Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: UK

Stone – Royal Exchange

Continuing on our tour of Titanic pubs, we visited the Royal Exchange which is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. Their pubs all seem to be sharp looking, with clear branding and in a decent state of repair.

Formerly known as the Stone Inn there have been some efforts made with the external floral arrangements.

A beautiful line-up of beers. The staff member was helpful and friendly, it’s the inviting atmosphere that I had expected from Titanic.

The prices for the beer options.

The pub has just opened when we entered which is why it’s rather quiet, it’s clearly a popular pub judging from the positive on-line reviews. Although one customer posted:

“Called in today. Lovely pub, but when you say 1 for yourself when you get served I didn’t expect the barmaid to take £3.50 thought that was a bit naughty.”

I’m not sure that is entirely naughty, I think that might more be getting yourself a double whisky or something, but there we go.

How very true. I do like motivational signs in pubs that help customers develop and improve themselves.

I decided it would be a good idea if we sat in the front room as it seemed to have some character to it. This is one of those pubs that must feel quite cosy in the winter as they have real fires going, something which seems to be ever rarer today.

I went for half a pint of the First Class, an agreeable session hoppy bitter, which is the first time that I’ve tried this beer.

We were going from here to the Titanic Brewery tour, so this was a handy prequel to the whole arrangement. It’s a traditional and welcoming pub, handy for locals and visitors to the town. To top it off, as soon as I get to visit Stone for the first time, the veteran MP Bill Cash announced that he was standing down from the House of Commons at the next General Election, but I don’t think that the two events are linked. Anyway, I’m digressing again, I’d say in summary that this is an excellent pub and quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide.

June 19, 2023
Food from Every Stall on Norwich Market – Week 11 and All Electric Banger Stop

Week 11 of eating at every food stall at Norwich market saw James and I visit the All Electric Banger Stop.

The prices are some of the cheapest on the market and the menu is clear with its foot long sausages. For those who don’t want a pork sausage, there’s the option of a chicken and beef saveloy, but there are no options for vegetarians. The stall wasn’t accepting credit cards on this visit, but this appears to be a temporary problem as they usually do take them. The stall holder was helpful and polite, warning us immediately that it was cash only, with the service being pro-active and friendly.

There are also soft drink cans available, but otherwise it’s a basic and concise menu.

I went for the basic hot dog with onions and took the opportunity to add free hot sauce and also tomato ketchup.

There we go, it looked most appetising. It’s quite a substantial sausage and it was meaty and rich in taste, with the caramelised onions adding extra flavour. The roll was also of a decent quality and was of a sufficient strength not to fall apart during the eating process. The on-line reviews are positive, with the exception of this recent one:

“W bułce powinna być parówka Frankfurterka a nie jakaś paskudna kiełbaska!!!”

This is a complain from a Pole that they wanted a Frankfurter sausage and not a pork one. Personally, I think they’re wrong, this isn’t some cheap New York street cart operation, there’s more decadence here at Norwich market.

James went for the chilli dog which also comes with cheese, lettuce, mayo and homemade chilli sauce. They blowtorch the top of the hot dog which hardens the cheese, also making it less messy to eat. I was wondering whether James would have a spillage incident on his shirt, but there were no disasters. James was suitably impressed at the whole arrangement, there wasn’t too much chilli sauce that it ran everywhere, but there was enough to taste.

I have eaten here before, but it’s a reminder of the excellent value offered. I’d come back here again, it’s easy and affordable. It’s feel good food, but I’m big on that as there’s nothing wrong with comfort eating on a weekday lunchtime. Reassuringly reliable.

June 19, 2023
Stoke-On-Trent – Titanic Brewery Tour

This was another one of my great plans for the weekend away in Stoke-on-Trent, to go on a brewery tour for my favourite UK brewery that is Titanic. It was a slightly odd brewery tour set-up as they claimed that it lasted three hours, offered three free pints and also food, all for £15. That seemed competitive priced to me and I could just see how excited Ross and Liam were when I suggested it. Above is the shop section of the site and I popped into this after the tour, as they opened it specially, to buy bottles of the two Titanic beers that I hadn’t tried before (the Chocolate & Vanilla Stout and the Captain Smiths).

