Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

  • Leeds – Head of Steam (Park Row)

    Leeds – Head of Steam (Park Row)

    I’m slowly (but very surely) working around all of the bars in the Head of Steam chain, a process taking me a while as they’re mostly up north and I’m mostly down south. This is their outlet in the centre of Leeds on Park Row, opened in 2019, and they have another one in the city.

    The bar has plenty of seating as there’s external seating, a large room near to the entrance and seating all around the bar area itself.

    The gaming area of the bar and there are screens at the rear which rotate through the beer selection that’s available. I looked at the beer list before I went in and then ordered accordingly. The member of bar staff was friendly and knowledgeable, so it felt an inviting place to be. My first impressions were very positive and, as it transpired, all my impressions were very positive of this Head of Steam. I also liked that there power points generously located around the bar so that customers could charge their devices up.

    I wasn’t sure what I’d think of this fruited Gose from Tooth & Claw Brewing, called Squeeze Please. I thought that it was delightful as it’s hard to imagine a beer that was much more lemony than this one and I’m very much a fan of that flavour in nearly any drink, from tea to coke and from beer to cake. A very drinkable beer with a lot of lemon zest to it, all really quite decent.

    I thought that I’d order two half pints, so this is the other choice, the Black Coral from Camerons Brewery. It was OK, not as much body as I had anticipated, but the flavours were there. Another very drinkable beer, although I’m not sure that I really felt it was 4.1%. Camerons have owned the Head of Steam chain since 2013, hence their beers appear regularly, but I hadn’t tried this one before and it was the only stout that they had on draught.

    Clicking on the image above of the bar’s screen shows my Untappd ratings at the bottom of the screen….. I’m easily pleased if I’m being honest.

    The reviews of the bar are generally positive, just a few negatives about the food and some ridiculous comments because customers didn’t agree that Head of Steam were enforcing Covid-19 rules at the time. And a few people complaining that the beer was expensive, but my two half pints came to £5.10 which I thought was reasonable given the quality of them.

    Inevitably quiet on a Monday afternoon, I was pleased that the bar was open. Beautifully run, spotlessly clean and a really nice venue, one of my favourites in the chain. I can imagine that this location gets busy on weekend evenings and I also suspect that the noise might all get a bit much. However, during quieter times at least, definitely recommended.

  • Leeds – Beckett’s Bank

    Leeds – Beckett’s Bank

    I’ve arrived into Leeds and will be having a little tour of Good Beer Guide pubs over the next couple of days. This is Beckett’s Bank, operated by JD Wetherspoons and it’s not in the Good Beer Guide, but I just liked the look of the building. This is a former banking hall, but it was owned by Martins Bank until they were taken over by Barclays in 1969 who then took over the building. Interestingly, Wikipedia notes (and I have no reason to disbelieve it) about Martins:

    “Women were contractually obliged to leave the bank upon marriage, and as late as 1965, men were not allowed to get married until their salary reached a prescribed level.”

    However, to add confusion to the mix, this building was never run by Beckett’s Bank, they had a location down the road which was later demolished. However, I assume that Wetherspoons didn’t really want to call their pub Barclays, so they had to use their initiative here.

    It’s a grand banking hall which I really quite liked, hence why it’s making an appearance on this blog. When I went in there was a sign saying that there were no draught products available, although that matter was fixed during my relatively short visit. It was busy and there weren’t many seats about, but there were plenty of staff available to ensure that everything felt well-run.

    I went for half a pint of the Malty Python from Little Critters Brewery of Sheffield. Not a bad beer at all with something of a caramel flavour, especially for £1.25 for half a pint, with it tasting well-kept. There were four options of real ales, two of which were Ruddles and Abbot from Greene King, so they don’t really count in my mind. Along with the Malty Python, the other option was the Blonde from Bridgehouse Brewery.

    I didn’t visit the pub for long, but I liked the atmosphere and environment. There’s the usual mixed reviews on-line, although they’ve not too bad overall. They managed to get:

    “My little boy smashed his head on the marble tables and is now missing a tooth” which doesn’t sound ideal, although tables will cause damage if children hit their head on them. And the dangers of ordering alone, “I ordered a pizza. Got it. Wanted a beer. Had to go down to order and when I got back, the pizza was gone”. I’m not sure that I’d leave my food alone in a Wetherspoons….

    And the quality of reviews sites is questionable given reviews like this:

    “All though Becketts Bank is a lovely pub who serves very nice food, i wish i could say the same about its Sister pub “The Picture House” in Morley.”

    So, they rated Becketts Bank (which they liked) with 1/5 as another pub wasn’t very good…..

