There’s 3 criteria for selecting these “highlights” posts.
1) You ask for them.
2) The photos make me laugh.
3) The place lacks an “a” as I can’t use the “a” on my laptop and writing these posts on the mobile is a sod.
No-one asked for Cleethorpes, so here it is.
Shame you can’t visit the impressive beach at the moment, and enjoy chips at the inaccurately named “Grimsby” Town.
Unlike Walsall, you don’t come here for art, though Cleethorpes has a famous 8 pub crawl that passes some decent Victoriana.
Over the 4 years of this blog I reckon this town has been the biggest pubby surprise. All 8 are worth a look.
But let’s be clear, the Signal Box (top) is a kiosk. Just like that Claygate platform “pub”.
If you visit just one (don’t be daft), make it the one in my Top 100, The Nottingham House.
Even the great Richard Coldwell might have had a pint of Tetley here.
The liveliest pub in town, more of a social club disco, is the No.1 Refreshment Rooms.
Everyone was 57 and had less hair than me, but they knew the words to Hi Ho Silver Lining and saved me some good cheap Bass, so all is forgiven.
The most famous pub in town, and nearly as good as No. 1, is the No.2, just across the station concourse.
Friday night out of season needs a good few pubs to take up the slack, so make sure you dither over finding your out of date Spoons vouchers at the bar of the Coliseum.
Just west of centre you’ll get one of those infernal new bottleshop/tasting rooms that only open when you’re not there.
Booooo!
No, actually Message in a Bottle was great, and not just because of the legendary toiletries.
AND there’s more. A Sam Smiths with the best pint of OBB all year, and those social media restrictions you know and love.
Oh, nearly missed the Bass in Willy’s.
In truth, not the best Bass ever, but a lively boozer with the sort of prices that causes folk to move here from Croydon.
8 good pubs, so stay over in a cheap B & B where they call you “love” and sneak a Chinese takeaway back to your room from Golden City.
NB The highlight of reading the original posts came from the mysterious Dave.
“As a side note, and hoping we don’t slight anyone, Norwich is a place we visited, but I am not really rushing back there. I did not find the pubs to be as interesting as some other places. Beer choice is not the end all. It was also one of the few places where we visited pubs that did not make us feel welcome. You don’t get that sense in Stockport.”
Yep, Cleethorpes is definitely better than Norwich, Dave.
You have sold me on Cleethorpes. What a great set of pubs.
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First time I thought it was fun, but with trip last year adding that Sam Smiths (and excellent bottle shop) to the Nottingham House it’s probably essential.
Add in Louth, 20 miles south for history and the Wolds.
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Dave, go to Cleethorpes when you visit England. It is one of the better seaside towns around. That and Southport are probably the only seaside resorts I have visited and don’t absolutely abhor.
The Stagecoach East Midlands service 51 will take you from Grimsby to Louth. £9.30 for a Day Out ticket giving unlimited travel on all Stagecoach omnibuses in the area. I can’t imagine a Grimsby – Louth return is much cheaper than that. Sit on the top deck for the scenic journey. There is an outdoor market a couple of days a week if you like that sort of thing.
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Tom, curious. Do you not like Scarborough or Whitby? Hastings? Dave
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Scarborough is blessed with a couple of decent boozers, a reasonable coastline and has a Thomas the Baker. However, it is overly touristificated, run down and tacky. Not a place that ever warms my heart, but it isn’t as low down the leagues as the likes of Blackpool and Mablethorpe.
Whitby does nothing for me. Yes the harbour is attractive and there is a decent walk along the river Esk into the town. There is nothing to the place. Top quality non league football ground though and I did get a Twitter mention before I was actually on Twitter from them just for supporting my team.
Not been to Hastings since I was a small twild and can barely remember the visit, so I can’t really judge. Shoud really revisit, there is quite a bit of track which requires the attention of my blue highlighter pen. Nearby Bexhill looked worthy of investigation during my 3 minute visit on the way to Reading a few months ago. Both are in the South East though, which can prove a huge negative as this is the area of the country where I am least happy.
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Hastings, and much of Kent outside Tunbridge Wells and Sevenoaks, don’t feel as oppressively South-Eastern as you might fear, Tom.
