Where Have You Been Tonight?

York Pub Explorations

Our list of York pubs to visit was rather un-sensibly long.
The kind of list that has Mrs Prop Up the Bar declaring that we need a 2-week detox afterwards.

I'm not gonna try and cover everywhere we went - it would drag on and on and get vaguer and vaguer - strange how I have such little memory of the pubs visited after our beers in the House of Trembling Madness...

So here goes with a selective few, starting with the Brew York tap...

Brew York Tap (Unit 6, Enterprise Complex, Walmgate, York, YO1 9TT - web)
I suspect I made a bit of mistake here when confronted with the choice of sitting inside or out.  You just know that sitting outdoors in nice weather next to the River Foss was the sensible option, but I kinda wanted to see the beer hall.

This is located in an old maltings, a large, high-roofed first floor room with lots of seating and street-art murals adorning the walls.
I bet it's buzzing when it's busy, but mid-afternoon on a glorious day when everyone's outside there were a grand total of 6 people in the big room.

Mrs PropUptheBar picked the real stunner on the beer list, which I promptly stole from her.  The cask 'Honey I Shrunk the Impys' was an oatmeal stout which packed all the flavour of those double-figure ABV imperial stouts, whilst keeping it sensible at 5.4%.  Wonderful stuff!


Onward, to a couple of traditional boozers, starting with the York CAMRA 2020 pub of the year...

Slip Inn (Clementhorpe, YO23 1AN)
This community local is just down the road from the heritage-listed Swan, covered in the previous post.
It's a lovely pub with two main rooms, a snug to the side and a patio to the rear.

Beers available on our visit came from Grey Trees, Abbeydale, Leeds Brewery and Rudgate, plus my pick, the Great Newsome 'Holderness Dark'.
A lovely pint, in a wonderful, comfortable, laid back boozer.  

Located next to southerly parts of the city walls by Fishergate, we'd passed the Phoenix on our previous days wall-walking. 

The Phoenix (75 George Street, York, YO1 9PT - web)
I went to this fantastic York Heritage Pub and all I brought you was this lousy picture...

Proper pub stools, piano, facemask and dog's backside

Take a look at the Heritage Site for some pictures of what makes it special inside.
We visited prior to restrictions being lifted, so were stuck on a table in the back corner, by an out-of-use bar billiards table with piles of junk on top of it.
This is somewhere I'd like to revisit and be able to stroll around and pick my own seat.  I couldn't resist including it here because I'd got that lovely blue-sky picture of the pub.


Somewhere else I wanted to visit was the Market Tap, a joint venture by Thornbridge Brewery and Euro importers Pivovar UK.
Pivovar was what stuck in my mind...
So when I saw "Pivni" it seemed close enough. 
Hence, this is the one that we went in by mistake...

Sunglasses couple on the far table are the first to suss how suspicious I am

Pivni (6 Patrick Pool, York, YO1 8BB - web)
Nice tudor-fronted building though - olde worle style ground floor bar with lots of hops hanging from the wooden beams - and a decent ale from Bristol Beer Factory.
"So it's the wrong pub... well that's a pint we didn't need," said Mrs PropUptheBar, fully capturing the joys of pub ticking.

The Market Cat was just a few minutes walk away, craftily hidden behind a man and his pictures...

Market Cat (6 Jubbergate, York, YO1 8RT - web)
This bar opened at the tail-end of 2018, in a three-storey building previously occupied by pawnbrokers Herbert Brown & Son.
We grabbed a seat by the open windows on the ground floor, with the grand mahogany bar in front of us.  Among the fine Thornbridge ales on offer there are also a number of guests, one of which - Atom 'Dark Matter' chocolate stout - was my pick.  And very nice it was too.

It's a long trek up the stairs to the second floor to the visit the facilities.
But this does also give you the chance to look at the cellar (if we're still allowed to call it that when it's at the top of the building?), all the casks visible behind a glass screen.

On the way back down, I stopped to take a picture of the pretty marvelous vista from the first floor tables, looking out over the market.

The Market Cat and Pivni had bridged the gap between the traditional pubs and the craft bars (I was just reading that Thornbridge 'Jaipur' was beer-zero when it comes to UK craft ales).
For the final bar in this post, I'm going full-on craft...

House of Trembling Madness (48 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AS - web)
You can tell from the exterior that this is a pretty impressive place.  It's a Georgian townhouse, renovated a few years back to create a "craft beer mansion".

The beer list was long and spectacular, with the staff proving helpful to assist our picking.
Here's what I ended up with:
Old Chimneys 'Good King Henry' 10% Russian imperial stout
Cloudwater 'Reign or Shine' 6.2% stout
Whiplash Brewery 'Velouria' 8.2% imperial IPA
Yep, stupidly strong one, Cloudwater one, and the one named after a Pixies track. 

