iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 11h

Left Old Trafford at 21.48 last night after interviewing a couple of Warrington players post Grand Final. The staff worked quickly to extinguish all signs of of rugby league

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 14h

Just pointed my patio so please don’t rain this evening…

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

First time I’ve managed to get in here - The Eagle, Salford. Called in walking up to Old Trafford. On the Holts bitter

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

The winning end and losing end at the Grand Final 5 minutes after the final hooter

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

One of the 175 pub highlights featured in Happy Hours, a 42-year journey through the boozers of the British Isles. On offer here www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Hours-...

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

2027 CAMRA Good Beer Guide arrived today and it’s a beauty. Front cover is of the Oxford Bar in Edinburgh, one of the 175 pubs I wrote about in Happy Hours…(I know, any excuse…)

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Few copies of Happy Hours on sale in @sthbookstop.bsky.social in St Helens

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Had a wonderful hour long interview today with St Helens rugby league legend Eric Chisnall who gave best part of 60 years service to his hometown club as a player, coach and mentor…will write up for St Helens Star

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Reader review for Happy Hours: A Great British Pub Diary It will make you laugh, reminisce and think I need to go drinking more! Pubs are a critical part of our social fabric and this book celebrates it.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Not taking the micky out of the spelling, more an observation that the message was probably taken down over the phone from someone with a rich Lancashire accent

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Reader review for Happy Hours: A Great British Pub Diary. There’s something for everyone in this carefully-curated canter through 42 years of visiting pubs. 290 pages organised chronologically, with architecture, history, beer and breweries wrapped around a catalogue of characters, and Mike’s life.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Took my book Happy Hours: A Great British Pub Diary to a couple of shops in Liverpool yesterday. I will continue to do so in other towns and cities as there’s no better feeling than seeing it on shelves. However, the book is currently on offer from Amazon here www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Hours-...

amazon.co.uk

Happy Hours: A Great British Pub Diary: Amazon.co.uk: Critchley, Mike: 9781068151859: Books

Buy Happy Hours: A Great British Pub Diary by Critchley, Mike (ISBN: 9781068151859) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

My seat in the Liverpool Brewing Co gives a great view of rhe majestic Vines opposite. My visit there there in 1985 is the first Liverpool pub recorded in Happy Hours

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Just been taking my book around the Liverpool bookshops…now back to the pub and The Bridewell, one of the boozers featured in Happy Hours

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Reader comment on Happy Hours “The writer sees pubs as a symbol of all that is good in life; family, friendship and merriment. From St Helens to Birmingham to Hull and everywhere in between. This labour of love stands as a monument to a glorious past and hopefully a secure future.”

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

More reader comments on Happy Hours “The pub chat marries into a social commentary. It starts with pubs visited in the 1980s and goes in a chronological order, following the life and times of not only the author but the evolving country he lives in.”

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Enjoyed Manchester yesterday. Plenty of the city’s pubs are featured in my Happy Hours book: Marble Arch, Peveril of the Peak, Old Wellington, Britons Protection, the Circus Tavern, Bar Fringe and Salford’s gem New Oxford. Also featured is the now sadly lost Clarence on Wilmslow Road

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

No new ones today in Manchester but a pleasant mooch round Marble Arch, Jack in the Box, Smithfield Market, Bar Fringe and Cafe Beermoth

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Bar Fringe, Manchester- recollections of a 2014 visit are logged in Happy Hours. Still like this place

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The Marble Arch, a Manchester classic

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Nipped into the Smithfield Market Tavern, Manchester

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I write and set out six pages of sport in the St Helens Star every week, and three in a Leigh Journal…the Back in Time page never feels like work

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Reposted by Mike Critchley

Tony Hannan @tonehannan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Advance Info sheet below for our new book of particular interest to those from – or living in – England's beautiful North East. It ain't just for Geordies, although that will help! Please forward to any indie bookshops you feel may be interested.

Advance Information sheet for upcoming book 'Words from Hyem – The Life and Rhymes of Richard Oliver Heslop'

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Another nice book review of Happy Hours

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Not a sound I had heard before in front of our house so I checked. A new kid on the block

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Love this latest review for Happy Hours.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Another review for my Happy Hours book on Amazon.

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Reposted by Mike Critchley

Tony Hannan @tonehannan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Historian, author, songwriter, poet, humourist, man-about-town, lexicologist, Society of Antiquaries stalwart, President of Newcastle upon Tyne's Lit & Phil and a canny bit besides, Oliver Heslop was the Toon’s Victorian culture vulture, now sadly all but forgotten. Or he was! New book out October 8

Post displaying cover of new book, Words from Hyem, a biography of Newcastle's forgotten Victorian culture vulture Richard Oliver Heslop out on Monday 8 October 2026

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Line from the latest review of Happy Hours… “From St Helens to Birmingham to Hull and everywhere in between pubs have been, and hopefully will (continue to be) the backbone of life for the people of the uk. This labour of love stands as a monument to a glorious past and hopefully a secure future.”

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Love this line in the review: “The writer sees pubs as a symbol of all that is good in life. family, friendship and merriment.”

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

A nice review of Happy Hours on Amazon. “All great non fiction books intertwine knowledge ,passion and empathy for the topic. This book has all 3 in bucket loads. It weaves social history in the changing landscape of Britain in the last 30 plus years with humour and joy.”

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

The Firkin in Newton le Willows is a cracking little pub.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A new kid on the block and first time visit The Angel, Bold Street, Liverpool 1974.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Have left my Twitter account dormant for two years, now finally going through the process of deleting it and sadly my 3,000 followers. But we move on.

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Mike Critchley @mike-critchley.bsky.social · 06/09/2026