Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Preston

Preston – The Grey Friar

For the sake of completion, since I wrote about my visit to the other JD Wetherspoon in Preston (the Twelve Tellers) before I went on a tour of the Preston pubs that are listed in the Good Beer Guide. This is the Grey Friar, a modern venue and JD Wetherspoon note about the name:

“This is named after the Franciscan monks (known as Grey Friars from the colour of their habit) who founded a nearby friary in the early 13th century. The friary was founded around 1220. It gave its name to Friargate, but was actually in Marsh Lane (formerly Friars Lane), between Lower Pitt Street and Ladywell Street. The Franciscans, or Grey Friars, are also remembered in the name of this pub.”

I went for the Hoppy Christmas from Conwy Brewery and it wasn’t great, it was well kept but there was no depth of taste here and an almost unpleasant bitterness. It was tolerable and I had thought it was the best looking of the three Christmas beers that they had. Not that I wanted a Christmas themed beer, it was just the only three guests that they had were all Christmas themed. Service was slightly sluggish, but I wasn’t in a rush and it was all polite and friendly enough.

As usual, I felt that need to have a look at the reviews as some of the angry ones at a Wetherspoon pub often entertain me as I don’t get out much.

“Ive been coming to Grayfiers for the past 10 years, being nearly 30 and recently been a great place to meet my friend who works at country hall. Tonight the lady serving me (assuming manager) decided to ID me. Since bring a regular, local and with contactless i no longer bring my wallet out. I dont look under 25 and have facial hair. Yet she refused to serve me. Although flattering ive not been ID’d anywhere now for over 3 years. Today was my last day i will step foot in greyfryers. Its also the last day all of my fellow club members will meet for socal gatherings in fryers. A short walk to 12 tellers and ive been served here. So i guess we will all meet here from now on.”

All because they ID’ed a 30 year old that they thought looked 25? I love a bit of drama.

“Went for breakfast before shopping . Food was served freezing cold, hard egg and what looked like a chewed up piece of bacon. I had to eat because we didn’t have time to wait for more food. I did complain and the young boy said “oh sorry” no offer of refund or free drink.”

I never really understand these, it looks awful, eat it and then wonder why no refund…

“I called in for some lunch this afternoon I will not be returning!!!! I have never felt so insulted and belittled in my life. My food didn’t arrive and when I questioned politely we’re my food was got a mouthful of abuse from a member of staff. I am 40 years of age and dined in pubs for years I have never been spoke to like that. I will not be returning and would recommend others do likewise, my family and friends will be.”

I mean, who knows, but how can “I questioned politely” go to a team member deciding to insult and belittle a customer? I’m always intrigued about the missing part of the story.

“Went with my friends to this weatherspoons today, ordered a glass of milk, mushy peas and a buiscuit. We waited around a hour for this order, before asking one of their workers where it was. He then said “oh do you want a glass of milk”, we said “yes of course” then my friend said “if there’s anything else on the order, could we have it”, he then said “I might do”. This was a very rude response and he completely lacked in customer service skills. We then decided to go to the till after waiting half a hour for our order, and they said “well we thought it was a joke, so you’ve been refunded” stating this in a very snotty and unprofessional way. Even the manager was very rude. I will never be returning to this weatherspoons again”

Oh, the Wetherspoon game, order a load of rubbish to a table, wonder why it isn’t brought out and then rate the pub 1/5 after trying to put the staff in an awkward position.

“We were enjoying ourselves when got told to turn our music off as they don’t have a license which I thought was unjustified as only we could hear it”

Good.

“I went to Preston for a city break. I usually go to Wetherspoons when in a new town, and headed straight there. All the staff were chatting to the locals – fair enough – got served my pint amid gales of laughter from all. Again – fair enough – after all I’m a stranger. But then I realised they were laughing at me, because I’d ordered a Carlsberg and not a real ale.”

If that is true, that is horrendous, although Wetherspoon seem to sell a lot of lager, so it seems a bit odd. Anyway, I digress and I’m pleased to note that no-one commented on my Christmas drink purchase, so all was well. It’s not the most exciting of interiors, unlike their sister pub not far down the road, but it’s cheap, cheerful and sizeable. A reliable pub and there’s cheap coffee, it’s one of those which is charging £1.04 for unlimited hot drinks at the moment. What a time to be alive and all that….

