Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

Rotherham : Bluecoat

I first visited here in November 2024 and since I’m in the area again, and knowing that it’s in the cheapest JD Wetherspoon price bracket I thought that I’d pop in again. It’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and it was built as a Bluecoat charity school, but was turned into a pub in 1981 and JD Wetherspoon took it over in 2001. Following the closure of the now burnt out Rhinoceros pub in the town, this is the only pub that the chain have in Rotherham now.

This breakfast, unlimited coffee and half a pint of real ale came to the grand total of £5.18, which is some impressive value. And it tasted delicious, I’m not really one for full English breakfasts (or breakfasses as they seem to be called when customers order more than one) but I rather like the arrangement here.

The on-line reviews are generally very good, averaging 4.2 out of 5 on Google.

“It went from bad to worse, we ordered food and drinks using the app straight to our table – one drink was a pepsi max and one was pepsi. The guy brought the drinks over and one of the drinks had a lemon in, assuming this was a marker for which drink was which I asked which one was the full fat drink. The server said ‘I don’t know, sniff them’. At first I thought he was joking so laughed it off, until he walked off with nothing else to say”

This one I’ve seen variations of in numerous pubs in the chain.

“Ordering via app is a nightmare. Can’t make any changes at all to food order (dietary requirements etc), no way to request food without an ingredient etc. Tried to speak to bar staff in person and all we got was “you can’t make changes. Also, the food was disgusting.”

I’m guessing they tried to take out an ingredient of a meal that’s going to be cooked in the microwave….

“I work within the funeral service, after a long hard day at work. In the 19,5,2021, i was lucky enough to be out on a first date with a gorgeous lady. We decided to go and use one of your establishments (bluecoats rotherham).

Upon placing our order which was two large portions of scampi and chips, with a side plate of garlic bread. waiting for the service. After twenty minutes, the food arrived.

The order was wrong, the kitchen staff had sent one large portion and one small. After i pointed out the fact that there should have been two large portions. The small plate was taken away..
Thus leaving the large portion and garlic bread at our table..

Now to reiterate that i was on a date, i wasn’t thinking that for me to consume my meal would have been a ideal way to impress the lady I was with.. As she was left plate less.

After 15 minutes of waiting, of course now, the two plates are cold upon the table. So i called over the waiter, whom after a short and polite conversation, said he would take the plates and replace them under the kitchen heat light.

Now in so far as my limited knowledge of food preparation, is it safe to reheat fish products or indeed is it acceptable to even reheat any food products thereafter???

Upon hearing what the waiter was planning, i took decisive actions to ensure that i was able to have the reheated food, passed back to me.. i pulled the scampi apart.
And said that all three plates should be served at the same time.

We ordered food approximately 8.05 pm .. 8.55pm fifty minutes after placing our first initial order, still our table is merely adorned by pints of Carling (with a dash of lime). Lets not forget that this is a first date and still we haven’t been able to have a late evening meal… So releasing that it was a wasted opportunity for us to relax and have a good time. I called for the manager (Shaun) to come and i gave him the opportunity to explain what the problem was?

Upon which I was unfairly accused, of being nasty to two members of his staff. Which I then asked who i had apparently upset.. to which he retorted that he didn’t need to justify anything… he then claimed that I was being rude towards himself, which indeed i wasn’t.. The lady i was with can clarify this to be fact .. i was left feeling despondent as to how i was mad eto feel and highly disrespected in front of the whole public house…

I asked for a refund and left, luckily enough for me and my date, all was not lost. We enjoyed our meal at the local KFC…

I would like to Express my discontent and anger as to how i was spoken to and how the manager tried to publicly show me up..

I remained in my seat at all times, i didn’t raise my voice during the conversation, i didn’t personally insult anyone, i didn’t swear.. I i didn’t wish to be treated as i was.”

I have no words, but I hope that the date went well.