    Or this helpful contribution:

    “My friend ordered a pint for me I already [h]ad one they wouldn’t swoop [sic] it it for anything else or a refund. Shocking”

    Hmmmm. Anyway, for a quick visit, I thought that this was all rather lovely. The pub was serving a lot of food and was busy, with everything looking to be well managed.

  • Birmingham – Tilt Bar

    Birmingham – Tilt Bar

    I’ve pretty much finished visiting all the Good Beer Guide pubs in central Birmingham, so I felt that it was time to work through the craft beer bars in the city as well. Tilt is a little tucked away, although that’s perhaps partly down to all the roadworks which made getting to it harder than I had anticipated. They’ve put helpful signage though on the main street so that I (and others….) could find it, which was much appreciated.

    It wasn’t very busy, but I liked the informal feel to the arrangement.

    I thought I had taken better photos of these than I actually had, but clicking on the images makes them larger and just about readable. I stayed for a little while, and the beer menu on the right was the one that replaced the heavily crossed out one. It seems there is a regularly rotating choice of beers and there were extra options in the beer fridges as well.

    I would comment that the beer list is a little difficult to tie into beers on Untappd, and there were a couple of mistakes on there. That makes no difference to me as I had the information that I needed, but it might mean that I thought that I was drinking a slightly different version of a brewery’s beer to the one they served me, which will mean my reviews on Untappd might be a little wrong. But I can’t imagine that anyone much cares….. (and I won’t tell Nathan as he will tut at my lack of accuracy).

    Anyway, my first beer was a collab between S43 Brewery and Brew York, which I think is the Pumpkin Pumpkin Dark Side. This was exquisite and it felt a little like Christmas with the cinnamon and nutmeg, just like a decadent drink from Starbucks. Apparently there is pumpkin in there (a hint with the beer name) but I can’t remember what pumpkin tastes like, so I took their word for that. The second beer was from Maltgarden, which immediately made me miss Poland, who I always try to get beers from when I see them. This one was Escape With Me, another stout which again had a cinnamon flavour, but also coffee, nuts and maple syrup, a second decadent drink.

    My third drink was the Virtual Reality – Mocha Coconut and Vanilla Macaroons, which disappointed me as I struggled to pull any flavour out of that at all. I did partly wonder whether I had the right beer, but a few people noted the subtle flavours with this one and so perhaps they were just too subtle for me. I usually like Amundsen Brewery beers, but I thought that this was a little average. But, I can’t win them all.

    And they had a choice of crisps from Pipers, another positive point…… Although I didn’t have one, the bar is also proud of their coffees and I suspect that they’re rather good as well. Yet one more good thing, they’ve made the effort to put some history of the building on their web-site, it annoys me when historic pubs make no reference anywhere to their heritage. More substantial food isn’t served here (although I’d be happy with lots of crisps) but customers can bring their own food in and the bar’s web-site offers some recommendations.

    The staff were conversational and welcoming, this was always an inviting place to be. The staff were knowledgeable about beer and I felt that they made an effort to engage with every customer. In some ways, this bar seems very understated when I visited, given that it was quiet and I felt it deserved to be busy. I’d say that this is one of those bars which is on-trend, but not through a formulaic design, but by offering elements that are exciting and innovative. There were numerous pinball tables (or whatever they’re called) which added something different as well, I like additional quirky bits like that.

    Anyway, I thought that this really was a delightful little place which deserves more attention given the care that they’ve taken with the choice of beers. Friendly staff, a clean environment, excellent beer and nothing for me to complain about. Reviews on-line are nearly universally positive, so all very lovely.

  • Birmingham – Birmingham Snow Hill Holiday Inn Express

    Birmingham – Birmingham Snow Hill Holiday Inn Express

    One measure of just how much I like a hotel is how disappointed I am to leave it. This hotel in Birmingham, near Snow Hill railway station (and about a ten minute walk from Birmingham New Street), is one that I didn’t much want to leave at all, the professionalism of the management is evident across the building, the facilities and the staff engagement. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a glorious example of how to run a hotel and I have no idea who the general manager is, but he or she certainly seems to know what they’re doing. I rarely have reason to write that in the 100s of hotel posts I’ve made on this blog.

    The view from my room, which was on the top floor and at the end of a corridor, my favourite location for a room. I arrived late at night and phoned the hotel in advance to check that they wouldn’t give my room away, but they reassuringly seemed surprised that I ever thought they would. Check-in was efficient and I felt like I was given a proper welcome, with lots of information offered about the hotel.

    This is the view from the other side of the hotel, giving a scale of the height of the building.

