Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warwick

Warwick – Holiday Inn Express Warwick and Stratford-Upon-Avon

Located near to the motorway and about a 40 minute walk from the town centre of Warwick is this IHG hotel. Visible in the photo to the right is what was until relatively recently a large Harvester restaurant, but it’s now been turned into a McDonald’s.

The check-in process was all efficient although there was a weird set-up where the cheapest room rate was only available for twin rooms. I asked about that at reception and they didn’t know what had caused that, but just changed the room booking to a double. I might as well have the extra space….

And the room, all to brand standard as usual. It was clean enough, with the exception of the “rest assured” cleanliness card to show that the room was clean, which itself was dirty. That’s not an ideal situation, they’d be better off dumping the cards or at least putting new ones into the room each time. Anyway, all else was well and I had my usual room location of on an upper floor and nearly as far away from the lift as possible.

The welcome drink selection was as dreadful as ever for an IHG hotel. In what seems to be some form of brand standard, Holiday Inn Express hotels offer Stella on tap which is a completely dreadful choice as the sole beer, alongside Bud, Corona and Peroni in the fridges, all what I consider to be generic rubbish.

The breakfast area, which was never that busy, although I did go down every morning nearly as soon as it opened which is usually the quietest time.

The drinks section on the left, toast and muffins in the middle. What amused me about the set-up is that they’ve hidden all of the plates around the corner. There’s some logic here, that they’ve tried to create a customer flow and they think that the plates are easily noticed. I watched one morning as all eight guests struggled to find the plates, and add to that me the morning before. I accept that it’s not grand entertainment, but there’s a limited amount of other exciting things to watch at 07:00 in the morning.

The hot food selection on the right, consisting of the minimum brand standard of sausages, bacon, baked beans and scrambled egg. There were also croissants, muffins, cereals, yoghurts and the like, all included in the room rate.

The selection of teas on the left, orange juices on the right.

Not entirely healthy perhaps, bacon and sausages, alongside a croissant. The food was the usual basic brand standard from Holiday Inn Express, nothing there beyond the minimum. The coffee cups weren’t the cleanest which wasn’t ideal and I had to pick out the crispiest bits of bacon amidst the rest which looked like it had vaguely been wafted over a naked flame for a few seconds.

I have no idea what this was in the gardens of the hotel. I couldn’t work out whether it’s a small folly to add excitement to the gardens, or whether there was some building here before. I’m fairly sure it’s a a miniature folly as some sort of homage to Warwick Castle just down the road, but I have no idea.

For the price of just over £30 per night including breakfast, this was a rather agreeable set-up, even though it was a slight traipse into the town centre every day. But walking is healthy and all that, but I was particularly pleased that there was a pavement all the way given that the road was quite busy. The staff were friendly, the room was clean and there were minimal noise disturbances. There’s a charge for the car park which annoyed at least one customer, but since I didn’t drive there, I decided not to let that worry me.

There’s further information about the hotel here.

January 16, 2022
Warwick – Warwick Museum (Sheldon Tapestry)

I thought that this was the highlight of the collections in Warwick Museum, the Sheldon Tapestry which dates to the 1580s. There were four tapestries commissioned by Ralph Sheldon (1537-1613) to hang at his grand house in Weston and they were based on the surveys of Christopher Saxton. The four tapestries were of Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire, with substantial sections of three of them remaining, but only the Warwickshire one still being intact. The map is sizeable, six metres wide and four metres tall, and it’s in good condition, although was subject to a major conservation effort about ten years ago.

There’s Warwick in the centre, and it’s noticeable that there are a fair few liberties taken with where places actually are on the map. Warwick Castle is visible on the tapestry, as are the town’s two churches. The whole set-up is a bit more confusing as it isn’t a north to south matter, the original tapestry makers must have felt that the county fitted in best on its side.

The area around Solihull, known at the time as Solyhill.

And what is now Stratford, known at the time (or on this tapestry at least) as Stretford, particularly interesting perhaps as this is the town as William Shakespeare (1564-1616) would have seen.

All very interesting, and a remarkable survival through the centuries, especially given its size and the material from which it was made.

