Edinburgh

Edinburgh is not only the capital of Scotland; it is also home to a considerable number of good pubs. Over the years I have often found myself in the city and on each occasion I have taken the opportunity to pop into the odd pub.

 

The Café Royal Circle Bar, West Register Street, New Town

The Café Royal is undoubtedly Edinburgh’s grandest pub, with spectacular plasterwork, a series of fabulous tiled pictures showing famous inventors at work, a large island bar and the extensive use of mahogany, marble, cut glass and brasswork. Oh yes, well-kept beer and good food are also on offer.

A dinner scene from the film ‘Chariots of Fire’ was filmed in the Café Royal Oyster Bar.

 

The Café Royal Circle Bar

 

Two of several tiled pictures in The Café Royal.

 

Diamond-cut, acid etched glass windows in the revolving door of The Cafe Royal.

The Guildford Arms. West Register Street, New Town.

A fabulous combination of illuminated blue, gold, brass and mahogany. Could any pub be more inviting?

The main entrance to The Guildford. Note the marble columns and revolving door.

 

 

Ornate ceiling in The Guildford

 

 

 

A range of hand pumps in The Guildford. Note the beer clip advertising Stewart’s 80/- ale.

The shilling categories were introduced during the 19^th century with the higher value indicating stronger or better quality beer, but the shilling names were never precisely correlated to the strength of the beer. Today Scottish brewers produce beers under the shilling names in a variety of strengths. However this list provides a rough guide:

Light - (60/-) is under 3.5% abv

Heavy - (70/-) is between 3.5% and 4.0% abv

Export - (80/-) is between 4.0% and 5.5% abv

Wee heavy - (90/-) is over 6.0% abv

 

/- is read as "shilling" or "bob" as in "a pint of eighty-bob, please" (Ref. Wikipedia)

 

 

Sandy Bells, Forest Row in the Old Town.

 

Sandy Bells. This photograph was taken shortly after opening time as the bar tends to fill up quickly, especially on folk nights – in other words every night! This pub has a good range of real ale. I can really recommend the Ossian. Brewed by the Inveralmond brewery of Perthshire and named after a legendary warrior from the 3rd century, this superb golden ale has won several awards including the Champion Beer of Scotland. It has a pale, golden colour with a full bodied fruity flavour and a hoppy, zesty, orange aroma, derived from First Gold and Cascade hops. Sandy Bells also offers an excellent selection of malt whisky.

 

 

The Half Way House, Fleshmarket Close, Old Town

It’s a long climb up the steps of Fleshmarket Close to the Royal Mile, but The Half Way House provides a welcome resting place. Specializing in Scottish real ale (there is usually a choice of four on tap) with the occasional guest beer from the north of England. For CAMRA members, there is the added bonus of a 20p discount on every pint when you present your membership card. This tiny pub is a favourite of my friend, Gianni Mazzucchelli.

 

Jinglin’ Geordie, Fleshmarket Close, Old Town

A few steps up from The Halfway House is a pub named after George Heriot (1563-1624), known as the “Jinglin’ Geordie”, an extremely wealthy jeweller and Goldsmith to James VI. Heriot died childless and bequeathed a large sum of money to building a hospital in Edinburgh for fatherless children.  The hospital is now the famous George Heriot School.

 

 

Robertson’s 37 Bar, Rose Street.

Robertson’s first opened its doors in 1901 and many of the main fixtures and fittings date back to that time, including the gantry behind the bar. Here the mirrored shelves are home to over a 100 single malt scotch whiskies.

 

The Kenilworth, Rose Street, New Town

This fine pub is named after an historical novel by Sir Walter Scott and boasts an almost-square island bar and elaborate gantry. Most of the walls are tiled.

 

 

The Oxford Bar, Young Street.

The Oxford, in Edinburgh’s New Town, was built in 1811 and is the least-altered pub in the city. It features in many of the Inspector Rebus detective stories by the Scottish author, Ian Rankin.

 

 

The Royal Oak, Infirmary Street.

A tiny pub, which tends to get packed. A great venue for folk music.

