Category: UK

  • The Bluecoat in Rotherham

    The Bluecoat in Rotherham

    The Bluecoat

    Address: 6 The Crofts, Rotherham

    Local Council: Rotherham


    I’ve now visited this pub.

    For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

    I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..


    This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

  • Goat & Tricycle in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

    Goat & Tricycle in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole

    Goat & Tricycle

    Address: 27-29 West Hill Road, Bournemouth

    Local Council: Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole


    I’ve now visited this pub and written about it.

    For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

    I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..


    This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting.

  • 2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Puppets in Hull, the Harbour and German Doner Kebab)

    2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Puppets in Hull, the Harbour and German Doner Kebab)

    I’m not entirely sure what was happening with this, but I understand it was some sort of giant puppet show. Unfortunately, we missed out on watching this spectacular as were in the pub, but that happens a lot to me and I’ve learned to live with that.

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    The old harbour area. And as another random fun fact I only found out recently, Harborough is an old English word for harbour. Although oddly, the town of Market Harborough has a different origin, albeit also Saxon. I’ve digressed away from Hull already, but I think this is a quite beautiful frontage and The Deep is in the background which is like a decadent sea-life centre. I’ve mentioned before on numerous occasions how I think that Hull is under-rated, plenty of money has been pumped in and it’s by no means some rural backwater.

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    The statue of William de la Pole, who I’ve written about before. We had gone here as until recently Liam appeared on the side of some hoardings as the H&S representative of his company. This was very exciting, although he had been a bit vandalised last time I visited, by “pesky kids” he thought. Alas though, this time the construction work has all been completed and he’s gone. I’d say that the area has definitely lost out from that change. I’m not sure Liam was concerned either way, although he rarely worries about very much.

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    Some impressive mural painting, showing that street art can be impressive and add to an area.

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    Getting a little snack en route to the Hop & Vine, I thought I’d try the Hull outlet of German Doner Kebab, as I liked what they did in Huddersfield. There were handy ordering screens which was useful in not needing to engage with staff and also browsing the menu to get a full understanding of the options. It’s all on-trend but wasn’t busy when we went in the early evening, but I imagine there’s something of a rush as the pubs close.

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    Although having taken careful account of all the menu options, I ordered the same as I did last time, the mixed chicken and beef doner box with fries. All was well again, the meat was rich in flavour, the salad was suitably salady and the dips were as expected. It was more expensive than I remembered it from Huddersfield the previous year, but that’s hardly surprising as nearly everything has gone up in price. In the typical way of chains, it tasted the same as I had experienced before, so all was well.

    Most importantly, it was then time to take Liam to what is my favourite pub, the Hop & Vine.

  • 2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Over the Humber and Into Brewdog Hull)

    2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Over the Humber and Into Brewdog Hull)

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    I like the Humber Bridge. Not in a fanboy kind of sense as I’m not that much of a fan of any road, but it is still exciting as it’s a gateway to another place. Obviously it’s not the Severn Bridge leading to a different country, although I suppose in reality Hull is effectively in Yorkshire and so that’s nearly the same thing.

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    Ryan Taylor climbed this a few years ago, I think it’s fair to say he’s somewhat braver than I am. At a push, I might be able to sit on the concrete bit on the left for a brief while. Not in terms of an environmental protest I’d better add there.

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    Very scenic. I quite like the idea of walking across this bridge, which I understand is allowed, although I have no idea why I’d be needing to be at either end of it.

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    There’s still social interaction required here at the Humber Bridge tolls. Not from me, that was Liam’s problem, but there’s a new system being rolled out in the future which might automate matters more.

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    Being an automobile expert I mentioned to Liam just how many white cars there were in Hull. Always fascinated by car related facts he spent some time counting them and I think that we agreed that my observation was accurate. The Boddingtons we each had were our welcome drinks at the Ibis Hull just in case anyone was confused why I had gone to Hull to drink that.

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    Back to one of my favourite shopping centres, Princes Quay, because it’s built on stilts. I’m easily pleased.

