Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: North Yorkshire

Scarborough – Scholars Bar

One of the advantages in pubs using Untappd is that it alerts me to what beers they have which might tempt me in. This was no exception, located near to Craft Bar I noted that they had the Salted Caramel Tonkoko beer from Brew York which is just my sort of thing. It seemed only sensible to wander over and give it a little try, especially as it is listed in the Good Beer Guide.

The bar seems to be doing plenty to engage with their customers, with sports showing, events being advertised around the venue and some decent cask options. The service at the bar was friendly, engaging and personable, with a team member sitting at a nearby table making brief conversation. It’s not what first time customers might perhaps expect from the outside where there was a doorman monitoring proceedings, but it was a little oasis of calm inside.

Like a child, I still watch for my photo to appear at the base of the screen after rating a beer on Untappd. But that’s why they do it, some of us don’t get to go out much and we’re easily pleased. There were a number of reasonably priced beers from Brew York, but I’ve had those before and I was after the 12% imperial stout, but it was a well balanced selection.

Excuse the dead dog on the floor, but here’s the decadent beer itself. This didn’t let me down, it was smooth, rich, silky and the mouthfeel was just right. There was salted caramel, but there was chocolate, coconut and even some biscuit, it was all a pure delight. We were also very pleased when the team member came over and said they’d mispoured the drink and so they gave us another glass of the beer for free, and I can’t imagine many more beers I was so excited to get more of. World class and this beer would I think even delight the brewers at Goose Island, definitely the best brewery in the world.

Anyway, back to the pub. Absolutely justifiably listed in the Good Beer Guide, there was a community feel to this arrangement, the venue was clean and comfortable with an inviting atmosphere. The service was warm, the customers seemed happy and the beer choice was broad with an effort made with keg and cask. A perfect way to end the evening.

August 29, 2023
Scarborough – Craft Bar

I didn’t have a great deal of time to visit pubs in Scarborough as I was primarily on a walking weekend, but Craft Bar so excited and delighted me that I decided to go there twice. It’s Good Beer Guide listed and it is primarily keg based, but they have four real ales on as well.

The cask options and the service at the bar was timely, polite and engaging. Customers were served in turn, they were greeted in a welcoming way and the team member was knowledgeable when answering questions. The cask options were the North South Divide from Bingley Brewery, the US IPA from North Riding, White Rose from White Rose Brewery and Black Jack from Milltown Brewing. The pub’s beer list is also on Untappd, which is what initially tempted me in.

The interior was modern and bright, it was a mixture of craft beer bar, a micro-pub, bottle shop and bar cafe. That might be loading a lot of different categories on one venue, but it felt suitably on-trend and it seemed to be surprising and delighting plenty of customers. There are power points so customers can charge their devices and wi-fi for those who wanted it.

Look at the colours! Each to their own, but how people decide they want to just drink pint after pint of Fosters I’ll never really quite understand. All three of these beers deserve their own little comment, so from left to right.

On the left is the Passion Fruit, Mango & Peach beer from Funky Fluid’s Gelato range. Funky Fluid are perhaps my favourite European brewery and it’s a beautiful reminder of Poland and I’m going to have to find time to sneak in another visit this year and I’m debating whether I can be trusted to go to the Warsaw Beer Festival in October as that would work…. But I digress. The beer was consistent with other beers in their Gelato range, it was smooth, rich, fruity and had a suitably sour kick to it. The peach was the most obvious flavour, but all three of the ingredients were notably there.

In the middle is the Raspberry Blueberry Bubblegum Bottles from Vault City. They had a tap takeover at the Brewery Tap last week which I only realised too late, so I was a little disappointed to have missed out. Fortunately, I caught the tail end of a similar project at this bar, so I was able to try this fun little number which was like a fizzy sweet with a bubblegum flavour. Sour, playful and drinkable, there’s something exciting about having a blue beer, it plays to the inner child and all that.

On the right is the Maple Vanilla Choc Chip Scoop Imperial Stout from Vault City, a full bodied, decadent, rich and complex beer with lingering flavours of chocolate. It’s quite something to be able to make a beer where after one sip there are the equivalent aftertastes of eating an actual chocolate pudding. Outstanding, interesting and a reminder of just how good Vault City are.