    The room, which was clean, comfortable and had a desk (a concept seemingly being ignored by some hotels now). The air conditioning worked and I was able to have the room nicely chilled for my three night stay. The windows don’t open, but I can forgive that on a building of this height and with functioning air conditioning. The room was spotlessly clean and there were no noise issues internally or externally. The hotel doesn’t seem to have cut corners during the construction of their building and although I knew that the hotel was busy, it didn’t feel like that in the room which was beautifully quiet.

    The welcome drink and there was a choice of around five different beers, this was perfectly acceptable to me.

    The breakfast selection, which was operating as it did pre-Covid, with individuals being able to take what they wanted themselves without staff involvement.

    The pastries. The quality of these was OK, although nothing more than that, although I suspect that the hotel might be tied into buying these from IHG for brand consistency.

    A general view of the breakfast room, which the reception desk told me got busy from 08:00 onwards, so I beat that by going down at 07:00 every morning. The coffee actually tasted of coffee and there were a range of different teas as well.

    For what is a hotel charging £50 me per night including breakfast, I’d say that the quality offered here is really good. Perhaps there could have been a greater choice of hot food items, but there were eggs, bacon, sausage and beans, which I thought was sufficient. No-one ever checked my room number at breakfast, but there were plenty of staff members about clearing down tables on a regular basis. Everything felt clean, organised and well managed.

    The reception desk staff were impeccably polite and helpful, saying hello whenever guests passed them. It’s a nice touch as this is a large hotel and it adds a level of personal interaction to proceedings. Rooms are also being cleaned every day, they’re not taking shortcuts there as some hotel chains seem to be.

    I can’t really find any fault with this hotel. I did have one empty soap dispenser, but since there were two, that was hardly a major fault. That this is only negative that I can think of shows just how perfectly things ran for me. All very lovely.

  • Coventry – The Old Windmill

    Coventry – The Old Windmill

    I was reliant again on the Good Beer Guide to find me somewhere suitable to visit in Coventry for lunch and yet again the book didn’t let me down with the historic Old Windmill pub on Spon Street.

    My slightly wonky photo of the entrance area, a long corridor with rooms off it, with the bar at the end. The history in this pub is clearly evident and I’m delighted that they haven’t ripped this all out and created an open plan area. CAMRA have some information about the history of the building itself.

    The beer options at the bar and there are also numerous ciders to choose from as well.

    I ordered at the bar and then took a seat in one of the rooms, still with the heritage of the structure being very evident. This felt a welcoming and comfortable environment, although personally I thought that the music being played took away from the atmosphere rather than adding anything to it. There’s so much community spirit here and conversation that I’m really not sure that the music does much for the pub. There are apparently folk music events held here, which seems more in keeping with the pub’s character, as well as numerous real ale festivals.

    Now this is the sort of food that pubs should serve….. I had heard that the pork pies were one of the specialities of the pub, so went with that, although the cheese board sounded very tempting as well.

    My half pint of Charrington Oatmeal Stout from Heritage Brewing, suitably refreshing although not quite as rich as I had expected, but still entirely acceptable.

    The reviews of the pub are very high, although I like the response that the pub gave to one complaint that it was busy in the evening, namely “Thanks for your review Geoff, I’m sorry you found the pub too busy, although we prefer like that as it helps pay the rent.”

    My marvellously well presented pork pie. I sent this to my friend Nathan who correctly guessed that I had carefully picked the jelly out of the pork pie. I went for the pickled onions and mustard as the included sides, with the other option being the chutney. When I was at the bar the local supplier of the pastries came in and I was tempted to order the Cornish Pasty one, but I thought that I should try the pork pies. All a rather lovely lunch and if I come back, I might try the pastries or cheeseboard options.

    Anyway, I can see why this pub has won numerous CAMRA awards in the past and the staff member who served me was engaging, conversational and clearly quite brilliant at his role. All very lovely and cosy, and definitely a contender for my little Pub of the Year award….. I like a pub with history and character, with the Old Windmill not letting me down.

  • Coventry – Ibis Coventry South

    Coventry – Ibis Coventry South

    This Accor hotel is about a thirty-minute walk from Coventry and isn’t very well reviewed on-line, so I wasn’t entirely sure what I’d make of it. It’s a motel type set-up, with the office and reception separate from the main accommodation block. There’s not much that can be done about that now, but it probably wasn’t a great design when conceived twenty years ago or so. I’ve stayed in numerous motels in the United States, but I can’t recall of one which hasn’t had the reception built into the main part of the building.