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    Then a quick visit to Brewdog, the first time that I’ve been to this one so that’s another ticked off my list.

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    I had my new Brewdog Plus account but then a team member said that they were having problems with it and they might not be accepting it all in the future. A manager came over who was personable and engaging, apologising for the issues and she decided to give me my drinks for free. I hadn’t asked for that, but I was very pleased with her suggestion and I agreed with it. I approve of this bar being card only as well, as it’s becoming more common, but there are a few angry reviewers who aren’t pleased at their decision.

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    It’s a large venue and I liked the ambience of the whole arrangement. I’ve never played Shuffleboard, despite being in many Brewdogs and other pubs where they have it, I’ll have to fix that at some point. I expect it’ll just annoy me, but best to be sure. The team members in the venue were friendly and engaging, it all seemed competently run.

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    I was delighted to see that there was a Funky Fluid beer, they’re from Warsaw and are one of my favourite breweries. This is their Splash Red, a delightful pomegranate and blackcurrant double fruited gose. I also went for Just Desserts brewed by Brewdog themselves, a very credible pastry stout.

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    The manager explained that the bar is one of a small franchise of four which are based around the Red’s BBQ restaurant theme, which is the food option here. They’ve got an on-site smoker (cooking apparatus I mean, not a troublesome chef) so they can smoke their own meats, it all sounds quite delicious and I’m sure I’ll eat here at some point in the future. The venue feels all suitably on-trend and that meant it was attracting a younger audience, although firmly of legal drinking age I’d better confirm there. Brewdog aren’t the cheapest of venues, but this seems to be a good iteration of its rollout programme.

    I certainly left happy though, I had received two drinks for free, so I considered that to be a very positive visit. Liam and I had to leave at this point as I wanted to see if the health and safety version of him was still on the docks area.

  • 2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Raymond Mays to a Quick Stop in Brigg)

    2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Raymond Mays to a Quick Stop in Brigg)

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    Having ticked off the JD Wetherspoon in Bourne, we (well, I more accurately) thought that we might as well pop into their venue in Brigg, the White Horse. Opened by the chain in 2015, it has some history, as is noted on the sign on the pub:

    “Noted as ‘a building of local interest’, this was originally a farmhouse, dating from the mid 18th century, with stables and gardens to the rear. The farmhouse and outbuildings were later bought by the Britannia brewery, in Wrawby Street, and converted into licensed premises. The brewery closed in 1924, but the Britannia public house has survived”.

    It’s a well reviewed pub, which unfortunately means there aren’t many entertaining reviews. Although there’s this one:

    “We were then met by a member of staff, who asked my daughter for ID as it was nearly 9pm and under 18s need to go. My daughter is a few months off 18. Surely a bit of discretion should be used in this situation. She was extremely rude and unprofessional to us when I said she wasn’t drinking She told us we had 5 mins to drink up and leave and we couldn’t eat. My point is I get the children bit about being out st 9 pm, but surely use a bit of common sense with a nearly 18 year old sat with 5 other adults”.

    I love the idea of discretion in licensing law. I’m not sure their license says “all under 18 year olds must leave the venue by 9pm, unless they’re sort of nearly 18”.

    Although I also liked:

    “Shocking customer service. My wife just rang to book a table for tomorrow tea as we are taking our little girl to see Santa in Brigg and the guy on the phone point blank refused. I appreciate there is only 3 of us but we just wanted to make sure”.

    I can imagine how surprised and delighted staff at Wetherspoons would be if they had to manage table reservations as well as everything else. Seems very harsh to give a 1/5 review because they refused to take a table booking, but there we go…..

    “Glasses are absolutely disgusting and the carling is atrocious”

    I agree about the Carling, but I think it’s meant to taste like that.

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    I’m always pleased to see power available at tables. The beer is Tamar from Summerskills Brewery from Plymouth seemed to be a reliable session ale.

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    Another view of the pub, all rather well presented and looked after.