Thank you to my friend Hayley for taking me to the bar on the first night, so enjoyable was it that I decided to encourage Richard to experience it on the second night so that he could forget his little incident of falling into a bog during the day. I wasn’t disappointed here either, I went for the Even Cloudier DDH Hard Lemonade from Vault City, which was smooth and packed with lemon flavour without a sharp aftertaste. Then I went for the Divine Coffee Intervention from Brew York, full of coconut sweetness although not quite as full bodied as the Maple Vanilla from the previous evening although the ABV is much lower.

Bars such as this are the future, the cafe bar approach which offers a range of quality and frequently changing beers and other drinks. It doesn’t do food other than bar snacks, but there are plenty of nearby options for those who so desire a meal. It’s rare for me to want to go twice to the same venue when so time limited, but this one deserved it and I’m delighted that it’s in the Good Beer Guide.

August 29, 2023
Smuggler’s Trod 2023 – LDWA Challenge Event

What better way to spend an August Bank Holiday Saturday than by going on an LDWA challenge walk?

Hayley and I were fortunate that our B&B owner kindly got up early to make us a quick breakfast and Simon and Jane picked us up after having a night at their luxury hotel and we set off on our adventure. The breakfast ensured that Hayley and I were fuelled for the day with an air of excitement to the whole arrangement. This is the third time that I’ve entered the LDWA’s Smuggler’s Trod 26 mile challenge event operated by Yorkshire Coast group, this time I would again be walking with Hayley, Jane and Simon. Richard was also at the event, but he was taking part in the shorter 17 mile version of the walk as he was keen to have a drama free event and an easy completion for his first challenge event. Richard parked around one mile away in the free car park, whilst Simon swept into the car park at the hall itself where the walk started.

Here we are, Jane, Hayley, Simon and myself, all ready for the off.

There are many reasons why this is one of my favourite challenge events, but the views right from the start are one of them. The walk starts up something of a steep hill, not something that I’m particularly used to in flat and steady Norfolk.

There’s a fair amount of walking over the moors, but we were fortunate with the weather which wasn’t too hot and there was plenty of breeze from the North Sea.

Snaking (and I’m pleased to say that I didn’t see any of the snakes that are running wild and unsupervised across this area) through the heather just before the split of the short and long walks. We hadn’t seen Richard on the walk as he decided to take it leisurely to ensure that there were no disasters on his expedition.

This is a tremendous walk, such a change of scenery for me compared to Norfolk.

This event is organised by the LDWA’s Yorkshire Coast and they had plenty of checkpoints and always friendly and supportive volunteers. We were wondering at this point at how Richard was getting on as he was walking alone, but we were confident that he was gliding through taking it leisurely. I was fortunate enough to have Simon and his technology guiding me around the event, saving me from doing the navigation.

There are many sections of the walk that I remember from previous events, not least this walk through the ferns.

We battled through, although Jane had a little falling incident here.

Our first checkpoint and I was delighted to see Yum Yums available at the event once again.

Shortly after this Hayley had a little incident and Jane dropped her cake, both disasters in their different ways. To cut a long story short, after some more walking and some debate, Simon and I then went on together to storm through the event because you can’t hold natural athletes such as us back.

This cave is rumoured to have been cut out by George Chubb in 1790, although I’m not entirely sure that I believe this local legend.

A boardwalk through the forested area with a drop down to the river on the left. This was on the long route only, so I was pleased that Richard didn’t need to concern himself with falling down and having an incident. We once again wondered how he was getting on with his short route walk whilst we were enjoying the variety of terrains that we were walking through.

This is new since I last walked the event in 2019.

Fortunately, no flooding at the moment.

The second checkpoint where I stocked up on jelly babies.

And flapjack. I also remembered there’s a substantial hill after this, something that I considered sub-optimal to say the least.

We reached the top and were treated to some more fine views across the moors.

Before we knew it, we had reached the next checkpoint which was operated by the formidable East Yorkshire LDWA.

We also had some rain for around fifteen minutes, which I rather enjoyed as it cooled matters down somewhat and it didn’t look like it would settle in for long.

Simon and I marched off through the trees and somewhere around here the short and long routes rejoined. Richard, who was walking nine miles less, seemed to be making good progress as I could see his location on Friend Finder. It was evident at this point that unless he walked very slowly, we wouldn’t catch him up.

There was some debate here about which way to go across the moors, but between us and despite me, we found the way to go.

There were now limited other entrants in view.

