Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Author: admin

  • Hull – Lion and Key

    Hull – Lion and Key

    This is a pub that I hadn’t been to on my previous visit to Hull and I hadn’t expected it to have so much character internally. There was a huge choice of ales, over ten, with three darker options. The staff member was helpful and engaging, being able to make a recommendation when I asked what they had.

    The suggestion was the Peculiar from Cathead, which I only discovered after is made in house at the brewery they own themselves. I went for half a pint of this and it had a pleasant taste, but it wasn’t in great state and I thought it was on the turn. Or, perhaps, just not pulled through as we arrived soon after the pub had opened. Either way, it didn’t really meet my expectations, but was still drinkable.

    And some photos of the pub, with the labels on the ceiling adding a huge amount of character. Although, that Fosters one seems a little out of place. It’s great to see pubs with such an innovative interior and there was a homely feel, with plenty of reserved tables from those planning to dine. The pub is well-reviewed and their food seems to be quite acclaimed, so perhaps I’ll visit again for that next year. I’m not sure why the beer I had wasn’t perfect, but the selection of beers was substantial and much wider than I would expect from a pub.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 175

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 175

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Kill Care Club

    This is defined by Grose as “the members of this club, styled also the Sons of Sound Sense and Satisfaction, met at their fortress, the Castle Tavern, in Paternoster Row”. There’s some good timing with my working through the dictionary as, by chance, I walked through Paternoster Square today in London, which is the remnants of what was a badly damaged area during the Second World War.

    Paternoster Row was until the Second World War a home of book publishing, with millions of books destroyed during the Blitz. The Castle Tavern had long since closed by then, but it was located on the north side of Paternoster Row, between Eagle and Child Court and Lovels Alley. As for the club, I have no idea, it’s something that Grose must have been intrigued by and there’s little else that has been written about them.

  • Hull – George Hotel (Second Visit)

    Hull – George Hotel (Second Visit)

    This is my second visit to the George in Hull, I first visited late last year. This was what I considered the pub most fortunate to be in the Good Beer Guide, with a rather generic selection of beers. It’s a Craft Union pub, which seem to me to be on a downwards trajectory to say the least, with the ‘craft’ in their name being a complete mystery to me.

    Social distancing was being enforced and the staff member was helpful and engaging. The beer selection was similar to that last year in terms of there being little of interest. The Wainwright from Marston’s Brewery was well-kept, but I didn’t find much of interest with the beer. I’m guessing the problem here is the Craft Union selection of beers is limiting the pub from offering anything innovative, local or unusual. Another customer called the Wainwright “rubbish” when the member of bar staff offered it to him, he went with the Brain’s Bitter instead, with Adnams Ghost Ship being the other choice. There were no dark beers available.

    It’s a fascinating building though, especially with their smallest window in the UK claim to fame I mentioned last time I posted.

    I think it’s fair to say that this isn’t a pub for me.

  • Hull – Wake Up Hull Protest

    Hull – Wake Up Hull Protest

    The police carefully watching over a demonstration in Hull which was telling the people of the city to wake up and not wear face masks or believe the Government hype about the current health situation.

    I’m disappointed to hear media reports that some on the protest decided to berate passer-bys, but perhaps that’s all part of the media cover-up that they’re talking of. Individuals can make their own mind up about this little arrangement, but to be fair to them, they did have around 50 people or so there, which is more than I thought they would have got.

  • Random Post – Fixed Penalty Charge

    Random Post – Fixed Penalty Charge

    This is just spam, unless the HM Courts are now operating from a favela in Brazil, which is mostly evident by it’s unlikely I’d get a penalty charge in the absence of owning a car….. Quite believeable though in some ways, although I’m amused by the fact there’s only one contact centre option and that’s currently unavailable. Hopefully no-one will get scammed by it.

  • Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 174

    Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 174

    The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

    Kent-Street Ejectment

    This term is defined by Grose as “to take away the street door: a method practised by the landlords in Kent Street, Southwark, when their tenants are above a fortnight’s rent in arrear”. Kent Street is now better known as Tabard Street, which had its fair share of slum housing and where the poorest were taken advantage of, something which has perhaps not changed much over the centuries. Anyway, I suppose taking the door off is a pretty effective way of making someone feel unsafe and uncomfortable, but things must have got pretty bad given that the area became known for it.