January 16, 2022
Chiltern Railways : Warwick to Royal Leamington Spa

Off on a little day trip to Royal Leamington Spa, which cost just over £2 return, which seemed a fair price for the rail journey. This is Warwick railway station, opened in October 1852 on the Oxford to Birmingham rail line, which is a surprisingly basic and tatty arrangement at the moment (the station, not the rail line). The railway station isn’t a listed building and there’s little to excite anyone in terms of the architecture.

Not much has changed in the area over the last 120 years, although the footpath that meandered across the railway tracks has now been replaced by a tunnel.

The delightful (well sort of) tunnel under the railway track.

This is the main set of buildings on the Birmingham side, but there were once station buildings on the London platform side as well, but these have been demolished for customer comfort (or whatever excuse they used) and replaced by a rickety old outdoor waiting room area. The buildings on the Birmingham side are reduced from when the railway station was reconstructed after a fire in 1894. That fire was substantial and had been caused by the overheating of a stove in the booking office, with the fire brigade being able to save some of the structure. The staff were able to smash down some of the internal wooden partitions in a bid to save paperwork and a large stock of railway tickets. The local press noted:

“During the time that the fire was raging, Police Inspector Hall and a staff of constables preserved admirable order, and effectively prevented the quickly gathering crowd from interfering with the efforts of the Fire Brigade and station officials”.

I slightly wonder what they through the crowd were going to do. The press also added that the debris was quickly removed and that:

“The old station was built from designs by Brunel and was principally of wood. It is is hoped by the townspeople that the Railway Company will now take the opportunity of erecting a handsome station, with every convenience for the travelling public”.

They did get a new station, but I’m not sure it had every convenience….

Welcome to Warwick for a great day out.

It’s about a ten minute walk into the Warwick town centre.

An old milestone noting that it was 108 miles to London Paddington, although this is a little irrelevant now as the trains don’t go to Paddington.

There are nearly no facilities at this station, there’s a taxi office, a very small waiting room and not much else, with no proper shelter on this side of the lines. There are no toilets either, which seems an omission for what should be a relatively important station.

A Great Western Railways bench, probably from the 1930s.

The train came creeping into the station on time.

The train was comfortable for the four minute journey…. There’s little of note really about this service, other than the train was clean, there were plenty of seats and there was power available (I managed to get my phone charge up by 2%). Everything was on time, although I didn’t see any staff during my four mintes.

And after my long four minute journey, here’s Royal Leamington Spa, or just Leamington Spa in the eyes of the railway network.

One of the waiting rooms at the station, this was restored in 2011 and is a useful space, with power, heat and doors that keep opening randomly. Unlike Warwick, there are toilet facilities at this station.

It’s fair to say that Royal Leamington Spa railway station is much more architecturally impressive than the one that Warwick has. The first station here was also built in 1852, at the same time as the one at Warwick was constructed, but this grand Art Deco construction dates from between 1937 and 1939. But more on this another time as I’m back in Royal Leamington Spa in a few weeks for the LDWA AGM weekend.

As a rail service, all was well and everything ran on time. I wonder though about what they can do with Warwick railway station, as the facilities are very poor compared to Leamington Spa. I know that Leamington Spa gets nearly five times as many passengers as Warwick, but something a little more exciting would be nice here. Anyway, I was once again entirely satisified with Chiltern Railways.

January 15, 2022
Warwick – The Wild Boar

This is another of those pubs that I probably wouldn’t think to visit if it wasn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide, even though it’s only about a two minute walk from Warwick railway station.

There’s a large blackboard near the entrance (not the one in the above photo as that’s their bar snacks and wi-fi board) which has the cask and keg options listed on it. I hadn’t realised at the time, but this pub is also the home of the Slaughterhouse Brewery and they had a few beers on that they’d produced. The descriptions on the board for the keg options were minimal, which gave me a slight problem in knowing what to order as I was going to resort to the tactic that my friend Liam has of picking the one with the most interesting name. I mentioned to the staff member that I’d have half a pint of the Wet Leg, even though I wasn’t sure what it was. She was polite, but she didn’t tell me anything more about it, but I like the jeopardy element sometimes so all was well.