December 6, 2024
Preston – Winckley Street Ale House (Good Beer Guide)

With an hour left until my train, this was the last pub in Preston that I was able to visit in my little expedition around their Good Beer Guide listed venues. It was known as the Otter’s Pocket when it opened in November 2018, but was renamed to its current name in March 2020. Prior to that it had been a shop and then previous to that it was a Mediterranean restaurant for several years.

The pub interior, it’s relatively spacious as there are a few more seats at the rear, but it’s still ultimately a micro-pub and I can imagine that it gets full relatively quickly.

That’s not a lined glass, so this is a short measure. It’s the Jelly Swirl Trifle pale Ale from Play Brew Co, but it had considerable flavour for a cask beer. It does what it say on the can (well on the Untappd screen), sweet, jelly and like a dessert.

My second beer, which was a third of the Gingerbread Latte from Vault City Brewing. Often Christmas beers really aren’t very good, but this is one that I can absolutely get behind. It was smooth, boozy, decadent and had an excellent mouthfeel with tastes of ginger and cinnamon.

I didn’t take a photo of the screen, although their beers are listed on Untappd for anyone who is interested in perusing their menu. The service was polite, but the atmosphere felt a little stilted and it wasn’t perfectly clean as the table was sticky and the handwash in the toilet had run out, but I accept that these things happen. They weren’t doing food when I was there, but they have pies, burgers, salads and light bites on Wednesday to Sunday lunchtimes and Wednesday to Saturday evenings, a relatively large menu given the size of the premises.

Certainly an interesting venue and I can see why they’re in the Good Beer Guide with their choices of real ales. The craft beer selection was excellent and that Vault City beer was a joy to behold, a beautiful beer on which to end my little trip to Preston. All really rather lovely and I look forwards to visiting again to see what craft beer that they have to surprise and delight me.

December 5, 2024
Preston – Guild Ale House (Good Beer Guide)

Next in my Good Beer Guide expedition was the Guild Ale House, which was the town’s first micro-pub when it opened in February 2016 in place of the former Hospice charity shop who previously occupied the premises.

The only two customers in the entire pub were sitting in front of the bar pumps, but fortunately they had a drinks screen which made matters easier. There’s a choice of cask and keg on the screen, but they also have a bottled selection as well including some Belgian options.

I went for the Bullet Tooth Tony from Wilde Child Brewing Company, which was well-kept and had some fruit tones, but I found it quite bland. I’ve always rated Wilde Child’s darker beers rather better, but it wasn’t an unpleasant beer.

The pub’s interior which is spacious and there’s a reasonable amount of space. They frequently have live music and other events, although they don’t play background music which is something I think they’re doing right.

I noted CAMRA’s comment of “worth noting they may close earlier than stated times dependent on footfall”, so I didn’t risk going in the evening and went at lunchtime. The venue is though very well-reviewed and in the eight years they’ve been trading they haven’t picked up a single 1-star review on Google, and only have two 2-star reviews. That’s a fairly impressive piece of pub management, so it’s no surprise that they’ve also won several CAMRA awards. Anyway, this seems to be a consistently good real ale pub and long may it continue.

December 5, 2024
Preston – Twelve Tellers

The Twelve Tellers in Preston is a JD Wetherspoon operated pub and isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, although I managed to visit just about all of the central Preston pubs that are in the book.

That’s a quite impressive view. I visited at 11:00 and so wasn’t going for alcohol, my unlimited coffee cost just £1.04 and the pub is on one of the lowest price bands for the chain in the country.

Those two doors are located either side of the main room.

The twelve tellers which the pub is named after and one of the doors is also visible here.

It’s just about readable. but there’s a longer version on the JD Wetherspoon web-site:

“This imposing grade II listed building now occupied by J D Wetherspoon stands on the site of the former Preston Savings Bank, Church Street, that was purpose built. The foundation stone was laid by WP Park, chairman of the trustees in October 1905 and the building opened to the public in 1907 as the company’s headquarters. The bank later became part of the Trustee Savings Bank Group where the public was served inside the grand banking hall by twelve tellers from behind the 65-feet long counter.