The brewery set-up is at the rear of the site and was a little smaller than I had anticipated, although there are plans for expansion.

There was a upbeat welcome from Lyn, the tour guide, at the beginning when we were told that we could claim our three pints at any time. Realistically though, it was one whilst listening to the introduction, one whilst walking through the brewery and another along with the food at the end. It seemed sufficiently sensible to me, I like an organised plan and especially an organised plan where there’s beer.

There were drawings that were framed on the wall of Titanic’s various pubs and this is the Greyhound that we had visited the previous evening.

The tour was led by Lyn and she comes from a CAMRA background rather than as a brewer, but she led an entertaining tour around the relatively small brewery set-up. She started with an explanation of why the brewery is called Titanic and I have to confess I had only looked that up the previous day as I didn’t know. It’s because in 1985 the Titanic was rediscovered at the bottom of the ocean and the brewers were looking for a name, but the most relevant point is that the captain of the doomed liner was Edward Smith who was born in Hanley, just a short distance away. The founding brothers of the brewery are Keith Bott and Dave Bott, both of whom still work at Titanic today.

Some of the stacks of barley.

And some of the stacks of malt.

Liam, busy learning about how to brew beer. We were told that although millions of pints of beer (currently 4 million, but that’s going up soon) are brewed on-site here every year, there are just five full-time brewers responsible the whole operation.

I was interested to discover that Titanic brew a relatively small number of different beers and over half of their production is Plum Porter. I have to confess that I prefer Cherry Porter, but I’m keen on both in that laid-back and accepting manner of mine…. There are more photos of the brewing operation at https://flickr.com/photos/julianwhite-uk/albums/72177720309137387/.

The food provided was lobby served with bread rolls. I hadn’t heard of this before (the lobby, I know what bread rolls are), but fortunately Liam asked what it was during the tour and it’s effectively a stew and it takes its name from lobscouse. The denizens of Liverpool instead called it scouse and that seems to have defined an entire area. Not wanting to delve too much into a food review, but this was very moreish and when it was announced that there were enough for seconds, I rushed over. The meat was tender and although some locals said their mothers made better lobby when they were children, it was just what I needed.

Most lovely. And the other benefit of all of this is that as Liam was driving he couldn’t have his full intake of alcohol, so I helpfully offered to assist with that situation.

That’s a lot of plum porter. As well as their small estate of pubs, Titanic have also launched bods which are a cafe bar chain and this seems a marvellous idea to reach a new and different audience. More food based and open for breakfast and lunch, they’re making quite an investment into these and hopefully that will pay off. The name comes from their first outlet of this type which was on Bodmin Avenue in Stafford, with the seemingly clever name just being the first half of Bodmin.

The tour guide Lyn (who is also the Deputy Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent) who was great entertainment during the tour and it transpired she knew some people in Norwich CAMRA.

This was a very enjoyable few hours and the whole arrangement was well managed and decent value for money. We could see all of the areas where the brewing took place and there’s a private bar that’s been set up at the brewery replacing the previous need to walk to what was known as Titanic’s brew pub around ten minutes away (which Liam, Ross and I walked to anyway). It was quite a large tour as I think there were 24 of us, but there was always enough beer and food, with plenty of space to see the tour itself. All in all, definitely recommended, and I remain surprised and delighted at Titanic.

June 18, 2023
Little Stuck Lorry Incident in Cambridge

As I don’t get out much I like a little bit of drama in my day, although not too much of course. The poor driver of this HE Payne lorry found themselves just a bit stuck in the middle of the street. Some slightly annoyed cyclists informed the driver that he was in the way, but I suspect that the driver was already aware of that before their helpful contributions.

It looks like a fun challenge to remove this again, but hopefully it’ll be on its way soon enough…… Anyway, that’s enough posting in my riveting ‘stuck lorries in Cambridge’ series.