We safely reached the third checkpoint and it reminded me that last time I reached here in 2019 it was a hot day and I was delighted to restock on water. This is the campsite checkpoint and the more substantial along the route in terms of food and drink.

I was pleased that there was plenty of cheese for me to work my way through.

As well as jaffa cakes, sandwiches and more jelly babies. Could I just mention that this event costs just £15 to enter and I feel that I get my money’s worth just from the food and drink which is provided. For those on the long route, there was a checkpoint on average every 3.8 miles or so.

A small river crossing and I took great care here to prevent slipping in. I mentioned to Simon that I couldn’t see any evidence of Richard falling in, so we were confident that he had been safely getting himself around.

There was a stretch where it had been hot and a little unpleasant, but soon enough we were back by the coast. Then something exciting happened, I realised Richard was just 35 minutes ahead of us and there was potential that we could catch him. Simon and I discussed matters and the race was definitely on.

There’s just one blurry photo of a railway bridge as we had just over two miles along a former railway line into Robin Hood’s Bay. There are no more photos as Simon and I decided to up the pace to well over four miles an hour, plus just a little running, to try and catch Richard up. We saw the distance falling, 25 minutes, 20 minutes, 15 minutes, 10 minutes and we wondered whether we could even dream of overtaking him. It’s not a race of course, but it is under circumstances such as this.

Unfortunately, despite even more running, we just ran out of distance to catch Richard up. It transpired that he come in just three minutes before us, a gap which haunted Simon and I as we could have caught him. We sat and talked about our events for an hour or so, whilst I gorged on beef stew, a dessert of rice pudding and then more Yum Yums and cakes. The event had been impeccably run, Yorkshire Coast once again did themselves proud.

I won’t upload the photo (although it’s available on request of course!), but we discovered when we got back that Richard had been on one hell of an adventure. He had run out of energy after six miles and then whilst using his pole to navigate a route through the moors he snapped it and then slid straight into a bog. Up to his waist in the bog, he freed himself using his elbows and then soon enough the sweepers supporting the event found him trudging along in a dazed state. Worried he might jump in another bog, they then walked him to the end of the event, waiting patiently whilst he stood at the checkpoints charging himself back up on food and drink.

Next year, Simon and I are going for 26 miles in under 8 hours as we can’t let Richard get in before us, even though he was only walking 17 miles. I had a marvellous time and I didn’t want this event to come to an end, definitely one of my favourite challenge event from all those that I’ve walked. I was also honoured to be at an event where a muddy and wet entrant was walked around nearly the entire event by sweepers, I’ve never heard of that before. Congratulations to Richard for finishing in such trying circumstances! And also of course thanks to Simon, Jane and Hayley for walking with me, especially Simon for be willing to run bits towards the end as we rushed to catch up with Richard.

August 28, 2023
On the Way to the Smuggler’s Trod 2023

Just a brief blog post now that I’m back from my weekend away in Yorkshire.

All good road trips start with a Greggs, especially when it’s a free one from O2. Technically, this Friday morning trip started with a rail journey from Norwich to Ipswich which was fortunately on time and problem free. I had a slight delay at Greggs at Ipswich railway station when I had to wait for the sausage rolls to come out of the ovens, but I was then ready for Hayley to escort me to where Simon would be taking over the burden of driving us.

Signage for the Lost Village festival at Norton Disney, this sounds like an interesting experience to visit in future years.

Simon suggested a stop off at Greggs and as a passenger, it wasn’t for me to argue with that. Chicken bake acquired, we were ready to continue with the journey.

I always take photos when going over the Humber Bridge, I’m never quite sure why.

There’s the River Humber and that means just one thing, we were near the best pub in the country.

And here it is, the Hop & Vine in Hull that I might have mentioned before. We had thirty minutes to spare and so I fully intended to make the most of that, many thanks for Simon for parking up outside. The Jem’s Stout was new to me, it was a proper liquorice hit. I recently lost my planned trip to Hull to the rail strikes, I hope to get back there again soon. All on schedule and making good time, we positively glided into Scarborough with Simon’s skilful driving.

I had chance of an evening walk and so I went to quickly check on Liam’s lifeboat station whilst Simon and Jane were battling their way to their decadent hotel.

More later on with regards to the B&B that I stayed in, as well as a very exciting bar that a couple of us visited in sunny Scarborough. It was to be an early morning the next day, ready to take part in the LDWA’s Smuggler’s Trod.