The former bank stands on the site of an older bank, established in 1776. It was originally a private residence and in 1715 was owed by Mr Eyre. Later that year, Jacobite rebels entered Preston and proclaimed Prince James Edward Stuart King of England. They used Mr Eyre’s house as their headquarters until it was ‘recovered by a large party of dismounted troops’. The marble and mosaic flooring in front of the counter includes the arms of the Borough of Preston. Preston derives its name from the old English words ‘Presta’ and ‘tun’, meaning ‘priest’s town’. The Holy Lamb emblem is centuries old, associated with St Wilfred, a patron saint of the City of Preston.”

The TSB closed the bank in 1997 and the building could have easily fallen into disrepair, with Bass trying to turn it into a super pub in 2000, but those plans were rejected. It’s, I think, an undeniably careful and thoughtful conversion into a public house and there’s plenty more seating in the rear part of the building, and another area upstairs in what was formerly the board room.

As for the reviews, I’ve found that nearly every JD Wetherspoon venue gets a score of between 3.8 and 4.1 on Google Reviews, with this one no different at 4.0%. Looking at the reviews…..

“My wife and I waited for 18 minutes but no one showed up to take our order, one waiter was on the phone the whole time we were there. He kept on looking at us but didn’t bother coming over or sending someone else”

I think I can work out the problem here with the customer wondering why the waiter didn’t come over.

“Me and my partner walked in here 50 mins ago and ordered 2 drinks each on the app. Drinks still not arrived. Been sat here waiting nearly an hour, yet I’ve seen people walk up to the bar and walk away with their drinks within minute. There is no way to cancel an order on the app so we are stuck here indefinitely. Rubbish. Will be leaving whenever they finally arrive.”

I think I might have walked over to the bar at this point. I wonder if they’re still there.

“THANKS FOR SIMONELLA POISNING! There food is absolutely awful me and my 16mouth daughter got Simonella poisning from the chicken and burgers.”

Interesting spelling. And likely complete piffle.

Anyway, I didn’t order any beer, but I noted that they had four guest ales including from Oakham, Sambrooks, Robinsons and Batemans, all at £2.29 a pint which is something of a bargain. I thought that the whole arrangement was interesting and well managed, and it maintained a decent atmosphere despite being of quite a cavernous size.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Black Horse (Good Beer Guide)

Well, this is always a most wonderful way to start a visit to a pub. I was actually here because it’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and I’m carefully working my way around all of the pubs in it that I can. For reference, the other three pubs remaining in the national pub of the year are the Three B’s in Bridlington, the Bailey Head in Oswestry and the Little Green Dragon in Winchmore Hill, London.

The exterior of the pub adorned with CAMRA awards, this is a proper looking Victorian pub and it’s a Grade II listed building. Located on Friargate, there has been a pub with the name of the Black Horse on this site since the late eighteenth century. It was opened in 1898 as a small hotel and designed by J A Seward of Preston for Kay’s Atlas Brewery Company of Manchester, one of just two of their pubs remaining. There’s original tiling on the bar which was added shortly after the hotel opened and there’s Robinson’s brewery memorabilia dotted about, as they’re the current owners.

One of the entrances, with the building once also being used as a hotel. I didn’t realise this at the time, but it’s noted that this is the only pub in the country that has entrances on three different streets.

One of the banks of pumps. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that shiny Guinness tap, but it all looked inviting and interesting.

The second bank of pumps.

And another couple for good measure. The barman was helpful and engaging, I felt choosing just one beer was perhaps beyond me, so I had three half pints.

Decorative elements everywhere.

I chose this room to sit in. It was a bit dark, but it was cosy and it had a fire going which the barman attended to every now and then.

A bit of heritage in the toilets.

Anyway, back to the beer and I liked the Preston Ale Trail leaflet. This first beer was odd, it tasted a little of plum initially, it felt like Titanic had plum porter overflowing everywhere. It’s meant to be the Titanic Classic Mild and it had a dark smoothness to it.

Beer two was the Tell No Tales from the Bosun’s Brewing Company. A little thin, but there was lots of coffee flavour, some sweetness and a bit of a malt.

Beer three and this is as good as cask gets, the 6.5% Cherry Porter Grand Reserve from Titanic Brewery. Decadent, smooth and boozy, lots of cherry and Titanic at its best.

