Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Shipley – Ibis Bradford Shipley

    Shipley – Ibis Bradford Shipley

    This is from my stay in Shipley a few weeks ago and I chose this Accor hotel as it was the cheapest in the area. I thought at the time that seemed odd, as it’s in a tourist area and there was a festival going on at nearby Saltaire. Just in case there had been a mistake, I decided to check-in early (and all was well), and I heard them answering the phone to numerous people saying that they were full. As an aside, although the hotel is called Bradford Shipley, it is very firmly in Shipley and requires a rail journey (or some other form of transportation) to get to Bradford.

    The hotel was dispensing with the usual practice of giving guests the room of their preference (it’s located in the Accor app settings) and just handing out room keys randomly. That probably wasn’t the ideal situation, as there are some people who would prefer to be on the ground floor and I prefer not to be, but I was given a room near reception. It was adequate, although I wouldn’t say that it was spotlessly clean. They forgot my welcome drink, but provided it after I requested it. The staff were though friendly and helpful throughout my stay, but the whole process felt automated rather than personalised.

    I got a biscuit though, so I was happy.

    This is unusual, an Accor hotel which is actually sourcing local beers. Saltaire is down the road and it’s a good call to stock this beer, which I had as my welcome drink.

    The hotel is located near to a Wetherspoons, and it was evident that numerous guests were going there for breakfast and other meals. This is another of the falling number of hotels that is trying to avoid cleaning rooms due to Covid, a situation that probably needs to come to an end sooner rather than later. The hotel is really also on the edge of needing a comprehensive refurbishment as well, it’s creaking a little bit in terms of the maintenance. However, I was grateful for a reasonably priced room for the weekend and I didn’t have any noise disturbances either internally or externally, so all was well.

  • Shipley – Norman Rae

    Shipley – Norman Rae

    From a couple of weeks ago, this was my visit to the Good Beer Guide listed Norman Rae pub in Shipley, operated by JD Wetherspoons. It’s a relatively large and modern pub building, although a little unexceptional perhaps in terms of the design.

    That’s the Baltic Rum Porter from Bridgehouse Brewery, a really decent 6% ABV beer with a richness of flavour that only cost £1 for a half pint. I also had the 1872 Porter from Elland Brewery and the Raspberry Blonde from Little Critters Brewing Company, also excellent beers at the same very reasonable price. All three of those beers are way above average and there was certainly nothing generic about any of them. I’m unsure how much money is being made here  by the brewer or the pub at those prices, but I can see why this JD Wetherspoon outlet has found itself in the Good Beer Guide.

    I had the chicken jalfrezi at the same time, all as expected. The pub is relatively well reviewed and the staff members were friendly and helpful. The pub was sufficiently clean and the service was efficient and prompt. JD Wetherspoon pubs might have their faults, but they’re still operating to a decent standard and the real ale options and prices were really quite lovely. I did pop back here for breakfast one morning, which was also fine, and was realistically much better value than the Ibis hotel that I was staying in.

  • Huddersfield – Harold Wilson Statue

    Huddersfield – Harold Wilson Statue

    This photo is from when I visited Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago and this statue of former Harold Wilson (1916-1995) was easily identifiable and he’s got himself a decent spot here. Wilson was born and lived in the town, maintaining links to Huddersfield throughout his life.

    The statue omits Wilson’s famous pipe, apparently at the request of his wife Mary (1916-2018) and it was unveiled by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in 1999. It was designed by Ian Walters and cost £70,000, being based on photos of how Wilson looked in 1964.

    If anyone wondered about how bloody useless TripAdvisor is, this review was left of the statue in July 2019.

    “Ok, it’s cheap and you get what you pay for. However why do you have to send out rubbish for people to eat. Describing an Item on the menu as a Gourmet ultimate burger and then serving the whole fat soaked lukewarm crap meal that must have been kept for ages, is an insult.”

    I imagine that this review was meant for the Lord Wilson pub……

  • Huddersfield – Head of Steam

    Huddersfield – Head of Steam

    Another belated write-up from my visit to Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago. This is the Head of Steam, located at the other end of the railway station from the King’s Head. This pub isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, which is rather a shame I think, as there are plenty of cask and keg options.

    The neatly laid out bar. The whole pub had a feeling that this was a nice place to linger and wait, which is ideal as it has become almost an extension to the railway station’s waiting areas.

    There are four different rooms in this pub, all with varying feels and designs, with a central bar area.

    I visited on a Sunday evening and it’s fair to say that it wasn’t packed inside the pub. The food option are pies from Pieminister, which I’ve had before in other locations and they’re fine, but I’ve never been hugely impressed with them. However, there are limited options for the pub and it’s a sensible choice to have something which is easy to prepare.