It transpired that the beer wasn’t listed on Untappd, although it is now since I listed it (apologies to the brewery if they now need to edit what I have typed in). It was a perfectly good hazy session IPA, quite citrusy and very drinkable. The member of staff mentioned that I had been the only customer in so far, and since it was nearly 14:00 and I had only ordered half a pint, I’m sure that they didn’t find this ideal. It’s hard to judge the atmosphere of a pub when I’m the only customer, but I liked it at the staff members were friendly and engaging, it felt a warm and inviting place. My often talked about measure of “would someone new to the area feel welcome here and meet people?” would be met here I think, it’s a very decent pub.

The reviews of the pub are positive, which isn’t really surprising, there was an air of competence about the venue. One happy soul complained that “Got 1 beer and 1 wine £13. Will never go again” but that really needs a little more, such as what beer and wine had they ordered? Yes, that’s a rip off if they got half a pint of IPA and a Blue Nun (not that I’m suggesting that they sell Blue Nun here), but if it’s a pint of decadent beer then they’d have got themselves a bargain.

Anyway, another pub that I was very pleased with and absolutely rightly in the Good Beer Guide. Very nice.

January 14, 2022
Warwick – The Chip Shed

Today is Thursday and I have a new little saying, “when in Warwick on a Thursday, get fish and chips for lunch”. The Chip Shed has what I consider to be an inspirational name (there’s a market I think for a restaurant called the Chicken Strips Shed), so I opted to try them. The reviews are broadly positive, although they seem to have annoyed some locals with the quality of their takeaways recently.

I was the only customer dining in when I arrived, and indeed, the only customer they had in the restaurant for the entire time that I was there. The front section is the takeaway area (visible at the rear of the above photo, through the door) and that was a little busier, but a Thursday afternoon in January is not really going to be their busiest time of the year. The interior feels modern and clean, with plenty of inside tables available. When I was seated I asked if it was OK to sit anywhere and the staff member looked slightly puzzled, I suspect knowing I’d likely be the only customer that they got.

The fish and chips was priced at about the same level as a pub, but the quality was high. The whole thing came to £14 which includes the fish, chips, a side (mushy peas in this instance) and a drink, which isn’t as cheap as some places, but the dining environment was comfortable and the table service was efficient. Indeed, all of the staff members were friendly and helpful, although they had the luxury of being able to lavish their time on their only customer. They had run out of the San Pellegrino flavours that were listed on the menu, but the Fanta option was just as sufficient for my needs.

The cod was light and seemed fresh, whilst the batter was thin and rich, with a decent taste to it. It was only slightly greasy on the underside, but not to the point that it was a problem. The chips are cooked in beef dripping and were cooked appropriately with a pleasant flavour to them. The mushy peas tasted of peas, which is hardly a complaint, although for my own personal taste I’d rather had them a little lighter and had mint riven through them. The vinegar is branded as their own and I liked the tomato ketchup dispensers, I haven’t seen them like that for a while.

Portion size, that was as much as I could have eaten, it was a large piece of fish and there are rather more chips on the plate than the wide angle photo I took suggests. Absolutely no issues here for me, a very decadent lunch.

January 13, 2022
Warwick – The Old Post Office

There are four pubs in Warwick that are listed in the current Good Beer Guide and this former Post Office (there’s a clue in the pub’s name about that) is one of them. CAMRA refer to this as an ale house, but I’m going to call it a micropub as I think that’s more appropriate in terms of defining its concept as well as its size.

What a rather lovely little bar arrangement. Service was personable and very friendly, this is one of those pubs that I talk about which I am confident would warmly greet someone new to the area so they felt welcome and part of the community. More than anything, that’s what I think a pub should try and have at its heart, and the atmosphere here seemed to be just right. The pub accepts cards and cash, but mentions that they they prefer cash.

I took a seat near to the bar, looking towards the front of the pub.

There’s another room at the rear of the pub, all homely and nicely decorated.

Next to a stack of Good Beer Guide books, this is the Light Bulb from Verdant Brewing. Clean tasting with a citrus edge, this was a nice keg beer, a suitable starter for my visit.

For the main course, I opted for a cask option, the Ghost of Dwarfmas Yet to Come from Fownes Brewing Company. I had noticed on-line that the pub had only just put this on, it hadn’t been lingering about since Christmas. Although on that note, the staff succumbed to Covid over the new year period, so unfortunately had to close, not really the start of 2022 they wanted. This was a better beer than I had expected, rich with roasty flavours, a nice coffee edge to it. It was also well kept and at the appropriate temperature, so all was well there.

