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Category: UK

  • Glasgow – Shilling Brewing Company

    Glasgow – Shilling Brewing Company

    This is a well reviewed craft beer bar in Glasgow which has over twenty different beer options, so it seemed an ideal place to visit on my first evening in the city.

    Well, absolutely! I felt that my decision to come here was justified with signage like this.

    A staff member came over to welcome me as soon as I arrived, which was actually around one minute after they opened, and he was conversational and engaging. He explained the ordering process and waited for me to find the NHS Scotland app on my phone that I haven’t used in ages so that I could check-in. I’m not actually quite sure what the rules are and whether it’s necessary, but I just check-in when asked to.

    The bar’s interior is bright and airy, another former bank conversion of which there seems to be several in central Glasgow. On the left is a projector screen showing the Untappd menu, but there is also a QR code on the menu to access the same information. I liked the range of higher seating and lower table seating, with everything being clean and comfortable.

    A quite decadent bar design, all very on-trend.

    The pizza preparation area. Customers are given one of those buzzer things to alert them to when their pizza is ready. I forgot I had it and was pleased nobody seemed to notice my look of shock when this bloody thing started buzzing around the table.

    I ordered the mixed meat pizza which had pepperoni, ham and chorizo. It was excellent, a light base which had a crispness to it without being hard, with the toppings being tender and rich in flavour. Quite decadent, and the pizzas are all reasonably priced at between £7 and £8.

    In the background are the three one thirds that I ordered, the Kato Raspberry & Lychee Sour from Donkeystone Brewing, the Steeplejack from the Alphabet Brewing Company and the Chew Chew from Fallen Brewing. They were all very drinkable, although nothing of particular note that I feel the need to mention here (for anyone interested, my Untappd account is at https://untappd.com/user/julwhite). The beer menu was well balanced though, with most beer styles being represented.

    The cellar and the former bank vault doors are still in place. I thought at first it was nice that they’d kept them, but they realistically probably didn’t have a great deal of choice in the matter given how heavy and bulky they are. They’re a nice design feature as well.

    Overall, I very much liked this bar with its friendly welcome, helpful staff and clean environment. Lots of different beers, affordable and decadent pizza, comfortable surroundings and somewhere that I’d happily go again. Definitely a credit to the hospitality industry.

  • Glasgow – Counting House

    Glasgow – Counting House

    A new city for me (well, bar one day here a few years ago) and so that gives me the opportunity to visit a few more pubs in the Good Beer Guide. This one is operated by JD Wetherspoon and is located in a former Bank of Scotland building which was built in the late nineteenth century, designed by J T Ruchead.

    Apologies that this photo is slightly on the slant, but this is the entrance to the pub. I have to say that Wetherspoons do make a substantial effort to preserve old buildings and treat them in a respectful manner.

    That’s a grand interior….. Service was fine, although I’ve seen cleaner pubs and it probably could have been much cleaner and looked after. But, I decided to not let that stop me from trying a couple of halves.

    The Monster Hop from Redcastle Brewery who are from Arbroath in Scotland.

    And the Tower IPA from the same brewery. Neither beer was exceptional or worth noting much about, but they were well-kept, at the appropriate temperature and tasted as they should.

    There are a lot of complaints over several months about slow app orders here, the number of which suggests that something is going wrong with this particular pub. I can see why, it took them 16 minutes to get my order over to me and it wasn’t very busy. Not that it mattered, I wasn’t in a rush, but it’s not perhaps ideal for those wanting a quick drink.

    I can see why the pub is in the Good Beer Guide as it usually has over ten real ales, and even in these difficult times it still has seven different ales. I’m not sure that any are exceptional, but they’re keenly priced, well-kept and at least there’s a selection. Although the balance of beer styles isn’t ideal, they have no dark beers and quite a few IPAs.

    For the very slow service time with the app, which is clearly an ongoing issue, and for the lack of cleanliness, I wouldn’t rush back here, but it’s another Good Beer Guide pub visited….