“Absolutely a disgrace the decor was very dark and dismissal decided not to eat surely if this was a “weather spoon” pub why isn’t they a dress code and the customers that it attracted were from the angel and county brough very low life will not set foot in this place ever again !!!”

Dress code? Seems aspirational.

In terms of the real ale, there are seven on at the time of writing, the Ruddles and Abbot Ale from Greene King, as well as Doom Bar from Sharp’s being the regular beers. The four rotating ales are the Ossian from Inveralmond, the Odin’s Gold from Rudgate, the Midnight Bell from Leeds Brewery and the Cavendish from Welbeck Abbey. I went for half a pint of the Midnight Bell which was roasty, malty and had a bit of liquorice taste to it, well-kept and smooth.

It’s a venue with history, the staff seem friendly, it’s clean, the prices are low and the real ale selection is decent. All really rather lovely.

January 26, 2025
Stafford : Sun Inn

At the end of December, I had a spare hour in Stafford and was able to tick off another Titanic pub which is conveniently also a Good Beer Guide listed pub. Previously known as the Tequila Red and O’Neill’s, the Titanic Brewery took this existing, albeit closed, pub over in 2010 and they’ve been able to develop it into a popular community venue.

Every community needs a Titanic pub.

There’s Cherry Porter, my favourite of the mainstream Titanic beers.

Ooooh, and a decent selection of crisps.

The beer board and the prices all seem reasonable to me.

I found space in a little snug. It was a busy venue and they were serving out a fair amount of food, so I was pleased to find anywhere to sit.

Here we go, my delicious, rich, smooth Cherry Porter alongside some agreeable mature cheddar and red onion crisps.

The reviews on-line are nearly all positive, other than a recent one which gave 1 star and commented “I do not recommend this pub as the prices are excessive and had no entertainment”. The prices are excessive only in comparison to Wetherspoons and perhaps they should lay on a dancing band…. Anyway, most people seem happy and I was for what that’s worth.

The pub created a comfortable, almost sophisticated, atmosphere, with the Titanic beers of course being something of a plus.

January 26, 2025
Stafford : The Picture House

I had a spare hour in Stafford for the second time in a few weeks, the first time I went to the Good Beer Guide listed Titanic pub and this time I went to the town’s JD Wetherspoon pub. As it’s suitably comprehensive, I will use the extensive JD Wetherspoon history of the former cinema in which this pub is now sited.

“Built for the local independent exhibitor Goodalls Pictures, the Picture House opened on 23 February 1914, showing The House of Temperley. Blending in with the historic town, the façade has a centrally located gable decorated in Tudor-style half-timber beams in black and white. There is a decorative wrought-iron canopy, which has stained-glass letters spelling out the name Picture House to the front of the building. The original ticket office remained in use throughout its life and is still there today. There was another ticket office down the side of the building, which served customers in the front stalls seating, and this remained in use until the last few years of the cinema’s operation.

Inside the auditorium, seating was arranged on a stadium plan, with a raised stepped section at the rear. There is a barrel-vaulted ceiling, which has decorative bands of plaster. In August 1917, a French-built Reed Organ de Luxe Mustel ‘Celesta’ concert organ was installed and opened by Birmingham organist Mr CW Perkins. The Picture House was equipped for ‘talkies’, and the first to be shown here was The Last of Mrs Cheyney, starring Norma Shearer on 19 April 1930. In July 1930, the Everston family purchased the Picture House, and they operated it for the remainder of its cinematic life.

The town of Stafford only had one circuit-owned cinema, the Odeon, and the Picture House usually played the ABC release or had a choice of independent releases. It had a new proscenium opening installed in June 1955, when Cinemascope was fitted. Otherwise, the building retained it character through the years. In 1989, the Picture House was designated a Grade II listed building by English Heritage.

The Picture House was closed on 30 March 1955 after a three-week run of Disclosure, starring Michael Douglas. There were 78 attending the final performance. The building was purchased by JD Wetherspoon and, after planning permission was approved, was then converted into The Picture House public house, which opened 6 March 1997.”

