Stay tuned for my spin off series: books and beaujolais 😉

First pint and book of 2026!

One of the largest redeeming factors of southern pubs is the wider availability of whitebait, which you really don't see enough of in the North.

What an absolutely gorgeous day for my solo pub crawl through southern-central London. The sun is shining, my bag is filled with books to read. Buzzing.

Reached pub nirvana yesterday. Sat in the Southampton Arms, alongside my oldest friend, whom I've known since I was 3. We shared a sausage roll, drank ESB, and nattered whilst a man named Lee played ABBA's Chiquitita on the nearby piano. Hard to beat that.

My favourite incident of this: They were the only customer in, and I went over and politely asked them to take their phone off of speaker as not everybody wanted to be privy to their convo. I got the "but there's nobody else here?!" to which I responsed "well I'm here, and it's doing my tits in"

Good morning. Here's our first news, nuggets and longreads round up of 2026, with notes on pub openings, beer in Rome, and East London. There's also an attempt to gather all the various Golden Pints entries that we noticed. boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...

Right folks, I'm in London for a few days next week. In a haze of meeting up with friends, I will also be trying to get to some lovely pubs. Area is largely irrelevant, just give me your absolute musts please! Much appreciated x

I've got a bit of time off before I start the next job, and I've slept for over 10 hours both nights so far. So yeah, maybe I was burned out 🤷🏼‍♂️

Happy Birthday to my best friend. I miss you every single day x

A short reflection on why New Years Day is the best day for pub going. Happy New Year all x

Starting the New Year right by making a sausage sani and listening to the iconic 2004 album "Hook Me Up", by the Veronicas, in its entirety.

Real pub goers stay in and get an early night tonight so that they are fresh for tomorrow, the best pub day of the year.

One hour in and sobbing to myself in the washroom over a card from one of my favourite regulars 😅

I've rounded up my top 5 pints consumed and books read in 2025! Note: The books are just books I have read this year, not books that were published this year. 8bitsandbobs.co.uk/2025/12/30/g...

It's my last Crow shift today 😢

Last year, my New Years Resolution was to spend more time writing. I have definitely achieved that, and I feel proud of the progress I have made in a year of writing about pubs. There is a scarcity of pub writing from the perspective of workers, and I want to be a part of rectifying that.

Did a cover shift at another pub last night, and one of the regulars pulled me to one side to ask me if I'd had any work done 🫠 MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Last shift in 2 days 😥

and now for the most sacred of all the Christmas traditions... the boxing day line clean.

Merry Jarlmas!!

✨️Christmas Pints✨️

Start your day right by listening to the best Christmas song x open.spotify.com/track/0DAmSY...

Happy SMoDmas to all those that celebrate!! 🎄

Just had to be torn away from this kicking and screaming.

The most important book I will ever read. A stunning exploration of a life lived without romantic love, viewed through the lens of Joni Mitchell's Blue (my favourite album). I have appropriately paired it with Sierra Nevada's Celebration IPA whilst listening to Joni's California. Strong recommend.

Half an hour after close yesterday, I walked around the pub and politely asked each individual table to start finishing their drinks. 10 minutes later, not a soul had flinched. I stood in the middle of the pub and loudly stated "right you lot: get supped and get gone" (1/2)

📣 NEW BLOG POST. Exploring the topic of Christmas decorations in pubs, who they are for, and what purpose, if any, they serve.🎄 www.thecrowinn.co.uk/post/as-the-...

All is as it should be.

📣 NEW BLOG POST. Exploring the topic of Christmas decorations in pubs, who they are for, and what purpose, if any, they serve.🎄 www.thecrowinn.co.uk/post/as-the-...

Just almost cried because my favourite regulars (who come in early doors every Friday) just pointed out this was the end of "our spending Friday together tradition" as we are closed next Friday 😭

It's cool to stan your friends, pass it on x

In what is the most ridiculous bartending injury ever - I have cut my hand in 2 places taking off the foil from all the new bottles of whisky we got in yesterday.

There is a good chance that I am currently reading the most important book of my adult life. I am having to ration it to myself to prevent my longing to be understood from overtaking my ability to process it in an enjoyable and healthy manner.

Calling all groups of blokes of a certain age, going to the pub this festive season: it's not gay to sit down. You don't have to all desperately huddle around the bar like a group of lost penguins. Park your arses and let other people access the bar.

Look at it in all its majesty 😍

Positively vibrating with the excitement of getting to take a new notebook out for a spin later this morning.

Proper day after the night before today. Couldn't move for people last night, but so far I've had 1 customer in the near 2 hours we've been open. Not moaning, there's plenty to be getting on with to get the place back to normal after the chaos of yesterday.

I have 7 people currently in this pub and 5 of them are either drinking 11.0% Barley wine or 10.0% imperial stout. 3 of those 5 are double fisting both. Up the daytime piss artists 🙌

Thought it was suspicious for my best friend to travel up to Sheffield from London just to see me. Turns out he was playing in a pokemon tournament here, the dork ass loser 😂

I went to the pub yesterday and made friends with an older lesbian couple called Wendy and Val. We agreed to always say hi and have a chat when we see each other in the future. I love pubs ❤️

'sorry we've just kind of taken over haha 😅' translates to 'can you move so our group of 20 people on a staff Christmas do, who just turned up announced, can have this entire area to ourselves' incase you were wondering.

Wrote something on a whim when I was out and about yesterday, and I'm too scared to check my notebook today in case it is a big bag of shit.

We risk losing cask ale — not because young drinkers are wrong to ignore it, but because we've failed to make the case for it. www.anthonygladman.com/who-could-bl...

GOOD MORNING! Here's our regular weekly round up of interesting news and good reading from the world of beer and pubs. 🍺🍻 boakandbailey.com/2025/12/news...

This is the perfect distillation of what plagues CAMRA. They will make painstaking effort for months/years to shake off the stereotypical behaviour that constantly undermines them. Only to undo all their hard work in one ill thought fell swoop. Where is the line between a misstep and a slipped mask?

I can't believe it. In restrospect, popping into craft and berry for a half to break up my charity shop crawl was naive. Didn't even make it past day 2. Gutted #Blueblivion

If a feeling better than this exists, then I do not wish to know it.

After 4 years, I've decided that it is the right time for a change, and so going into 2026, I will no longer be a part of The Crow Inn team. I feel very grateful for all of the colleagues and regulars that, over time, have become friends. I will be continuing to write the blog for the time being 🐦‍⬛