August 28, 2023
Monday – Former JD Wetherspoon in Middlesbrough and Meander Back to Darlington (Part Two)

After a lingering visit at one of the craft beer bars in Middlesbrough, I thought I might as well tick off the second JD Wetherspoon outlet in the town, which is the Swatters Carr. One again, I’ll pinch the pub’s history from their web-site:

“This has been a public house for more than a century. Mostly, the three-storey building (which extends along Victoria Road) was the Empire (not to be confused with the nearby Empire Theatre – now a nightclub). The Empire was originally named the Empire Hotel. The building is recorded in the 1891 census as the Swatters Carr Hotel Public House – Swatters (or Swathers) Carr after the isolated farmhouse, first recorded on a map dated 1618.”

Something of an art installation with some history, I thought that this was suitably quirky. The pub is one of the better reviewed pubs in the JD Wetherspoon chain and I thought it seemed well managed and organised. It’s a large venue, but it was clean, comfortable and peaceful. My laptop and I were quite content here for some time.

I was pleased to see that the pub had Plum Porter from Titanic Brewery on, so I had a half of that for not much more than £1. I made another mental note to go and visit some pubs owned by Titanic, mostly around the Stoke area, perhaps I’ll do that in 2024.

This enormous building was opened in July 1923 as the Elite Cinema, designed by James Forbes and with 1,900 seats. As with so many other cinemas, it couldn’t sustain sufficient trade in the 1980s and it was converted into the Crown Bingo Hall. That didn’t last long and it was turned into a pub in 1996 and I can only imagine that JD Wetherspoon had a think about getting involved, but it later on became operated by Stonegate as the Crown pub. They rather abandoned it in January 2015 by flogging it off to a property developer and it has been slowly falling into dereliction over recent years. The council is currently making warning noises that they’ll compulsorily purchase it if nothing is done soon, which seems the most sensible plan. At least the council are suggesting that they won’t countenance its demolition, which is perhaps what the property developers had hoped would happen. Urban explorers visited the building a couple of years ago, there’s a lot worth saving but it’ll cost a fortune to fix that up. I trust that no little incidents will happen to the building which would justify it being demolished.

The former Masham Hotel and what a beautiful frontage for a building, although sadly it’s no longer a pub. The former nineteenth century pub closed a couple of decades ago and was initially turned into shops and is now in use as an office.

The same pub company and a not dissimilar frontage to the Masham (not least as it was done by the same designers, Kitching and Lee in the 1920s), with a similar fate of this no longer being a pub. It’s a little sad, but this one closed its doors as a licensed premises in the late 1990s, although there has been talk of giving it another go as a pub. I hope they do, it just feels like a pub with character.

I was quite intrigued by the Isaac Wilson pub for a number of reasons, it’s a converted courthouse built in 1901 on the site of a Quaker burial ground, which is also named after a Quaker who opposed drinking. I bet he’d be thrilled. It’s also a former JD Wetherspoon pub and they closed it in 2017 and sold it to another company.

What I was a little surprised by is that the new owners have effectively just kept running it in exactly the same way, so even five years later it looks the same as it did other than there’s now a pool table and darts board. I can’t complain about that, if I took over a former JD Wetherspoon pub, I’d do the minimum possible, just paint out the old signs and leave everything else. So the signage, tables, carpet, bar and even pictures are unchanged. The new operator is Tees Inns, who also operate the former JD Wetherspoon King Johns Tavern pub in Hartlepool.

The pub had maintained low prices and I went for half a pint of the York Chocolate Stout from Rudgate Brewery, a reliable beer which was well kept. The team member was friendly, politely querying why I was ordering halves, but he was satisfied with my answer that it lets me visit twice the number of pubs. I can’t say that I struggled to find a table, but to be fair, late Monday afternoons aren’t really the peak trading time for pubs.

The frontage of the railway station, currently undergoing what looks like quite a restoration.

This feels like a proper railway station, it almost felt like a castle in the tunnels under the platforms.

I did comment yesterday on the random foliage on the platform, but to be fair, they have made a big effort elsewhere in the railway station.

I always like to see a board about history and I’m especially pleased to see them in railway stations. I suspect that I really should get out more….

And what a lovely waiting area, there’s a hint of decadence here.