 

 

 

The Rutherford, Drummond Street, Old Town

A sad picture of The Rutherford taken in 2006. Still standing, but no longer a pub. Now it trades as some sort of restaurant. This pub was once a favourite watering hole of the author, Robert Louis Stevenson.

 

 

 

 

 

The Captains Bar, South College Street, in Edinburgh’s Old Town

 

The Bow Bar, Victoria Street, in the Old Town.

The Bow Bar is a relatively new pub, opened in the 1980s, but you would never guess this as it is housed in an ancient building and is decorated with old advertising mirrors and enamel signs. Behind the bar is a superb gantry which houses a collection of 150 single malts.

 

The Bow Bar where beer is dispensed using Aitken founts.

In Scotland there is a unique method of dispensing cask-conditioned beer known as the tall fount (pronounced ‘font’). The beer is raised from the cellar by air pressure, using a water engine so that when the tap is opened, beer is ‘pushed’ using air pressure compared with the traditional English method of drawing beer by suction using a beer engine (hand pump). Tall founts can still be seen in many pubs today, but in most cases the original water engine has been replaced by an electric air compressor. (Ref Scotland’s True Heritage Pubs - a splendid CAMRA publication)

 

 

The Bow Bar. Note the illuminated sign advertising Will’s Capstan cigarettes.

 

 

The Abbotsford, Rose Street, New Town 

The Abbotsford is another pub with a connection to Sir Walter Scott. It is named after his former residence, near Melrose, on the Scottish borders. The Abbotsford serves its cask beers through traditional Aitken founts.

Hartlepool

A little bit of history.

The origins of Hartlepool can be traced back to the 7^th century AD when an Abbey was founded by St Aidan on the headland overlooking the sea. The monastery became famous under St Hilda, who served as its abbess from AD 649 to AD 657. By the early 19^th century, Hartlepool was still a small town with less than 1000 people. A rapid expansion occurred with the industrial revolution when a solicitor from Stockton-on Tees, Ralph Ward Jackson, developed a harbour at West Hartlepool for the export of coal. The area became heavily industrialized with ironworks and shipbuilding featuring strongly. Many of Hartlepool’s pubs were built around this time.

The Shades Hotel on Church Street in 1988. This old pub, built in the mid-19^th century and refaced at the start of the 20^th century, has several Art Nouveau features and was Grade II listed in 1985.

The Shades Hotel, Hartlepool, in 1988

Note the wonderfully delicate female figures on the window surround

 

The Volunteer Arms on Church Street in1988

The Stranton pub and adjoining Camerons Brewery in 1988

John William Cameron took over an existing brewery in 1865. In 1892, the present Lion brewery was built, incorporating the most up-to-date equipment. An artesian well has supplied water to the brewery for over 160 years. The Stranton was converted to a visitors’ centre in 2004.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, I had a holiday job at Camerons Brewery. This was a Victorian brewery with equipment from that era, so the work was quite physical and included shovelling spent grain from the mash tub and cleaning the inside of the coppers. Both jobs required you to strip down to jeans and wellies and enter the still steamy vessel by descending a pair of ladders. A large wooden shovel was used to remove the spent grain, while the spent hops were blasted from the walls of the copper using a water hose. The next stage was to clean any remaining hops from the heating pipes with a small piece of Scotchbrite. Much of the transport of barley and hops was also done by hand, as the design of the building did not permit the use of mechanized transport. Although the work could be hard, it was never boring. However, the best job was in the afternoon. The directors met each day at 4 o’clock precisely, and one lucky employee was required to deliver two large jugs of Camerons Strongarm to the board room. The perk of the job was that you were allowed a swift half pint when you filled the jugs.  Over time, the half pint slowly increased to two or three pints, with a subsequent delay in delivery to the directors. This was eventually noticed and an improvement in my performance was ordered!

Major changes were made in 1970. Much of the Victorian brass and copper fixtures had been replaced by electronically-operated, fully automatic, stainless steel brewing equipment. This modernization was not universally welcomed, however, for although the job had become physically easier, it was extremely tedious with much of the day spent washing the new marble floors or cleaning the stainless steel vessels.