The pub was laid-back and comfortable, with the bar staff being attentive and I was thanked when leaving (I mean politely thanked for my custom, not thanked for finally leaving). I can’t say that it’s a surprise to discover that it’s rated as one of the best in the country, it was a really quite classy traditional pub.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Plug & Taps (Good Beer Guide)

Carrying on my meanderings around Good Beer Guide pubs in Preston, this is one of the few pubs that is Untappd verified and is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. I wasn’t able to get a photo of the beer board but their offerings are listed on Untappd and they had ten craft beers and four real ales. There’s also a large beer fridge with some interesting options available, as well as a choice of Belgian beers. The bar opened in June 2018 and they have a permanent line from the Rivington Brewery.

My photos in this venue aren’t very good unfortunately, but this is the Helio (10th Birthday Beer) from Track Brewing. Tropical with a very lingering flavour, it was heavy on the pineapple, being smooth and decadent.

Well, there’s fighting talk!

I love the Stoopid series from Vault City and these beers pour like smoothies, so the glass will be a nuisance to clean. Slightly tart, creamy with heaps of strawberry, some blackberry and it was generally just delicious. And yes, I think it’s a beer, although that’s kind of the point, these drinks are meant to question that entire matter.

The atmosphere was welcoming, although it was quiet, but everything felt modern and on-trend. The service was polite and friendly, with the bar staff seemingly knowledgeable about the beer options. The venue was clean with the high seating that I personally prefer. The on-line reviews are nearly all positive, just a couple of grumbles about the prices, although I thought they were comparable with similar venues. Definitely yet another bar which I think is justifiably in the Good Beer Guide.

December 4, 2024
Preston – Orchard (Good Beer Guide)

Located in the covered market, this small craft beer bar serves mostly keg, but it has a couple of real ales and it has found itself in the Good Beer Guide.

The craft beer board, some intriguing and interesting choices here, a fair few of them are rated over 4 on Untappd.

Starting with the Crushing Blows from Neon Raptor and although I wonder sometimes whether there are too many beers of this style, I still like it and so I don’t much care. Plenty of pineapple and some miscellaneous stonefruit, tropical with a creamy mouthfeel.

There are only a small number of tables inside, with a few more outside, but it’s a cosy and comfortable interior with a homely feel. I can imagine that there are plenty of times when it’s difficult to get a seat though. Everything felt clean and tidy, with chunky tables that didn’t wobble and plenty of high seating, which is my personal favourite. Surfaces were also clean and not sticky, another problem in numerous bars.

My second beer was another clever brew from Vault City, with an upfront taste of pancakes, then the strawberry flavour hits and then the chocolate at the end. Smooth, decadent and maybe slightly over sweet, but everyone needs some sweetness in their life.

The venue is well-reviewed on-line, although there’s a ridiculous review which says:

“Came to have a drink and asked for draft cider and gave us cider from a box. Plus they lied to use saying it was a draft as she filled it at the back”.

The bar correctly responded that this is still draft and it’s how most real cider is actually served, although I guess it’s not how Strongbow would be served so perhaps therein lies the problem. Just about everyone else is happy with the beer, cider, atmosphere, occasional music and staff friendliness.

As a general comment, as a market conversion, they seem to have done a very decent job of the modernisation, with this bar feeling like it fits in well with it. They don’t do food, but there are plenty of options for that within the market. The welcome at the bar was friendly and the atmosphere was comfortable and laid-back, a worthy entrant into the Good Beer Guide even though its main emphasis seems to be craft beer.

December 4, 2024
Woodplumpton Club in Preston

Woodplumpton Club

Address: Woodplumpton Bowling And Tennis Club, Bartle Lane, Preston

Local Council: Preston

I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.

For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..

This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

February 28, 2023
Wellington Inn in Preston

Wellington Inn

Address: 40 Glovers Court, Preston

Local Council: Preston

I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.

For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..

This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

February 28, 2023
Wheatsheaf Hotel in Preston

Wheatsheaf Hotel

Address: 34 Woodplumpton Road, Preston

Local Council: Preston

I haven’t yet visited this pub, but maybe sometime soon….. When I do, this text will disappear and my ‘fascinating’ comments about the pub will appear instead.

For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..

This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

February 28, 2023