All the beers were great, as were our surroundings in the wonderful quirky ground floor room.

The House of Trembling Madness provided a touch of class to my on-going series of smut found in gent's bathrooms... 

Cultured smut

We were spoilt in York - fantastic weather; great quality and great choice of beers; heritage pubs and modern craft bars...

I'll leave you with an evening view across the River Ouse...

Cheers! 🍻

York Heritage Pub Wonders

After the North Yorkshire coast and moors, we arrived in the city of York, where it turns out they've got a fair few pubs.

In sightseeing mode, we set out in the glorious sunshine to walk the 2-miles around the city walls. 
The northern section is popular and busy, delivering some cracking views of York Minster.  Then most folks seem to give up after reaching Goodramgate leaving a large, admittedly less spectacular, section of the walk quiet and peaceful.

Reaching Fishergate I spotted the Masons Arms across the other side of the road...
Heritage Pub.  Lunchtime.  Let's do it!

Well, at least let's do it after waiting an age for a break in the traffic to take a picture, then another age to get across the road ourselves...

Masons Arms (6 Fishergate, York, YO10 4AB - web)
The pub was built in Gothic revival style in 1935 as a flagship project for the Tadcaster Tower Brewery.  At the same time, the York City Gatehouse (built in 1830) was being demolished, so the architects took advantage of this and salvaged the fireplace and oak panelling to incorporate into the lounge bar of the Masons.


The pub suffered a blow in 2016 when it was badly damaged as devastating floods struck York.  Once the water subsided it took 7 months to repair the damage, including replacing the flooring throughout and reupholstering the seating.

It does look quite magnificent.  We settled on a large table in front of the bar in what would once have been the separate 'sitting room'.

The pub also has quite majestic 1930's lavatories.  You can tell I was sober and sensible as I made no attempt to photograph the loos.
Instead, here's what the bar looks like...

Sadly there wasn't much custom on a  midweek lunchtime - I wonder how many people don't get this far, lured into the ugly Wetherspoon's just across the road next to the Postern Tower instead?

But you don't get to listen to 'In the Navy' in Spoon's, the pick of the bunch on the retro pop soundtrack.

The house beer is Westgate 'Masons Blonde' a re-badged version, I guess, of the Wakefield brewers regular blonde ale.
Added bonus: pub pic place mats!

Continuing back to the wall walk,we were excited about seeing the castle just around the corner.
Dammit - scuppered again...

Significant scaffolding

Crossing the River Ouse and heading down Bishopgate, one of York's classic pubs is to be found...

The Swan (16 Bishopgate Street, York, YO23 1JH)
This is one of the cities big three heritage pubs, along with the Golden Ball and Blue Bell.
It dates back to 1861 and was later acquired by Joshua Tetley & Sons who gave it a 1930's makeover.  And that 30's design is pretty much what you see today.

You enter to a stand-up lobby where the bar is located, with doors either side of this leading to the public bar and smoke room.

Bench seating and hand sanitizer in the public bar

We grabbed a table at the side of the lobby facing the bar and next to the inquisitive greyhound in the picture at the top of the post.
The staff gave us a knowledgeable run-down of the cask and keg ales on offer and (being the fool that I am) I picked the strongest of the lot, the 6% 'Jotun', brewed in Sheffield by Neepsend Brewery.

Heading back into the fearsomely busy city centre, we made our way to what is reputed to be York's oldest pub - Ye Olde Starre Inne.
Seriously - what's going on with that spelling?

Ye Olde Starre Inne (40 Stonegate, York, YO1 8AS - web)
Tucked back from the street down an alleyway there's not much to see of the Starre as you wander down Stonegate.  So they made up for it with the impressive and unmissable gallows sign that straddles the whole street.

Much altered over the years, the most notable historic feature is the old decorative glass screen.  Brett Bros were 19th century York brewers who owned the pub when the screen was made for an 1890's refit.

There are multiple rooms within the Olde Starre - I'm sure I didn't see half of it - whilst there are also several outdoor courtyard areas.  The hot weather had driven most people outside with a mix of tourists, shoppers and a couple of hen parties having found their way down the alleyway for refreshments.

It's a Greene King pub, with a range of guest ales to save you from GK IPA - in this case we made a rare diversion from Yorkshire beers into South Wales for a Tiny Rebel 'Birra Colada'.

For the final pub in this post, we headed out of town into the Holgate district.
The stained glass dividers between seats give a clue as to the pub name...