    The pub uses Untappd for its menu which makes things much easier and, as I’m easily pleased, I like my photo appearing on the bottom of the screen after rating a beer (I accept that I probably need to get out more….). I went for half a pint of Ghost Porter from Yorkshire Heart brewery and half a pint of Wishbone from Abyss brewery, both decent dark options.

    I’m finding Head of Steam really quite reliable for their beer options, more so than Brewdog who are also more expensive (and they’re opening a venue in Huddersfield in the next few weeks). There were a range of beer styles offered here, with the back-up of bottles and cans for anyone who wasn’t pleased with the extensive choice. The staff members were friendly and polite, with the whole arrangement being what I’d say is one of the better railway station bars. It must also be on the very edge of being listed in the Good Beer Guide and I hope it gets over that line in future years.

  • Hull – Goodbye 2020

    Hull – Goodbye 2020

    I can’t entirely argue against that….. I hope that this plaque remains here, and since it’s now September 2021 it’s done well so far.

  • Barnsley – Experience Barnsley

    Barnsley – Experience Barnsley

    I’ve finally got chance to work through my little backlog of posts that I wanted to write but never got chance to (or did get chance to, but I went to the pub)…..

    This is Barnsley’s town hall, which was controversial when it was built in the 1930s because it was so expensive. Today it’s still used by the council, but it’s primarily the museum and local archives and there’s a new building nearby for the council staff.

    I thought that the museum would be a bit dull, as they really pushed how interactive and modern it was. Sometimes, if I’m being honest, this means that they’ve taken out all the interesting bits and put in some screens that don’t work and aimed the whole arrangement at children. I have to say though that this wasn’t the case here, it was a brilliantly laid out museum which had lots of information about the town’s history.

    The museum are very proud of this, a fire engine from 1791 which is thought to be the only one linked to the English inventor Joseph Bramah which still survives. It was the first that Bramah built and was used by the Wentworth Castle estate from 1791, where it remained until 1949. It was then given to Barnsley Fire Brigade who probably wondered what on earth they were going to do with it. It moved about to a number of locations before being moved to this museum when it opened in 2013.

    The museum looks bright and modern, but there’s plenty of information on those boards for people who like reading things (people like me).

    This is rather lovely, a grant which dates to the early twelfth century and is the oldest document which is held by Barnsley Archives. It is a grant which transferred 20 acres of land from Adam, son of Swain, Lord of Newall, to Adam Beccon, his godson. The payment was a red rose annually if it was requested, which sounds like a good deal for the godson.

    A hoard of Roman coins rating from between the first to third centuries that was found in the town, evidence that there was some local activity in the Roman period.

    The Moot Hall Clock, which was located on, well, Moot Hall, until 1822. This was the centre of excitement in Barnsley with meetings upstairs and floggings downstairs, it all sounds really quite intriguing. It was made by the local clockmaker Tobias Fletcher in the 1790s and was taken down when the building was demolished in the 1820s.

    The ‘This is Your Life’ book which was given to the comedian Charlie Williams.

    I’ve seen the film Kes a couple of times, this display contains a signed photo from Ken Loach and a taxidermy kestrel.

    The England football cap which belonged to Ernest Hines, dating to 1929 and 1930.

    This tray was kept as it served the last pint of Barnsley Bitter.

    A “coal not dole” helmet worn by Rita Brenton, as Barnsley was once a mining town although the last one closed in the 1990s.

    All in all, I thought that this was a really well put together museum and given that there was free entry, there was nothing for me to find fault in. An excellent example of a provincial museum where the money has been spent wisely, so I can see why it has won a number of awards recently.

  • Hull – I’m not entirely sure…..

    Hull – I’m not entirely sure…..

    It’s lovely to be back in Hull, although I’m not entirely sure what is happening here….

  • National Express : London Victoria Coach Station to Hull

    National Express : London Victoria Coach Station to Hull

    After the delights of a weekend in London, there was then the thought of the slightly less delightful six hour coach journey to Hull. The waiting area at Victoria Coach Station was packed when I got there, which wasn’t entirely ideal as I noted to myself just how hot it was.

    Fortunately, a seat became available soon enough and that fan at the back (only one, the other was broken) helped slightly. This coach station facility is hopelessly inadequate for the number of passengers, but there’s no obvious way that they can improve the situation. There has been talk about moving it to a new location, but its site near London Victoria is quite handy. That section off the left was once the Megabus customer service desk, but they’ve moved to a slightly bigger bit at the rear of this photo and I note that more Flixbus services are emerging here now. I suspect that the coach market will become quite a competitive one in the years ahead.

