Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

Halifax – Vocation & Co Taproom

I’m a big fan of Vocation brewery and I was pleased to see that their flagship new taproom has opened in Halifax since I last visited the town. I also noticed that one of the two JD Wetherspoon outlets has gone, but this more than made up for that as this venue is listed in the Good Beer Guide so that’s another one ticked off.

It’s a decent space and they have additional floors and space, along with a rooftop terrace. It’s all very on-trend and seems to be attracting a younger demographic. And me. They serve pizzas, which are a little punchy in terms of the price, but it all looks of a high quality.

I very much like the darker beers that Vocation brew, although there was nothing new available to me in that regard, so I went for some different beer styles. This is an excellent range of beers though and covers numerous beer styles. I didn’t have any cask options, as I tried them before, but they have keg and cask available to choose from. The beer list is also on Untappd which is handy, along with their wide range of cans which they have available.

This is the Spring Zing from the brewery, a balanced sour which wasn’t overly sour but had lots of rhubarb and was suitably agreeable.

And my second beer, both of which were just thirds, was the Afterglow from the brewery which was punchy and zesty. Coming in at 8% ABV it had a heap of stone fruit, lots of hops and a feeling of complexity around it.

I liked this venue, it was clean, comfortable and felt welcoming. The prices were towards the higher end of the scale, but there’s clearly been some considerable money invested here and I’ve a lot of time for what they’re trying to achieve. I’m not sure when I’ll next be back in Halifax, but I’ll likely quickly pop in here when I am as it feels like the equivalent of a friend who always has biscuits in the cupboard, somewhere worth dropping in whilst passing.

June 5, 2025
Wigan – The Brocket Arms (JD Wetherspoon)

I visited one of the two JD Wetherspoon pubs in Wigan (the Moon Under Water) a couple of months ago, but this one is a little further out at just over a mile away from the centre. Today, I managed to get my rail ticket from Glasgow to Shipley to incorporate a two hour period in Wigan to visit the Brocket Arms.

It’s a sizeable place, large beer garden at the front and it looked welcoming.

Some pub history here, the text reads

“This typical post-war public house was built by the brewers Peter Walker of Warrington. It had seven guest rooms, some with television sets, and was officially opened on 10 October 1957 by the company’s chairman, Lord Brocket. The pub is situated on Mesnes (pronounced ‘Mains’) Road. This is a shortened form of ‘demesne’, meaning land retained by the Lord of the Manor, in this case the Rector of Wigan, for his own use.”

An advert from 1991, some interesting marketing going on there and I note that the food is still about the same price 35 years later.

One of the lower price bands in the chain, although the breakfast muffin deal was actually cheaper than advertised here.

I don’t really know why they push these muffins so much, as they’re not very good at them. But, they are only £1 more than the coffee so a cheap and cheerful little meal. I removed that cheese as it felt excessive to the arrangement, but the sausage and egg were as expected, with the lightly toasted muffin. Try to ignore that I managed to have a little spill with the coffee, although that was for reasons beyond my control relating to the stickiness of the table.

It’s a cavernous building inside, there must be hundreds of seats here. The chain opened it in the mid-1990s and there were numerous complaints from locals that the hotel element was left derelict for some years before work was done to re-open the hotel element.

And as my usual meander through the reviews, which are relatively good for the chain, as it’s a JD Wetherspoon venue:

“Never had any issues here. Went tonight and started off nicely. Service is as normal.. we ordered food and drinks on the app, and our friends ordered x3 times for us, they got us some x2 pints, shots and some ice cream (thanks). There was only 2 of us. Every time they’d bring something over they’d slam it down whilst rolling their eyes. Specifically this young girl, quite tall, brown hair, pony tail. Didn’t catch her name, but I’ve never felt so uncomfortable whilst being served in any establishment ive been too. Then I went to order some more food and drinks on the app (as friends arrived at this point to order stuff) and it no longer allowed us or them. Bit strange.. so I asked the same young girl and she said “it’s been turned off” I said “all together or for this table?” She said “just this table, youre playing a game”, I carried on conversating with her nicely as I am usually to anyone in customer service, and this girl just walks on off away from me, mid sentence. I just wanted to understand. So so rude, after all the eye rolling too… a simple answer would have sufficed, but the attitude just made me want to leave and never come back. Bare in mind, i never continued to order anything since the cut off after only 3 orders and that stonking interaction. It just made me not even want to. If it was such a problem, why not my question and tell me and I will understand and carry on ordering and giving you my money appropriately.. but the stinking attitude from the get go just made me want to run from there. And its such a shame as a local.. I can’t say I’ve ever been anywhere where theres young girls with as much as a stonking attitude as this. Times are really changing.. Cause I’m quite positive and couldn’t be more appreciative of service since being in the same industry, so i understand the service they get on the receiving end. But i gave them no reason, i will always smile at you.. but this has taken me a back. Don’t think I’d feel comfortable going there again. That interaction was just plain ignorant and so uncalled for. Especially with the energy i was giving to them. I wish I caught her name.. Rolling your eyes at me like I’m some drunk whose ruined your cornflakes that same morning. I’m just stunned…. Other than that, we would have stayed longer, drinks were okay until they stopped after only 3 different orders, food okay. Service was absolutely nil. Proper ruined my mood#”

