We've been here before and it hasn't changed since that last visit - the drinks are still cheap and they still sell organic cherry beer. The toilets are pokey and not particularly pleasant, but they serve a purpose.
Lynne and I discovered that you can make your boyfriends go to the bar for you if you talk about periods.
I think that deep down, we probably always knew that.
Pub Number 31: The Duchess
Less of a pub this one, and more of a music venue - or that's what the rumous say and since We Are Scientists were playing that night, and Lynne IS a scientist, it seemed like the perfect night to check it out.
As soon as we got there, Lynne bumped into some of her scientist friends and we worried for a moment that it was a science convention of some sort rather than a cool and trendy music gig. It turned out that our worries were unfounded and the band did indeed make their way onto the stage to entertain us... it was a shame that we couldn't see them.
The Duchess used to be a low ceilinged snooker hall. It is now a low ceilinged music venue which means that you can't really see anything unless you're practically on stage with the band.
As we walked in Neil and I immediately identified it as a potentially good late licence pub or club (and it does turn into a club at the weekend after the gigs finish at about 10:30pm), but if you want to actually see any band there, you probably need to be on the front row, next to the speakers, as visibility from any further back is practically zero.
One word of warning though... your ears will hurt if you stand near the front - unless of course you pop into Ebor Hearing for a specially made set of ear plugs. And if you don't fancy shelling out for those, I'm sure you could get something from there to help fix your deafness in a few years time, but I digress...
Its a nice place - just not a particularly good music venue. It's new, so it doesn't smell funny and the toilets are respectable. Drinks are on the pricey side (and served in plastic cups) but not especially so, and even if it's not brilliant, a bigger capacity music venue does mean that York gets bands who you've actually heard of playing in it.
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