June 18, 2023
Newcastle-under-Lyme – Artisan Tap

Continuing our trail down the Hartshill Mile, this is another pub that’s listed in the Good Beer Guide. There appears to be a way in that doesn’t require walking through customers smoking, but it seemed to be closed when we arrived. I’m also conscious that I’m listing this pub in Newcastle-under-Lyme, but it’s actually just over the border in Stoke-on-Trent.

I found this board just a little confusing to be honest, but that might just be me as it often is.

I’m not sure that the beer they gave me was the one that I ordered, although they seemed confident that it was even though it didn’t resemble the colour that it should be. It’s the first time this has happened to me, but perhaps given that beer is always slightly different in its brewing that all was in order, it just wasn’t what I expected.

The service was pleasant, but I can’t say that I felt particularly comfortable here, it was the sort of inviting atmosphere that we’d just left at the formidable Greyhound. It was all a bit loud and vibrant shall we say, even though it wasn’t overly busy. These things are transient, it’s likely that if we had arrived thirty minutes before or after that I might have found the environment different.

Some information about the bar and how it has evolved in recent years. In short, it opened in June 2018 and they mention that the bar area was once the workshop and rehearsal stage for a Victorian theatre. That’s some interesting heritage to have.

There’s a cosy room at the rear of the pub, decorated very differently from the rest of the venue. The pub was just a little grimy in places when we visited and the toilets weren’t in a great state, but the bar area seemed clean and tidy.

The pub is very well reviewed on-line and seems to be surprising and delighting its customers in a positive sense, so that’s all marvellous. They appear from reviews to be popular for their live music and they do have several real ales available alongside a wide variety of other drinks, so considerable efforts are clearly being made. Nothing really wrong here, but I think I’d say that I just felt a bit more at ease in some of the other venues that we visited.

June 18, 2023
Newcastle-under-Lyme – Sanctuary Ale House

The Sanctuary Ale House is a Good Beer Guide listed pub on Hartshill Road in Newcastle-under-Lyme, not to be confused with the pub the Sanctuary which was located in the centre of the town and has now closed.

The beer options, a variety of cask and keg were available.

The bar arrangement looked modern and the service was efficient and friendly.

I hadn’t initially noticed the keg options when ordering, although Liam was more observant, I went for the stout from Nightjar which was well kept although unexceptional.

We were left standing as the relatively small pub was full, so they’re obviously doing something right to have plenty of customers. The atmosphere in the pub felt inviting and the decoration was quirky and interesting. We were standing looking at some slightly odd animals which were placed on top of a filing cabinet, it was all a little different. The pub is located on the Hartshill Mile and CAMRA note that it was converted from a former cafe in late 2016. I didn’t notice that there are apparently a couple of car seats for customers to sit on, it all felt innovative and if there had been more seating available when we visited I think we would have lingered here for a little longer. All rather lovely.

June 18, 2023
Newcastle-under-Lyme – Mellards

Most larger towns have a decadent craft beer option where prices might be a little more expensive, but the surroundings are often quieter and the beer selection extensive. After walking past numerous pubs where it almost felt a glass was going to come flying through the door at any moment, somewhere peaceful seemed in order.

Muck Rock is a local street artist and this presents a positive first impression.

The building was an ironmonger’s warehouse, indeed Mellard’s Warehouse which is where the pub name is from, and the restoration process took six years before it finally opened in 2017. This is a very practical use of an historic property and it seemed sensitively transformed.

The beer selection and for those interested in the current selection they are listed on Untappd. The service was prompt and immediate, although they got one of the drinks orders wrong but that didn’t impact me and so I was most forgiving.

A quirky building and it had the peace and calm that I was hoping for on a Saturday night. Not empty, just a little bit refined. I’m not sure if Ross and Liam were quite as pleased with my selection as I was, but they didn’t seem to be disappointed and so that sufficed me.

This is the Lumber Up, Limbo Down from Pomona Island Brew Co, a very agreeable wild cherry and blackcurrant sour IPA.