Hastings is like Whitby with fewer Gothscand coach parties from Beverley.
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Just like that Claygate platform “pub”.
You mean the one that’s never been open, when it says it is open, on the four times I’ve tried to give it a go.
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It’s no pub. It’s an off-licence with outside bench tables.
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A hobbyists play thing, springs to mind.
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Ooh, you sound like Mudgie!
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Steady on!!!!
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Some great photos there, Martin.
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Thanks, Paul.
Some lovely early Summer weather from 2018 helps.
Would love to know what you make of Cleethorpes!
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Skegness is the nearest I’ve been to Cleethorpes, but with a long sandy beach, a pier and some decent looking pubs, I’m sure it would appeal.
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T’other Paul,
I’ve been to Skegness half a dozen times and Cleethorpes a couple of times and thought them neither the best nor worst of resorts.
The only good thing Beeching ever did was save me from Mablethorpe, the –I- hole in between.
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There’s a couple of good pubs either end of Skeggy. It’s Blackpool for folk who say “duck”.
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“Even the great Richard Coldwell might have had a pint of Tetley here.” –But only if he could have got into a time machine and gone back to when Tetley was brewed *properly*, not by a soulless international conglomerate. 😉
I would swear “Bergamot Jasmine & a Hint of Cedarwood” was a satirical fragrance you’d invented for a laugh if not for the photographic evidence!
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Yes, I couldn’t have made that up could I 😊
Oi. Don’t call Marston soulless😢.Big is beautiful .
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Ha! I confess I didn’t know the facts on this one. Marston isn’t all that big as these companies go, is it? I recall Richard had his opinions on Bass, which is probably what I’m confusing this with– he could have probably named the day and date when it stopped being as good as it used to be. 🙂
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No you’re spot on with fact again Mark.
Richard thought Bass and Tets were shadows of their originals. I cared not a jot for authenticity!
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No, it’s brewed by Camerons, not Marstons, now.
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Tetleys is? I can’t keep up. And nor can Wikipedia, which confidently tells me it’s proudly brewed in Wolves using the Yorkshire Square system.
Perhaps Camerons will give it back that creamy feel I associate with Tets. If only Richard were around to give an opinion.
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Mark,
“Marston isn’t all that big as these companies go, is it?”.
Exactly.
A bit out of date but the last barrelage figures I saw had Marstons and Greene King each at 2% or 3% of British beer production but that was big enough for Richard to detest them no matter what they did.
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Richard WAS being 98% mischievous though 😉
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Yes, although I don’t think I properly realised that at the time.
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It was very hard to tell with Richard.
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I shall point out that my Father and myself have successfully spent an afternoon inside the Signal Box drinking, thus qualifying itself as a pub. I think that would be impossible at Claygate unless anybody knows otherwise. The only positive of Claygate is that it has an excellent bakery next to the ‘pub’, however the pub opens so late that by that time the bakery is shut.
The Pier chippy is indeed good. Above average prices but worth paying.
Number 1 is ace. All sorts of frivolities in the front room, as there should be, yet the back room is out to all sorts of community groups free of charge. Top bloke the landlord in there.
I’d happily suggest anybody go to Cleethorpes. Just don’t get off the train in Grimsby on the way.
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I told Dave you’re one of the great pub men and ” All sorts of frivolities in the front room, as there should be ” is why.
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Tom,
I doubt if you’d spend an afternoon inside Fullers’s Signal Box at Euston railway station.
I’ve never managed much more than twenty minutes.
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But presumably you had to leave it occasionally to use the “facilities” 😉
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Fullers’s Signal Box has its own khasis.
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The loos in the Signal Box are as far from khasis as it’s possible to imagine 😉
https://retiredmartin.com/2019/03/13/a-rude-awakening-in-perth/
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“Stew almost Stile standard” – but did the broccoli eat well ?
Are you suggesting Cleethorpes for a Proper Day Out ?
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I’ll meet you there the Friday the pubs reopen, but will be stopping in Walsall, Wolves and Ilkey on the way to honour existing promises to visit pubs.
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Steady on now.
Don’t forget my age and disabilities.
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