JD Wetherspoon have a reputation for their sensitive and careful renovations and refurbishments to building and this one is no different. They’ve maintained the old ticket desk at the front of the venue and there were plenty of cinema posters dotted around the place.

The real ale selection.

I think that looks quite impressive. Note the white screen above the bar, as they still sometimes show films at the pub.

Some old seats, which I assume are from here.

The projector.

Every JD Wetherspoon pub has its own carpet, this seems like one of the better ones to me.

I went for the Ossian from Inveralmond Brewery, well kept and light with a little bit of a toffee flavour to it. And a bargain at £1 for a half pint.

I’ve got this riveting and really rather very dull theory that you can get a measure of how well managed a JD Wetherspoon venue is from its Google review score. Decent ones seem to be scoring around 4.1 to 4.3, whereas poorer ones are between 3.7 to 3.9. Big data and all that….. This one is at 4.2, so all seems good.

“First ever time I went to the picture house and last time I will go to the picture house. Ordered drinks beer cappuccino and hot chocolate ,pizza and some fry up for my son and some things that looked like chicken and coleslaw.food came before drinks then one mug was cracked and dirty coffee machine was defective tried 3 times to get a cappuccino and the taste was vile think they did not clean it right I spoke to a female about it and she said no milk in the machine and in general did not care as clearly did nothing no sorry no we can give you something else or a refund on the two drinks.the chips were well over cooked as well as the chicken strips that must of been bought from Iceland or Tesco’s the coleslaw tasted and looked vile and I mean vile and I love coleslaw.my sons steak or cat looked rubber and he just had trouble cutting it.”

Vile I tell you, vile…

“Breakfast was cold, bacon was cooked to the inch of its life, looked like the grill needed a good clean black bits merged with the burnt edges. Vile.”

Another vile.

“Really vile Rude manager half our age. Told off for playing with our autistic daughter (whilst sat down at a table) and she accidentally broke a glass. He then stormed over told us not to mess around, proceeded to wipe the drink off the table onto my lap and told us to move whilst making snide remarks. We ended up Leaving instead of ordering a meal. We are regulars but we won’t be back again. He needs some customer service training!”

And another. This must be a very on-trend word in Stafford.

“the app glitched as i was ordering a curry and it made me pay for two curry’s, as soon as i realised about 30 seconds after i had paid, i went straight down to the waitress and she said she couldn’t give me a refund as it’s my fault and she was quite rude, even though the app glitched so it wasn’t my fault. she also said the food has already been made so the food clearly isn’t fresh if it had already been made after a minute. the curry was also cold. i also emailed the wetherspoons asking again for a refund but they also said the same thing even though this wasn’t my fault. i would not recommend going here”

I think I’d be annoyed too, but then I’d just eat the second curry.

“Had done my shopping before stopping off for lunch, had one of the employees rudely tell me I couldn’t eat my own food in the pub. Not sure where he got the idea I was preparing to whip out my loaf of bread and 2lt bottle of milk. Do people regularly bring their own food when they go to the wetherspoons? Your food can’t be that bad.”

I would love to know the back story. Anyway, I’m digressing once again….

In summary to the whole arrangement, I rather enjoyed this visit, the venue is impressive, the beer selection was decent and the quality of the ale was high. Then I has to rush back for my train, which was promptly delayed.

January 26, 2025
Blackpool : End of Yates….

There is no shortage of derelict buildings in Blackpool, but it seems sad when a beautiful building like this is left to go ruin. Yates has another venue in the centre of Blackpool, but this one closed in March 2022 and was put up for sale for £900,000. I think it’s a fair guess to suspect that there weren’t many takers at the time.

If they don’t repair the building soon, it’s not clear that it’ll be able to be saved.

An urban explorer’s look at the building from a few months ago.