The Zetland on Church Street in1988

The New Market on Lynn Street in 1998, looking a little past its best,
but still a Grade II listed building

 

The Harbour of Refuge in April 2012

A bronze statue of Andy Capp, the cartoon creation of Hartlepudlian, Reg Smythe, was unveiled in the old town in June 2007

The characters, Andy and his wife Flo, were based on Smythe's own parents.

Apart from success in the UK, Andy Capp became popular internationally in over
30 countries and 700 newspapers.

The Cosmopolitan in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Ship in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Ship showing a lamp advertising the now demolished Vaux brewery

The Fisherman’s Arms in Old Hartlepool in April 2012

The Rat Race Alehouse in Hartlepool Railway Station in April 2012. This is now my favourite pub in the town.  They only serve real ale, wine, real cider and perry. In fact, their marketing seems to be based on what they don’t have. This includes fizzy lager, fizzy cider, fizzy beer, alcopops, music and a big screen TV. If, however, you would like to enjoy an excellent pint with good conversation and papers and books to read, then this is the place for you.

The Town Wall in 2012

A little bit of history courtesy of Wikipedia and some local history websites.

After the Norman conquest of 1066, the de Brus family gained ownership of the lands surrounding Hartlepool. William the Conqueror built Durham Castle and brought stability to the area, and the surrounding villages were first mentioned in records in 1153 when Robert de Brus, 1st Lord of Annandale, became Lord of Hartness.

By the time of the Middle Ages, Hartlepool had grown into a small, but important, market town with the improved harbour which served as the official port of the County palatine of Durham.

The main trade was fishing, making Hartlepool one of the major ports in the east of the UK. After two hundred years, the de Brus connection with Hartlepool was severed when ‘Robert the Bruce', the legendary Scottish hero and last Lord of Hartness, was crowned King of Scotland, in 1306. Angered by this, King Edward I confiscated his title to Hartlepool.

The Sandgate in 2012

The Town Wall which guards the Headland (Old Hartlepool) was originally built in the 14th century as a defence against the raiding Scots and some parts of the wall, including the historic Sandgate, dates from this period.

 

 

 

 

Alnwick

Alnwick is a picturesque market town in Northumberland which dates back to AD 600, or thereabouts. Alnwick castle, which borders the town, is the ancestral home of the Earls of Northumberland. The castle has featured in many films and TV series, notably Blackadder, Harry Potter, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

As well as a wonderful castle and gardens, Alnwick is also home to one of Britain’s largest second-hand bookshops, Barter Books, which is housed in the old Alnwick railway station.

There is a good selection of pubs in Alnwick, catering for residents and tourists. One of my personal favorites is The John Bull on Howick Street, a real traditional local pub.

 

 

The bar of the John Bull is always stocked with an interesting range of well-kept real ale and a truly impressive collection of malt whiskies.

 

 

The 16^th century Queens Head Hotel, the oldest pub in Alnwick, is a former coaching inn situated on Market Street.

 

A view down Narrowgate showing the Hairy Lemon and The Olde Cross. Just round the corner to the right is The Oddfellows Arms.

The Hariry Lemon is probably the worst name of any drinking establishment I know. It was previously known as The Black Swan

The Olde Cross on Narrowgate, also known as the Dirty Bottles.

A Victorian landlord was reputedly placing some bottles in the pub window when he suddenly died. It is said that whoever touches them will suffer the same fate, and they remain untouched to this day.

The Oddfellows Arms on Narrowgate
 

The Fleece Inn on Bondgate Without.  This is a wonderful stone-built pub and, like most pubs in the town, it sells real ale.
 

 

 

The Tanners Arms on Hotspur Street is a one-roomed locals pub which has a long-standing reputation for well-kept real ale and live music.

Alnwick’s most famous son was Henry Percy, born in 1364 in Alnwick castle, the eldest son of Henry Percy, 1^st Earl of Northumberland. Henry Percy became better known as Harry Hotspur after his speed and readiness to attack when battling against the Scots. He was immortalized in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1.

The Percy family also owned land in Tottenham, which is now part of north London, and Harry Hotspur actually lived there for a while. His nickname was incorporated into Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.