  • Glasgow – Gallery of Modern Art

    Glasgow – Gallery of Modern Art

    I’ve already written separately about the cone statue and the works by Beryl Cook that are on display. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much else of interest in the gallery, it’s all really designed to be elitist rather than accessible as far as I can tell. Minimal explanations of most artworks are annoying, especially when they have longer explanations on their web-site.

    There’s one interesting part of the gallery, which is a permanent exhibition over two floors which is about the history of the building. The site has been used for numerous purposes, not least as a private residence and then a major rebuild saw the Royal Exchange move in. In 1949, businesses became less interested in the Royal Exchange and it closed, being transformed into a library. This then closed in 1983 and work started a few years later to turn it into the Museum of Modern Art, which opened in 1994.

     

    The gallery is rated relatively poorly on review sites, pretty much right at the bottom of major galleries in Scotland on Google and TripAdvisor and well below their modern art equivalent gallery in Edinburgh. One thing can perhaps be noticed from my photos, which is that this was not a popular gallery given that there was nearly no-one else in there. The staff looked bored, either talking to themselves or looking at their phones. One acknowledged me with a verbal greeting, the rest seemed entirely disinterested about the whole arrangement and none were pro-actively engaging with their handful of visitors. I shared their lack of enthusiasm if I’m being honest.

    I’m sure some visitors will love the works on display, but I’m unsure why such a beautiful building is being so heavily under-used in this way. Anyway, it’s been there for over two decades and I imagine it’ll be there for longer, but it’s a shame that it’s not more accessible to the many and not the few. It is at least free of charge though, which makes the low reviews even more inexplicable. It currently asks visitors to not visit for more than two hours to help with capacity issues, although I really can’t imagine this can be much of a problem.

  • Glasgow – Statue of the Duke of Wellington (Traffic Cone Head)

    Glasgow – Statue of the Duke of Wellington (Traffic Cone Head)

    This is a photo of my hotel room and it’s relevant here as the irreverent branding here is of a traffic cone on the ceiling, and of course on the artwork behind the bed. This is because the traffic cone has become one of the emblems for the city of Glasgow, which at first didn’t seem ideal, but now it symbolises something wider.

    And here’s the statue of the Duke of Wellington, outside of the Museum of Modern Art. It was originally sculpted by Carlo Marochetti in 1844 and placed here to commemorate the life of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, a military leader and politician. The practice of putting a cone on the head of the statue dates back to at least the 1980s, but the city council tried unsuccessfully to stop it in in 2005. The sculpture had been damaged by people climbing up it to place the cone on top of it, with another concern that someone might fall off. Today, the council seems more relaxed about it, primarily perhaps as they have no choice. The cone is now nearly permanent, although it goes missing from time to time before being promptly replaced by persons unknown…..

  • Glasgow – Gallery of Modern Art (Works by Beryl Cook)

    Glasgow – Gallery of Modern Art (Works by Beryl Cook)

    I didn’t find much that I could engage with in the Museum of Modern Art in Glasgow, but more of that in another riveting (ahem, well maybe….) blog post later today.

    These were the highlights of the collection for me, the easily identifiable works by Beryl Cook (clicking on the images enlarges them). The one on the left is ‘By the Clyde’ painted in oils in 1992 (acquired by Glasgow Museums in 1993) and the one on the right is ‘Hen Party II’ painted in oils in 1995 (and acquired by Glasgow Museums in 1996).

    I have little art knowledge (well, actually, I suppose I have no art knowledge, but I won’t let that stop me here) but there’s something really quite timeless about the ‘By the Clyde’ artwork. Cook (1926 – 2008) noted about this artwork:

    “I liked this view of the bridge and the bus, and added a girl I had seen at Glasgow Railway Station.”

    It’s not actually of a specific place in Glasgow, just a collection of images that Cook had remembered. There’s an offensive word on the bridge, which is deliberately shown to suggest that it is partly painted out. Like with works by Lowry, these are images of everyday people in what could be seen as a random street scene. The artwork was commissioned by the gallery and they noted that Cook debated whether or not to put that offensive word in the image.

    As an aside, it’s a snapshot of the American Dunkin’ Donuts brand that closed 30 outlets in the UK in the 1990s when the concept just didn’t work here. Although tastes must have changed, as twenty years later they started opening outlets up again in the UK, but that’s probably not relevant here.