January 24, 2025
Blackpool : Storm Éowyn (Part 2)

Well, that was bloody dreadful. I had intended to walk along the seafront to the railway station, but it was genuinely impossible as the wind was blowing me off my feet and I’m hardly lightweight. I walked along the road parallel and that was challenging enough, not helped by the amount of debris flying about. A lovely lady crossed the road to tell me that I should cross over as there were tiles coming off a roof (just visible in the photo above) which was kind. I also started talking to one of the refuse collectors and he said that they were out working as the bins were flying everywhere and they were trying to secure them. Proper hard working refuse crew that, they were struggling to stand and were having to almost catch bins.

I hardly dare take many photos as I worried the wind might blow my phone out of my hands, but there were bins all over the place and debris was going everywhere where bins had spilled over.

More on this later, but I got to the railway station to find my train cancelled, although I’m making progress towards Sheffield now. I made such slow progress that I was glad to have left plenty of time to get to the railway station. Stay safe out there and all that….

January 24, 2025
Blackpool : Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines

I saw this when on the little expedition that Liam had arranged and it looked suitably tempting as I can be quite greedy on occasion. I reserved a table on-line the previous evening, although I guessed that this wouldn’t really be needed. One thing that did slightly annoy me is that you can book on-line any table size from 2 people to 50 people, they seem to have forgotten about the option for 1 person. The venue is one of the three in the chain, the other two being located in Scotland.

It’s a sizeable place and I can imagine it gets very busy during the summer months. Less so on a cold windy weekday lunchtime in January. The venue did get hit with a 1/5 food hygiene rating a couple of years ago, but they’re back to top marks again now. The welcome was friendly and engaging, although they did try and overcharge me, but that seemed a genuine error.

There are rows of these, it’s the largest lunchtime selection at an all you can eat that I’ve seen. There were plenty of curries, stir fries, random fried food and they had some live cooking stations as well. Everything seemed clean, tidy and organised to me.

Don’t judge me on the beer, I thought it was the best available option. It’s the Birra Moretti and it tasted a little generic, but it was refreshing and clean so it had to do. I very much like brown food I’ve realised, but there is evidence of vegetables in there for the more eagle eyed of my four blog readers. I won’t post every food photo as I don’t want to look greedy, although, in fairness I think I was quite restrained.

I liked the window seat that I was given, it was really quite peaceful. You don’t normally get that sort of things at restaurants like this, it usually feels a bit more for a free for all.

The dessert selection.

Delicious.

The end result is that I didn’t need anything to eat for the day, although I probably over-did it as usual. It would probably be best if I could sign up to some sort of national self-exclusion database from all you can eat locations, as I can get overexcited…. Anyway, I thought the value here was rather good for £18 including the food and drink.

January 24, 2025
Blackpool : Storm Éowyn

I’m not in the epicentre of Storm Éowyn (I’m not actually sure that storms like this actually have epicentres, but I like the word so it’s staying) as I’m in Blackpool at the moment. But, with a hotel room that looks out onto the Irish Sea (or the American Sea if Trump has renamed that overnight) it’s making quite a noise here as well. I now have the excitement of a 45 minute walk along the coast to get to the railway station, but one of the advantages of not being thin is that I needn’t worry too much about being blown away.

The train I’m taking to Manchester is currently operating as normal, although the rail industry itself is entirely confused as to what happens when trains are cancelled when “Do Not Travel” warnings are issued. Here’s the guidance, which makes some logical sense, but it still relies on some goodwill from rail operators.

January 24, 2025
Get Lost With Google Streetview : Blackpool (Part 1)

This concept is really for my amusement, but I’ll document it anyway as I’m like that.

This was the first image that Liam sent, along with the clue:

“This arty boy can be found between the wish.com Eiffel Tower and a park where Henry VIII had a cottage”

To be honest, I thought this would be easy even without thinking about the clue. There is what could be described as a bloody great clue in the image itself.

I was down by Blackpool Pleasure Beach and it was evident that Liam’s clue was about two miles north, but I wanted to walk that way anyway. Here’s the South Pier which was built in 1893 as the Victoria Pier, but renamed in 1930 to its current name. As a fun engineering fact, the pier is unusual for being built with the Worthington Screw Pile System. I mean, I have no idea, but Liam knows about piling and banging things into the ground whilst making a huge noise.

