Bass in a Cave in Nottingham

A couple of days in Nottingham started with an accidental Canning Circus pub crawl. 
Arriving at 2pm, the plan was to just have a couple of quick drinks nearby before the Travelodge check-in time.  But it didn't quite work out that way, as we headed up to Beer Guide entry The Good Fellow George.

The Good Fellow George (11-15 Alfreton Road, Nottingham, NG7 3JE)
This is a ground floor bar on the curved 60's building which sits alongside the junction of Ilkeston and Alfreton Road.  It used to be a branch of the Nat West bank, the night safe on striking red wall by the door providing a glimpse of the past.

It's been the Good Fellow George since 2020, a single room with modern decor, American style diner seating by the window, and a small mezzanine level snug.
We were served by a fantastically friendly and chatty barman.  Within a couple of minutes I'd not only learnt what he'd done for for Christmas but also his detailed mince pie preferences.

I opted for an easy-going pint of Lenton Lane 'Pale Moonlight', from a choice that included another Lenton Lane beer, Timothy Taylor 'Landlord', plus Vault City and Neon Raptor as the most tempting of the keg picks.
We took drinks to the Chesterfield sofas of the snug, with a birds eye view of proceedings.
A Christmas tree?  Does it really take me that long to write this rubbish?!

Top marks for the Good Fellow George soundtrack, which a staff member cranked the volume up on midway through our visit prompting half the customers to leave.  The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains selection seemed to have been tailor-made for me to reminisce about early 90's nights spent just around the corner in Rock City.

Next up was a quick revisit to the nearby Sir John Borlase Warren...

Sir John Borlase Warren (1 Ilkeston Road, Nottingham, NG7 3GD)
Sir John himself was born in 1753 in the suburb of Stapleford (where you'll find a Wetherspoon's named after him too).  He had a successful career rising through the ranks of the navy, tried to sort out the aftermath of the French Revolution, and acted as MP for Nottingham for 12 years.

The pub that bears his name sits in a prominent position on Canning Circus, now run by the local Lincoln Green brewery.
With a large range of their ales on offer, I picked the 'Hood' best bitter, taking this to a table by the roaring fire in the front room.

I've visited a couple of times  but never explored properly, so perhaps I'll have to go back again.  There are caves in the basement, although they've not been open whenever I've been there, a roof top terrace, craft micro bar in the garden, and several characterful rooms within.

Next stop, just a few minutes walk away, was the Organ Grinder.
Two A-boards to trip over the pavement...

Organ Grinder (21 Alfreton Road, Nottingham, NG7 3JE)
And look what the first  board is advertising:

NEW BEER

LIMITED EDITION
CHIMP
AGNE
13%

Ordering that would be really silly.  So of course I did.

"What measures do you sell that in?", I asked, honing in on the yellow pump clip.  
"I can do in any measure", the young lady behind the bar replied.  'Any' is probably incorrect, as I'm pretty certain they wouldn't offer me a litre or gallon of this stuff.

What I really wanted to know was that I could have a third of it.
Which I could, and it was marvelous!

The Organ Grinder was the Red Lion in a time gone by, prior to Nottingham brewery Blue Monkey turning this into their flagship pub.  For those looking for slightly more sensible options another six hand pulls served up the core range of the breweries beers.
There's a front room with a wood burner - taken over by Notts County fans, the Magpies playing at home that evening.  And an additional area up a couple of steps, plus high stools next to the bar which we settled on, entertained by another quality alt rock soundtrack. 

After a 13% strong ale it was pretty essential to procure some food.
For that we made our way to the Hand & Heart which I'd been reading about in the local CAMRA mag.

Hand & Heart (65 Derby Road, Nottingham, NG1 5BA)
This is a bit of a special pub.  You wouldn't guess from the frontage on a busy main road that the depths of the Hand & Heart stretch into Nottingham's sandstone caves.