 

The White Swan on Bondgate Within is a 300-year old coaching inn located right in the centre of town. Although not really a pub, it is still worth mentioning as one of the rooms was refurbished several years ago using the dining room from the RMS Olympic, the sister ship of the ill-fated Titanic.
 

 

The Alnwick Arms on Clayport Street
 

The Market Tavern on Fenkle Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunderland Pubs - I

Sunderland

Sunderland is a major city in the north east of England, but like many northern towns, Sunderland has lost much of its heavy industry, notably ship building (Sunderland was once the biggest ship building town in the world) and coal mining. Likewise, many of its old pubs have gone, but some gems remain.  These include The Dun Cow, The Saltgrass, The Museum Vaults, The Mountain Daisy, Fitzgerald’s, The King's Arms and the recently-refurbished Isis.

 

While Newcastle Brown Ale is recognized world-wide, for many years Sunderland was associated with Double Maxim Ale, brewed in the centre of the town by Vaux Breweries. This brewery was founded in 1837 by Cuthbert Vaux and during the following 160 years expanded as a successful family business with its roots in Sunderland.

Vaux advertising board in Sunderland, 1990

By the 1990s, the Vaux Group had expanded into hotels. Despite the brewing business being profitable and an offer to buy it having been received from management, in March 1999 the Board accepted the advice of the Corporate Financier, BT Alex. Brown, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, and decided to close breweries in Sunderland and Sheffield. The management buyout would have protected both breweries, the pub chain and the 3,200 associated jobs. Instead, an assessment based on shareholder value resulted in the unnecessary destruction of a profitable brewing dynasty going back 160 years. Vaux brewery, which was a major employee in Sunderland, was razed to the ground in 2003. The site is still unoccupied today. (Reference: Wikipedia).

In 2000 two former Vaux directors and the former head brewer together formed the Double Maxim Beer Company, buying the beer brands and recipes. They resurrected the Samson and Double Maxim beers.

 

The Vaux Dray in 1990. Once a common sight in Sunderland

Double Maxim

Maxim Ale was first brewed in 1901 to celebrate the return of the Maxim gun detachment from the Boer War. 'The Maxim' was the world's first self-powered automatic machine gun. Major Ernest Vaux (one of the original brewing family) commanded the detachment, which was part of the Northumberland Hussars. Initially, the beer was reduced in strength because landlords complained of their customers falling asleep. In 1938 Vaux Breweries increased the strength of the beer and Double Maxim was born.

 

 

 

The Museum Vaults, Silksworth Row, in 1990

 

 

The Museum Vaults in 1998. This pub was a beerhouse until 1978, when it became one of the last pubs in the town to be awarded a spirit licence.

 

 

 

The Brewery Tap, which adjoined Vaux brewery, in 1998. This pub was demolished a few years later along with the brewery.

 

The King's Arms, Deptford, in 2006

The Saltgrass in Deptford, Sunderland in 2006. This pub is a little out of the way, but well worth finding. A genuine pub with a real fire, well-kept beer and occasional live music.

 

 

 

 

Seaham Harbour Pubs III

I recently received a few photographs of The Engineers Arms in Seaham Harbour, taken in the late 1960s or early 1970s, from my cousin, John Hughes. John lived with his parents, Jack and Ivy Hughes, in the Engineers where Jack was the licensee from 1950 up to his retirement in 1975.

This photograph shows Jack (second left) and Ivy (third left) in the Public Bar of the Engineers. Throughout his time as landlord, the pub comprised two rooms; a men-only Public Bar and a Singing Room with piano and table service, for both men and women

 

Jack and Ivy behind the bar of the Engineers Arms. Note the pair of handpumps which dispensed Newcastle Ales and the black and white television in the corner. Kids weren’t allowed in the bar, but when we visited Jack and Ivy in the early 1960s, Jack would often bring us a half of shandy to drink upstairs.

 

Many people think that business cards are a relatively modern marketing tool, but John came across this visiting card from our grandfather, Jack Stuart, when he ran the Noah’s Ark Hotel and The Blandford Hotel in Seaham in the 1920s. The card informs would-be patrons of ‘music and singing’ and that there is a bus stop at the door! The telephone number is only three digits, 219 Seaham Harbour.