I’m a bit with the pub here. This getting team members to go constantly to the tables to deliver stupid items is sub-optimal from their point of view. If the team members look annoyed, it seems to me best to just stop doing it, not get into an argument about it and write about how they’re ignorant.

“Very poor service this evening from this establishment, arrived with my wife and my friend and ordered some food together and drinks for my friends food to arrive before mine and my wife’s the time had past my 20 mins so I asked a member of staff if he knew where the rest of our food order was as our food was now cold due to waiting for ours, the attitude given back was appalling and told us “it is what it is” you’ll just have to wait. At this point I asked to speak to the manager to then be told “I am the manager” we regularly go to all different weatherspoons and the service here shocked us, would avoid this one!”

I’m with the customer here though, I hate it when my food arrives much later as I have to pretend not to look stressed. I like the “it is what it is” approach though….

“The staff don’t speak to anyone and don’t know what their doing with their job. Asked for a hot chocolate and they gave me a powder sachet and told me to go pout some hot water in. It’s very untidy and food is stale.”

Oddly, the two coffee machines here didn’t have hot chocolate, not sure I’ve seen that lack of option at one of the chain’s pubs for some time. Unless there was another coffee machine tucked away somewhere.

“Staff have Poor attitude, serve 14 year and olds but not 15 year olds disgraceful”

I’m guessing this reviewer was 15.

A lot of the negative reviews (about 85% of them on TripAdvisor) are about parking fines which have been issued, I’m not sure why they’d have a problem with people parking here but it’s clearly something of an issue and there are numerous angry customers. The venue is a hotel as well as a bar, which I imagine makes matters more complex if there’s limited spaces.

It was too early for beer (which is also why I didn’t visit any Good Beer Guide pubs when I was here), but they had Sharp’s Doom Bar, Greene King Abbot, Thornbridge Jaipur, Hawkshead Lakeland Gold and Peerless Langton Spin, all of which were priced at the bargain £1.99 for a pint. Anyway, this is a standard JD Wetherspoon venue, nothing overly exciting of note but it’s cheap and cheerful.

June 5, 2025
Glasgow – Bus to City Centre More Expensive than the Flight

I experienced earlier today what might best be described as one of the more decadent bus journeys of my life, from Glasgow Airport to the city centre, courtesy of First Bus.

The excited passengers waiting to board.

This cost the not-so-bargain price of £11. Now, I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I did briefly wonder if I’d accidentally bought the seat. Not rented. Bought and perhaps provided with a free First fleece. As a comparison, my flight all the way from Budapest, roughly 1,200 miles and including a safety demonstration and a view of some clouds, was under £9. In short, it was cheaper to fly across a continent than to endure 20 minutes of pleasant Scottish tarmac.

That said, the opulent bus itself was clean, punctual and, dare I say, convenient with the driver neither shouting nor hitting any of the passengers so there were lots of positives. Within moments of leaving the airport, I was whisked through the drizzle with wifi and a USB port and it was all very smooth.

Still, I arrived safely, albeit financially rattled and maybe they should offer a laminated certificate to commemorate my participation in the UK’s most disproportionately priced transport experience (well, other than the Luton DART). It does though run 24 hours, so you can be overcharged day and night.

June 4, 2025
Wizz Air (Budapest to Glasgow)

I thought that the tropical heat of Budapest was getting a bit much, so I decided to go somewhere rather more suited to my preferred temperature range, so I opted for Glasgow. The flight was just under £9 with the Wizz Air Multipass that I bought last December and I remain very pleased with.

Slightly blurred, well very blurred, but I was zooming in to check that I was at the correct gate. The flight was delayed by an hour, but I was in no rush at the other end so I appreciated the extra time in the airport lounge. The boarding process was efficient and the gate staff were polite and helpful, although a couple of customers being charged for oversized bags might not have agreed with that.