  • Paisley – Premier Inn Glasgow Airport Hotel

    Paisley – Premier Inn Glasgow Airport Hotel

    As I had landed at Glasgow Airport at after 21:00 and I’ve never been to the city before, I thought that it’d be easier to just stay near to the airport for the evening. It was also cheaper to stay at the airport than in the city centre, so this was also a cost efficient option. I was pleased to discover just how easy it was to walk to the hotel, as I wouldn’t have been thrilled to traipse around some industrial estates in the dark trying to find how to get there. I’ve had that before, as airports aren’t often designed to encourage pedestrians to walk out of them (London Heathrow T5 and London Gatwick are examples of that….). Anyway, I was at the hotel about five minutes after leaving the airport.

    There was a friendly staff member at reception who said that he had given me a quiet room on the ground floor. I never discovered what relevance the quiet room bit had, as they’re not normally located on the ground floor next to the car park. But, to be fair, I didn’t have any noise problems and so had nothing to complain about. The room was clean, although they need to replace their sheets as they had black stains on them, the origins of which I didn’t dwell on. The bathroom was clean as well, with a bath rather than a shower cubicle.

    The spectacular view I had from my room.

    And the hotel exterior. I didn’t have any problems at the hotel, with everything working as it should. There’s no air conditioning in the room, although there’s a heater which is connected into the temperature controls to make things warmer. That wasn’t relevant for me as I rarely need to make rooms cooler, I spend more time trying to turn them into fridges.

    I didn’t bother with the breakfast as it was £9.90 and I think that it’s too rich a price for the quality offered. The menus in the room mention that there’s a meal deal with evening meal and breakfast included, but the price of that seems a secret. I’m guessing that this probably offers reasonable value for money, but it’d perhaps be clearer if they gave the price.

    The reviews are fairly favourable, with the negative ones being the usual mix of justified and, well, not really justified. I liked the complaint that one person made that they booked their breakfast for 10am but turned up early and couldn’t get their breakfast until 10am. The build quality of the hotel seemingly isn’t great (Premier Inn seem to have a common problem with this) and there seems to be problems with sound leakage from the floor above, but perhaps I was fortunate not to have anyone stomping above my room.

    The room was around £40, which was a little higher than ideal, but still cheaper than the alternative of heading into the centre of the city. I didn’t see anyone at checkout, but I’m fairly sure it wouldn’t have been difficult to find someone to talk to if I had needed to. All told, a perfectly acceptable hotel and I’d say that this is a reliable place to visit for anyone wanting to stay somewhere a short walk to the airport before or after a flight.

  • British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Glasgow)

    British Airways (Heathrow T5 to Glasgow)

    After a productive few hours at London Heathrow, it was time to board the flight to Glasgow from the domestic gates. I don’t normally take domestic flights for environmental reasons, but more on that later in this post. The boarding process was smooth and efficient, although there was a situation that I’ve never seen before that no-one in Group 1 boarding came forwards, and there were only two of us in Group 2 boarding. The member of staff at the gate said to me that this was unusual, although it wasn’t for lack of customers as the flight was nearly full. I think that more customers are just remaining in their seats until the end of the boarding process, which is what I tend to do if I have an aisle seat.

    The meander down to the aircraft, which I unfortunately couldn’t take a photo of as it was hidden behind the air bridge at both ends with no viewing points from the terminal. The aircraft was an A320, registration code G-TTNR, and it was only delivered to British Airways two weeks ago.

    The aircraft was spotlessly clean and things feel much cleaner than they used to when boarding British Airways flights. There were no maintenance issues, although the aircraft is only two weeks old and so it would be a little strange if there were.

    Every customer was given a Dettol wipe if they wanted to clean their seat area a bit more.

    Ready to depart. I’m still intrigued at watching the bags that customers try and fit into the overhead lockers, with some clearly never going to fit. But, I don’t get involved with such dramas…..

    I had an emergency exit row seat and there was no-one sitting next to me, I’m guessing due to BA’s Theoretical Seating platform.