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    The High Street in Brigg. This town in North Lincolnshire has a long history, with evidence of human settlement in the area dating back to the Bronze Age as it was a crossing point for the River Ancholme. Negatively impacted financially by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the town was also the site of a battle during the Civil War when the Parliamentarians relieved it from the Royalist en route to Hull. Quite oddly, the town has a railway station which is served solely by trains on Saturdays, which doesn’t seem entirely ideal, but British Railways scrapped the weekday services in 1993.

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    The Buttercross Bell was, well, a bell that was located on the Buttercross building, but at some stage in the early twentieth century it was taken down. It was put on its little plinth in front of the still standing building by the Rotary Club a few years ago. Back in the day when it was used, the bell sounding marked the beginning of trading in the market place. It’s a pleasant area this now it has been pedestrianised.

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    After a little perambulation that was enough of Brigg as we had to cross the Humber to get to Hull before the pubs shut and also allow time for Liam to find a car charging facility. We only just made this one, the transport Gods were on our side and I’m not entirely sure what we would have done if the charging machines here weren’t working. Although Liam takes charge of these sort of mechanical and engineering issues (I have a rule that any problem that can be dealt with by duct tape or superglue is something that I can manage, but anything else needs an engineer to intervene in the arrangements), I would have likely had a little sleep in the car whilst he worked it all out.

  • 2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (A Road Trip from Norwich to the Raymond Mays)

    2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (A Road Trip from Norwich to the Raymond Mays)

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    Much as I am always surprised and delighted by travelling by rail, primarily surprised they’re running at the moment, there’s something exciting about a road trip. Back in early September 2022, my friend Liam and I decided to go to Hull for the weekend and so the next few posts will all be about that trip. What a treat for my two readers. And yes, it was ages ago, but I took rather too long writing about the US. But back to the trip, our first stop was about three minutes into the adventure to get a Greggs to sustain us for the journey. That was my idea.

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    Some al fresco dining. I can be very continental at times.

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    Our next port of call was Bourne, a town that I don’t think I’ve visited before. Founded in Roman times, during the Middle Ages Bourne was a centre of the wool trade and the town prospered as a result. In the 12th century, an Augustinian priory was established in Bourne and the town might have been where Hereward the Wake was born in around 1035. Its economy was boosted with the arrival of the railways in the nineteenth century, but they were withdrawn in the late 1950s and now the nearest railway station is twenty miles away in Grantham. Which brings me onto why we were here which is that a new JD Wetherspoon pub opened here in the spring of 2022 and I can’t easily get to it by public transport.

    The pub is named the Raymonds Mays and above is the memorial plaque to him. Raymond Mays was an English racing driver and engineer who was active in motorsport in the mid-20th century. He is best known for his association with the ERA (English Racing Automobiles) racing team, which he co-founded and for which he also drove. Mays was a talented driver, who competed in several major races and events, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. He also played a significant role in the development of the ERA racing cars, working on the design and engineering of the vehicles.

    In addition to his racing career, Mays was also a successful businessman, and he was involved in the development of several innovative technologies, including the high-performance engines that powered the ERA racing cars. He is remembered as one of the pioneers of British motorsport and is widely regarded as one of the most talented and innovative drivers and engineers of his generation. And, yes, it was my idea to come to this pub.

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    Here we are standing opposite the pub with Liam surveying the scene. This was two separate shops until around 2012 when they closed, with the buildings being left boarded up for several years until JD Wetherspoon came along. Provincial towns once on the route of major roads are I think fascinating, so much history with the old coaching inns and various hostelries.

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    The interior is open plan and it’s quite cavernous, but it felt ordered and comfortable. It’s also got a long beer garden at the rear with various car related items to add some character. I had a quick half of Bear Island from Newby Wyke Brewery, a well kept hoppy blonde ale, keenly priced as ever.