Boarding the aircraft 9H-WDR, an A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since June 2023. The seat Gods had unfortunately given me a middle seat and I had decided to accept my fate with my usual heap of downloaded YouTube videos lined up. However, the delight of hearing “boarding complete” with no-one in the aisle seat meant that the seating Gods had looked at me favourably after all. And then I noticed that the woman opposite and forward one row had eyed up the seat and was wildly flapping for her husband (or male companion, I shouldn’t judge) to come back about six rows and sit there to be near her. Anyway, that plan was foiled as I had already moved when she was mid-flap.

And then another little situation occurred when numerous people applauded the pilots for landing the plane. I don’t know a huge number of pilots (well, two) but both of them I know hate this practice and I’m not sure if it’s from the Hungarians who know more about their national airline than I do (I accept that it might not be the official national airline, but it has far more aircraft than any other Hungarian airline).

Anyway, that was the first little situation, with the second being the lady in the window seat being determined to barge past me after the aircraft arrived at the gate to get to the aisle. Now, I’m a firm believer in the “where exactly do you think you’re going?” philosophy of post-landing etiquette. I’ve got nowhere to go or stand. Are we suddenly going to a surprise party on the air bridge? No, we’re not, so I wasn’t moving in the period between the aircraft being at the gate and the aircraft door opening. The whole mad dash is truly a marvel and it happens nearly every flight. You’ve got people practically dislocating shoulders trying to yank their bloody carry-ons down, then forming a chaotic queue in the aisle, all while desperately trying to outmanoeuvre each other for a coveted spot only to then shuffle along at the pace of a heavily sedated snail once they hit the terminal.

And safely back in Glasgow post rushoffplanegate, around forty minutes later than expected. I have a few hours at the airport but I’ll report back on this riveting exercise a little later on.

June 3, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Budapest)

There’s not a lot for me to write about this flight as Wizz Air are so efficient that matters always seem to go as planned. But I’ll write about it for my own memory, this flight cost me £8.99 as it was booked with the Wizz Air Multipass and it’s the 19:25 flight to Budapest from London Luton Airport. As an aside and despite what the board noted, the gate was shown from 18:25 although at that point the incoming aircraft hadn’t even parked up.

The flight was departing from Gate 31 and, as usual, the signage was clear so that customers knew where to go whether they were priority (not me) or non-priority (me). British Airways never really managed this, they ended up with a mass of people (somewhat more commonly and rather unkindly called gate lice) standing in a random pattern near to the boarding gates and thus blocking everyone else.

There’s the aircraft arriving and before the customers had deplaned (I know some people hate that word, but I like it). It’s 9H-WNT, an Airbus A321 which only entered service in late January 2025. Given how new it is, I’m fairly sure that I haven’t been on it yet. Customers waited excitedly on the stairs and the gate staff were generally tolerant of some bags that were too large, but they did charge those who were evidently way over the limit. I’m always slightly surprised how many people push this, it’s quite an expensive exercise to be charged extra at the gate and I’m not sure it’s worth the risk.

Boarding the aircraft and the seat Gods had given me an aisle seat in what was a nearly full service. The flight was uneventful, we sat on the runway (not literally obviously, we were in a plane) for 20 minutes as they waited for a slot from air traffic control, but there were regular announcements and the crew were endlessly polite. The crew were efficient and helpful, with quite a number of passengers purchasing food and drink as the trolley went up and down the aisle. A group of younger customers, who looked like they were about 16, applauded after the aircraft landed and I did secretly hope that they would be barred for life, but then I thought that might be a little excessive.

And landing at Budapest airport pretty much on time. Wizz Air pad their schedules a bit, so the late departure was made up en route and so they could accurately state that there was no delay. In terms of timings, I was impressed as this photo was taken at 23:13 when I was leaving the aircraft and I was at the Ibis Styles hotel reception at 23:20. I think that seven minutes is perhaps the fastest that I’ve gone from the aircraft, through border control, through security and into the hotel.

June 2, 2025
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 15 and Bread Source

And this is week 15 of our attempt to visit every food stall at Norwich Market, with James querying when I was going to post this, so I’ve rushed matters along. When James and I did all of this before in 2023, I wasn’t entirely surprised and delighted with the quality of the offering as the roll didn’t seem as fresh as it could have been. I happened to be telling someone who supplies Bread Source and he defended their quality and mentioned it wasn’t the best product to buy at 13:00 as the rolls would have been fresher earlier. I don’t really think that this holds entirely true though, it’s not for the customer to know when they’re supposed to order things and lunchtime hardly seems end of day in any event. Anyway, this meant that I was keen to give Bread Source a second chance and I was ready to give them an opportunity to engage so that I was excited and enthused by their offerings as I like positivity.

The food looked appetising and was neatly lined up and clearly priced.

