It’s 3.30am and I’m safely at Newcastle Airport. I should perhaps reconsider what time flights I get in future, although the terminal is already surprisingly busy.
Category: UK
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Newcastle – Newcastle Airport (Greggs)
Well, how marvellous, a 24-hour Greggs at Newcastle airport. Despite it being 3.30am the staff were friendly, welcoming and engaging, an impressive effort. And I was moderately surprised that the prices of the fine Greggs food isn’t much more expensive than the standard pricing at high street shops.
A large latte and a packet of Cheese Puffs, just what any traveller needs before their long journey. And, both were free with the Greggs rewards app, so it’s a win win for the hungry traveller.
I note the TripAdvisor review of this fine outlet which said:
“Staff are more interested in conducting their social life and exchanging banter with each other than serving customers. I am surprised that Greggs continues to be so successful because all the stores have similar issues in my experience.”
I suspect that Greggs are so successful simply because their staff are friendly and exchanging banter, and I’ve never been to one where they haven’t been serving customers…. Anyway, all very lovely, and every airport in the country should perhaps (well, not perhaps) have a Greggs in it.
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Manchester – Manchester Victoria Station (Tiled Map)
Whilst meandering around the railway station of Manchester Victoria waiting for my train to Newcastle, I saw this rather impressive tiled map of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. It’d be quite hard to miss it, it’s a not inconsiderable map on the wall.
I can’t help thinking that it shows a rail network rather in isolation, as if the passengers didn’t intend to go very far north or south with any other rail operating company. Manchester Victoria was the most substantial railway station in the L&Y network, although it’s much smaller now. The network lasted until January 1922 when the area was regrouped into the larger London and North Western Railway (which lasted for all of one year before becoming London, Midland and Scottish Railway). Of all the routes on the map, it looks like the significant majority are still in operation.
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Ingleton – Three Horseshoes
I’ve been in this pub before during one of the coast to coast walks I’ve done, so a return visit seemed worthwhile given we were walking by. The pub was very quiet when we walked in, but it seemed warm and comfortable.
There were no dark beers available either on draft or in bottles, slightly disappointing given that the pub has four ales on. I went for the rather generic Thwaites best bitter, which was bland, but to the pub’s credit, it tasted well kept and was at the appropriate temperature.
There was nothing particularly wrong with the pub, it was clean and comfortable, with the beers all tasting fine. However, looking at the reviews of the pub, there’s something upsetting a not inconsiderable number of people, although I didn’t encounter the problems raised by others. I do like that the pub has taken a forthright stance in how it replies to reviews though on TripAdvisor.
“We have opinions of people as well from our side of the bar but these opinions are usually kept to ourselves.In some cases it is just as well.”
Some responses I found humorous at least…. And one customer wrote:
“We met up with family and called onto this pub for a drink. The pub was clean and tidy but the bar man was the most miserable, and unfriendly man we’d ever seen. He barely spoke, didn’t smile once and didn’t want to chat. A really poor advocate for customer service!”
The pub’s response was “we like him” which is an impressively good response in my opinion, no need to bother to defend against such a nasty review.
“We all enjoy what we do but some times we all get a little bit fraught.It is a family run pub and we do our best for our customers with pleasure. Sometimes though we get it wrong.”
I quite like the honesty of this response. We didn’t order food this time so I don’t know about the quality, but I’d return here again for drinks. And although I will confess that the service wasn’t particularly engaging, there was certainly none of the rudeness mentioned by others in their reviews.
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Ingleton – Old Post Office
The Post Office which operated from here only closed four years ago and it was turned into a bar soon afterwards. There are now new owners of the bar, who took over just a few weeks ago, and the venues positions itself as a primarily craft beer and spirits bar. I came here on two nights and it was busy on both occasions, so they’re doing something right.
The beer selection with some interesting options available. I tried the rhubarb & custard, toffee temptation and the black cherry from the second shelf down as they sounded tempting. They all had the appropriate taste although the beers were just a little watery and the aftertaste was rather more limited. The lockers on the right of the above photo are also used for storing bottles before moving them into the fridge, a clever use of the limited space that is available.
