PUBTRAILS

Reviews , pictures and maps of pub trails to follow in over 40 cities and towns

PLACES TO VISIT WITH PUBTRAILS

 The towns and villages highlighted on this web site have a wide variety of pubs and beers in them.  All of the places are great to visit, whether for a day or longer, and most have tourist attractions for all of the family.

There is a large variety of pubs throughout the different towns shown below. Some you may wish never to visit again but even discovering these can be interesting. There are pubs that you would not take your wife into. While some you could not take your girlfriend into. A few you would not take either into. However, most of the pubs are very pleasant.

HOME MAP of places visited

Alnwick Ambleside Anstruther Bakewell Bamburgh Barnard Castle Bath Berwick upon Tweed Birnam & Dunkeld Bourton on the Water Bowness on Windermere Bridge of Allan Chester Chichester Dunblane Dunoon Edinburgh Ely Fort William Glasgow Gourock             Helensburgh   Inverness Kelso Keswick Knaresbourgh Largs Linlithgow Lyme Regis Melrose Montrose Newton Stewart North Berwick Norwich Oban Pebbles Penzance Portree Pitlochry Quorn Richmond Rothesay St Andrews Seahouses Seend Shrewsbury Skipton Stirling Stratford-upon-Avon Stockton Heath Whitby Windemere Whitstable York

★ = star pub

❤ = pub of the month winner

A star ★is awarded for many reasons and indicates a pub that should not be missed, although that does not mean that everyone will see the same attractiveness . These reasons include location, food, ambience, welcome, decoration, quaint, locals, music, excellent of its type and of course my own particular likes at the time.

A pub of the month indicates that at the time of visit it stood out as somewhere special.

Places to visit

 The BEERS

This web site is to concentrate on pubs and their beers. Many drinking places have web sites which tell of their comfortableness, food and accommodation yet totally ignore what beer is sold. This is to redress the balance, though if the pub has a web site there is a link to it.

While many pub visitors much prefer pubs to serve real ales it has to be recognised that not all pubs in a town will sell them. No real ale is not a reason for ignoring a pub. It may be a reason for not returning. Vexed questions arise. If a pub sells real ale can it be a bad pub? Is one without real ale automatically a pub not worth visiting?

(see BOOKS)

If you wish to visit all of the pubs in an area you cannot pick and choose. Should you only have time or the inclination to visit some pubs then hopefully the descriptions, picture and maps should let you make your choice. If you only want to visit pubs that sell real ale you may miss out on an interesting experience.

 WARNING

The thoughts on the pubs are purely a personal opinion. Fortunately, we do not all like the same things.

If it is any help, my personal perspective tends to be from as close to the bar as I can get, rather than sitting in a corner.

Pubs and beer never stand still. They open and close; change staff and owners; change beer and decoration at a rate that it is impossible for a web site (or me) to keep up with. Therefore I apologise for changes that have occurred since last visited.

In particular the real ales available will change in many of the pubs regularly (I hope).

  • Books on Beer

    A selection of recommended books covering all aspects of beer and brewing. There are books on the history of beer and others on different styles of beer.

    For example

    An Inebriated History of Britain by Peter Haydon

    Amber, Gold & Black by Martyn Cornell

    Brew Britannia by Jessica Boak & Ray Bailey

    The Story of the Pint by Martyn Cornell

    Miracle Brew by Pete Brown

    Built to Brew by Lynn Pearson

    And many more

    Books on Beer

  • CAMRA

    The website of the Campaign for Real Ale

    CAMRA

  • Books on Pubs

    A selection of recommended books on pubs and their history. There are books on the social history of pubs and the design of pubs through the ages.

    There are also books on visiting pubs and ones recommending pubs to visit.

    CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide

    Death of the English Pub by Christopher Hutt

    Brewers, Brands and the Pubs in their Hands by Tony Thornton

    Licensed to Sell by Brandwood, Davidson & Slaughter

    And many more

    Books on Pubs

There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

Dr Johnson

Know a pub we should feature? Got some questions about pubs in your area or where you’re going on holiday? Get in touch below