It was the May Day Bank Holiday and with the final National League games of the season taking place, we decided to head down to London to watch our team and visit a few pubs as well, this time in a different area.... We were going to London and back in the day, so it was an early start and late finish to the day. I ordered a taxi for just after 7 and then went to the Shay Cafe in Halifax to meet the lads and have some breakfast before catching the train. Our journey took us first to Leeds, from where we caught what was a pretty quiet train to London Kings Cross. We arrived in the capital at just before 11.30, and with the kick-off at the regular time of 3pm, we had an hour or two to visit some pubs before heading off for the match at Wealdstone, who play their games at Grosvenor Vale in the leafy West London suburb of Ruislip. For our pre-match imbibing we had opted to go to the borderlands between two other leafy London suburbs, Notting Hill Gate and Kensington, which was kind of...
The warm weather continued as I made a first proper visit a nearby East Lancashire town to have a wander around and check out a few of the local pubs.... It is only 31 minutes on the direct train from Halifax to Burnley but despite its relative proximity, this was the first time I had got the train here. In fact my visits to the town have been few and far between since a short period in the 1970's when I would drive over to watch the odd First Division match on a free Saturday when Burnley were at home. But with 4 pubs in the Good Beer Guide - although two were way out in the suburbs and not really doable in the time I had - and plenty of others in the town centre it is certainly worth an afternoon's exploration. And as I found, this former cotton and mining town has a rich industrial and economic heritage and social history that can stand up against the majority of places up and down the country. And being a town that has brought us the likes of a diverse mix of people includi...