Pub explorations of the city of Worcester, with Heritage pubs, micro breweries and bars in railway arches lined up for the weekend.
Following on from the last post, where I finished at Malvern Links train station, Worcester Shrub Hill is the next point of call on the Cotswolds Line.
The most notable part of this station by far is the elaborate tiled Ladies Waiting Room on platform 2.
Other than that, you step out of the station and wonder where on earth you are. It's one of those stops that lies in an old industrial part of the city, whereas Foregate Street is the more central station depositing travelers within a few steps of Tesco Metro and Wetherspoon's.
We figured we'd start at one of the Heritage pubs...
Claiming the title of the Cities Oldest Pub, the Cardinal's Hat traces it's history back to the 14th century. The current Georgian red-bricked facade was built in the mid 1800's. In the '90's it housed the Jolly Roger microbrewery, before spending some years in the rather unlikely guise of an Austrian theme bar.
Now it's back to life as a trad pub, selling pies and ales.
Entering the front door there is a charming little snug to the right, whilst the servery is to the left. I ordered a pint of Wye Valley 'Butty Bach', grabbing a table in the rear lounge room.
This is the pick of the rooms - floor to ceiling wood paneling, bench seating around the walls and the old bell pushes for table service still visible.
The Postal Order (18 Foregate Street, Worcester, WR1 1DN - web)
This is the pick of the rooms - floor to ceiling wood paneling, bench seating around the walls and the old bell pushes for table service still visible.
We had the room to ourselves for a while until a rain shower forced a couple of guests in from the rear patio.
Lovely place and not a bad pint of Butty Bach.
Lovely place and not a bad pint of Butty Bach.
Drinking up, we decided food was required, so make our way to Wetherspoon's as an easy option.
It will come as little surprise that the building used to be a post office, although it's more recent pre-pub usage was as the local telephone exchange.
Other than the screens between tables, life seemed relatively normal in Spoons. Plenty of punters in on a Friday lunchtime, and a good line-up of ales on the bar, including Elgood's 'Plum Porter' and a couple from Shropshire brewer Wood's.
The pub design was Spoons-by-numbers - pretty basic inside - but that's not a complaint. It did exactly what we wanted today - filled us up with some good value fodder and served a fine pint of Wood's 'Shropshire Beauty'.
The pub design was Spoons-by-numbers - pretty basic inside - but that's not a complaint. It did exactly what we wanted today - filled us up with some good value fodder and served a fine pint of Wood's 'Shropshire Beauty'.
Fed and watered, we walked back along the main shopping street to check into our accommodation for the weekend.
Ye Olde Talbot is one of Greene King's Old English Inns. For a reasonable price we had a room with a view of the Cathedral, a dodgy wi-fi connection and the opportunity to sit drinking GK IPA all evening, just a stagger up the stairs from bed. (We didn't).
Ye Olde Talbot is one of Greene King's Old English Inns. For a reasonable price we had a room with a view of the Cathedral, a dodgy wi-fi connection and the opportunity to sit drinking GK IPA all evening, just a stagger up the stairs from bed. (We didn't).
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| Our digs |
We were about to succumb to the dangers of Untappd. Pressing the 'Nearby' button generates a list of what other users have been drinking in the vicinity. In this case, it tempted us to abandon the pub-list and head in search of the craft.
Hop Lord's (7 Pump Street, Worcester, WR1 2QX - web)
This tiny shop unit along Pump Street opened as a craft bottle shop and tap room in 2018.
Six beers on tap, including a pilsner from Verdant, a sour, and a couple from Brighton brewer Unbarred.
I picked one of the Unbarred beers: 'Bueno Shake', a lovely 6.4% milk stout, at £3 for a half.
Hop Lord's was an unexpected little treat and no doubt I could have made my bags twice as heavy had I started perusing the cans and bottles in the fridges.
I picked one of the Unbarred beers: 'Bueno Shake', a lovely 6.4% milk stout, at £3 for a half.
Hop Lord's was an unexpected little treat and no doubt I could have made my bags twice as heavy had I started perusing the cans and bottles in the fridges.
Time to head back to the 'proper' pubs and visit another one from the Heritage list, the Paul Pry.
Paul Pry (6 The Butts, Worcester, WR1 3PA)
This is a fantastic looking pub; a wedge-shaped building, built in 1901.
Walking through the door, the corridor instantly shouts 'heritage pub', with terrazzo flooring, elaborate tiling on the walls and etched glass in the doorways.
We stepped through into the main bar, which is a classic Great Pub Room.
Walking through the door, the corridor instantly shouts 'heritage pub', with terrazzo flooring, elaborate tiling on the walls and etched glass in the doorways.
We stepped through into the main bar, which is a classic Great Pub Room.
There were three bitters on cask, from which I chose the Hobson's 'Best'.
Just don't remind Mrs PropUptheBar that she'd left behind all the craft at Hop Lord's to be faced with a choice of boring bitters!
Just don't remind Mrs PropUptheBar that she'd left behind all the craft at Hop Lord's to be faced with a choice of boring bitters!
(The Honeycomb Milkshake Pale, that we missed, is still a sore subject!)
Here's a very dubious attempt to photograph the corridor tiling...
Moving on from the Paul Pry, we walked along the alleyway behind the pub, to the railway arches, in the hope of visiting Arch Rivals, only to find the shutters well and truly closed after the advertised opening time had passed.
Figuring we'd try again later in the weekend, the alternative was a short walk eastward to St Nicholas Street.
Figuring we'd try again later in the weekend, the alternative was a short walk eastward to St Nicholas Street.
Imperial Tavern (35 St Nicholas Street, Worcester, WR1 1UW - web)
Black Country Ales transformed a closed disco bar into this fine boozer, winning the local CAMRA pub of the year award in 2016.
It's a cracking ale house. Not one for those who think one ale is plenty - a run of 10 hand-pumps stretch along the bar making for a tricky choice. All fine, as long as the cask is selling, which it certainly was here on a Friday evening, the lone barman working like a trooper pulling pints.
Black Country Ales transformed a closed disco bar into this fine boozer, winning the local CAMRA pub of the year award in 2016.
It's a cracking ale house. Not one for those who think one ale is plenty - a run of 10 hand-pumps stretch along the bar making for a tricky choice. All fine, as long as the cask is selling, which it certainly was here on a Friday evening, the lone barman working like a trooper pulling pints.
The place was as busy as it could be without flaunting social distancing precautions, with the crowd making for a good atmosphere.
We had plenty more pub stops in Worcester still to do.
In order to keep the size of the post sensible, I'll cover those in a part 2 shortly...
In order to keep the size of the post sensible, I'll cover those in a part 2 shortly...
Cheers! 🍻
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