    The separate accommodation block. My first impressions was that there were people playing music outside who probably should have been told to stop by the hotel staff. I’m getting ever more immune to noise and quite liked the bizarre conversations that they were having, but I can see why the hotel gets negative reviews about this entire set-up. It doesn’t give a good first impression and there’s plenty of space for the hotel to ask guests to move to if they want to sit outside and listen to music.

    The interior of the rooms surprised me, as although the exterior is very not Ibis like, the rooms have been refitted to meet the brand standard. Indeed, the rooms were clean, well presented and fully functional, which entirely satisfied my requirements. I suspect that the cost of bringing this set-up into the rooms was quite expensive, so there’s been a financial commitment here to the hotel’s future. The rooms were cool in temperature and I could open the window, but there was no air conditioning.

    The hotel’s restaurant is currently closed, although they are still doing a basic food menu. It’s one of the restaurants that in normal times does that annoying thing of having 50% off to people who use things such as the Gourmet Society and Tastecard. Lovely if you’re loyal to the Gourmet Society, but perhaps less so if you were just loyal to Accor and didn’t realise.

    I didn’t see any interesting beer options for my rewards drink, so limited myself just to a Coke. The bar area was sort of open, but it didn’t feel entirely inviting, so I just brought it back to my room.

    I’m not a driver, so the car park situation has little relevance to me, but there is some fining set-up in place for those who don’t pay the car park charge. This might have been removed now, but the hotel has a whole host of complaints going back years on how guests have received a fine through the post. Likely not ideal and I’m surprised they need to charge for car parking this far out of the city centre.

    Anyway, I slept very well and had no noise disturbances at all, which moderately surprised me. The corridor outside the room with limited glazing does drag the hotel’s reviews down, although I was nearly at the end of an external corridor so didn’t have many people needing to walk this far down. Given that the room cost under £40, which was nearly all paid for by Accor Rewards points, I thought this was actually perfectly decent value for money. For those who want something nearer to Coventry, Ibis also have another hotel in the city centre (but that was obviously more expensive, so I traipsed out here).

  • West Bromwich – The Billiard Hall

    West Bromwich – The Billiard Hall

    This JD Wetherspoon operated pub that I visited earlier on in the week isn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide (which is the reason I’d usually quickly write about it) but I just liked the building. Although the interior is relatively plain, the external facade has been maintained and is quite eye-catching. It is one of the earlier pubs owned by the chain, having opened in the late 1990s.

    The building originally opened in September 1913 and was used by Willie Holt, a billiards player and table manufacturer, as a billiards hall which had as many as 23 full size tables inside. The local press reported on the planned opening:

    “All West Bromwich will soon be talking of breaks and cannons, kisses and hazards. Today, people in West Bromwich are talking billiards; next week almost everybody will be playing billiards. There is going to be a big billiard boom when Willie Holt, the champion trick shot expert of the world, comes amongst us to open the new billiard hall.”

    There were a few real ales available, I went for half a pint of Black Knight from Goffs Brewery and half a pint of Plum Porter from Titanic. The first might have been just a little on the turn, although acceptable and not near the stage that I’d need to return it. I feel slightly guilty for marking it down on Untappd as the brewery saw it and toasted the check-in, but I’m sure they’ll get over it. Titanic are one of my favourite breweries, so always a delight to have Plum Porter.

    The pub had quite a vibrant atmosphere even at lunch-time, so I can imagine it must be quite, er, challenging on weekend evenings. Service was friendly though and the pub was relatively clean, although the interior could probably do with a refurbishment. JD Wetherspoon did have another pub on the outskirts of West Bromwich, the Moon Under Water, but this was sold off to Admiral Taverns and is now the Coach & Horses. Anyway, all perfectly acceptable and a comfortable environment, in a building that I think is quite memorable.

  • Birmingham – Head of Steam (II)

    Birmingham – Head of Steam (II)

    Head of Steam is one of my favourite chains and I’ve been to several across the country and I’ve been to this one before and enjoyed the quality of the food and drink that they had.

    I came in here again as they were advertising on Facebook the new bottles from Vault City Brewing. The staff member hadn’t heard of them and was initially confident that they didn’t have them. I did on four occasion say that I could see the beer in the fridge behind her, but she wasn’t having any of it. She was polite enough though and got another staff member, who told her they were in the fridge behind her. I decided not to say anything. They hadn’t yet been listed on the till and I did ask the price before ordering and was given an estimate, which transpired to be a fair chunk out, so this was a more expensive drink than I had anticipated.

    Being honest, I wasn’t entirely sold on the engagement here in terms of beer knowledge, but these are challenging times for pubs and perhaps they were short-staffed.

