simon Will lifestyle choices help win the battle against global warming? The current Cop27 talks make clear the massive global government action necessary to counter the climate crisis – yet the apparent lack of political will to car...

12/10/2022

'Sweet dreams are made of this' - when you come to the end of a hard day's beer tourism you need a good night's sleep, and that's "all about the bed" according to B&B judge Kate in our latest Substack post

By Kate Simon What makes for a good hotel room? It’s all about the bed. You can keep your Nespresso machines and Roberts radios, if the bed is uncomfortable the spell is broken. First there’s the quality of the mattress. That’s a tricky call because everyone has their different requirements bu...

03/10/2022

Kate offers some pound-stretching tips on taking a break this autumn Visit Leicester National Trust​ Oddfellows Chester Bristol Lido and Spa​ Fogo's Free Tours - Cardiff & Swansea Manchester Libraries National Gallery

By Kate Simon Autumn has truly arrived. The leaves are naturally turning, without a bit of extra help from climate change, and there’s a nip in the air that’s got everyone fretting about putting on the heating during an energy crisis. The change of season also heralds the traditional moment for ...

15/09/2022

Phil goes organic Stroud Brewery

By Phil Mellows It’s Organic September, and as one of the country’s few all-organic breweries, Stroud Brewery in Gloucestershire is dedicating its bar to a rolling selection of 26 beers from five other organic brewers. Until the end of the month, the

29/08/2022

Watching the first episode of new The Beer Tourist Youtube series reminds our Phil just how dynamic British beer has become.

By Phil Mellows When I started writing professionally about beer and pubs, back in the mid-1980s, it seemed as though nothing was going to change. After less than a year and a half as a drinks writer on the pub trade’s Morning Advertiser, then a daily, I handed in my resignation. It was clear that...

19/08/2022

And Fido came too - the irresistible rise of dog-friendly holidays in the UK PetsPyjamas Snaptrip Canine Cottages Dog Friendly Retreats English Heritage National Trust Love GREAT Britain

By Kate Simon A friend protests on Facebook about the inability to travel anywhere in Britain these days without encountering a dog. He rages about hygiene issues and the negative effects of dogs on the environment, wildlife and other people, especially asthmatics and those not so keen on our four-l...

04/08/2022

Kate visits to find out what to see and do between the pubs on on the just launched by Nottingham BID

By Kate Simon Nottingham has just launched seven Ale Trails, all named for a friend or foe of the city’s famous outlaw, Robin Hood. The month-long celebration runs until 29 August, with pin badges and T-shirts for those who complete the trails – there are even bandanas for canine companions. But...

28/07/2022

Phil gets off his bar stool for the Great British Beer Festival CAMRA - the Campaign for Real Ale

By Phil Mellows Please keep this to yourselves, but I don’t really like beer festivals. To put it plainly, I’d rather be down the pub, sitting in a quiet corner with my pint. But I make an exception when it comes to the Campaign for Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival

22/07/2022

Kate offers thoughts and tips on the art of packing just in time for the summer holidays...

By Kate Simon School’s out and Britain’s busiest summer holiday exodus for several years is forecast to hit the nation’s roads today. More than 4 million extra leisure drivers will go bumper to bumper before the sun goes down. Travel experts recommend swerving the M4, M5 and the dreaded tailba...

15/07/2022

Kate says you can't beat a bit of industrial heritage for a great day out, with a good beer along the way Middleport Pottery English Heritage Visit Stoke Coldharbour Mill John Boyd Textiles Museum of Making Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Friends of the Flaxmill Maltings

By Kate Simon A blue plaque was unveiled this month at the site of the building where the Match Girls went on strike in 1888 and sparked an explosion in trade unionism. The commemoration has been a long time coming and is perhaps a sign of our current reality check about British history and the role...

06/07/2022

Phil visits new brewery Werkstatt Bier and meets the latest brewers bringing continental drinkability to the UK scene

By Phil Mellows It was during a lovely stay in the Cotswolds a few weeks back (thank you, Brakspear) that I noticed I was within a country stroll of a brewery I’d never heard of. The name alone piqued my curiosity, so off I went. Google Maps took me across some fields to the village of Andoversfor...

24/06/2022

Motorway diversions you'll embrace VisitEngland NewcastleGateshead National Trust Worcester Cathedral Yorkshire Sculpture Park Trentham Monkey Forest Canal & River Trust

By Kate Simon One of my favourite assignments for the Independent on Sunday was to shadow a motorway services inspector back in 2012. Howard Loxley, one of a team of six inspectors roaming the nation’s service areas at the time for a scheme run by VisitEngland, had a detailed set of tick boxes tha...

10/06/2022

Our Kate says forget the airport, check out these campsites with a difference instead YHA Eden Project Pitchup.com Coolstays Canopy and Stars

By Kate Simon There can be few more persuasive reasons to holiday on these shores this year than the sight of the current chaos at Britain’s airports. Yet staycations have been on the increase for some time and, despite the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions on international travel, the trend doe...

08/06/2022

Our Phil on a 1940s revival UnBarred Brewery

By Phil Mellows In a tidy piece of beer and music matching, a swing band played at the launch last month of Unbarred Brewery’s 1940s-style IPA, Morale. It was a gentle, lilting accompaniment to a relatively gentle beer for Brighton-based Unbarred, which tends to specialise in boldly flavoured, edg...

03/06/2022

Kate visits the new First Light Pavilion Jodrell Bank Visit Chester and Cheshire

By Kate Simon There’s a major celebration taking place in Britain this weekend. That’s right, the opening of the new First Light Pavilion at Jodrell Bank. The doors to the subterranean dome will finally open to the public on Saturday, 4 June. And visitors stepping inside will discover how this d...

31/05/2022

Phil gives the low-down on low-alcohol beer Big Drop Brewing Co. Drop Bear Beer Co. Club Soda

By Phil Mellows Brewing is both an art and a science. It’s not simply a matter of creating flavoursome recipes for beer. To make it work, the brewer must master some hard science to harness natural processes. While astronomers turn their telescopes to the skies, brewers are focused on the microbio...

28/05/2022

Going to Norwich City of Ale? Check out a few ideas from us Between The Pubs VisitNorwich Norwich City Of Ale

We’re in Norwich this week for the City of Ale festival, which is extending the party from a week to a month. Plenty of time, then, to explore. So, we thought we’d offer a few suggestions that caught our eye on a recent visit, which we hope will provide interesting diversions as you go between t...

24/05/2022

Phil's heading off to Norwich City Of Ale

By Phil Mellows Delayed two years by the pandemic, the 10th Norwich City of Ale festival finally kicks off this Thursday (May 26). The first event, back in 2011, marked an early recognition that a growing number of breweries and beer styles, and a growing interest in beer, could drive drinkers to a....

20/05/2022

Guidebooks, who needs them? We do, but in different ways. Today's story from British Beer Breaks Norwich City Of Ale Bradt Guides North Norfolk District Council

By Kate Simon Last week, I was in Norwich researching a guide we’re putting together for the upcoming City of Ale festival. ‘Between The Pubs’ will launch on this blog next Thursday, the opening day of the month-long event, which this year runs from 26 May to 26 June. Complementing the festiva...