I was delighted to see that they had a Funky Fluid beer available, my favourite brewery who are located in Warsaw. There was more excitement, and I accept that I need to get out more, when I realised not only was it a beer that I hadn’t tried before, but it was a banana flavoured one. It might sound a slightly odd combination, but a banana stout can work quite well in terms of the flavouring and this was no exception. This 10% ABV beer was smooth, the banana flavour was rich and there were some notes of cocoa in there as well. The banana flavour is perhaps artificial, but it wasn’t cloying and this was a marvellous beer to end the evening on.

This bar is well reviewed on-line and it didn’t let me down, it was just as I expected it would be when I saw it listed on Untappd. It’s located down a back alley that means that they can’t have a great deal of passing pedestrian traffic, but it’s clearly become something of a destination venue over the last few years that it has been open. I can’t quite work out from their Facebook page and they don’t have a web-site, but they seem to serve pizzas during the day as well. Anyway, I’d merrily recommend this bar and would return if I’m back in the delightful town of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

June 18, 2023
Stoke-on-Trent – Trentham Monkey Forest

What better way to spend a warm, indeed too warm, Saturday morning in Stoke-on-Trent than by visiting a forest full of monkeys? There are 140 Barbary macaque monkeys at the Trentham Monkey Forest park with visitors being able to walk freely amongst them, although of course they can’t touch or feed them as that would be a little sub-optimal.

The park is located in the grounds of what was Trentham Hall, one of the most tragic country house losses of the early twentieth century. At least one of the gatehouses has been repurposed to be used as the new ticket office.

I had wondered how easy it would be to spot the monkeys, but that didn’t transpire to be a problem. They congregated in numerous places and were happily minding their own business. The keepers bring out food to certain areas, which of course excites and delights the monkeys and they seem to hang around near those feeding stations out of habit more than anything. I’m sure there were some who had stomped off elsewhere and we saw a couple who had climbed a tree to get some peace, but most were lingering around the path which winded its way around the site.

Some other wildlife has sneaked in.

I kept taking photos of the monkeys, although other than put them in an album on Flickr, it wasn’t clear to me what I was going to do with them all. There’s only breed of monkey here, which lets them life safely in one community, although that does limit a little what there is to see. It was relatively quiet when we went, which was just after 10:00 when they opened, but it looked annoyingly busy as we left so an early start is recommended.

One of the eight babies that have been born so far this year. The park does have to manage this process as they only want between 6 and 10 babies per year, otherwise there might be more monkeys than they could cope with.

And a playful baby.

The younger monkeys seemed to spend their entire time playing.

The nearby adults looked quite exhausted at times.

They’ve quite expressive animals and this one looked a little forlorn.

With some others looking downright angry.

I’ve also discovered that monkeys can eat nettles.

It’s not a bad life to be fair…. The oldest monkey here is 30 years old and it must be quite a luxurious life for them as they don’t have to worry about predators. There’s also plenty of space if they want to be away from people so it doesn’t feel like they’re trapped in here.

Occasionally the monkeys walk out on the path, but there are plenty of rangers about and they just ask visitors to stand still and let them cross. I didn’t see any monkeys lingering on the path, but I suspect they’ve been trained over the years not to hang about and to just move on. I was surprised how many rangers they had at the site, but I imagine it’s essential to stop some badly trained humans from doing things that they’re not meant to be doing. I’m sure that at some stage that someone from a village who has lost its idiot has tried to feed or touch one of the monkeys.

And a ranger supervising the crossing.

And having a little rest after its brave crossing of the path.

There’s a conservation angle to the whole arrangement as well, not least in providing information to visitors about not taking part in any photos where monkeys are used as props.

The park is also well reviewed on-line, although there are of course some people determined to be angry or annoyed. Here are a few of my favourites:

“Went with my 5yr old grand daughter at the weekend and when asked by her mum when we took her home she said her favourite bit was the picnic later.”

To be fair, a lot of children would be excited by the picnic element. I’m excited by the picnic element….

“30 quid for a 15 minute walk of seeing the same monkeys over and over. Bairn was bored in 10 mins and asking too leave.”

