TOP 100 PUBS – THE SHIP INN, HULL

December 2023. Hull.

It was Simon who alerted me to the presence of a new and must-visit pub in Hull earlier this year, and although I generally resist “pre-emptive tick tips” I’d spent £28.30, a weeks supply’s worth of Bombay mix, on the train and so I reckoned I ought to cross Sculcoates Bridge to the Ship Inn.

Now, I appreciate this type of urban exploration isn’t to everyone’s taste, particularly in the dark,

but I’d be far more nervous about exploring the centre of Maidenhead in daylight, and the joy you get approaching the Ship is hard to explain.

“Out of darkness cometh light” as the motto of Wolverhampton goes, and also cometh Toyah;

In a world of pubs playing Wham ! and Mariah and, yes, Jona Lewie, what a joy to hear “It’s A Mystery” at Christmas.

The Ship is everything I look for in a pub.

Tasteful tat, including a Christmas tree the chap tells me has been decorated by an Olympian. I think he means there’s an Olympian IN the pub at that moment, but as I would only recognise Zola Budd and can’t see her I fail to give the enthusiastic response he’s possibly expecting.

The seating is really great,

a fantastic view to the bar, which houses the most cheery group of locals you’ll ever meet, a Polish lady enthusiastically discussing Michael Carrick. How is it even possible to be enthusiastic about Michael Carrick ?

So, while I’m not physically at the bar, I still feel part of the pub, and that’s crucial.

It’s still early, half a dozen in at 5:30, and while the beer range definitely says “serious about beer” it’s more City Arms than Port Street Beer House,

and a bit of a surprise the beer is SO good.

What on earth did I have ?

I have no idea (actually, probably Rudgate), obviously something dark, and definitely not Plum Porter, unbelievably.

The soundtrack went from Paula Abdul to Herman Hermits.

“No milk today, it wasn’t always so
The company was gay, we turned night into day“

Embarrassingly, after only half an hour, I needed a second wee.

Books have written (possibly) about the “second wee” on a single pub visit. You’re almost obliged to justify it by having a second beer, even if it is a wussy half. The pub dog had me sussed.

Again, no idea what it was, all I recall was a conversation at the bar about how good the beer was and the landlady saying “It’s my job to taste the beer to make sure it’s good”.

“And the spirits !” said the wag at the bar.

If it’s not in the GBG25 (it was too new for GBG24) there’s something very wrong with the world.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on “TOP 100 PUBS – THE SHIP INN, HULL”

  1. “Books have written (possibly) about the “second wee” on a single pub visit.”
    Wait till you get to my age !
    I had only two pints in the appropriately named Bull and Bladder yesterday ahead of the ONE HOUR number 8 bus journey to the Great Western.
    I scarcely thought about the next toilet though as I had a front upstairs seat giving me wonderful views of the Birmingham New Road that I’ve known for sixty years.
    Not everyone knows that it was built not so much because people wanted to get between Wolverhampton and Birmingham or because motoring was becoming popular but more as a job creation scheme during a recession.

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    1. Both Simon (BRAPA) and myself have written about the trauma of the Greater Dudley buses this year. The bus from Pensnett to the western suburb of Wolves this year was an hour of my life I don’t want to repeat. Only 4 miles, I really should have walked but it was raining.

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    2. I am your age and a bit Paul and it’s curious. Three pints and I can get home with time to spare, but a single cup of tea no chance.

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      2. I never drink tea.
        My black coffee is early morning but usually only about a third of a pint, so maybe I need to find out what three pints of it would do.

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  3. I’ve never been to Hull, but several pubs in the city centre claim to have been the favourite watering hole of Philip Larkin, the old grump who was once the university librarian there (don’t know what his bladder control was like).

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