Hull – George Hotel
Continuing on my trail around Hull pubs which are featured in the Good Beer Guide, this one is located on the intriguingly named street, the Land of Green Ginger. It’s one large room, which I assume was once two rooms, and the welcome was friendly and authentic.
Not meant as a complaint as this is clearly a successful pub, but it is quite challenging for a customer when pubs let their customers sit in front of the pump fronts. This was a pub with plenty of space, including at other points along the bar, and my view of the beers was nearly entirely obscured.
I decided against trying to poke my head between customers to examine the beer options and just ask what dark beers they had on. The staff member was apologetic that they didn’t have any, although he mentioned that some were coming in, so I think that I was just a little unlucky. I can’t help thinking that seven real ales and no darker choices isn’t ideal though, with the darkest available being Abbot Ale from Greene King, which isn’t something I’d particularly want to ever actually pay for.
Of course, this left me in a position of not knowing what alternative to have since I couldn’t see half the pump fronts (although I was able to take a photo after to zoom in on the choices). I opted for Mad Goose from Purity since I hadn’t heard of it and it sounded appealing, although I then discovered that the reviews for it aren’t great. I rated it better than the reviews, it was quite a crisp taste with flavours that I couldn’t identify, but it was worth the £1.70 for a half pint.
A nice interior, although I can’t help but notice that lovely space they could plonk the customers at, away from the pump fronts. Or, as a compromise, they could get blackboards and chalk the beer options up on that, which seems the usual alternative when pub customers can’t easily otherwise see the bar.
Anyway, it was a friendly environment and the member of staff seemed to be knowledgeable and competent, so I suspect he might have been the landlord. I’d come here again because it had that nice calm environment that I like in a pub, but hopefully there will be some delicious darker options on next time. It gives the impression of being a Craft Union pub and some of these are clearly working, although I hope they don’t do one of their dodgy refurbishments on this place, as the interior is full of character.
This is another claim to fame for the pub, which is the smallest pub window in the country. It’s apparently a throwback to when a porter would look out to know if he (or perhaps she) should let people in, but the pub has made something of a thing of it which is good. This is another one that deserves to be in the Good Beer Guide.
