retiredmartin

February 2026. Hull.

Getting your GBG tick done early is a good idea, as anyone who’s been on Orkney worrying if the death of the Queen will mean your penultimate Guide pubs will close as a mark of “respect” will confirm.

But it does raise the question, “What next ?”.

There’s plenty of heritage pubs like the Black Boy to revisit in Hull Old Town, but a man should leave a respectable gap between pints, at least 10 minutes I reckon, and dusk is a great time for photos.

So much choice, but in the end the Old Blue Bell gets the nod, 20 years after my last visit.

A classic heritage interior, a rare Sam Smiths pub that’s a) open and b) selling cask OBB (NBSS 3.5, £3.60).

There’s just one problem.

That’s as close as I get with my phone.

No pics, no notes, no checking train times, no Shazamming the pumping R & B soundtrack. It’s torture.

You’ll just have to take my word that the Blue Bell remains one of our classics, as timeless as Uerige or the Dyffryn Arms to pick two at random.

Except …

Someone has been playing the game, using pro cameras rather than phones (it wasn’t me).

So here’s a legitimate taster of what greets you down that alley back into the 1970s, when men wore ties and people spoke to each other.

Some of you no doubt wish you were still there.