  • Louth – The Joseph Morton

    Louth – The Joseph Morton

    Whilst in Louth, we popped in the JD Wetherspoon outlet in the town, the Joseph Morton which is named after a local ironmonger. The pub opened in 2011 and it’s a sizeable affair, with a large ground floor area that has been created from former residential and commercial properties.

    The rear part of the pub, with nearly all customers for some reason being in the front section. The pub, which was relatively quiet, had a bizarre set-up where customers had to wait at the entrance for a member of bar staff to shout from behind the bar to say that they could go in. The customers therefore just stood there for no reason before being told they could take a seat, all the time getting in the way of customers trying to get sauces which are located in the same area. Anyway, that’s a matter for the pub to deal with, although they should perhaps check with a little more care whether customers are filling in track and trace.

    This is the upstairs of the pub and I’m assuming that there are usually a few tables here, as otherwise they have a grand entrance area to their toilets.

    Richard went for a decadent hot chocolate drink, which he had to make for himself from the coffee machine. He looked initially scared, but after plenty of time stirring the chocolate lump in, he was more than content with the quality of the drink. I went for half a pint of the Honey Porter from Milestone Brewery, a decent beer that was keenly priced at just £1.

    I had a little look on TripAdvisor, where the pub isn’t doing what could be termed as brilliantly, as I find reviews intriguing and I accept that I should probably get out more. Anyway, I wish I knew more about the back story behind this 1/5 review…

    “Odd to ban my 17-year old daughter for a genuine complaint articulated politely and courteously.”

    I’d very much like to know what the complaint was…. JD Wetherspoon don’t let pubs reply now on TripAdvisor, which makes it harder to understand what has happened. One review, which seemed believable at first sight, was met with:

    “I understand that you were offered free drinks, a refund and apologised to profusely. The statement above has been taken out of context to my knowledge. The staff member on shift after offering multiple things didn’t know how to resolve this to make you happy so said that statement “what would you like me to do”.

    Which probably gives customers the context that they need to understand what went on here…. Although I think I’m with the customer on this one:

    “We went for lunch and ordered a Chicken Caesar Salad, which came as: lettuce, croutons and chicken pieces. Full stop. “Sorry we’ve run out of Caesar Dressing.” So why accept the order?”

    I liked this one though:

    “My very mature 16 year old daughter and her equally mature 16 year old friend went to Joseph Morton tonight for a celebration. The waitress refused to serve them because they hadn’t taken their passports and therefore couldn’t prove they were both 16.”

    I’m frequently bemused as to how many people think it’s reasonable for what might be two younger teenagers in, for all the pub know, and then get angry that the pub wants ID to ensure they are 16.

    I’m not sure that the new manager should have posted this though in a response to another complaint as the previous manager would unlikely be impressed with it:

    “We have recently had a change in both front and back of house management and we are currently trying to build the reputation of the pub back to where it was.”

    Anyway, I digress. All in all, this is a pleasant pub, although it could have been a little cleaner and the track and trace needed better supervision. They are also operating with the new JD Wetherspoon menu and I’ve yet to work out how the chain decide which pubs get selected for this. But, it has to be said, the half-pint of Honey Porter for £1 really is excellent value, and it’s positive to see that these real ales can be ordered via the app now.

  • Hull – Atom Brewing at the Corn Exchange (Visit 2)

    Hull – Atom Brewing at the Corn Exchange (Visit 2)

    This is another repeat visit, as I came to Atom Brewing at the Corn Exchange last year.

    The choice of beers is chalked up on blackboards, but they’re also printed it out to go on tables. There was a nicely balanced selection of beers, with a couple of darker options, with decent guests as well. The staff seemed engaging and knowledgeable, with table service being offered at the moment given the current health issue.

    For the second time, I didn’t actually order a beer from Atom, which is moderately ridiculous and I will correct that next year if I come again. This is the Ripple Twister from Brew York, who are undoubtedly one of my favourite breweries, which is a beer style I don’t tend to rush towards. But this IPA had lots of fruit behind it and the promise of an ice cream flavour, so I couldn’t resist. I managed to get a taste of grapefruit, which is one of the few fruits which doesn’t seem to be in it, but it was light and refreshing. Not a great impact of taste initially, but the aftertaste was rich and full-bodied.

    This was the last weekend of Shop Small, where if you spend £10 using Amex in a participating small business, then you get £5 off. So, I ordered food so that my bill came to £10.20, meaning I’d only have to pay a total of £5.20. Rather pleasingly, this means that I got ten of these £5’s off from Amex, which is the maximum anyone can have. The food was offered by the Pattie Shack and they had some flatbreads, patties, grilled sandwiches and a few larger meals, something a little different.

