Thwaites East Lancs Brown Ale knocks Newky into a cocked hat anyday, Poured into a half pint glass its superb. A dark rum chaser tops it off lovely.
Old Peculiar is always a favourite
Fullers ESB is a nice session beer. As is HobGoblin.
I prefer the stronger ales, Quality, not quantity so stuff like Gold label does satisfy me(with a Wood's 100 rum chaser
)however I do like stuff around the 6-8% mark. It holds a much better 'condition' than the weaker stuff.
Going back a few years though I used to love Big Ben and Old Dan from Thwaites, topping up a half of Mild.(A good pint of Thwaites Mild is superb, Mitchells Mild used to be awesome, shame they stopped brewing.)
Ian