The Imperial Flump King at 10% from Hawkshead which had the inevitable depth of taste I’d expect from an imperial stout. There was a slightly sweet taste although I thought it was more vanilla in flavour than marshmallow, but nonetheless, this felt like a quality product. I wonder what this would taste like if available in cask, something rather glorious I should imagine. I was pleased incidentally that there was such a wide selection of dark beers to choose from, not least since I didn’t manage to get that anywhere else in Ingleton.
Quirky interior and there are numerous decorative items on the wall to add some character. The only element missing for me is that there is nothing about the history of the building, and I’m sure there must be some stories to tell given how long the Post Office was located here.
The owners were engaging, friendly and welcoming, offering one of the best welcomes I’ve had this year in a pub. They are clearly proud of their new bar and that’s evident in the comfortable nature of the surroundings and the informal nature of the atmosphere. The beer selection on draft is limited, although that’s inevitable given how small this pub is, but there’s some thought been taken with the bottled beers. There are a selection of upmarket snacks and also some slightly quirky spirits to offer extra choice.
The prices in the bar are reasonable for both bar snacks and drinks, with credit and debit cards being accepted. I have to say (well, write) that this was my favourite pub of the weekend, with the welcome being authentic and I’m confident that it’ll remain a popular location to visit. All very lovely.
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Ingleton – Masons Freehouse
With an eventual group size of 11, finding a place to eat in Ingleton isn’t necessarily easy on a Friday night. However, I booked ten months in advance to ensure availability, which was rather organised of me. And to be fair to Masons, they were equally professional and organised, confirming the booking promptly and reconfirming this week. They didn’t need a deposit or pre-ordering, so it all felt well managed.
And the table was successfully reserved. I liked that the pub was proud of its history by putting some photos up of how it appeared in the nineteenth century and it takes its name from when it was run by a family of masons.
On the first night I opted for fish and chips, which was well presented. The fish tasted of a good quality, the batter had a reasonable depth of taste and the mushy peas had the appropriately consistency. I wasn’t really sold on the chips, slightly greasy and over-cooked for my liking, but overall this didn’t represent poor value for money.
We returned for food on the second night, and I went for the steak pie. Stupidly of me I forgot that the chips weren’t overly exciting, but the pie seemed home-made and there was a generous amount of steak inside and this was of a decent quality meat. The gravy was also authentic and home-made with lots of flavour. For the money, this again proved to be perfectly acceptable value for money.
This pub is mentioned in the Good Beer Guide and is the only location in Ingleton which is. This perhaps increased my expectations too much as the dark beer selection was non existent and the nearest was Doom Bar which has nearly no appeal to me given its lack of flavour (or at least what I perceive to lack flavour as the beer isn’t exactly unpopular). Since the pub doesn’t do bottled dark beer either I just went for soft drinks, a mild disappointment given the selection I’d just experienced in the Old Post Office. Personally, with five real ales on I’d have liked at least one of them to be dark, but it’d be ideal if they could perhaps offer cans or bottles at least as an alternative.
Anyway, nonetheless, it’s apparent that they’ve tidied up the pub in recent years and it is a professionally run location. We didn’t experience any issues, but I’m fairly sure that they’d have been resolved in a helpful and willing manner if we had. The temperature in the pub was also off the scale hot for my liking, although since the pub was busy it’d be harsh to complain about that.
So, for those with groups wanting food, this is a location I’d recommend and if I was taking a large party to Ingleton again then I’d certainly book again. The prices were reasonable, the food was brought out promptly and the staff were personable and helpful.
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King’s Lynn – Lattice House
It’s a few years now since JD Wetherspoon sold off the Lattice House in King’s Lynn, which I thought was just a little unfortunate as it was one of my favourite JDW pubs. It made sense though since they have the large Globe Hotel just around the corner and probably didn’t need two pubs so close together.