The Fox (168 Holgate Road, York, YO24 4DQ)
It's a rarity being able to turn up in a popular heritage pub on a Friday evening and be able to mooch around, appreciating the fine interior and taking pictures of empty rooms.  The fine weather meant that almost all the customers were outside in a large garden where it would have been nigh-on impossible for us to find a seat.
I was more than happy inside.  Just look at it!

The pub was built in 1878 and would once have been the regular for many workers from the nearby engine sheds and locomotive workshops, prior to their closure.

Tetley's gave it a careful 80's makeover, then the latest restoration has been completed by Ossett Brewery who currently run the pub.

We finished an evening of pub explorations at the Fox, sat in a wonderful room, with a tasty pint of Osset 'Excelsius', and a soundtrack of decent indie rock. 

Take a glance at the Heritage Pub Website and you'll find another 8 listings alongside the four pubs on this post.  We only scratched the surface, being as we also had a couple of beer guide entries I wanted to visit and some more modern crafty bars in the city.
More of which on the next post.

The Sun Shines in Pickering

Our base for a couple of days at the south of the North York Moors was the market town of Pickering, where the Sun was the pick of the town's pubs. 
Here's what it looks like, along with a couple of other establishments that we visited..

Sun Inn (136 Westgate, Pickering, YO18 8BB - web)
We arrived to a friendly welcome at the Sun from both a local sat in the corner and the landlady who proceeded to serve us quickly with some lovely ales.
I snapped the picture of the empty room on arrival, but this filled quickly, with the pleasant back garden also proving popular thanks to the emergence of glorious evening sunshine
.

The real ale enthusiast who sat at the next table commended the landlady on having a fine choice of four beers which were all quite different from one another.
She thanked him and pointed out they'd actually got six cask ales and he'd missed the chocolate stout. 
And the Tetley's.
"Oh, I'm not counting that!" he admonished.

We settled down long enough to try a Half Moon Brewery 'Staycation' pale ale, a Helmsley Brewing 'Yorkshire Legend', and the  Nailmaker 'Choc Safari'.  All of which were quite wonderful.

Among'st a number of framed CAMRA awards on the wall was a memento of the 1975 Good Beer Guide in which the pub appeared...

The Sun is listed as being a "down to earth pub" serving Tetley Bitter.
The Lettered Board "haunt of market people, quarrymen and tourists" has not fared so well, closed and up for auction when we visited...

We found the pubs of Pickering remarkably popular with evening diners - some turned us away with a shake of the head, others displayed 'fully booked for food' signage out front.
Good for them, I guess.

The only place with room at the inn for us hungry souls was the Station Hotel, and I think they may have regretted giving us a table as they became a bit befuddled with their reservations a short while later.

Station Hotel (11 Park Street, Pickering, YO18 7AJ)
With a fine location opposite the North York Moors Railway station, the pub has three rooms in total, all with a modern touch to the decor.

Micro-dramas unfolded when a couple arrived and confused the staff by being part of a larger booking for four and a dog.
The fact that the other two and the dog hadn't yet arrived caused problems as another staff member tried to move them onto a table for two.  Finally the waitress took their drinks order and double-checked they were waiting for two more persons to arrive.
"And will there be anyone else joining you?"
"Yes, we're waiting for our two friends and a dog."
"And do you know what they'd like to drink?"
Er, nope!
How odd.

Retro phone to call in your Carling order

I can't even remember what I was drinking here.
We were just happy to have squeezed in and been fed and watered.

Moving on, at the top of Smiddy Hill is the Black Swan Inn...

Black Swan (18 Birdgate, Pickering, YO18 7AL - web)
First impressions weren't great: a 'pub closed' sign next to the door which turned out to be an out-of-date notice that they'd been shut on the eve of the Euro's final.

Confirming they were actually open, we headed inside where it's kitted out in modern decor, with coffee tables and leather sofas in the bar.
There's a little hint of an historic inn, but not a great deal of it's old character remains.

The final blow was a below-par pint of porter.

But then I discovered the beers came from the attached Breworks micro brewery.
The on-site brewery tempted me back for a second visit, this time sat outside under awnings in the rear courtyard, where giant wooden cable reels had been converted to tables.  The Simcoe pale ale was a well-served, enjoyable flavoursome pale ale, more than making up for the previous days dubious porter.

Al-fresco Simcoe pale ale

Which brings us to the final Pickering pub that we patronised...

Bay Horse (8 Market Place, Pickering, YO18 7AA)
This is one of those pubs which could have been completely different on another day.  
It looks superb - that grand old coaching inn frontage with the main entrance tucked away to the side.
But it was in a state of semi-chaos at the tail-end of food service, the staff relieved to hear we just wanted a drink.  We trekked through the surprising number of multi-level rooms as the pub stretches to the rear until emerging into the car park which doubled up as beer garden.
It wasn't the most characterful of spots to drink my Black Sheep Best Bitter.  But as I say, another time, settled in the more traditional front room, and I may have thought it was great.