    The service before mine was going to Norwich and the driver came over to do a final check to see if there were any more passengers for his coach, but there weren’t. The driver said to a member of customer service staff that “I doubt that anyone here has even heard of Thetford”, but I decided not to get involved with that…

    I was the first to board the National Express Thunderbolt service to Hull, which was stopping off at Nottingham and Lincoln en route.

    The lovely clean coach. Everything seems to be pretty much in order, although the power points weren’t working.

    I got my usual emergency exit row seat, slightly desirable as it has more legroom. The coach was nearly full to Nottingham, but nearly empty after it. The passenger next to me had been to Chelsea Flower Show for the day, spending £85 to get in. I had no idea that there was so much cost to see flowers….. I didn’t envy her getting up at 2am to get the morning service into London, just to go back in the afternoon. She mentioned to me that the driver had run a couple of red lights, but I hadn’t been paying attention (and it wouldn’t matter if I had, there’s a limited amount that can be seen from the back of the coach) and so that might not have been true.

    And a few minutes early, here we are into Hull. The driver was friendly and the service was efficient and very keenly priced, costing me £9 which was entirely reasonable as far as I was concerned. Odd little quirks aside, the National Express service is definitely improving and I like that they’ve scrapped the £1 ticketing charge for those who have signed up to a free account with them. I’d rather get the train as it’s quicker, but in terms of the cost, this was an excellent service.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Oxford Street – Hard Rock Cafe (2nd Visit)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Oxford Street – Hard Rock Cafe (2nd Visit)

    This is another venue that I’ve been to before, but The Fork gave me £20 promotional credit to spend and this is an ideal place to spend that as there aren’t that many options.

    I was less than excited to discover that there was a live band on (no disrespect to them, I’m sure they were marvellous, it’s just not entirely my thing) and I noticed that the three sets of customers in front of me all asked to be seated away from it in an area that was closed. The Hard Rock staff are endlessly professional and managed to work that situation out for all of those customers. It’s a reminder perhaps that you can’t really mix a band and people eating nearly next to them, even in a Hard Rock cafe. Fortunately, they stopped banging about shortly after I was seated, there was some technical issue or something. Back to the service, it’s impeccable, but that’s within the brand standard and I wasn’t surprised at the high level of engagement.

    The beer option I went for had run out, but the staff member offered some recommendations. I went for the acceptable Camdens Hells lager which is drinkable. I noticed that half pints were nowhere near half the price of a full pint, which does slightly annoy me (it’s a rare situation now) and CAMRA campaign against that. However, it’s fair to note that Hard Rock Cafe aren’t really aiming to be listed in the Good Beer Guide, so that situation is unlikely to change. They really should be doing a better selection of craft beer though, that’s within their brand remit I’d have thought.

    The chicken tenders, all nicely done and there seems little more for me to add about this as it’s hardly high end cuisine. However, I needed to get to my hotel, so something simple worked for me. The dining environment is very comfortable and Hard Rock Cafe have plenty of musically related things on the walls to look at. The customer base was quite formal, but they seemed to mostly be hotel customers and the prices to stay here aren’t cheap.

    Anyway, the meal cost me £2 which was the automatic tip, so that worked out as far as I was concerned. And The Fork have sent me more promotional credit (which is very kind of them) which means I’ll likely be back within the next few weeks. I’d recommend going here, and book using The Fork does give 50% off eating here most of the time, which makes the prices entirely reasonable.

  • London – Westminster (Borough of) – Brewdog Paddington (2nd Visit)

    London – Westminster (Borough of) – Brewdog Paddington (2nd Visit)

    I’ve visited this Brewdog before, but I thought that it seemed an ideal place to spend a couple of hours before readying myself for a near six hour long coach journey to Hull. I’m not thrilled at the thought of the coach journey, although the price was entirely agreeable which is why I opted for it over the more decadently priced train.

    The bar was nearly empty, which meant that I had a choice of seats around the venue, but there’s usually more drama being located near to the bar. There were also power points and a nice chill from the air conditioning, so that location was perfect for me. I ordered via the app to save the long walk to the bar…..

    As an aside and since it was so good, I went for a third of the Dessert in a Can – Mocha Ice Cream Fudge Cake from the brilliant Amundsen Brewery. It’s on draft and isn’t in a can here so the name is slightly confusing (although there is a canned version which obviously makes more sense) and it was beautifully decadent and rich. I didn’t need to buy anything else during my near two hours in the pub (stretching a third to last that long isn’t ideal, but it wasn’t cheap, so I felt that balanced out fine) as sipping that and getting on with other bits of work worked out nicely. The drink was rich, quite sweet and the taste of fudge was certainly there, definitely a liquid pudding in a glass. Pleasant flavour which wasn’t too strong and a long aftertaste which didn’t readily dissipate.

    For anyone who wants a relaxing and relatively peaceful afternoon in Paddington, I can think of far worse places…..