I’m not sure why I was disappointed by the platforms, I think it’s just that other parts of the railway station felt like they were dripping in heritage and this just looked like most other stations.

My Northern train back to Darlington. On time, clean and efficient.

The photo is because I liked the Ukrainian flag. I still regret not going back to the country this January when I had chance, but I hope to return as soon as is even vaguely possible.

What looks like a random photo….

But I took the photo there because I was standing where this window is marked out in what was the Manor House, a grand and substantial building overlooking the river. The property had originally been built in the twelfth century and it was used by the Bishops of Durham. I think they fancied having a property in a rather grander place and so it fell into disrepair before it was demolished in 1808. The site was then turned into a workhouse for the poor, but this and the remains of some buildings from the manor house that had survived were all pulled down in the late nineteenth century.

In their place, Luck’s Square and Luck’s Terrace had been built on part of the manor house’s land.

However, in the 1960s this too was pulled down, as they wanted the land to build themselves a nice new Town Hall. Although, being honest, it looks a little like it was near to falling down anyway. It’s a much nicer area now, there are benches overlooking the river and it’s rather peaceful. The calmness does hide just how much this site has changed in usage over the last two centuries, from a grand manor house to a rickety building that needed pulling down, then a workhouse, then terraced housing and now the large green area outside the town hall.

And after all that excitement, I went back to the Mercure hotel that I was staying in, pleased to note that they had restocked all the free welcome drinks in the fridge. How really rather lovely.

September 13, 2022
Monday – Failed Visit to Piercebridge But More Success in Middlesbrough (Part One)

My intention had been to visit Piercebridge, promoted by the area’s tourist authorities, which is the site of a Roman bridge. I had watched the Time Team episode filmed at the bridge a year or so ago and though that it looked like an interesting site. I abandoned that plan when I discovered that the bus was going to cost £6.60 for a return ticket, despite it being a 12 minute bus journey. Normally I would have just walked it instead, but it was raining and quite bleak.

The Arriva bus driver was very helpful and tried to work out on his machine if he could find an alternative, but he was unable to do so. He apologised on numerous occasions for the price gouging of his employer, but it was hardly his fault. His bus departed shortly afterwards with just one passenger on board. If I had wanted a day ticket for the wider area it was nearly the same price and I realised why the company hid the prices of single and return tickets on their web-site. As an aside, the Government has demanded recently that bus companies publish a list of all of their fares, but they’re presented in a complex format which makes it hard to unpick without some IT knowledge.

I accept that this is yet another complaint I’m making on this blog despite trying to be a permanent ray of sunshine, but it’s no wonder that increasing numbers of people are moving away from using the bus network. Since this little failed adventure, Grant Shapps has announced (before being sacked) the new £2 bus fare maximum from January to March next year, which would have meant that I would have made this journey.

Instead, I decided to walk back to Darlington’s railway station to get a day return to Middlesbrough. This was a cheaper ticket than the bus would have been which pleased me greatly. The rail network very often produces remarkable value for money, particularly on advance fares, so the day was looking more interesting. And Middlesbrough has more beer than Piercebridge. It did mean traipsing back to the hotel en route to pick up my bag, but at least that meant I could have my laptop for the day.

Another photo of the grand interior of Darlington’s railway station.

My train would be departing from Platform 3.

And here thunders in the Northern train that I needed to catch, on time and in the right place. Still in a slight mood about the bus fares that Arriva charge, I decided once again that I’m really more of a rail person.

Clean and functional. I had purchased an off-peak return and wondered what times I could return, but the helpful guard said that there was no limit in the afternoons.

Wooo, power.

Welcome to Middlesbrough.

The railway station felt just a little bleak. The town had a railway station as early as 1830 when the Stockton and Darlington railway line was extended here, although the current building is from 1877. It was badly damaged during an air raid in August 1942 and apparently has been restored recently, although I’m not sure which bit. Please do though enjoy the beautiful greenery that the station has as its floral display.

What a graceful building, the former National Provincial Bank on Albert Road which opened in the 1930s. I’m not sure that its current usage is quite as decadent, but at least the building is still standing. For anyone interested, some helpful individual has placed the architect’s plans on-line.

The beating heart of Middlesbrough. I quite liked the town, but they had a lot of empty premises, including some large shops which are currently boarded up. It’s hard to see how they’ll fill those, but the atmosphere felt suitably vibrant. Like many cities and towns, Middlesbrough has had to transform itself from an industrial and manufacturing town into a more service and IT based economy over recent decades.