The building on this site became a brewery in 1866, utilising the caves to store and mature the beer.  A Victorian shop front was added to enable it to sell its wares, until brewing ceased in 1933.  It was later tied to Bradley's Brewery, then Shipstones, before closing down and looking lost and derelict.  New owners stripped back an 80's refurb, smartened it up and reopened the Hand & Heart in 2008...only be dealt a fatal blow by covid and lock downs.

So what a delight to see it given a new lease of life.  After 15-months empty, it has been restored to former glory, opening the doors again in 2023.
And doesn't it look great?...

And they've got Bass!
As well as Castle Rock, Tiny Rebel, Thornbridge, and Shiny ales, for those not instantly convinced by the red triangle.
We got a warm welcome, some filling food, and a quality pint in wonderful surroundings.

As we were directly across the road from it, we felt we should really call into the Mist Rolling Inn...

Mist Rolling Inn (78 Derby Road, Nottingham, NG1 5FD)
This city centre micro pub has been open since 2016, previously called the Good the Bad and the Drunk (hmmm...) and the Room With a Brew (a bit better), before taking on its current identity in 2022.
As the name is a play on Mull of Kintyre, played at kick-off at Forest, I figured this was going to be a football-orientated micro.  But the Forest flag over the bar is all you get.

The cask selection featured Thornbridge 'Astryd', Shipstone's 'Nut Brown', and Hollow Stone 'Oligo Nunk'.  I went for the one with the funny name, then regretted not picking the Shippo's as we didn't see it anywhere else over the weekend.

Music-wise, this micro was stuck firmly in the 80's - not a bad era to be stuck in as a Forest fan.
We got Wham, Tears for Fears, and Fleetwood Mac entertaining us whilst sat in the window seat of the inn.

Our little trek into this northern corner of the city centre had proved to be a bit of a winner.  Five good pubs within a few minutes of each other, quality beers in one and all.

And then we remembered we still needed to check into the hotel.
Crikey, we'd got a bit carried away.

I'll leave you with a picture of Winter Wonderland in the market square. 
Mrs PropUptheBar would later make me sit on that big wheel on a freezing cold drizzly night as punishment for making her drink too many beers before our late lunch. 

Driffield, Beverley, and Hull

A trip on the train from Hull to the market towns of Driffield and Beverley, leaving ourselves just enough time at the end of the day to get lost in a Hull housing estate looking for a way across the A62 for one last pint.

We hopped aboard the Hull>Bridlington train and made the 30-minute trip to Driffield, home to just over 13,000 people in the middle of the Wolds.

Our destination was the Butchers Dog, midway up the main street.

The Butchers Dog (57 Market Place, Driffield, YO25 6AW)
This is a pub that upset the usual PropUptheBar scheme of things.  At just gone midday I'm used to finding pubs and bars bereft of customers, making staff jump by appearing at the bar much earlier than they expected to see anyone.
Not so the Butchers Dog, bustling with cheery punters at an early hour, whilst a chap with a guitar set up in the corner to provide afternoon entertainment, and three dogs took it in turn to provide trip hazards.

This pub has been the Butchers Dog since 2021, having had several other identities prior to that.
And I thought it was great.  A mixed crowd of punters, mostly all on the cask, with a fine selection of six beers to chose from including Great Newsome, Wantsum, Bosun's and the Butchers Dog home brews.
A top-notch Wantsum 'Black Pig' Baltic porter was my pick.
And the pub also provided an addition to the ongoing mild smut in the gents WC collection...

By my count there are another 8 pubs in Driffield so I feel a pang of guilt that we didn't explore further.  But we had a fair few pubs to visit in Beverley, 15-minutes away by train on the line back to Hull.  

Beverley was wet.  And busy.
I was here at Easter when I called in to the Dog & Duck, White Horse, and Atom, which I mention by way of explaining why I excluded these this time around.
Our first port of call faced the market square and looked as though it would be a good option for lunch.