But then something potentially rather impressive happened after a short spell under a different pub operator, the building was rebranded as the Bishops Dining Rooms and the whole concept seemed very much in keeping with the historic building. The south end of the building had been in use as an inn since at least 1714, so it can claim some considerable heritage.
And then they did something quite bizarre. They decided to ban young people. Not children to create a slightly quieter and relaxed dining environment, but they banned people in their early 20s. Somehow, and perhaps this could only happen in Britain, it was thought that people in their early 20s couldn’t enjoy a decent dining experience.
And, the rest is of course history. As soon as that decision was made, it was perhaps inevitable that the ill feeling caused would lead to the restaurant being considerably less busy than it might otherwise have been. Particularly irritating when the restaurant actually seemed to have been pitched so well in terms of price, decoration and menu choice.
Anyway, that’s not really relevant, what is relevant is that the Lattice House name is now coming back and the restaurant is being restored into being a pub once again. The new owners have confirmed they don’t have a problem with younger people, so the age limits have been dropped. So I’ll make an effort to visit in the next few weeks……
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Norwich – KindaKafe Tour
Steve kindly organised a tour for 24 of us to visit the hidden rooms under KindaKafe in Norwich. Twelve members of Hike Norfolk went down at 19:00 and then the other twelve members went down at 20:00. I was in the latter group and was fortunate to have an extended tour which went on for one hour and forty minutes.
In short, the property was once lived and worked in by weavers, with the area to the rear being a courtyard. The building up of Castle Meadow meant that the ground level rose and the old property was extended upwards and a new frontage was constructed onto what was then known as Castle Ditches. So the courtyard disappeared under the new building and the old rooms became used as storage areas for Ponds the shoe shop.
Down one flight of stairs, this is the old first floor of the property, the windows are of the room where the weaving would once have taken place. This is the back of the property, which would have overlooked the courtyard.
Two flights of stairs down from where we started and this is the old ground floor of the house that was built here. The window frame is more recent, but is in the same place as the original window.
Inside the former living area of the house which is where the weavers would have lived. The floor above this is where they would have worked.
The ceiling of the property’s former ground floor, which has seen better days….
Old graffiti on the wall, seemingly dating to 1739. There’s a similar piece of graffiti in Norwich Cathedral which appears to be representative of a religious building, that’s my best guess for this as well.
An old bed, it’s thought that this was used when the basement was an air raid shelter during the Second World War.
And a desk lamp from the same period.
A separate undercroft area under a different section of the building. The strange collection of items are related to the escape rooms which have recently been opened as an attraction.
This door comes out on to Castle Meadow. All this history that I’ve walked straight by for years without even thinking about….
The rear of the building opens out into a courtyard area.
And our tour also came out opposite the Cosy Club and right near to Greggs. Which is very lovely indeed.
The guide was marvellous, she was engaging and knowledgeable and managed to keep talking for over 100 minutes on the topic. During this time she was never boring and didn’t seem to be tempted to move into the realms of making things up for effect, so there was solid history behind her dialogue. This tour is booked up for some months, and rightfully so given just how much heritage there is to see. I had expected the evening to be interesting, but I hadn’t expected to see this much or for the guide to be so engaging.
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Norwich – Old Library Wood Sculptures
These beautiful wooden sculptures and carvings have appeared in Old Library Wood in Norwich since I last walked through it around ten days ago. They look marvellous and I hope no idiot damages them, as it has been a problem area for some years. It’s nice to see that some people are making an effort to make the area visually more attractive.
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Norwich – Fatso’s
It’s many years since Fatso’s left Norwich city centre, when they closed their Prince of Wales Road location. This was then turned into Lost, a nightclub, and then more recently it has become Popworld, not somewhere that I am particularly engaged with….
Anyway, the chain is back in the city, on the site that was previously Artorio’s, although I think that the owners are the same. I might visit at some point when it opens, just to check if it’s as I remember….