I thought I might as well tick off a JD Wetherspoon outlet first and this is the Resolution. The large Lloyds pub explains on its website:

“This pub is part of the Captain Cook Square development, named after Middlesbrough’s most famous son. The pub takes its name from Cook’s flagship, Resolution. Between July 1772 and July 1775, Cook undertook an even more ambitious voyage. He was given two ships, with the Resolution as his flagship. He successfully completed the first west-east circumnavigation in high latitudes, chartered Tonga and Easter Island, discovered New Caledonia in the Pacific, the South Sandwich Islands and South Georgia in the Atlantic.”

For reasons unknown, but which I assume relate to price testing, this is the cheapest JD Wetherspoon outlet that I’ve seen in a long time, this meal and drink came to £5. It’s quite a well reviewed pub as far as these things go, although they annoyed one local:

“I work in a bar an night club so I know how to treat customers right your polite and not rude it’s called manners whiclh your staff don’t have. There ill mannerd and are walking around like lifeless zombies an a face like Margret thatcher” [sic in several places there]

I tried to picture this whole experience in my mind, but perhaps I shouldn’t have done. Anyway, my lunch was delicious just in case anyone wanted to know. I accept that I have no idea who might want to know that, but there we go.

The coffee was lovely as well. There was then a chat with another customer, not instigated by me obviously, that distracted me for around half an hour, although he said early on that I had a posh southern accent. When I said I was from Norwich, he replied that he thought my accent was from somewhere posher such as Surrey. I was annoyed at numerous levels with that, but there we go…. Bloody Surrey.

I approve of this, a number of streets which are more accessible for pedestrians and where outdoor areas have been created for restaurants and bars. Who would have though Middlesbrough would be so on trend? But what would I know, since I come from Norwich and not Surrey…..

Very appropriate for Baker Street. This road, along with Bedford Street, had an abundance of micro-pubs, I was really quite impressed. They had so many micro-pubs that I’m very tempted to visit Middlesbrough again, it was an unexpected delight that was only limited that I didn’t have time to get to many on the day I went.

Although some of the micro-pubs weren’t yet open, I felt the need to visit one and I went for the Twisted Lip, which is a former terraced house turned into a micro-pub. It has been trading since 2014 and seems to have quite some following, with a range of craft and keg options which were all keenly priced.

I ordered, in my upmarket accent, the Thunderbridge Stout brewed by Small World Beers of Huddersfield, a very decent and rich stout.

I think it would be hard for anyone to deny that this interior was anything other than quirky.

The pub seems to get busy, but it was relatively quiet in the afternoon. The service was friendly and I was rather taken with the surroundings of the venue. I’d merrily recommend this pub, it sets its own style and avoids being formulaic.

Anyway, more about my little meander around Middlesbrough in the next blog post including a former Wetherspoons pub which I thought was quite intriguing…. And, not wanting to go on about it, there is nothing less decadent about Norwich compared to Surrey.

September 9, 2022
LDWA History Group – York Visit

And a little advert below for the LDWA’s history group, which can be joined by any member of the LDWA. It was thought a marvellous idea for me to lead a two-hour history walk for anyone who wanted to come along during the NEC weekend a couple of weeks ago. Rather pleasingly, I can report that there were no disasters. No-one got lost, stomped off, complained (to my knowledge) or left the LDWA. I’m fairly sure that the redoutable Stuart Bain (the NEC’s Environment and Risk Officer) was impressed as well. Win-win!

The city walls around York, which are some of the most complete in the country. York Minster looks rather beautiful from the walls as well. I must admit to quickly rushing around the walls before the walk started to check that they were still there, although to be fair they’ve lasted quite a few centuries. I also had to check, several times, when they shut, which was fortunately just after we would be leaving them. As can be seen, there was a lot of preparation here…..

A photo opportunity with the York sign in front of the Minster, and a view from the city walls. The handy thing about leading a two hour history walk for the LDWA is that the distance was much shorter than our usual efforts, so it was likely just under five miles in length.