    The flight was scheduled to depart at 20:15, but the boarding process was so smooth that the pilot made an announcement to say he was ready to go early. Air traffic control were happy, so we left at 20:06. The flight was also meant to arrive at 21:40, but we landed at 21:17, so much earlier than I had anticipated. Above is Heathrow whilst we were taxiing before take-off.

    British Airways flights in Euro Traveller have reverted to offering a free drink and snack. This was the crisps and water offered on this flight, sufficient I imagine for most customers given the short journey.

    The disembarkation process was by seat row, so customers were told to remain seated until their batch of five seats rows were announced. An American in the row behind me said “you’d never get this in the United States, everyone remaining seated” and I must admit that even I was surprised at the compliance. I didn’t have much interaction with the crew, but they offered a friendly hello and goodbye, so that’s good enough for me on a flight of this length.

    Back to the environmental issue that I mentioned earlier. I’m a huge advocate of the rail network and have been delighted at the improvements that have been made over the last two decades. But, for these long journeys, the rail network cannot match British Airways in cost, in comfort, in efficiency or in its ability to allow customers to get work done. This sort of journey should be viable by rail as the best option for the environment.

    Looking back to my LNER journey a few weeks ago, the company is just badly run as far as I’m concerned, and they can’t even get seat reservations right, let alone have enough staff to deal with the problem customers. Long journeys need to be handled more elegantly by rail companies so that customers are actually comfortable. At the same time, British Airways has worked out how to transport people cheaply, with excellent customer service and handles customer loyalty well. And, they’re doing it with the advantage that it’s a much quicker form of transport. There needs to be a much greater capacity on the mainlines from London to Scotland if they want people to get out of cars and off planes to go back onto the rail network. This is all happening whilst the HS2 East leg looks to be cancelled and that wasn’t meant to open until 2033 anyway.

    The nearest best option is the sleeper service and I enjoyed using that, but it’s being threatened with strike action which makes it hard to rely on. If they retain some of their social distancing so as not to pack out the carriage, then that becomes more viable as there are lounge areas and it’s a comfortable enough way to travel. I accept that it’s possible to use coach services and these are much cheaper, but the length of journey and lack of comfort are challenges here. I got the long distance National Express service from Newcastle to London and they hadn’t even bothered to provide seats at the bus station (or outside it in my case, as the bus stations is shut for many departures) for waiting customers and had drivers smoking in the entrance to their coach. I can’t quite imagine the pilot standing in the British Airways cabin vaping away whilst vaguely looking at customers walking by.

    On many Amtrak services in the United States, a staff member welcomes customers and shows them where their seat is and writes their destination above the seat on a card. There is a substantial amount of leg room, there are observation cars, a buffet car and the whole service feels spacious and comfortable. It’s easy to get work done and there’s a loyalty scheme which rewards frequent travellers. On long-distance rail services in the UK, there’s no-one greeting customers, there’s often not even a seat (or someone else is sitting in it), there’s a poor loyalty scheme, crammed in seats, no observation cars and inadequate dining cars. But there’s not much point in offering that to customers given that the network is so busy already.

    So, in short, this was a near perfect flight experience for me and I can absolutely see why customers are choosing this form of transport. I have no need to take domestic flights on a regular basis, but I was surprised to see just how efficiently British Airways are managing the process at the moment. Given the problems with using rail for long journeys, I suspect that the best medium-term strategy is finding more environmentally efficient air travel and I know that funding is pouring into that. Otherwise, we’ll have another 50 years of people staying in their cars and driving everywhere, which really isn’t ideal as it’ll lead to no end of new road projects.

    Anyway, rant over and a very lovely flight from British Airways.

  • Heathrow T5 (BA Galleries South Lounge in August 2021)

    Heathrow T5 (BA Galleries South Lounge in August 2021)

    This is my first flight in nearly a year, a domestic flight from London Heathrow T5 to Glasgow Airport. I don’t like taking domestic flights for environmental reasons, but the rail network didn’t give me many options on this one in terms of the price. Things are going to have to change to improve capacity, customer service and pricing if people are going to be tempted away from their cars and from airlines.

