BASS CLICKBAIT AT THE DOLPHIN

December 22nd 2025. Hastings.

A solid if unspectacular birthday ends with a last look at Rock-A-Nore,

and a half in the Hastings pub I’d meant to have birthday fish pie in. But I’d have needed to book for lunch in the Dolphin,

and I NEVER book.

The Dolphin is a classic, though I’d struggle to explain why today.

A simple, cosy, place with proper seats and a beer range that screams “pick Harvey’s, stupid“.

so I don’t, but that “Quiet American” is as good as in Faversham.

If ever there was evidence for the case against half-pints (except in Scotland) this was it.

Even the prawns are served in pints next door, possibly by autovac.

And that was it, bar a wobble up All Saints Street, which is now in my Top 10 UK streets,

and a George V post box.

“Can’t be many of those left” says Mrs RM, clearly a post box expert.

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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.

21 thoughts on “BASS CLICKBAIT AT THE DOLPHIN”

  2. Yes Martin, post box expert Mrs RM is right about “Can’t be many of those left” as there are less than five hundred Ludlow style boxes in use, stored or preserved across the UK and Ireland while Royal Mail estimates that it has over 100,000 post boxes. They were made largely from wood, with an enamel notice, from 1885 to 1965 by James Ludlow & Son of Birmingham whose name they take. Until early this century there was an extremely rare Edward VIII one at the now closed Marston Road Post Office in Stafford.

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      1. Google says that there are more than 2000 Victoria post boxes left. There is one in a wall in my road but I don’t use it as the opening for letters is very small. The first Charles one entered service on 12 July 2024 in Great Cambourne.

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      5. As Reg Smeeton might have said,
        “How nice to be in England,
        Now that England’s here,
        I stand upright in my wheelbarrow,
        And pretend I’m Boadicea.”

        Where is Reg, now that his country needs him?

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      10. Thanks, Martin.

        Sadly I see that The Fool And Bladder (Elephant And Castle, Amwell) has gone gastro, so no more Face Jumping, Catching The Javelin, or Heading The Shot for the locals on the adjoining green.

        https://www.theelephantandcastle.co.uk

        However, the Hot Pennies Ceremony is still held in Honiton for lovers of tradition.

        The ceremony dates back at least eight hundred years to 1221, when Honiton was granted a royal charter to hold a weekly market and an annual fair.

        The practice is said to have started when wealthy, affluent residents of the town would heat pennies on stoves and throw them to the poor people gathered below in the streets. The gentry reportedly derived amusement from watching the peasants burn their fingers while scrambling to collect the coins, which were a significant amount of money at the time.

        (The event was originally part of a fair where a garlanded glove was hoisted on a pole, signifying that for the duration of the fair, no man could be arrested for debt. This encouraged more people to attend the fair.)

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      11. “The gentry reportedly derived amusement from watching the peasants burn their fingers while scrambling to collect the coins, which were a significant amount of money at the time”.
        Etu, I think the modern equivalent is members of the Bullingdon Club burning £50 notes in front of homeless people on the streets of Oxford !

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    2. Martin, That’s with ten years working for Royal Mail, before my knees failed.
      And there’s Charles vans now, the first one I noticed being in Hinckley last April.

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