I like the Humber Bridge. Not in a fanboy kind of sense as I’m not that much of a fan of any road, but it is still exciting as it’s a gateway to another place. Obviously it’s not the Severn Bridge leading to a different country, although I suppose in reality Hull is effectively in Yorkshire and so that’s nearly the same thing.

Ryan Taylor climbed this a few years ago, I think it’s fair to say he’s somewhat braver than I am. At a push, I might be able to sit on the concrete bit on the left for a brief while. Not in terms of an environmental protest I’d better add there.

Very scenic. I quite like the idea of walking across this bridge, which I understand is allowed, although I have no idea why I’d be needing to be at either end of it.

There’s still social interaction required here at the Humber Bridge tolls. Not from me, that was Liam’s problem, but there’s a new system being rolled out in the future which might automate matters more.

Being an automobile expert I mentioned to Liam just how many white cars there were in Hull. Always fascinated by car related facts he spent some time counting them and I think that we agreed that my observation was accurate. The Boddingtons we each had were our welcome drinks at the Ibis Hull just in case anyone was confused why I had gone to Hull to drink that.

Back to one of my favourite shopping centres, Princes Quay, because it’s built on stilts. I’m easily pleased.

Then a quick visit to Brewdog, the first time that I’ve been to this one so that’s another ticked off my list.

I had my new Brewdog Plus account but then a team member said that they were having problems with it and they might not be accepting it all in the future. A manager came over who was personable and engaging, apologising for the issues and she decided to give me my drinks for free. I hadn’t asked for that, but I was very pleased with her suggestion and I agreed with it. I approve of this bar being card only as well, as it’s becoming more common, but there are a few angry reviewers who aren’t pleased at their decision.

It’s a large venue and I liked the ambience of the whole arrangement. I’ve never played Shuffleboard, despite being in many Brewdogs and other pubs where they have it, I’ll have to fix that at some point. I expect it’ll just annoy me, but best to be sure. The team members in the venue were friendly and engaging, it all seemed competently run.

I was delighted to see that there was a Funky Fluid beer, they’re from Warsaw and are one of my favourite breweries. This is their Splash Red, a delightful pomegranate and blackcurrant double fruited gose. I also went for Just Desserts brewed by Brewdog themselves, a very credible pastry stout.

The manager explained that the bar is one of a small franchise of four which are based around the Red’s BBQ restaurant theme, which is the food option here. They’ve got an on-site smoker (cooking apparatus I mean, not a troublesome chef) so they can smoke their own meats, it all sounds quite delicious and I’m sure I’ll eat here at some point in the future. The venue feels all suitably on-trend and that meant it was attracting a younger audience, although firmly of legal drinking age I’d better confirm there. Brewdog aren’t the cheapest of venues, but this seems to be a good iteration of its rollout programme.

I certainly left happy though, I had received two drinks for free, so I considered that to be a very positive visit. Liam and I had to leave at this point as I wanted to see if the health and safety version of him was still on the docks area.

It would be a fair point to query why I’m writing up another visit to Atom Brewery in Hull, given that I’ve already been on two occasions (visit 1 and visit 2)….. But it’s one of my favourite bars and they continue to surprise and delight me with their beer options, so I felt the need for a quick few words.

Part of the beer selection that was available, covering a range of beer styles and with a suitable choice of decadent and less decadent options. The service was friendly and engaging, with the member of bar staff being knowledgeable about the beer options. Although it was a Tuesday afternoon when I visited, there was a constant trade and most customers were ordering some form of food.

I went for a third of the Stoutzilla 20 from UnBarred Brewery (so it’s an over-poured third, not an under-poured half in the above photo) and a third of the Cherry Skies from the marvellous Vault City Brewing. Starting on the Cherry Skies, this was an exceptional sour with a rich flavour, a strong aftertaste but nothing too harsh. I like cherries (especially in beer) and there was no shortage of them here, with a little bit of vanilla in the mix as well. This was my first of the two beers and I merrily scored it 4.75 on Untappd, but the Stoutzilla was for me a 5 on Untappd as far as I was concerned. It’s possible to overthink these things, but I spend a lot of time thinking about beer, so that’s fine. The Stoutzilla was a rich 10% ABV, but absolutely pleasantly so, with flavours of coffee, vanilla and some Bourbon to add into the mix. Talk about decadence and a range of strong, but not overpowering, flavours. I have a real love for beers where there are a range of competing flavours, that must be a very difficult thing to achieve in the brewing process. UnBarred Brewery and Vault City both produce some brilliant beers, I tend to always opt for those if I see that they’ve got something new on.

Whilst in the bar, I thought that I’d have a little snack with my decadent beer, and I went for the Chorizo Picante pattie buttie. The buttie is a local delicacy, which is effectively mashed potato in a white roll, served with mushy peas. As Tony from the fabulous Hop & Vine pointed out, the chorizo version isn’t really a local tradition, but it’s important to mix the old and the new. The chorizo added some texture to the whole arrangement as well, which was a nice little snack, with the mushy peas being a handy little sauce to dip everything into.