Green Dragon (51 Saturday Market, Beverley, HU17 8AA)
And lots of other folk in Beverley had had the same idea.  We just managed to grab the last available table, whilst other groups wandered the length of the pub forlornly and proclaimed they'd 'just have to go back to Wetherspoon's'.  We found ourselves sat in the middle of the front room, prime position for the fire place and TV above it showing darts from Ally Pally.
Darts is one of those sports that I rarely pay attention to, but put me in front of TV with it on and I'm hopelessly hooked.

The Green Dragon is an historic coaching inn, although most historic touches seem to have been wiped out over the years during the creation of a tourist-friendly dining pub.
A traditional selection of cask ales adorned the bar: Tetley, Black Sheep, 'Landlord', and 'Wainwright'.  I don't think the Tetley Cask makes it any further south than Coventry, so that's what I picked - easy to drink and doing the job of washing down lunch.

With the rain having stopped outside and the darts finished, we strolled down to the visit the Minster, then called into the nearby Monks Walk Inn.

Monks Walk Inn (19 Highgate, Beverley, HU17 0DN)
This was our most historic pub of the day - a 13th century merchants warehouse, becoming a pub known as the George in the 17th century and once having their own brewery attached.

The main doorway takes you into a passageway which runs through to another street to the rear.  Left off the passage is a pool room, right is a choice of two doors leading to rooms either side of a central bar.
I hadn't expected the Monks Walk to be open this early in the day, let alone packed to the rafters.

Ossett 'Butterley', Sharp's 'Atlantic', Half Moon 'Lunar' and Jolly Boys 'Jolly Collier Porter', were the cask choices along the bar, once you'd squeezed your way through to get there.
We managed to fit on the end of the table of a card-playing family where I enjoyed the quality Jolly Boy porter.  I may have enjoyed it more if I had a cosy perch in the corner, but felt rather in the way where we were sat and was ready to move on after a swift half.

The Chequers Micropub (15 Swaby's Yard, Beverley, HU17 9BZ)
Situated in a a quiet square off the pedestrian walkway, the Chequers opened in 2013.
Without enough floor space to stand and loiter at the bar it's table service (still sending 2020 shivers  down my spine) although it's well done by a friendly attentive member of staff looking after a handful of tables on two levels.
I did get the chance to peruse the pump clips close-up and make a fine selection of the 7% IPA, 'Modern Love' by North Riding Brewery. 
Just as well, because the beer menu on the table was confusing at first glance...

A super list with lots of good beers lined up.
Foolishly, I ordered a second beer, having spotted the Azvex 'Stocking Filler Nostalgia' on the keg list.  You don't win any awards for common sense picking 12% Imperial Stouts in the middle of the afternoon, but - WOW! - it was absolutely superb.

A great place.  And they'd put up the Hook Norton signage to ensure we didn't feel homesick for Oxfordshire.

Moving on, in a remarkably straight line considering the ABVs of the last two beers, we headed through the darkening streets of Beverley to my final GBG 24 tick in the town.

Royal Standard Inn (30 North Bar Within, Beverley, HU17 8DL)
This was a traditional town boozer just to the north of the market square, with a small front bar and more spacious lounge area to the rear.  We settled on cushioned bench seating in the front room which is where all the rest of the custom was at the time.
A no-nonsense cask selection - Black Sheep, Wainwright or Doom Bar.
The Black Sheep 'Best Bitter' was...hmmm..okay.  Perhaps I'd been spoilt by the fine ales in the Chequers.

Everyone from that front bar left whilst we were there - I don't think it was anything I did or said.  So a promising pub visit that turned out to be a little bit dull by the time we returned glasses and said goodbye to the landlord.

There was an unwise stop at Atom on the way back to the station for an imperial stout and festive themed loaded fries - neither of which I really needed.
Then a short train ride back to Hull where we set off eastbound from the station.

My sense of direction to get to the Alexandra Hotel was perfect - if only we hadn't been scuppered by the un-crossable four-lane A62 where we needed to find a bridge or underpass.  Several alleyways through the housing estate and we found a way to the southern side of the main road, the pub looking gloriously welcoming... 