As another one of my irrelevant asides, I was one of the people who complained a few years ago at the hideous development that English Heritage were planning at Clifford’s Tower, ploughing straight into the mound with a new visitor centre. If I may say so, the proposals from English Heritage were arrogant, insensitive and showed a complete disregard for heritage, the latter of which really isn’t ideal given their name. In 2018, English Heritage scrapped the visitor centre element and said in a statement:

“English Heritage also has a new director for the north of England, Andrea Selley, who has been listening to the views of the local community. And while the proposed visitor building would have sat within a relatively modern part of the mound (dating from the 1930s) and did not pose a risk to the archaeology, it was clear that many people love the shape of the mound and disliked the thought of its circumference being broken. Because of these reasons, English Heritage will not now place a visitor building within the mound.”

Why they got so far with their proposals is another matter, but I digress…. Their new project is much better and respects the site’s integrity.

Coppergate, which is actually named after coopers, the men (as it was usually men during the medieval period who made barrels, casks and the like.

And some photos of York at night. I’d stress here that I didn’t get everyone lost for hours, I took these photos after the pub visit and on my way back to the hotel. I look forwards to leading a history walk in whatever town or city the NEC next spend a weekend in. Here’s to the next LDWA adventure!

August 18, 2021
York – Holiday Inn Tadcaster Road

Going back a week (I’ve got a bit behind with these posts….), this is my stay at the Holiday Inn on Tadcaster Road for the LDWA NEC weekend. It’s a bit of a walk from York city centre, about forty minutes, but it’s a decent enough route to meander along. It passes by Tyburn, where criminals were executed in centuries gone by, to add a little spice to the walk. I’d add that there are regular buses for those who don’t feel the need to walk absolutely everywhere.

In about 90% of occasions I think the quality of a hotel is evident in the welcome at reception. Some hotels do this really well and their whole service ethic is just a delight. A few are, to be honest, bloody hopeless and that theme usually continues. Anyway, this hotel had a warm welcome, a friendly team member and there was an air of competence about proceedings. It transpired that this set the theme for the stay.

The room, which was spotlessly clean, with the exception of an old red wine stain that has clearly wrecked the carpet (not in the photo) at some point in the past. You don’t get that with beer…… There was a photocopied note from the area manager on the desk which said to please bear with them whilst they get supplies and staffing back to normal. I didn’t experience any issues, but I appreciated their honesty that things might not be perfect. It does seem though that they’ve had a number of staff leave and it has proved challenging to replace them, but I’m fairly sure that’s been a problem across the hospitality industry.

The view from my window, which fortunately opened as I’ve muttered on before about how I don’t like sterile rooms where everything is sealed. It’s not pleasant, it’s annoying. This hotel let their customers have some air.

There was a Kit Kat in the mini fridge, so I was immediately sold on the hotel. I’m easily won over….

And hot chocolate, that’s a decadent little treat.

The reviews for the hotel seem generally positive, although there are a fair few saying that the rooms look old fashioned. I thought that mine was fine and I can’t see any photos of different room designs, but perhaps they’ve shoved some people they don’t like in some old annex. There probably is a bit of renovation to do as they could do with some plugs near to the bed, but I can’t see that anything major needs doing.

My stay was for two nights and there was little remarkable else to say, which is a great compliment as it meant nothing went wrong. Although the hotel was clearly nearly full, there was no noise either internally or externally. The room was cleaned after the first night, something that some hotels are still trying to avoid doing. All told, I couldn’t find anything to fault the hotel on, it was all really rather lovely and another positive IHG experience.

August 11, 2021
Random – Scarborough’s Railway Bench

Just as a random post, but I quite liked this story in the Scarborough News about the longest railway bench in the world. Despite having been to Scarborough on numerous occasions, I hadn’t managed to notice this 139 metre long bench which dates to around 1883.

It’s rather lovely that it has been preserved, although I note that Network Rail have replaced all the nuts and bolts, as well as an undetermined amount of wood. There’s something about Trigger’s broom here that there’s going to be nothing old left other than the original iron supports, but it’s still a very worthwhile project given how so many railway stations and structures have been allowed to crumble.

NB, as I’ve haven’t been to see this bench, the main photo above is at the start of my very brave second coast to coast walk a few years ago I did with Liam (I was the bravest). Might as well advertise that again here, here are the links 🙂 Coast to Coast Two [ Day 0 | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 6+1 ]

December 5, 2020
Ingleton – Old Post Office (July 2020 Interview)

Not with any great degree of seriousness, but I compiled my favourite pubs of 2019 last year, primarily in a bid to remember where I’d been. One of those pubs was the Hop & Vine in Hull (or the Hop & Vibe as I managed to call them on Twitter) and last week Tony answered some questions about how things are going in the current challenging climate.