I see that Atom Brewery now have a bar in Beverley, so next time I’m in Hull I think that I might spend a day there (in the town, rather than specifically the bar). As for this bar in Hull, it’s really quite marvellous and I very much recommend a little visit. As a side note, it’s not in the Good Beer Guide as it’s perhaps too keg orientated, but I think it should ideally be listed.

Back to last week, I had a one night stay at this Campanile hotel located near to the city centre in Hull. It’s part of an international chain that I think has seen better days in the UK, but they still have several locations open throughout the country.

The hotel warned me in advance that they needed photo ID from every guest, which suggests serious issues with the guests that they’ve been getting. Although this is potentially something of an inconvenience to me, I still had my passport with me to resolve that issue without problems. The staff at the hotel were friendly and apparently are a new team, so are keen to do their best. I suspect that they’ll struggle given what they have to work with though.

This type of keycard was introduced in the 1980s and they were apparently reasonably common at this time, usually produced by VingCard. That they survive is quite amazing and an early indication that this hotel is in need of a modernisation.

The room was clean and well presented, although very dated with the heater and hair dryer being broken. There was just one power point and it was literally that, it required the TV to be unplugged to use it. This is far from ideal and the hotel will at some point have to entirely renovate these rooms to bring them up to some sort of modern standard. They also need to replace the external signage as some letters have fallen off, which is not the first impression that guests are going to be surprised and delighted at. Well, maybe surprised actually. It might be the case that it’s easier to demolish the entire hotel and rebuild it, as the structure doesn’t exactly look that expensively built in the first place.

I quite liked this hotel and I didn’t have any noise issues either internally or externally. That might have been partly good luck though, as the motel type arrangement means that any late night noise would reverberate around the rooms, something which is evident from the series of negative reviews that the hotel had received about this. And onto the matter of reviews, this hotel is clearly struggling and it one of the worst rated in the city. I’m not sure that I would stay here again as I think the potential downside of noise issues is too high, but if they renovated the rooms and made the whole location a little nicer, then it might be considerably better. But, whether by chance or not, I had no issues and felt that the hotel was certainly something slightly different.

This is the final Good Beer Guide listed pub in Hull that I hadn’t visited before, located in the rather on-trend Fruit Market area of the city. It’s a combination of a brewery which is jointly used by Bone Machine and the Yorkshire Brewing Company, as well as a bar area.

The beer options on the board, a mixture of keg, cask and at the time of my visit, a German beer festival as well for Oktoberfest. I thought that the beer pricing was reasonable and I ordered at the bar, although I think it was meant to be table service. Either way, the staff were friendly and the atmosphere was laid-back and inviting.

The food menu, where the prices were a bit more punchy. I had already eaten, but the food options looked good.

I went for a couple of half pints, the Erdinger Dunkel (above) and the Men Beyond the Glass from Bone Machine. Both were very drinkable and at the appropriate temperature and all that. The interior of the bar is all modern and I liked the seating around the table, although it took me some manoeuvring to get in. There are plenty of power points dotted around the bar, which is perhaps something of a sign about how modern an interior is.

It’s an interesting bar and I liked it, although I can imagine that it gets busy on weekends (and indeed, we couldn’t get in one evening last year as it was full). It’s well reviewed, although there is a 1-star review because the venue used disposable cutlery last year to make it easier to maintain Covid compliance, despite it being a “really nice place. Atmosphere, food and service were great”, which must be disheartening. But there’s always someone wanting to do a place down over Covid, although hopefully that is something which is behind us. The beer range wasn’t the most decadent that I’ve seen, but there were a range of different styles and there was plenty of choice. So that’s another bar that I’m pleased is listed in the Good Beer Guide and I think that I made the right decision to go and visit to complete my collection of Hull pubs that are listed in it. Although the new book is out in a few weeks, so if there’s somewhere new that’s another place I’d have to traipse to….

I left the hotel before 07:00 to get back to London which wasn’t ideal, but a nice sunrise.

The beginning of the near six hour coach journey, the moderately beautiful Hull Interchange bus and railway station.

The signage in the bus station was bloody dreadful and it was no surprise there were passengers seeking help from others. It seems to me completely idiotic for this to be the only sign for National Express, which doesn’t even have the correct bus number for the journey I was taking anyway. The overheard screens were displaying incorrect information, just to add to the confusion. If anyone misses the coach, they’d be within their rights to complain to National Express for this in my (rather random) view….

Having had years of practice at finding the right place to wait for coaches/trains/buses/ferries/planes/etc, I was sitting in the right place for the coach.

I was able to get my favourite emergency exit row seat. I accept it’s not as exciting as getting the exit row on an aircraft, but it still offers more leg room so I was happy. I was slightly humoured at the elderly couple who were determined to get on first and were edging their luggage closer to the door in the coach station. They then realised that their luggage was setting off the automatic doors so they were getting cold, with the husband then moving it all about again, but carefully blocking anyone else for daring to get in front of them. I’m unsure why they did that, since they sat in a random place midway down the coach, but whatever makes them happy.