    I’ve always liked this “welcome to our home” messaging from British Airways at T5. I was able to use premium security several hours before my flight as I like to arrive early at airports in case of a disaster en route. I then meandered around a rather quiet airport to the T5 Galleries South lounge.

    There’s a new scanner at the entrance to the lounge check-in to avoid needing to go to a staff member. Anyway, it rejected my boarding pass and the kind and patient lady overseeing it mentioned “they’re new and don’t work very well”, but it was soon over-ridden when I used the more traditional staff member at a desk set-up. The lounge felt quite quiet and there’s no self-service offered still, everything is ordered on-line by customers and it’s brought to the table. Staff in the lounge were all personable and kind, it’s a friendly and peaceful place at the moment.

    Having quite a lot of time to get things done I was able to work my way through the menu, this is the Sticky Ginger and Tamari Chicken. I’ve never heard of Tamari, but a quite Google search tells me that it’s a Japanese version of soy sauce. This was really pleasant, tender chicken with a rich sauce and fluffy rice. And some green stuff. Incidentally, on another point, there are power points available so that my devices could charge up throughout the afternoon.

    The beer choice was Heineken, which is a completely pointless drink as far as I’m concerned. BA have reverted to having a whole range of wine, but absolutely no beer of even average quality. I hope that the Brewdog tie-up can be brought back soon to rectify this little omission. I’m sure that normality will resume soon enough in this regard.

    The beef chilli with sour cream and rice, again all very nice.

    I had a quick vodka and Coke, because the Pineapple Ciroc sounded very lovely. And it was, I’m a fan of that now.

    Photos of part of the lounge.

    My dessert of carrot loaf, or whatever it was called. It’s like a stodgy carrot cake.

    At this point a lounge manager walked around politely telling everyone that as it was quiet, they were closing the Galleries South lounge down for the day. She added that customers could go and use the First Class lounge instead, somewhere that I haven’t been for over five years.

    I had finished for the day with food, but there was a different menu on the on-line ordering system in the better lounge, so I felt the need to have a little try of the Barbacoa beef tortilla. This was a step-up in terms of the food quality, very tender beef and the sour cream complemented it well. Quite messy to eat though, but an innovative little dish. Other options I could have gone for were the red wine & mushroom pie and the Caribbean spiced chicken.

    The infamous (well, on Flyertalk anyway) lounge horse lamp…..

    Then the walk to my flight began, through a very empty Heathrow T5. The whole experience is somewhat different to what it was two years ago, but I think it’s all nicer now for customers, although that’s partly just because it’s quieter. Anyway, all very lovely, and a pleasant way to spend a few hours before the flight.

  • London – Hackney (Borough of) – Shoreditch – Goose Island (Sixth Visit)

    London – Hackney (Borough of) – Shoreditch – Goose Island (Sixth Visit)

    Firstly, I accept it’s perhaps a bit much to be writing about Goose Island again, although I have to add that they were my pub of the year in 2020 and so I’m allowed some exuberance here. NB, I also accept having a pub of the year is a bit self-indulgent as well, but here we are as they say….. The actual reason I want to write about this visit is there was a beer that I thought was quite beautiful.

    I won’t write about the bar itself again, I’ve done that to death already. But, this little snack selection from Nanny Bill’s (the in-house food provider) really was rather lovely. The Aggy Fries are rosemary salted with garlic mayo, parmesan cheese, Frank’s hot sauce and spring onions. And they were beautiful, at a hot temperature and the flavours all went nicely together. Those buttermilk fried chicken strips were also beautiful as they were tender, hot, interesting and the coating had a pleasant taste. But, delightful at this was, the beer is the main part of the Goose Island show, the food and staff are just the near perfect complements to it…..

    The Vermont Sticky Maple, a strong 11.3% ABV imperial stout from The Bruery, from Placentia which is in Orange County, in a region of California that I know very well and is perhaps one of the areas of the world that I love the most. Anyway, my reminding myself that I love California to one side, this is a rich and interesting beer.