As a pub, this was a charming venue and it seems entirely right to me that this has been listed in the Good Beer Guide. The pub is well reviewed other than for the spiteful “awful place. No seating and limited drinks” which is a ridiculous thing to say about a micropub in my view, but there we go. Friendly and welcoming, with an interesting selection of beers, and its location relatively near to Warwick Castle must make it a popular option for visitors to the town. Incidentally, I didn’t press the bell to get beer…..

January 13, 2022
Chiltern Railways : London Marylebone to Warwick

Back in London Marylebone, this time for a trip up to Warwick.

I’ve written about Marylebone numerous times before, but I hadn’t noticed how much housing was demolished to construct it at the beginning of the twentieth century. The concourse of the railway station is where Harewood Square is on this map which is from just before the station was constructed.

I was as early as ever arriving at the railway station, mine was the 12:34 to Birmingham Snow Hill.

The platform number wasn’t announced until ten minutes before departure, which I didn’t think was ideal. It’s quite a pleasant little railway station to wait in and I meandered across to Pret to use my coffee subscription. There are numerous other coffee providers, free toilets, plenty of seating and a small selection of shops.

There’s the Marylebone Thunderbolt on the left (my name for the service, it’s not the official name). Apparently this train is a British Rail Class 168 DMU train, but I had to look that up as I know nearly nothing about these matters. The trains though date from after privatisation, they were built from 1998 to service this route.

The train was never really that busy and there were plenty of seats available. I got a table and access to a power supply which was handy. My ticket was checked by two different train guards, slightly unusual as I’ve recently rarely been asked to show my ticket at all. It’s a comfortable train, with spacious seats and it was clean throughout.

And having safely arrived after a journey of just under 1 hour and 30 minutes. The railway station is located a ten-minute walk from the town centre, although there are buses for those who can’t be faffing about.

And off the train goes to Birmingham.

I was surprised that Warwick railway station wasn’t a little grander, it’s quite a minimal affair with limited facilities for customers.

As for the service, it was on time, the train was clean, the staff were polite and the seats were comfortable. The fare cost £10, so I have no cause to be anything other than happy with the arrangement.

January 13, 2022
Warwick – The Roebuck

The Roebuck is apparently the oldest pub in Warwick, although there are usually numerous other competing venues that contest claims like this. Anyway, the pub has apparently been there since 1470 which is quite some history if it’s true.

It received some publicity a couple of years when the council ordered that a repaint of the frontage needed to be reversed. Apparently it was the owners Heineken who made the mistake, but I preferred the grey that the pub chain painted it, it doesn’t feel historically wrong and it’s perhaps more in keeping with the rest of the street. But it’s back to black and white now, with photos of the temporary repaint visible at https://www.warwickshireworld.com/news/penalised-for-changing-colour-of-warwick-pub-255023.

There is one main bar in the venue, although there are a few areas which are located off from that. I was welcomed by a friendly member of staff immediately on entering the pub and it felt an inviting place to visit. It’s a slightly puzzling mix of old and historic, along with modern and contemporary in its design. That does actually seem to work and it’s a comfortable enough environment. I suspect this is usually packed with tourists during the summer, but it was quiet on the Wednesday afternoon in January when I visited.

In an area which I assume was once outdoors, there are some different seating styles in this area at the rear of the pub.

The sole real ale option was the Proper Job from St. Austell Brewery, which was acceptable enough, but it didn’t particularly excite me. The pub isn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide, and probably never will be unless the number of beers is widened. There are though a few hand pumps available, so maybe the pub usually has more choice. Pricing for drinks in the pub is also slightly aggressive.

The pub serves traditional meals such as burgers and fish & chips, but there are also some options such as pan fried seabass fillet to add a little decadence to the proceedings.

The reviews for the pub are positive, although there’s one quite clearly for the wrong pub, to which the pub management replied:

“What Town was your Roebuck in?”

Google should definitely do more to remove negative reviews like this, it doesn’t seem fair for the venue. Anyway, I digress.

The pub seemed competently managed, but there was nothing to draw me back in. There was no craft beer, a highly limited real ale option of one beer and nothing out of the ordinary. However, the food is well reviewed and I’m sure it’s a reliable option for those wanting a relaxing evening meal or the like.

January 12, 2022