Unlike last time, there were very few filled rolls visible and so perhaps they are keen to ensure that they don’t stay out too long. Unfortunately, this is as far as I can go with my enthusiasm as the team member ignored us when we were standing looking at their collection of their baked goods. I’ve blurred him from the photos as I don’t want to spread any needless negatively, but despite moving into the stall itself and then trying to make random noises to get his attention from his tablet there was no engagement here at all and it wasn’t at all easy to be served. I’d go as far as to say that we weren’t really made very welcome at all, the situation was sub-optimal. I did have the Inbetweeners clip in my mind with the quote:

“Why don’t we at least attempt to have a sophisticated conversation? I know it’s a tall order, and I’m not expecting sparkling, but let’s give it a go…..”

To be fair, I would have been happy with someone saying “hi” and didn’t necessarily even need the sophisticated conversation.

In fairness, my raspberry and pistachio bun was fresh, it had a pleasant taste, the texture was smooth with a crisp edge from the pistachio and it felt like a high quality product. The price tag of £3 wasn’t unreasonable and the quality was better than I had expected, so there’s a win.

James didn’t dislike his doughnut (I actually think that he quite liked it), but signalled his anger by taking a photograph of it next to an ashtray. I didn’t say anything.

Without wishing to be controversial, but I do wonder why Bread Source are still on the market. I can’t remember being ignored at somewhere like Greggs or similar, but I’d understand it more if I was, as people do get tired and bored when serving customers. But, the quality of the engagement from Norwich market traders is exceptionally high because they want to build their businesses up and get a loyal following. If Bread Source left their stall (and I assume they aren’t tied in here, although I’m not an expert on the rental agreements at the market if I’m being honest), it would perhaps allow a new independent food operator in and give them an opportunity to offer something different and have some passion about what they do. Norwich Market is full of traders like that, as this series of posts shows. Given that Bread Source have multiple other shops in the city, I hope that they wouldn’t be too annoyed, although I can’t imagine they’ll read this anyway, if I wrote that I hope they move on to give someone else a go. Which isn’t to note that the company hasn’t done very well and clearly has a substantial following, but it is now a large outfit and times changes….. But, in terms of the positive, the product was decent and I felt that the value for money was reasonable, so it’s not all negative.

June 2, 2025
Hitchin – St. Mary’s Church (Ledger Stone of Charles Nicholls)

This is the ledger stone of Charles Nicholls (c.1629-1692) which is located in St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin. I’m not sure why the “Ætatis suæ 63” bit is in Latin (a throw-back to the pre-Reformation maybe), but he died at the age of 63. I can’t find out much about him, but his son is interesting as Bedfordshire Archives have some of the family records in their collection and they’ve added some narrative about them:

“(1) NICHOLLS FAMILY 1664-1746

Charles Nicholls senior was a Hitchin gentleman who built up an estate round the borders of Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire over many years. He was survived by his two children, Charles and Mary, and his widow Agnes who had previously been Miss Peake, Mrs Greene and Mrs Rolf. Charles Nicholls junior became an attorney in Hitchin. He inherited his father’s estate in 1692 and added to it, mainly by lending money with property as security and foreclosing on the ‘mortgages’. These properties included a large estate in the Waldens, Hertfordshire, against which John Cripps had borrowed over 2,000 from Nicholls by 1708. When Nicholls foreclosed, Cripps called him a rogue, rascal and villain, and came near to killing him at Bendish, Herts, one November afternoon in 1709. Nicholls fled in fear of his life to London where he made a deposition about what had happened. The deposition has survived almost entirely and gives a fascinating glimpse of the speech, behaviour, manners and dangers of the period. In the end Nicholls’ foreclosure resulted in Cripps’ dying penniless in the Fleet Prison, London soon afterwards, leaving a widow and two infant daughters. Overall, Nicholls loaned at least 3199 which now, in 2003, would be equivalent to over a quarter of a million pounds.

The period around the end of the 1600s and early 1700s was volatile in financial terms. From 1688, Parliament supplied monopoly rights to mercantile ventures including the East India Company, the Hudson’s Bay Company and later the South Sea Company. This led to great speculation in stocks and shares, with companies starting up and often failing very quickly. Before the South Sea Bubble burst in 1720, investors and speculators made fortunes. But fortunes were also lost as these documents show, although the cause is never stated here. Men like Charles Nicholls, who lent money to anyone who had over-reached himself, were the winners because a defaulting borrower seldom reclaimed his property. The estates in this collection acquired by the Nicholls family are : –