I had got around three minutes into the walk before I realised I hadn’t had any lunch and it was by now evening. Sometimes, I just have to go for convenience.

£2.80 as I had a 15% off voucher. I used this time to work out where the image was taken from and realised that this might be a challenge as although the Blackpool Tower is quite obvious, the photo could have been taken from three different sides. I decided to have a think about the clue itself, but can’t say that entirely helped me. Liam had been cleverer than I had expected and he’d done this very quickly.

Blackpool Illuminations. I understand that I’m in the off-season for Blackpool, but I counted that there are over 60 hotels in the town for sale at the moment with some at very low prices. I walked by more derelict buildings than I had expected and this does feel like a challenge for Blackpool given just how many hospitality businesses there are fighting for what appears to be a limited trade.

There’s Blackpool Tower starting to appear in the distance. What is evident is just how long Blackpool seafront actually is.

I thought I’d pop in some amusements to see if I could find 2p. I was the only person in there and so thought I might look a bit out of place. I didn’t find 2p.

The King of Rock and Rollercoasters.

The remnants of the Christmas decorations, most of which have been removed now.

Luckily for blog readers, I was in Blackpool in December, so this is what they looked like lit up.

I didn’t realise that the Houndshill shopping centre was shut at night, but they left a little bit open which meant I had to leave from a door I hadn’t expected…. This is the level of top drama I have in life…

It comes out near the Winter Gardens.

It was by this time I realised that I couldn’t find Liam’s location by walking about and I couldn’t work out the clue, it went right over my head. So, I went to the Layton Rakes pub to have half a pint of the Burn’s Auld Sleekit. Under-poured, but it cost 90p and so I couldn’t much complain, and it was a reasonable beer which was creamy with some toffee. Odd service though, the manager forgot to process my card payment so i stood there at the bar whilst he looked at me annoyed why I was hanging around. He proceeded to ignore me until he tried to process the next customer’s payment and couldn’t as he still had my payment on the till.

Anyway, I decided I’d have to take drastic action at this point and sit there with my laptop to work this situation out. Through walking around the roads to the north and south of the Blackpool Tower, I worked out that the photo had to be taken from the east side. Which meant some looking at Google Street View to narrow matters down. It was then when looking at the map that I worked out that Liam’s clue referred to Kingscote Park, which I should have realised earlier. With the options narrowed down, it took just a few minutes to find where the image was taken from.

That meant I knew where I needed to go.

And here we are. I have no idea what the locals through I was doing, but hopefully they thought I was taking a photo of the Blackpool Tower from a weird angle.

Some wall art. Liam sent me the next part of the clue which was “now look right whilst heading to the pub of the extinct dog”. I decided that as it was dark, I’d complete this the following morning. But not before I had walked by the all you can eat restaurant Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines and I decided to book a table for that the next lunchtime as they had 15% off as a January offer.

At this point I popped to the pub.

Back again the next morning, this is the Salvation Army Citadel building, although it was constructed as the Raikes Road Technical School between 1904 and 1905.

My lunch at Mr Basrai’s World Cuisines, as mentioned (but more about in another post as I was suitably surprised and delighted here), before going after the final part of the clue. It took me a while to realise that the pub he meant was the Talbot as I hadn’t realised that this was an extinct dog. Every day is a learning day….

And here we are, Liam’s chosen location. This was painted in July 2022 and it was first thought to be a Banksy, and I’m sure that the home owner got very excited. It’s actually by Mr Eggs, a Manchester street artist.

I was rather pleased with this whole arrangement as I got to see some parts of Blackpool that I wouldn’t have thought of visiting and it meant I got to go to a pub that I really liked and also found an impressive lunch spot for the next day. As a reward, I’ve decided to let Liam do some more of these.