Alexandra Hotel (69 Hessel Road, Hull, HU3 2AB)
The Alexandra was built for the Hull Brewery Company in 1895 by local architects Smith, Broderick & Lowther.  It's a striking Victorian building with some ornate brickwork, the old Bass pub sign swinging in the wind, and a mosaic floor in the entryway sporting the name of the hotel.

A big curving bar offered four handpumps with Thornbridge 'Jaipur', Front Row 'Pause' porter, Great Newsome 'Frothingham Best', and Linfit 'Nelson Sauvin' available on our visit.

There's a tall decorated ceiling, extending the feeling of spaciousness within the pub.  We settled on comfy fixed seating along the wall beyond the pool table, entertained by one of the locals doing a stunning job of knocking out a medley of contemporary tunes on the piano.
The Linfit pale ale went down a treat and I was most content to end the evening in this incredible pub.

The Alexander Hotel has limited opening of Thur-Sun 4pm-11pm, so isn't the easiest place to tie into a visit to Hull.  But, if you get the chance, do make the trek down Hessel Road to visit it - you won't be disappointed.

That brought this trip to Hull to close.  It's only since I got home that I realised we really needed twice as long there to visit all the great looking pubs which I missed.  Oh well, it's always nice to have something to look forward to next time.

Hull Awaits

It's been five years since I last visited Hull, back in the days when I was able to get Forest tickets for away games and when my night-time pictures were even worse than they are now.
So, here's the report of the return visit at the end of December '23 and a handful of pubs in two parts of the city.

We arrived just after midday and checked into the Holiday Express, our room with a view over the rooftop car park of the St Stephen's Shopping Centre (we've had worse, to be fair).
Our three hours of Humber sunshine didn't materialise until the following morning, so off we set under grey skies and drizzle, buffeted by some vicious winds.  Reckless pub ticking in a yellow weather warning.

Furley & Co (18-20 Princes Dock Street, Hull, HU1 2LP)
We came across Furley & Co more by chance than planning, spotting it was a current beer guide entry which would provide us with much needed food and shelter.
Situated in a former shipping warehouse, it's more cafe than pub inside: brightly lit, cake stand, pots of tea, and plates being whisked to tables which were mostly all occupied on our arrival by a very mixed crowd.

To one side of the bar there were three handpumps offering cask from Marstons, Great Newsome and Black Sheep.  The run of keg taps served Spanish lager, Belgian fruity stuff, and a few interesting Yorkshire crafty concoctions.
A 5.4% porter from Turning Point called 'The Festive' for me, accompanying our wraps and fries.

A short walk through the streets of the old town took us to a second bar of the afternoon, Vintage...

Vintage (28 Silver Street, Hull, HU1 1JG)
This featured a great eye-catching frontage - although it's about time for last summer's hanging baskets to come down.  Inside, this old jewellers shop is lit by a chandelier and has a gallery of artwork for sale covering the wall opposite the bar.  It was just a shame that it was completely empty when we visited - not the first time I've disturbed a staff member from their comfy armchair during my recent pub visits.

There were two available real ales on the bar - Ossett 'White Rat' or Timothy Taylor 'Landlord' alongside a Lilleys cider. 
But wow!  The White Rat was on absolutely superb form here - probably the best pint of this beer that I've had to date.

The row of retro Playboy covers on the wall above the door gave a clue that Vintage would provide an entry into the ongoing 'Mild Smut in the Gents WC' series.
And indeed they did...

 
Cripes.

The Old Town provides ample venues for a hefty pub crawl with very short distances to crawl.  Which isn't always a good thing, so we'd planned our evening to take in a couple of places in the HU5 postcode and give us a bit of exercise.
For now though, our next venue was just a few doors along the same road as Vintage..

Scale and Feather (21 Scale Lane, Hull, HU1 1LF)
This turned out to be quite a modern design within an old building - bar at the front with a fair number of locals propping it up (and getting in the way of seeing the pump clips properly). 
Beyond the bar, it was red and black leather banquet seating, with some moody lighting and a nice display of framed album covers on the wall.

