retiredmartin

3rd January 2020

You left me at Hull Marina, where the side streets provide the most generous free parking in any major UK city. NEVER pay to park, folks.

Hull is becoming really difficult to produce new blog titles for.

You’ve already had “To Hull And Back Again”, “London 0 (great pubs) Hull 4” and “A Hull Of A Time“. Actually, I haven’t used that last one, yet (makes mental note).

Only one new GBG pub on this visit, but plenty of pre-emptive possibilities uncovered by Duncan recently mean I can flog two posts out of this two hour crawl.

This is the view from Princes Dock to the main shopping centre, the point at which I realised I needed a comfort break and popped in Furley & Co.

Actually, I’d intended nipping in Furley to just use the loo, but got spotted and felt obliged to buy a half of Sunshine, that turned out to be a two-thirds that cost £4.50 or something.

It was an expensive way to spend a penny in our national capital of great loos.

But it was a lovely and peppery beer, which is a word Richard would have appreciated in relation to Brass Castle. Furley seemed like the harbinger of craft when it opened four years ago, and so it has proved.

Of course, craft these days mean electronic beer boards, condiments racks and schooners, and Furley was doing Brew Dog like food trade successfully enough.

I suspect I like it a bit more than our Si, and it’ll never replace the Wellington, but who can resist the loos ?

Comfort achieved, off we go.

Fourteen GBG entries plus a host of pre-emptives. Who needs York Leeds ?

Hull has even got a really classy refurbished pub for the middle-classes connoisseur now, its very own Cardigan Arms.

I walked past the White Hart earlier this year and thought “Wow“, BRAPA liked it too, and I kknow two people with “Mudg(i)e” in their name who’d fall for it.

Look at Duncan’s marvellous blog for the best shots of the bar.

The standard of conversation was a tad above that in the Craft Union pub in Dereham, with a robust structural analysis of the Chinese Bridge at Godmanchester the highlight.

Lovely shiny handpumps as well, which always inspire confidence. Would the Landlord pass the Landlord test ?

Just about. Cool, rich, NBSS 3.5. The lacings were a mixed bag.

Proper seating too. In fact it was so good I nearly succumbed to the guest 12% keg. Two hours later that night and I would have done.

Where next ?