January 23, 2025
Blackpool : Cask and Tap

The next in my visit to Good Beer Guide pubs up and down the country was Cask and Tap which is a micro-pub that opened in September 2020 and has received positive on-line reviews. Before this, the building was home to the Nour Lebanese Restaurant and before that the Buddiez American Grill and then before that the Reggae Hut Jamaican Restaurant and then before that the Autumn Leaves carvery. The sign-writers have had a busy few years here.

The beer and cider selection. There were several customers sitting at the bar, but I was welcomed promptly and the environment felt welcoming. I don’t like a blocked bar when I can’t see what beers are available, but they are clearly chalked up to make matters easy.

The first beer (on the left) was the Hollywood Smile from Wensleydale Brewery, a creamy ale with a fruit and hoppy taste. The crisps were OK, better than Walkers but not quite as decadent as Tyrells or Pipers.

This was really very lovely, the Baked Alaska from Yonder Brewing. A beautiful beer with a suitable level of sourness, a bit of lemon meringue flavour, berries and all together a decadent liquid dessert from Yonder.

It’s a bright and vibrant interior, which felt comfortable and cosy. The bar shuts a little earlier than some other nearby locations, which is why I couldn’t make it when I was last in Blackpool, but I can imagine that this avoiding very late night trade is sensible. A very decent selection of beers and ciders in a peaceful environment with the prices being reasonable, so all rather lovely.

January 23, 2025
Norwich in 1727 – Don Quixote at the King’s Arms Playhouse

As I’m up at 02:00 waiting for security to open at Rome Fiumicino airport, I thought I’d look at some newspapers from 1727 as that’s great entertainment for an early morning. It’s one of the earlier editions of the Norwich Mercury, which was printed from the early 1720s until May 1949.

“Never play’d Here.

By the Norwich Company of Comedians:

At the King’s-Arms Playhouse on Monday next, being the 20th of this Instant February, will be Acted a COMEDY call’d,

DON QUIXOTE.

With the Comical Humours of Sancho Pancha his Esq; Teresa Pancha his Wife, and Mary the Buxom his Daughter.

The Parts to be perform’d as follow, viz.

MEN.

Duke, Mr. Duckworth.
Cardenio, Mr. James.
Ambrofio, Mr. Frisby.
Bernardo, the Chaplain, by Mr. Collier.
Mannel, the Civility Maſter, Mr. Green.
Pedro Rezzio, Mr. Morris.
The Page, Mr. Buck.
Don Quixote, Mr. Marshal.
Sancho Pancha, his Esq; Mr. Paul.

WOMEN.

Dutchefs, Mrs. Paul.
Marcella, Mrs. Frisby.
Rodriquez, by Mrs. Green.
Teresa Pancha, Mrs. Plomer.
Mary the Buxom, Mrs. Buck. With Dresses and Entertainments proper to the Play.

To begin at Six a Clock. Vivat REX.

And on Thursday next, being particularly desired, will be Acted the Provok’d Wife.”

Firstly, the King’s Arms Playhouse is something of a mystery and doesn’t come up on any searches. There have been ten pubs in Norwich with this name, but there’s only one which seems to have been open at this time and it’s a pub still in existence, now called Berstrete Gates. Don Quixote had been written just over 100 years before, so was an old favourite even back nearly three hundred years ago.

It’s rather sub-optimal that no first names were given, it’s too hard to work out who any of these early actors and actresses were. They were a touring company, as their names appear in locations across the region. Fortunately, a little more is known about the Norwich Company of Comedians, who between 1731 and 1757 made the White Swan Inn, near Peter Mancroft, their home. This pub started trading in the early 1600s, but the building was pulled down in the 1960s to make way for car parking. A sub-optimal decision…. Anyway, despite more being known about the company, there’s still no link between the names of the performers in this production and the history of the comedians, so that didn’t help much.

Despite my failures of research, it’s still a rather lovely little piece of Norwich history, a theatre company performing 300 years ago to surprise and delight the locals….

January 20, 2025