Fair play for getting round in 15 minutes, I would have struggled to have run it that time…… The management responded saying that many visitors would spent 3 to 5 hours, which seems quite a long time, but I’m unsure how anyone got around in 15 minutes.

“I can walk round forests for free and see lively animals.”

I’m not sure how many forests in the UK you can see monkeys though….

“I can only go off what I can see and basically its just a field where someone has chucked a load of monkeys in”

A field 🙂

“No touching or feeding allowed.”

Several people complained about this. I’m puzzled why anyone would want to touch the monkeys, but there we go. I think it’s related to the expectation that the animals can be used as a photo props, something the park deliberately warns about.

“Almost all displayed animals on the “walk map” were not in the relative places of the walking tour.”

The monkeys were in the wrong place 🙂

“Monkeys were scaring our children by hissing and waving their private parts into our children’s face.”

Even the park didn’t know how to respond to this….

“You cant take scooters inside”

May as well let in motorbikes….

Anyway, I digress once again by reading reviews.

The external fencing to stop the monkeys from all rushing into the centre of Stoke-on-Trent. I’m sure they would given half a chance.

And here’s Liam just inside the entrance to the park. Also in this area are the toilets, cafe, seating and a playground. You can walk around for as long as you like, although it was hot and we felt once around the main path was enough, especially as we had other places to be. It’s also possible to bring a picnic into this area, although not of course into the part where the monkeys are as that might lead to general havoc. All really rather lovely and it’s best to pre-book as it’s a bit cheaper. We had about 90 minutes here for £10 each, which seemed a reasonable price. The rangers and staff were all friendly and everything seemed well managed to me, so I’d recommend it to others although I’m not sure how often I’d want to return as inevitably the excitement wears off a little.

June 17, 2023
Newcastle-under-Lyme – Greyhound Pub

I’ve wanted to start ticking Titanic pubs off my list for some time, as it’s my favourite UK brewery and it was something that I had planned to do during the relaxed period after total lockdown. This weekend meant that I could start to visit a few of these fabled venues and the Greyhound in Newcastle-under-Lyme was where we started. That’s also appropriate, as I went to the nearby Keele University and remember it with very fond memories, although am moderately annoyed that it was somehow a quarter of a century ago. Anyway, I digress. Unfortunately, Titanic don’t seem to provide much information on the history of their venues, so I can’t add much on this one.

How very lovely. Titanic is known for its Plum Porter, but I rate its Cherry Porter even higher and so that’s what I went for. Not that it’ll interest very many people, but Ross went for a lager and Liam for the Anytime Session IPA. There’s certainly no shortage of choice here and the helpful staff seemed knowledgeable and keen to engage about the beer options.

The beer list and the Greyhound is keg and cask. I’m also delighted to note that it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide. The environment in the pub was laid-back but wasn’t particularly busy even though we were there on a Friday evening.

And the drink. The Cherry Porter was well-kept, at the appropriate temperature and had a sufficient amount of cherry flavouring running through it.

I’m assuming that the bar is designed to look like a ship and very noble and sleek it is. The on-line reviews for the pub are positive, just a couple of outliers including someone who was furious they had to wear a mask during the period after lockdown. The bane of publicans, I’m glad that those times are hopefully over….

The quirky looking clock. Not that we were taking part on it in its entirety, but The Greyhound is one of the pubs which is located on the Hartshill Mile pub crawl.

The bottled selection. I had a plan that I would purchase anything I hadn’t tried before during the brewery tour, which transpired to be a good plan.

A model of the Titanic and I’ll explain why the brewery has this name when I get to the brewery tour post. What a treat….

Anyway, this was a marvellous way to start the weekend and the pub was clean and had an inviting atmosphere. Quite rightly in the Good Beer Guide, the service was friendly and it’s always a delight to have the Cherry Porter.