    And here is the drink that I wanted, the Raspberry White Chocolate Honeycomb Imperial Stout from Vault City Brewing, which was a rather beautiful beer. Although a stout, there was a sourness from it, with the various flavours each noticeable by taste in what was quite a complex beer. Rather lovely to have that white chocolate smoothness, the tartness of the raspberries and the touch of honeycomb. I lingered over this drink for over an hour, as it was one that could just be sipped for some time. I’ve also just realised I had listed it incorrectly on Untappd, as they have a similar sour version, which I’ve now corrected.

    The interior of the bar, which was all clean and organised, as well as being quite empty. It’s a large venue and there’s an interesting bit at the entrance which feels like a covered beer garden type area. So, everything was fine with the visit, but it was missing the level of engagement that I’d usually expect from Head of Steam. No negative issues though and marvellous that they’ve got such excellent beers in stock. A perfectly well deserved entry into the Good Beer Guide in my humble view. And a reminder that I need to try more beers from Vault City Brewing.

  • Birmingham – Cherry Red’s Cafe Bar

    Birmingham – Cherry Red’s Cafe Bar

    This is one of those locations that I probably wouldn’t have thought to visit for beer if it wasn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide, as it’s listed as a cafe bar. Looking through the reviews, they are nearly all positive, whether it’s customers wanting a breakfast, a coffee or a beer.

    The cask and keg options are listed on a board, which I didn’t initially notice (although it is quite obvious if I’m being honest). As at that point I hadn’t noticed the board, I asked a staff member what beers there were and they were keen to engage and offer samples. This is a place that’s put quite a bit of thought into their beer options and is proud to explain what they’ve got.

    The beer pumps, although unfortunately they’d just run out of the cherry sour from New Invention. They don’t have much space here, with a limited number of tables inside, but although perhaps a little cluttered in places, everything was clean and organised.

    I went for two half pints, one of the King Korvaks Lament from Fownes Brewing Company and one of the Steady Rolling Men from DEYA Brewing Company. Both were very nice beers and I can absolutely see why this cafe bar arrangement has ended up in the Good Beer Guide. I was initially sitting inside, but moved outside as it was just too hot. I usually try and avoid sitting outside, but there was a lovely breeze blowing up through Birmingham that I thought I’d take advantage of. The prices were also reasonable for the quality of the beers which were being offered.

    In addition to the beer, the cafe bar serves meals, cake and has a range of soft drinks, so there’s something of a continental feel to the whole arrangement. In addition to the visible cask and keg lines, they also have a relatively extensive list of bottles and cans which are in the fridges, so there’s plenty of choice. The staff were friendly, the location was clean and I was certainly not disappointed with this visit.

  • Avanti West Coast : Birmingham New Street to Coventry

    Avanti West Coast : Birmingham New Street to Coventry

    Birmingham New Street is a delightful new and bright railway station, but the platforms under it weren’t modernised as part of the new structure. It seems a little unusual to go from a beautiful building which is modern and flooded in light, to the dingy platforms underneath. It reminds me slightly of Penn Station in New York, with the platform section being totally different to what is above (in that case because they demolished the beautiful building above the platforms).

    Here’s the Avanti train, not really looking the most beautiful in terms of its design, although apparently a number of their trains are currently receiving makeovers and so perhaps this one will soon receive the same modernisation.

    I had booked my train about twenty minutes before the trip using GWR (to get a few Nectar points) and it cost £4.90 to get from Birmingham to Coventry. Seat reservations are required and I was in Carriage F, although it transpired to not really be very busy on-board. The above set-up really doesn’t help customers find their carriage if they’re labelling them G and then U. The announcements made clear that customers need no longer wear masks, although they were welcome to if they wanted, which makes me confused as to what the rules actually are now as they seem to differ between rail companies. Customers were though asked not to sit in the aisle seats to help protect staff, although that request seemed to be widely ignored.

    The carriage, all clean and bright, although I couldn’t find any at-seat power (not that I actually needed any given that the journey was only twenty minutes). These are the old Virgin trains from when they operated the West Coast mainline franchise from 1997 to 2019, but Avanti will only hold the new franchise until 2026 due to changes to the way that the rail system will operate in the future (I suspect for the worse, but that’s a discussion for elsewhere).

    And safely into Coventry on time.

    I thought that this was all rather positive, they’re building a new station complex. The current railway station isn’t really very nice, it’s a bit tired and was in need of a modernisation. It was built in the 1960s after the previous perfectly adequate building was demolished, a sad loss for the city. As part of the integrated public transport strategy, buses and trains will now connect together at the new railway station building.

    Which all means that I’m safely in Coventry and this new development gives a much better first impression to the city than it used to.