    Being quite dull, I’ve established that it’s possible to get a measure of a JD Wetherspoon pub’s operation by looking at their Google Reviews scores. They nearly all fall within the range of 3.8 to 4.1 out of 5, so any one of their venues outside of that range is likely either doing very badly or very well. I should publish a treatise on this fascinating piece of research and observation of mine. This one is sitting at 4.0 out of 5, so things seem to be going well. One reviewer summed up the pub’s beer policy:

    “They serve larger in ale glasses, ale in larger glasses and they pour the ales flat with no head other than that it’s ok”

    I’m sure the management will consider this carefully….. There’s nothing else memorable that I can much mention about the pub, but it seemed relatively busy and it’s another one ticked off my list. We then had to make some progress as I had decided that we had time to pop to Brigg next.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 32 (The Final Part of the Adventure)

    2022 US Trip – Day 32 (The Final Part of the Adventure)

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    I use the word ‘adventure’ in the title of this post, but I accept that I hardly went on a solo trip walking through the Amazon or something. Although on the 32nd day away, I was getting a little tired and thinking that it had been an adventure of sorts. But, I’ll tidy up my random thoughts about the trip in a final post. I had a £10 fare to get from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and was able to board first so I had a choice of seats.

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    I went for the seat on the right, pleased that Greater Anglia weren’t running the bloody Stansted Express services without tables on this journey. The power worked so that was a relief and the conductor came stomping through the train on numerous occasions always looking she was heading to an emergency at the other end. To be fair, she probably was.

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    Biscuits I had acquired from somewhere that I found in my bag along with my refilled water bottle.

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    And that was that, safely back in Norwich. I must admit that I’ve rushed through the last few days of this trip to finally get this trip written up for posterity, but I’m pleased to say that other than for one more post with general thoughts of the trip, that completes this write-up. Yay!

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 32 (British Airways Flight from Dublin to Heathrow T5)

    2022 US Trip – Day 32 (British Airways Flight from Dublin to Heathrow T5)

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    This was the last day of my little trip home and I had chance to pop into the airport lounge at Dublin. This is a different one to where I was before going to the United States, I was off in Terminal 2 at the Aer Lingus lounge then. I’ve written about this Dublin lounge before, so won’t repeat that. I was fortunate to get a seat though, it was at near capacity when I got there and didn’t really let up. It’s an odd shaped lounge and they really need a bigger facility, but it was an entirely satisfactory place to spend three hours.

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    It had just turned midday, so having a farewell to Ireland Guinness seemed sensible.

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    Mine was the 15:20 flight and one of the gate staff made an incorrect announcement of the gate number which caused some people to get up and move. I hovered between the two gates thinking that this was far from ideal. I didn’t intend to miss a flight at this stage of the trip.

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    I had worked out that the flight could be three hours late and I would still be able to get my train home to Norwich. Above that I’d miss it, but I’d either get EU261 compensation or at least a duty of care if it was weather related. I think it transpired that the flight was about eight minutes late so I hadn’t needed to pre-worry.

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    Ready to battle the rain for one final time in Ireland.

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    No airbridge in Dublin. This was the tenth and final flight of this trip, along with the twelve or so rail trips I took in the United States. It’s aircraft Airbus A320 G-TTNS and for my own interest only, I hadn’t been on this aircraft before but that’s not surprising as they only took delivery of it on 1 October 2022 and this flight was on 19 October 2022. It’s one of the newest aircraft that I’ve been on I think.

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    It’s a short flight and it was entirely unremarkable, with the crew being the usual friendly and helpful sort. I was given water and crisps, but I saved them until I was sitting at London Liverpool Street waiting for my train.

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    Boarding the underground to cross London on the Piccadilly Line, which is always much less exciting when coming back from a trip rather than getting there.

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    I was able to get a seat.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 31 (British Airways Flight from Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

    2022 US Trip – Day 31 (British Airways Flight from Heathrow T5 to Dublin)

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    I had just landed into Heathrow T5 from Newark and my two hour connection was shrunk down to 45 minutes due to some delays in disembarking. That meant I was down to only around 20 minutes in the lounge, although a slightly late departing flight to Dublin meant that I eventually had over 30 minutes. That gave me time for some charging of devices, a couple of drinks and a little snack. The lounge was busy, but I was able to perch at the end overlooking the runway, my favourite location in Galleries North as I like the higher seats.