1665 Pulloxhill Manor from Pigot and Hale (purchase)
1684 Barton Bridge Closes from Edmund Castell (purchase)
1692 Brotherhood House, Hitchin from Papworth (foreclosure)
1706 Offley from Plummer & Shotbolt (foreclosure)
1709 Stondon from Ansell
1710-19 Hitchin & Ippollitts from Crawley (foreclosure)
1711 Kings Walden & Pauls Walden, Herts from Cripps (foreclosure)
1712 Henlow Grey cottage from Albone (foreclosure)
1715 Pegsden from Ansell (foreclosure)
1722 Pulloxhill leys from Pepyatt (foreclosure)
1723 Foxholes, Hitchin from Draper & Runton (foreclosure)
1729 Chibbley, Pegsdon & Shillington from Tapster & Ansell
1744 Welwyn from Plummer”

It’s an example of how wealth was built up, not necessarily ethically (although nothing changes there with some property owners), during this challenging period, much of it probably still resides in the hands of subsequent generations. Bedfordshire Archives also has this family tree tree for the Nicholls.

June 2, 2025
Hitchin – St. Mary’s Church (Adoration of the Magi)

Located above the north door of St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin is this large painting of the Adoration of the Magi. It occurred to me (and others will inevitably disagree) that it seemed just a little out of place, as if they had this painting and they weren’t entirely sure where to put it. And it has been moved around the church a little, although it moved to its current position in the early nineteenth century and I don’t imagine it’ll be on any travels in the near future. It was donated to the church by John Radcliffe (1738–1783) in 1774 and his family lived in Hitchin Priory so it was unlikely that a gift from the local gentry would have been declined. The painting itself is a copy of an artwork that came from Peter Paul Rubens’s workshop and it’s fortunate that it came after the Puritans had a little rummage about the church as otherwise this would have likely been destroyed. There’s some authenticity to having this religious imagery in a church, although it’s a little dark and hard to see when it’s high up on a church wall. Anyway, what really intrigued me is that no-one has ever taken it down, it would have only taken one vicar who didn’t like it and it would have gone, with the Victorians being particularly good at this wholesale removal of items.

June 2, 2025
Hitchin – St. Mary’s Church (Font)

This is something of an impressive font located at St. Mary’s Church in Hitchin. It’s made from Ketton stone and is thought to date to around 1470 and it has representations of the 12 apostles of Jesus. There was once an additional step here, but the Victorians decided that they’d remove that.

And the font cover, which certainly couldn’t be said to be under-stated.

The quality of the carving is high but then the Puritans came along in the 1640s and knocked the heads of the apostles off. I won’t compare them to any other recent political movement, but the Puritans decided that the Reformation wasn’t done properly and so they went full steam into a more extreme version of it. But, I like the history behind this, it’s something of a survivor and it retains its place in the centre of the church.

June 1, 2025
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market (2025 Edition) – Week 14 and Thai Bubble

This is week 14 of James and I eating at every food stall at Norwich market, for the second time. We did extra visits in May so I had something to write up whilst away, we are very good at forward planning like that, which means that my two loyal readers won’t go short on posts from this series. I rather liked Thai Bubble when we visited last time, although the service time was a little excessive.

It’s not necessarily the easiest menu to understand in terms of the ordering process, but the helpful team member was pro-active in talking me through the whole arrangement. There’s certainly plenty of choice to be had and the stall takes cash and card.

After you order, then you are shown where to wait for the drink on the side of the unit. This time, we didn’t have a long wait, with the drinks being served after a couple of minutes. They’ve changed things a little since we last visited and you can’t sit in the unit now, it’s takeaway only. It all seemed clean and organised, with something of a welcoming vibe to it.

We relocated to the Castle Mall and this is the mango bubble tea with cherry. Sealed at the unit, it kept its chilled temperature and it had a depth of flavour to it. I really rather like the tapioca ball as they add texture to the whole arrangement, although I’m always worried when James has a bubble tea as he ends up choking on one of the balls. It’s also quite a filling drink, there’s plenty of it although I did opt for the larger version.

Talking of which, this is the one that James got and he spent quite a long time trying to work out how to get his straw in. I have to be careful, as otherwise he’ll tell me that I’ve made him sound like an idiot instead of the executive that he is.

This is a slightly light review as it was a drinks visit only, but I liked it here and felt welcome. I’d say that the concept is slightly complex for anyone who doesn’t know what they’re doing, which is so often me, but the service was engaging and warm so that resolved that. I think that we agreed that we’d both go here again (although we say that and then promptly march over to get chips from Lucys), my drink was £4.50 and that’s comparable to a coffee now and my inner child likes the whole concept behind these drinks….. We didn’t order food this time, but they do offer waffles as well.

June 1, 2025