The Golden Rule - Ambleside

The pubs of Ambleside cater for a constantly changing clientele of tourists, but tucked away on a hilly backstreet is a pub that people return to again and again. The Golden rule is a firm favourite with locals, real ale enthusiasts, walkers and climbers in the know.

The beer is excellent and well-served and there are even home-made scotch eggs for sale on the bar. Proper bar food!

The Baltic Fleet - Liverpool

Located by itself in a patch of ground awaiting redevelopment, The Baltic Fleet is a treat for anyone who enjoys an interesting pint of beer. While it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere, it's actually only a couple of minutes away from the Albert Docks. If you face Liverpool from the Albert Dock, you just veer right, and it's well worth the diversion.

As you might be able to make out from the photo, the range of bottled beers is exceptional, but even better - there's a brewery downstairs making fascinating ales. I brought home a bottle of the smoked porter.

Food is available and we made the fatal error of not going for the all day breakfast. The error being that we ended up staying from 2:00pm until closing enjoying ourselves thoroughly with nothing to soak it up. The owners and locals are just too accomodating! Cracking pub!

The Bell Inn - Aldworth Berkshire

Ah, The Bell - perhaps my favourite pub. Out in rural Berkshire, and a short walk from Oxfordshire is a pub that shows that you don't have to pander to current fashions to be successful. Everything is kept simple but effective. Kingsdown Ale is on the ancient taps, but lager is only in bottles. If you want cider, it's made just a few miles down the road.

Food is mainly rolls filled with a big slab of roast ham/stilton/proper cheddar/salt beef etc etc all slightly warmed up. They all cost less than £2 but try to stick to just having one.

The pub has been in the same family forever and they are lovely. Last time we went as I was walking in with a camera in one hand and a golden retriever's lead in the other, I had a chocolate almond pushed into my mouth by the matriarch of the family.

The only downside is it's proximity to Henley/Goring etc. means that there's always a competition to try to get the most expensive car parked in front of the pub on a Sunday, but there's always a good mix inside.

The Red Lion, Blewbury Oxfordshire

This was my old local for a while, and even did a season behind the bar there. I was a pretty hopeless barman, it must be said.


As with many pubs, The Red Lion's character changes with the current Landlord, and it's certainly seen a good many over the years. To me, the glory days were always when Roger and Caroline ran the pub. This days, it seems to be at it's best on sunny summer evenings or around Christmas when younger Blewburyites all return home to see their families.

The Minster Inn - York

York is chock full of great little pubs serving fine ales. The Minster Inn was just the first one we stopped in last time we visited. It has a very friendly, local feel to it and served excellent beer. Next time I'll take a notebook and go on a vast pub crawl of the area!