    The Orange Line beer from Goose Island themselves, a New England IPA with tropical fruit running all the way through it, a lovely light flavour that would go well on a summer day in Maine. A smooth taste and packed with hops although I didn’t get the “flavour of straw” that one person decided they got from this. What flavour does straw have anyway?

    And the shining light of the evening, the Escape Pod Cherry Edition from Pressure Drop Brewing, a small brewery from Tottenham in London. This was quite magical, with rich and smooth flavours of chocolate, vanilla and cherry, and strong aromas of cherry. As may already be evident, there was no shortage of cherry here. A deep mouthfeel with that velvet sort of texture that these imperial stouts can bring, with no harshness from the 10% ABV. The aftertaste was balanced and decadent, a lovely alternating taste of chocolate and cherry. It was like a Christmas chocolate and very memorable, one of the best beers that I’ve had. Quite marvellous.

    As ever, the staff at Goose Island were friendly, engaging and knowledgeable. The bar was clean, the environment was laid-back and this is as far as I’m concerned one of the best bars in the world. And I am unanimous in that…..

  • Eastbourne – Marine Pub

    Eastbourne – Marine Pub

    I have to credit this rather lovely pub in Eastbourne with some really engaging service on Friday evening. The 2020 Hike Norfolk trip to Eastbourne had to be suspended given the national pandemic, but we had 40 people signed up to go and the Marine were ready to cater for that number. To thank them for their assistance with that, I thought that I’d turn up with the 6 or 7 people from this year’s event that I thought would come along on the Friday evening. Given I didn’t know how many people there would be wanting to go for a pub meal on the Friday evening, I decided to risk just turning up.

    With Ross, Dave and Steve with me, we turned up to the pub at their opening time of 18:00 and to my great concern, there were already about 20 people standing outside the pub. This really wasn’t ideal at all if it meant that the pub would be full. We reassured ourselves that at least we’d get a table and everyone else could always walk to McDonald’s. It transpired though that this was just another pre-booked group and they were being catered for in the conservatory area.

    What the pub allowed us to do was really very kind. It primarily involved moving all their furniture around (and I think it’s fair to say that I had this situation sorted….) to suit our needs. It then transpired that there were 14 people all wanting food, which isn’t quite what I expected. However, the pub catered for that whilst remaining friendly and pretending that this wasn’t a bit annoying. I have to say, if I ran a pub again, I’d likely be surprised to see a 14 strong party turn up without a booking. But, these are challenging times and I imagine the money was useful.

    The beer selection was adequate, with London Pride and Harvey’s Bitter available as the only two choices, so I had half a pint of each. They were well kept and presented a useful option, with a regional nod given the Harvey’s which is from nearby Lewes. The beers tasted as they should and they weren’t served too cold, as that always annoys me (I mean relatively, there are other things that annoy me more, like loud people in libraries).

    The food menu and there was a specials list as well.

    I had the pie last time I came here which was excellent, but I decided not to risk the steak one which was their offering this time as I worry there might be fatty meat (I’m a bit picky). Instead, I went for the fish and chips which was reasonably priced and neatly presented. And this was really rather excellent, with a crispy batter which had a depth of flavour, fish which flaked away and no greasiness to the whole arrangement. This was well towards the higher end of the quality range that I’ve experienced.

    Overall, this was an exceptionally well run pub with the staff having excellent customer service skills. They were helpful even when some of our party presented a 10% off voucher and then tried to pay at the bar despite being asked not to. Not that I’m one for gossip or tittle tattle. Although, to be fair, we were a very well behaved group (well, I was) and weren’t loud, so they didn’t have to deal with any noise issues. They did have to deal with Dave getting shots, but he’s very social and endeared himself to them anyway.

    I would absolutely book here again if I return to Eastbourne, because this high level of customer service for large groups is rare. For the perfect visit, being able to work out who ordered what is something pubs are doing better, and it was a bit muddled up here. I’d also ideally like some more craft beer options, but I appreciated that their real ales were well-kept. Anyway, it’s easy to find fault and I thought that the pub did a great job with a lot of food all being ordered at once. Very lovely and I’m grateful for their assistance in getting us a suitable section of the pub with nearly no notice.