June 16, 2023
Cantley – Cantley Cock (All You Can Eat Ribs and Chicken Wings)

I noticed this pub from their Facebook advertising and after some checking with CAMRA friends it appears to have something of a positive reputation. That was evident when we arrived and their car park was nearly at capacity, something is driving (literally) people to this countryside pub which following normal logic of the trade would have seen it closed and turned into housing.

I’m not quite sure I can articulate why, but this is the most perfect looking of entrances for a country pub. I think it’s the homeliness and cosiness they’ve delivered here, although equally it could be just that they didn’t know where to put the stuff they’ve dumped here. That I can’t tell the difference is what makes it work for me.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever own a country pub, but if I did, I’m not sure that I’d dare hang dangerous agricultural implements from the ceiling. I can imagine I’d get in the local press not because of the wonderful selection of Polish craft beers that I was offering, but because a cart wheel had fallen on an elderly woman as she was eating a slice of Bakewell tart. And although my friend Liam is a civil engineer, I’m not sure I’d entirely trust his hammer skills or however it is they hang things from the ceiling.

Back to the cosiness theme here. And, indeed, the agricultural implements theme. I took these photos as we were leaving as the pub was nearly at capacity. Reserving a table is highly recommended here judging from just how busy it was.

The selection of real ales was strong, Legacy from Lacon’s Brewery, London Pride from Fuller’s, Origins from Lacon’s Brewery, Little Sharpie from Humpty Dumpty and Old Speckled Hen from Greene King. I took this photo as a reminder of the beers they had, but I quite like the colours here.

Page one of the menu.

Page two of the menu. It was the bottom left offer that I had come for, the all you can eat ribs and wings for £18.95. Although rather decadently priced for me, I hadn’t eaten all day (I went to a lunchtime talk at Norfolk Record Office on King Street in Norwich) so I felt that I deserved it. I’d also had the most ridiculous situation with Wordle for the second time in a few days, but I’m only mentioning that in passing as nearly no-one would believe it if I told them, so that needed a private celebration.

I must admit that I was getting nervous about the arrangement as it’s offered from 17:00 until 21:00 and my order hadn’t arrived been taken until just before 20:00 so I was worried about getting my money’s worth. The service was just a little sluggish at first, but was always friendly and helpful. As a spoiler, I needn’t have worried.

Then this arrived. I’m not sure that this photo really shows the amount of food here, the ribs are on the left, the chicken wings and burnt ends on the right, with coleslaw in the middle and a mostly hidden mound of fries underneath. I started off going through this thinking that I could maybe cope with another trough of food, to thinking I’ll just ask for more chicken wings and chips, to thinking I’ll just ask for chips and then deciding I could only just finish what they had given me.

On the quality, this was exceptional, it wasn’t just a quantity thing. The ribs were tender and fell off the bone, the chicken wings were moist and covered in a thick and crispy coating. It was all very moreish and indeed quite messy to eat, but I’m not sure that eating ribs can authentically be done in any other manner. The helpful staff member did ask if I wanted another one, but I thought that would be reckless.

The beer was also decent, I went for the Little Sharpie from Humpty Dumpty that I hadn’t had before and this was well kept, at the appropriate temperature and had a pleasant taste. It was a much better selection of real ales than I had expected, but the popularity of the venue must allow them to get through a fair amount of beer.

Richard, who celebrated another big milestone birthday last weekend (he’s not yet 65, so anyone who knows him can work that one out), ordered the whitebait for starter and the Hunter’s Chicken for main course. He didn’t get close to finishing his main, such was the quantity of food that they served him. He approved of the quality too, but apologies I couldn’t take a photo as I had a fifth of a litre of BBQ sauce on my hands at that time.

It isn’t all about all you can eat of course, but I am tempted to return on a Monday for their unlimited curries as they sound most delightful. This is a venue that doing an excellent job of bringing people into their countryside location and I can see why it’s so busy, the service is friendly, the environment clean, the food keenly priced and the quality of the food high. I’m slightly wondering why this isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, but CAMRA note that it was taken over by new owners in July 2021 so maybe the situation will change as its reputation continues to grow. All really rather lovely, this is a proper country pub.

June 15, 2023