We took a seat with Echo & the Bunnymen's 'Killing Moon' never sounding better, and Ilkley Brewing Company's 'Ilkley Pale' never tasting better.
That was just one of a good choice of around six cask beers, whilst the pick of the kegs was a chocolate biscuit and marshmallow stout from Yonder or one of Vault City's more unusual sours.

One place that eluded me in 2018 was the Heritage listed Olde Black Boy - uncomfortably packed to the rafters when we tried to squeeze to the bar last time we were here.  So I was tempted in when we saw it had opened earlier than my research had suggested, with room at the inn this time.

Ye Olde Black Boy (150 High Street, Hull, HU1 1PS)
It wasn't quiet though, with all tables taken in the small front room, and a bunch of folk making a fair bit of noise and standing by the bar in the back.
Real ale options were JW Lees 'Bitter', Butcombe 'Best', or Wye Valley 'HPA'.  A couple of odd choices in this part of the world I thought, sticking with the Lees which continued the afternoon's run of beers on great form.

And this is what I call a pie fridge!

Whilst this is what I call a great pub room...
Full of character, bench seating, old beer bottles on the shelves, and a model train suspended from the ceiling.

We made the 20-minute walk through the town centre, then up Spring Bank and onto Princes Street - evidently a go-to area for some great looking independent food outlets and a couple of bars, including Pave...

Pave (16-10 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QA)
I honed in on the North Riding 'Fudge Brownie Stout' pump clip as soon as we walked into the bar - 7.4%..Fudge Brownie...oh yes!
This was accompanied with a selection of beers to keep most folk happy, including more North Riding options, and brews from Brass Castle and Roosters.
It looks like an old shop unit, with picture windows and a spacious interior, a decent number of early evening customers providing a hum of conversation.

Just a few doors down from Pave was Hull's Atom Brewery flagship venue.

Atom (38 Princes Avenue, Hull, HU5 3QG)
When we were last in Hull, Atom were located in the Old Town pub in Cornmill Exchange, now empty and unused.
Since 2022 they've relocated to this impressive wedge-shaped building which was a branch of the Yorkshire Bank in a previous life.

We arrived in the quiet hour before pub quizzers rocked up to claim their table reservations.
11 taps offered mainly Atom beers along with a couple of guests.  Mrs PropUptheBar picked best, getting the last of the 'Neutron Star' imperial stout.  I got suckered into the lone tap to one side of the bar with 'Crypogenics' on it - a very light and peachy pale ale which was refreshing but perhaps not quite what I wanted.

Pattishack were in permanent residence in the kitchen at Atom, with the patties themselves being a good value filling bite to eat.
And take a look at the merchandise...

We had a ten minute walk to our final pub of the evening. 

St John's Hotel (10 Queens Road, Hull, HU5 2PY)
What a cracking pub to finish with.
The St John's is Grade II listed, built in the 1860's before getting an Edwardian era remodeling in 1904/05 by the Hull Brewing Company.
A central corridor takes you to a corner bar on the left-hand side, more spacious lounge bar to the rear, and one time smoke room to the right, now housing a pool table.

The beer line-up contained several big Marston's names: Rev James, Wainwright, Directors, Old Empire, along with one local Ainsty 'Cool City'.
We sat on bench seats in the toasty warmth of the front bar with Steptoe and Son on the TV.
I think it's fair to say watching sixties sitcoms in a pub was a first for me.

Then we relocated to the pool table in the room to the right of the entry. 
I'd kinda hoped we'd have the room to ourselves long enough to fumble through a game, but no sooner had we started than someone popped 50p on the side and asked if they could have the next game.
Just as long as you're not in a rush, I told him - this was our annual game of pool in the 7th pub of the day and wasn't going to a masterclass!

A productive first day in Hull.  The city had another delight of a pub for me to the visit the following evening on a return from a trip to nearby Beverley.  All of which I'll ramble on about in the next post when I get around to writing it.