    I understand the importance of security and the UK require passengers to go through full security screening regardless of where they have flown in from. It is though much easier from a passenger point of view with the US set-up of domestic flights where you only go through one security process. I was fortunate that there wasn’t much of a delay before getting to the lounge, I think it was all done in fifteen minutes.

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    Waiting for the 08:25 service to Dublin, there were a few seats available here, but the airport felt busy in general.

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    Boarding was efficient and I got to take a photo of the aircraft before walking down the airbridge. I forgot to get the aircraft’s registration number just to check if I had been on it before, a slightly odd check that I do when I remember.

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    It’s only a short flight, but there’s a snack and water provided. This is perfectly sufficient, it’s useful for passengers to feel hydrated if nothing else. There’s a limited amount that I feel it’s useful to add about short haul flights, as there’s little chance of much engagement from crew on such a brief trip. However, they were welcoming and polite, with the flight being quite light in terms of passengers, so it all felt comfortable and efficient. I like the reliability of British Airways in this regard, a lack of anything to write about is often just because everything went as it should have done.

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    Safely into Dublin Airport, where I had just over 24 hours before returning back to the UK on the following day.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 30 (British Airways Flight from Newark to Heathrow T5)

    2022 US Trip – Day 30 (British Airways Flight from Newark to Heathrow T5)

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    After an entertaining couple of hours in the British Airways Galleries lounge in Newark, I then walked the short distance to the gate, an earlier flight than I had been anticipating. I was very impressed with how BA handled this, they made it easy not just to change flights but also to ensure that my seat reservations were carried over.

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    I don’t like the seats on this Boeing 777-300 aircraft, they’re too narrow for me. However, I was in an exit row on the aisle, which is my favourite, meaning that I did have plenty of space. The three seats were all taken, but I was fortunate that the person sitting next to me didn’t veer into my space once.

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    The crew members on this flight were exceptional, making an effort to build rapport with customers where they felt appropriate and being ever present. I’m rarely disappointed with the friendliness and engagement of BA crew, with the pilot making chirpy and positive announcements.

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    It’s fair to say that I had enough leg room.

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    The first drinks round took place around one hour after take-off and the crew member seemed pleased that I asked for Brewdog Jet Stream by name, so she gave me both cans on her trolley.

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    The crew member didn’t let me down with the Brewdog beer, she remembered me from before and pro-actively asked “would you like another Brewdog beer?”, which of course I did. So she went off on a mission and came back with another four cans, two raided from a different cabin, the other two from the trolley on the other side of the aisle. Apologies if anyone else wanted Brewdog Jet Stream, but the crew member was wonderfully hoarding them up for me. Incidentally, that’s the film Belfast on the IFE, a story about the violence in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.

    Onto the food, these meals are catered in the United States and it all entirely met my expectations. I can’t quite remember what sort of chicken dish this was (and I probably wasn’t entirely sure at the time), but it tasted better than it perhaps looks. It comes with a couscous starter, a chocolate dessert and then some cheese and crackers. For an economy flight, which cost me just £220 or so return, I felt I had received excellent value for money with this whole arrangement.

    I then thought I’d have a nap after enjoying the heap of Brewdog Jet Stream cans that they had given me.

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    I admit this wasn’t to my taste, the breakfast option was a cheese bagel or a cheese bagel with turkey. Very innovative. I don’t like the smell of certain melted cheeses and unfortunately this went into the bin, as seemingly did many of those given to other passengers. I rarely eat the breakfast options on aircraft as they’re not often appealing to me, but BA seem to want to provide some sort of hot option. It’s a shame they didn’t have a cold option of just a cereal bar or something, it’d likely be cheaper for them and lead to less waste.

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    I had a two hour connection before my flight to Dublin, but there was a long delay disembarking and then it was a bus to the gate which all took up time. I was moderately disappointed that this was all eating into, well, my eating time in the BA lounge, and I was partly wondering whether I might be able to miss my flight to Dublin and get a later one since I was in no hurry.

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    Still my favourite airline, although American Airlines aren’t far behind. Who needs Emirates and Qatar?

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    And off we go to Heathrow T5, where I’ll pick up my flight to Dublin in my next post.