2022 Hull Trip – Day 1 (Raymond Mays to a Quick Stop in Brigg)

Having ticked off the JD Wetherspoon in Bourne, we (well, I more accurately) thought that we might as well pop into their venue in Brigg, the White Horse. Opened by the chain in 2015, it has some history, as is noted on the sign on the pub:

“Noted as ‘a building of local interest’, this was originally a farmhouse, dating from the mid 18th century, with stables and gardens to the rear. The farmhouse and outbuildings were later bought by the Britannia brewery, in Wrawby Street, and converted into licensed premises. The brewery closed in 1924, but the Britannia public house has survived”.

It’s a well reviewed pub, which unfortunately means there aren’t many entertaining reviews. Although there’s this one:

“We were then met by a member of staff, who asked my daughter for ID as it was nearly 9pm and under 18s need to go. My daughter is a few months off 18. Surely a bit of discretion should be used in this situation. She was extremely rude and unprofessional to us when I said she wasn’t drinking She told us we had 5 mins to drink up and leave and we couldn’t eat. My point is I get the children bit about being out st 9 pm, but surely use a bit of common sense with a nearly 18 year old sat with 5 other adults”.

I love the idea of discretion in licensing law. I’m not sure their license says “all under 18 year olds must leave the venue by 9pm, unless they’re sort of nearly 18”.

Although I also liked:

“Shocking customer service. My wife just rang to book a table for tomorrow tea as we are taking our little girl to see Santa in Brigg and the guy on the phone point blank refused. I appreciate there is only 3 of us but we just wanted to make sure”.

I can imagine how surprised and delighted staff at Wetherspoons would be if they had to manage table reservations as well as everything else. Seems very harsh to give a 1/5 review because they refused to take a table booking, but there we go…..

“Glasses are absolutely disgusting and the carling is atrocious”

I agree about the Carling, but I think it’s meant to taste like that.

I’m always pleased to see power available at tables. The beer is Tamar from Summerskills Brewery from Plymouth seemed to be a reliable session ale.

Another view of the pub, all rather well presented and looked after.

The High Street in Brigg. This town in North Lincolnshire has a long history, with evidence of human settlement in the area dating back to the Bronze Age as it was a crossing point for the River Ancholme. Negatively impacted financially by the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the town was also the site of a battle during the Civil War when the Parliamentarians relieved it from the Royalist en route to Hull. Quite oddly, the town has a railway station which is served solely by trains on Saturdays, which doesn’t seem entirely ideal, but British Railways scrapped the weekday services in 1993.

The Buttercross Bell was, well, a bell that was located on the Buttercross building, but at some stage in the early twentieth century it was taken down. It was put on its little plinth in front of the still standing building by the Rotary Club a few years ago. Back in the day when it was used, the bell sounding marked the beginning of trading in the market place. It’s a pleasant area this now it has been pedestrianised.

After a little perambulation that was enough of Brigg as we had to cross the Humber to get to Hull before the pubs shut and also allow time for Liam to find a car charging facility. We only just made this one, the transport Gods were on our side and I’m not entirely sure what we would have done if the charging machines here weren’t working. Although Liam takes charge of these sort of mechanical and engineering issues (I have a rule that any problem that can be dealt with by duct tape or superglue is something that I can manage, but anything else needs an engineer to intervene in the arrangements), I would have likely had a little sleep in the car whilst he worked it all out.