And, another one of my favourite pubs was the Old Post Office in Ingleton which, as its name suggests, is a conversion from a former post office into a cosy little arrangement which has a decent choice of beer and welcoming atmosphere, but above all, excellent customer service. Excuse the quality of my photos, I took them on my previous visit although I was intending to visit the pub again in a few weeks to take more. Unfortunately, accommodation is proving difficult to find given the number of staycations being booked, but I’ll get there sometime over the next few weeks.

Adam and Rob from the pub kindly answered questions about how things are going with them and it gives me an idea of a place to go that I haven’t been, which is Preston. And I haven’t heard of Se7en Brothers brewery (Nathan will tut at that, as I probably should have done and I’m sure they’re on his spreadsheet), but their marshmallow stout looks marvellous!

Anyway, onto the questions:

You’re back open again, was it a successful re-opening for you?

We reopened on the 4th July, as soon as we were given the green light by the government. From the word go we have been overwhelmed by people’s support. We find that most days we are open all our tables are full which is fantastic.

How easy has it been to implement social distancing in the space that you have and have customers been prepared to come back?

As a microbar we are naturally limited for space, so the distancing has been challenging. We have tried different layouts in the bar, and we have ensured that the 1m plus rule can be stuck too. Our main concern was that as a customer you would feel safe to come in and have a drink. We sat in each seat and measured the distance and tested the mitigations we had put in place. We have found a large number of our regulars come back which is fantastic to see, there are naturally going to be some who don’t feel safe and that’s fine. I’m sure they will return in time.

When I visited, I didn’t notice your back room of the Armoury. It looks marvellously quirky in the photos, what inspired that theme?

We have always been interested in history, from the Roman era, medieval to Napoleonic and the world wars. We used to own an older property in Cumbria, the style of the property suited that theme. We decided to create ‘the armoury’ to show off our collection and to create something different. (you certainly wouldn’t expect that in a small village).

What do you see the future being for pubs in North Yorkshire, is there cause for optimism?

I think the future is uncertain but I hope the industry makes a full recovery from recent events. With less holidays abroad and people staying in the UK this year we all hope to be busy. We are lucky to be in a touristy area surrounded by beautiful countryside, everyone likes a well earned pint after a day in the hills!

It was clear from my visit that you have a real community feel. Were the community and your regulars supportive during the period of closure?

During lockdown we offered a takeaway and delivery service to the local community and upto 10 miles away. We had repeat customers most weeks and they were fantastic at supporting us. It was great to get out on the deliveries and check in and see how our regulars were and have a chat. It brought a bit of normality in what was a very strange time.

I liked the choice of beer that you had in the fridges. Given your small serving space, you offer a wide selection of options. Do you think some pubs with more size are missing out by not offering craft beer options?

I think at the moment the craft beer industry is booming, you only have to look at the amount of small breweries in the UK. There are some fantastic beers out there. Everyone likes a choice and at times wants to try something different and unique, other venues should give it a go and see if it works for them.

How do you go about choosing the beers? Are you guided by wholesalers, customers or inspired by extensive travel to other pubs?

We like to conduct a lot of research and product testing! In all honesty at the start we stocked what we liked to drink, it just grew from there. We like to try the more quirky beers that you cannot find easily. That’s one positive to come out of our lockdown experience. We looked at other suppliers and stockists and broadened our search for beers. We certainly found some great breweries to work with that’s for sure.

It’s not all about the beer. You’re big on gin, is this still a popular spirit, or is something else becoming more in favour?

Gin has been a big seller for us since we opened but rum is catching up! There are so many different rums out there now, some really fantastic small batch bottles too.

Would you be willing to name your other favourite pubs, whether in Yorkshire or further afield?

Too many to mention but a bar we really want to visit as soon as we can is Applejacks Microbar in Preston, we follow them on social media and have been in contact during lockdown offering each other support. We can not wait to meet them in person and try their selection of cakes and ales.

And, finally, do you have a favourite beer and/or spirit?

This changes weekly! But at the moment our favourite beers are ‘Honeycomb pale ale’ from Se7en Brothers brewery and ‘Pump up the Jam’ from Tiny Rebel. Spirits wise we quite like the Salford spiced rum.

July 28, 2020