Pickering proved to be a handy and pleasant place to stop, all the better once you reach the evening and the mass traffic jam that runs through the town dies down.
There were a couple more pubs that we didn't visit, but I'm pretty certain nothing is going to steal the Sun's crown as the best in town.

In the next post: a bit of York heritage pubbing.

Cropton Pub Walk

An eight-mile walk (which felt a lot longer) taking in four village pubs just to the south of the North York Moors.
The last post finished at the village of Hutton-le-Hole, which was to be our starting point for today's walking.
Our route looked pretty much like this...

We knew we were on track to arrive in Lastingham too early for the pub's midday opening.  This gave us a choice of covering some extra terrain by looping onto the moors or going straight to the village and putting our feet up until the landlord unlocked the doors.

Whose foolish idea was it to add extra mileage walking uphill onto the moors? (it was mine)

After our diversion we dropped into the village and to the Blacksmith's Arms...

Blacksmith's Arms (Anserdale Lane, Lastingham, YO62 6TN)
Rocking up at 12:10 we'd been beaten to the dubious artificial grass furniture in front of the pub.
But we were very content in the small, cosy bar inside, pewter tankards dangling from the ceiling above us and an old cooking range to one side.

There was a fine beer choice: Theakston 'Best' or 'Old Peculiar', Saltaire 'Blonde', or Ryedale Brewing Company 'Bitter'.
I picked the Ryedale, being as it's very local to here, being brewed in the nearby village of Sinnington.  And this was a lovely quaffable traditional best bitter - most enjoyable.

Lastingham to Cropton presented the least obvious route, with whatever footpath we took leading to a final slog along the road.  As it was, we missed a turn and ending up taking a completely unplanned path which led to us emerging quite disheveled after crashing through 6ft high ferns.
We were just about presentable enough to be let into the second pub on our itinerary...

The New Inn (Cropton, YO18 8HH)
This was somewhere I'd been really keen to visit: a renowned country inn with it's own brewery to the rear (once the Cropton Brewery, now re-named the Great Yorkshire Brewery).
We opted to sit in the bar which retains a good pubby feel, despite the popularity of the New Inn as a dining destination.  There are several other rooms, a conservatory and the garden which was busy today in the fine weather.
From four available ales on this visit I tried the 'Yorkshire Moors' ESB and the 'Yorkshire Blackout' porter, both in tip-top form and very tasty as you'd hope when they're brewed 50 meters away.

Which way next?

We left the pub by a footpath through the nearby campsite, then took a moment to admire the lovely views...

Views, with the moors in the distance

This leg of the walk started nicely: navigating cows that insisted on blocking the path and then crossing a river in the woods.  But then we had a steady and seemingly endless uphill climb up a farm lane, with the sun beating down on us and the day getting hotter and hotter. 

I was sweaty and out of breath by the time we reached Appleton-le-Moors where it looked like everyone was taking a siesta.
There was no sign of life other than the sheep ambling along the village's main thoroughfare.

Fortunately the pub was still open, albeit bereft of customers before our arrival.

Moors Inn (Appleton le Moors, YO62 1TF - web)
This turned out to be quite a smart pub with brown leather seating and wine glasses laid out on tables in the dining room and immaculate loos with gleaming white tiles.  The bar itself retains a bit more traditional character and this is where we settled on a table next to a grand old fireplace and oven.
On the bar was a choice of Bradfield 'Farmers Blonde', 'Farmers Stout' or Tim Taylor Landlord. It was nice to see stouts available in a fair number of pubs we'd been to in Yorkshire, despite not being the obvious summer choice.   I can report that the Farmers Stout was delicious and disappeared very quickly.

All quiet at the Moors Inn

One last push to the finish line...
We followed the Tabular Hills walk, taking us through woods and alongside fields of crops until eventually we dropped back into Hutton le Hole.

This picturesque little village, home to some 150 folk, really is charming, with Hutton Beck running through the middle of it and the sheep free to roam.

The Crown (Hutton-le-Hole,YO62 6UA)
Okay, so I complained about the grey skies and rain on the coast a couple of days earlier and now I was proving I'm never happy by complaining about the sunshine.
Phew - it was hot on those picnic benches...

I enjoyed a York Brewery 'Guzzler' sat outside the Crown, a nice mellow pale ale with a sensible ABV, perfect to end the afternoon.

Next up: our pick of the pubs in Pickering