So long, Old Mudgie

I noticed that my last two blog headers have been 'So long's - something that happened purely by accident and/or editorial laziness on my part. 

So I'm now going to 'complete the trilogy', as it were, but this is a farewell I really wish we didn't have to bid. RIP Peter Edwardson, aka The Pub Curmudgeon, who died unexpectedly a few days ago, at just 64.

This is a sad loss; To my knowledge, I only met Peter in person the one time, and that was a fair few years ago, possibly even before his beer blogging really took off, though he was already writing for local CAMRA publications.

I had contacted his local branch about the possibility of re-publishing some of his work down South, and as I happened to be in his neck of the woods for football, we met up for a few pints. Robinson's Unicorn, if I remember correctly. We chatted - slightly awkwardly, if I'm honest - about pubs, beer and the role of CAMRA newsletters/magazines. 

His blog famously promised 'a jaundiced view of life from the darkest recess of the saloon bar', but possibly more significantly, he also wrote from a perspective well outside of the 'beer bubble' and provided a refreshing counterpoint at a time when you'd be forgiven for thinking people who wrote about beer were woke hipsters who only drank craft keg.

He couldn't be persuaded into 'that world' and I acted as an intermediary for a while, with a foot in both camps. Indeed he rather relished being blocked on social media by some of the bigger names in the beer writing business for having 'the wrong opinions'! (Mentioning no names but it won't take a whole lot of guesswork...)  

We had very different tastes in beer, and indeed different views on many of the issues affecting beer, pubs and breweries, but we definitely shared a taste in music (Tull, Rush, Roxette, Thunder... though we disagreed slightly on 'Stop the Cavalry by Jonah Lewie') and broadly Libertarian politics. I wonder if we were the only two mostly non-smokers that were fiercely opposed to the smoking ban on the grounds of essential human freedom and choice?

He was a staunch defender of traditional British beer styles, bench seating, regional breweries and the tied house system. And of course Draught Bass. And, to some extent, Sam Smiths. He actively disliked a lot of the stuff I like, but we were always able to disagree amicably and have an intelligent discussion, from which we might all learn.

This is not a eulogy and I didn't know Peter well enough to say any more. Just go and read his blog. It was good. And have a pint in his memory. I did.

Rest in Peace and Rise in Glory. Or Bass.

So long, Kerala

As one of the laziest people on the planet, I frequently find myself thinking of stuff to write about, and then failing to write about it.

Honestly, the amount of content that existed in my head that never made it onto page, podcast or screen is quite frightening. A prime example is my local South Indian restaurant, which I could've written about when I moved to this town almost ten years ago, or at any point in the intervening decade, but, as usual, I did not.

Now the Kerala has closed. Apparently for good. Which is a shame because it really was excellent; quite possibly the best restaurant of any kind in the local area.

So long, and thanks for all the beer?

Is this the end of the Great British Beer Festival?

When I visited GBBF 2025 last month, I had a few concerns about its future. My beloved special place, dislocated and poorly attended. Something not quite right. 

Talking to staff there, it was felt to be 'quiet', but there was no sense of absolute disaster. We all had a pretty good time, even if it didn't feel the same.

Then came the murmerings of disquiet and doom-mongery. 

It wasn't encouraging when some of US casks went untapped and had to be sent to other events and pubs in the area. That's right - beer from the USA bar which always sells out early hadn't found enough customers at the NEC. Suboptimal.

No queues, plenty of seating available - maybe a good thing for a customer, but not a good sign for CAMRA really. 

Then the news emerged that they had made a loss. A big loss. £320k apparently. That's not just 'disappointing', it's an excuse to legitimately wheel out terms like 'existential' and 'catastrophic'.

It's really not good news. 

Great pubs are killing good pubs. Discuss.

I love the Hope in Carshalton.

It just won my London Pub of the Year award for the fourth time, and a few days later CAMRA turned out to be in full agreement with me, naming the Hope as the best pub in Greater London. A big achievement and an entirely deserved one, I think.

But this isn't about how absolutely fucking awesome this pub is. I'm going to say something controversial; something I'm not completely believe to be true, but I reckon it's worth floating the idea for debate at least:

Great pubs are killing good pubs. Maybe. 

I'd better explain exactly what I mean by this...

BV London Pub of the Year 2024-25 - the results

Go on then, let's have a winner, shall we?!?

It's been a close contest this year, particularly deciding which of the ten pubs make my top five and which will have to sit out next years competition to make way for plucky young upstart newcomers, but thems the breaks...

Indeed, last year's winner, the Star & Garter in Bromley has narrowly failed to make the final this year and I do feel a slight pang of sadness, but I'm sure they'll be back. (If you haven't read parts one and two, this won't mean a whole lot of jack shit, so check those out first!)

Right...

GBBF - but not as we know it?

My relationship with the Great British Beer Festival goes back a long way - I've been attending it for over 30 years and have never missed one - so it was with a little trepidation that I attended GBBF 2025 last week.

Trepidation, because it was always going to be just that bit different this year; the first GBBF to be held outside London since 1990, and, consequently, my first GBBF not at Olympia (or its deceased sibling, Earl's Court) so I was prepared for unfamiliarity. And I don't always like unfamiliarity. 

But let's be thankful for small mercies; in three of the last five years, there hasn't been a GBBF at all, and the future of the festival was in doubt (maybe it still is?) Additionally, it's a huge undertaking involving a lot of wonderful volunteers (of which I wasn't one this year, but I feel like I probably should've been), so brilliant work from everyone involved in making it happen. Anything is better than GBBF not taking place, like last year.

On paper the NEC (which is technically in the Borough of Solihull, not Birmingham, but hey...) has long felt like a good potential festival location. The site is massive, it's more central (to the rest of the country) than London, and it has the necessary supporting infrastructure (so I'm told by an HGV driver!)

So, how was it?

BV London Pub of the Year 2024-25 - part two

Welcome to the second half of the 2024-25 London Pub of the Year award. 

In the first installment we revisited last years top five, and now we're going to check out five brand new entries. (Well, two of them are brand new, the other three are, in Top-of-the-Pops parlance, re-entries, but what the fucky hey.)

Let's chuffing well crack on, shall we?