The USB charger on my side didn’t work, but fortunately the coach was never that busy and so there was no-one next to me. The bus stopped at Lincoln and Nottingham and I had expected it to get busy at the latter stop, but the coach wasn’t ever more than half-full.

I tried to take a photo going over the Humber Bridge, but I don’t think I’ll be entering it into any artistic or photographic competitions.

And there’s the coach having arrived into London Victoria coach station, around ten minutes ahead of schedule. This was another efficient service and a bargain at £7.60 compared to how much a rail journey would have been. There were no issues en route, other than for what appeared to be a drugged up passenger shouting and swearing down the phone to someone, but all that adds to the excitement for me, so that was handy.

Anyway, other than for the usual poor signage from National Express, all very efficient and the drivers were polite and helpful.

This is my third visit to the Accor operated Ibis in Hull, centrally located and reasonably priced.

I was able to have a little meander around the reception area when checking in at around 22:30 as the staff were all elsewhere for several minutes.

The room, which is brand standard and what I expected, although missing a hairdryer but I can cope without that. The set-up is becoming ever more rickety, they’re going to have to refurbish this hotel soon as the rooms are becoming slowly but steadily more damaged and the carpets more stained. Cleanliness was adequate, nothing more, with this being another Accor hotel which isn’t cleaning the room during guest stays. They also hadn’t filled two of the three shower gels in the room, which was hardly a problem, but wasn’t perhaps ideal.

I slightly suspect a dispense problem here, as the already very average Boddington’s was devoid of any taste at all, almost a junk product. This Accor doesn’t have a very good selection of beers, it’s one of the weakest selections I’ve seen in an Ibis hotel and they should perhaps make more effort here. I can’t overly complain as it was a free welcome drink, but it’s all a bit lacklustre. Also, the chocolate bar they used to give as a welcome gift has gone, perhaps not their wisest move as it’s just a cheap gesture that likely created at least a bit of goodwill (it did with me anyway).

However, there were no noise disturbances either internally or externally, so I had no issues during my stay. When I asked for more coffee I was given a huge heap of them, so no complaints there either. I didn’t want breakfast here, but I note their old previous offer price has gone, and it’s back to £8.50. I didn’t see anyone having breakfast when I walked by on three mornings, I suspect that the Wetherspoons over the road has stolen nearly all of that trade from them. I shall likely stay here again, but I hope they start a refurbishment programme soon. Oh, and dump their generic beer options, or at least get something marginally more decadent.

I’ve visited nearly all of the Good Beer Guide pubs in Hull in the past, with just two remaining in Hull. One was the Taphouse, which I tried before one evening last year but it was full, and I thought I’d visit this week, but this time the bar was shut with a sign saying “closed today for maintenance”. It’s not an ideal situation, as I had checked their Facebook page in advance and they could have perhaps mentioned that. Anyway, I’ll try them again another day, but that gave me the chance to go straight to the Whalebone. This is an unusual pub in an industrial part of Hull and is in a building that I would have almost certainly have overlooked if it wasn’t listed in the Good Beer Guide (and also to be fair separately recommended to me).

My first impressions were hugely positive, this was a mix of a traditional pub with the modern delights of Untappd screens. The atmosphere was friendly, the member of bar staff was personable and engaging, with the entire set-up being my sort of place.

This has been a licensed premises since 1791, with CAMRA noting that the current building dates to 1791. A pub company would never have sustained this pub, it requires something exceptional given its location, so it’s no huge surprise that it’s been free trade since 2002. It’d be impossible to create this sort of atmosphere either, the heritage is evident with the old photos and dated design (but I’d add that it’s spotlessly clean), but it’s also rare to see such a well presented bar full of tempting options (and I mainly mean beers, but I was pleased to see three different types of Peperami….)

The range of beers was exceptional, with a wide selection of styles and some interesting keg and cask options. The list at Untappd was also up-to-date, making it much easier to see what was available, although the traditional blackboards were still there as well. I started with the Kaya from Brew York and this was a delight, with the crisps complementing it beautifully.

But, let me just focus on the Cherry Tonkoko from Brew York, a beautiful beer that was 9.5% ABV, but it was smooth, rich and had a decadent aftertaste. That this was available at a back street pub in Hull is an indication to me of just how well run the pub was.

This pub obviously deserves to be in the Good Beer Guide and it’s one of the most authentic places that I’ve been to this year. It is slightly awkward for me to have my Pub of the Year just down the road from the Hop and Vine (what I consider to be one of the best pubs in the country) but that is looking like a distinct possibility here for 2021…. I have to say that this was really all quite lovely.

I can’t entirely argue against that….. I hope that this plaque remains here, and since it’s now September 2021 it’s done well so far.

It’s lovely to be back in Hull, although I’m not entirely sure what is happening here….