    The flatbread and the biggest problem here is that it took nearly an hour to arrive. This is understandable as it transpired we’d ordered after a rush, but we should have been told about the wait at some stage. But, it was worth the wait, the ndjua sausage had quite a lot of spice to it and the rocket added some peppery elements to the flat bread, which was delicious. The flatbread also had some firmness to it, but without being so hard that it would snap if bent.

    Overall, this remains a very decent pub and it was pleasing to see that it was busy and seemed to be doing well. There was an excellent selection of drinks from across different styles, with the staff being engaging and keen to help. The environment was clean, comfortable and welcoming, and I look forwards to returning and this time actually having a beer made by Atom. Most lovely.

  • Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    Hull – Ibis City Centre (Visit 2)

    This is my second visit to the Ibis in Hull city centre, I’ve already wittered on about my first visit.

    The reception area has been turned into a queueing area similar to that at an amusement park, and although I appreciate the effort, I didn’t see anyone use it and they queued in a different manner. As an aside, the hotel has been responding to my e-mails promptly, but my booking was a postponed one and it has been lost on the Accor system now, so I suspect I’ll be e-mailing them in a few days.

    The stairs, I don’t know why I liked this imagery of the stairs…. Anyway, I digress.

    The room was sufficiently clean and comfortable for my requirements, but some surfaces clearly hadn’t been cleaned. Towels and bedding was all clean though, it was perfectly adequate for me.

    The view from my room, with that building at the back being the rear end of Wetherspoons.

    The coffee and tea selection has been put into a bag. I don’t quite know how this helps to be honest, but it’s pleasing they were still supplying hot drinks.

    The light fitting was slightly broken, which isn’t ideal.

    I no longer get overly excited by these in an Ibis hotel as there’s rarely much of note. The hotel did though offer Boddington’s last year, which I can tolerate, so I was sufficiently pleased by that.

    And, I feel the need to comment negatively again on the range of drinks offered by Ibis, especially now the Boddington’s option has gone. Their selection looks ever more dated compared to other pubs and hotels, with a total defiance against stocking anything which might be considered as craft beer or real ale. This was the best of a bad lot, and I didn’t finish it, it’s what I would consider another generic lager (and Nathan can tut all he likes that it’s a slightly above average generic lager). It is a shame that Accor is trying to rebrand Ibis into something more on-trend, but yet soft products like this remain entirely off-trend.

    All told, for the price, this was a marvellous location and the hotel staff were friendly and engaging. I would have to note here though, there was a murder in the hotel a few years ago in room 231, and given that one of our party (not me) was woken by police in the early morning in case he’d heard anything in a neighbouring room this time, there seem to be some challenging issues for the hotel.

    My final comment about the hotel is that the welcome gift appears to have been scrapped. Disappointing….

  • Hull – Social

    Hull – Social

    Unfortunately, the nearby Taphouse was full (which is moderately disappointing, as I think I would have liked to write some things about Bone Machine Brewery now I’ve seen how innovative they are, but I’ll go next year instead) but the helpful staff member pointed us towards Social.

    The service was friendly and welcoming, although the only seats available were outside when we arrived. This transpired to be a good thing given the music inside (I can’t be doing with too much loud noise at my age…..) and the service was attentive given that three different staff tried to take our drinks order. But, best to be too attentive than not bothered enough, so it felt a sufficiently comfortable environment.

    I think it’s fair to say that the bar wasn’t entirely aimed at customers like me, but the drinks menu had a decent stab at trying to cater for everyone. Seeing Camden Hells was acceptable to me, and the appearance of Brewdog Punk IPA and Schofferhofer are to the bar’s credit. So, perhaps nothing inspirational, but it’ll do. The bar is located in what is becoming the on-trend area of Hull, the fruit market district, which seems very much on an upward curve with much to be positive about.

    Back to Social though, where the prices were slightly towards the higher end of the scale, but it felt safe and at least had some space for customers, which was useful. It’s probably a decent option for larger groups (well, under normal circumstances) although they don’t seem to do any food (although they do cashew nuts which didn’t surprise and delight Richard when he counted how many he got). I went for the Camden Hells and it was sufficiently adequate for me, but that’s about as far as I’d go there.