A Jolly Romp

Pub number 42: HA! HA!

After sitting through the jolly romp that is The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (five word review: "Should have been in German"), we decided that a couple of pints were in order to lift our spirits. Didn't really do the trick, leaving us to nurse our drinks morosely (including Neil's stella-in-a-wine-glass).

Satur-Night (By Leanne)

After 4 hours sleep, a bit of food and a couple of episodes of Property Ladder, we were ready to hit the town again for the evening session of Pub Crawl:

Pub Number 38: Pivo
That afternoon, when we parted, the conversation went something like this:
Neil: so where are we meeting then?
Leanne: That new place near the market
N: Which one is that?
L: You know, the little one that we were going to go in once, but then didn't because it looked too busy. I think its near a travel agent. Near the market
N: What's it called?
L: I dunno
Lynne: Does it begin with a P? Peepo, peebon...
L: It doesn't matter - we all know where it is - let's just go there...

...Later that day...

Leanne's phone: Ring Ring
L:Hello
N: What's this pub called again? We're at the market near where we thought it was... but it's not here
L: It's just down an alley near the market. Begin's with a P
N: Ah - is it Pivo?
L Sounds right to me
N Found it. See you in a bit
Leanne's Phone: Click

So was it worth the effort?

In a word, Yes. It's a pub that seems rife with clients of our peer group (after much discussion, we decided that we were 'young professionals') and its a pub that sells beer called Bernard.

It sells raspberry Bernard for the girls and lager flavoured Bernard for the boys.

It is set in a wonderfully rickety and sloping tudor building. Neil thought that it was a bit too warm.

Pub Number 39: The Snickelway
A snickelway is northern dialect term for an alleyway and this small, but cosy pub suits it's name perfectly. Its a place you can take your grandad to warm his feet on the fire over a nice pint of bitter. It's a place where you might not get a seat if you turn up at the wrong time, but if you turn up at the right time you might get far too many seats. Its a place where you can never tell which is the right time and which it the wrong time...


Pub Number 40: The Golden Slipper
On the wall of one of the rooms in the Golden slipper is a list of all the pubs in York in 1888 and 1988. It turns out that there were loads more in the 19th century than in the 20th century and that we'd be better off living then as it is from these earlier times that the stories of a different pub in York for every day of the year emerged.... but I digress...

For a Saturday night the Golden Slipper was very empty. Since I have only visited this ale house once before on a weekday afternoon when it was a lot busier, I can't say whether this was the norm or a freak occurence, but no matter, we enjoyed the space and Lynne and I made use of a whole room by ourselves while Neil went to investigate the jukebox and Paul played with my
camera.



The jukebox, as far as I recall was quite old skool, but fared well enough to impress Neil into buying some tunes which we duly listened to before departing for the walk home.

Pub Number 41: 1331
Well, we were on our way home (honest) when we happened to walk by 1331 and popped in for a quick drink in the company of people who were mostly in the age-group below 'young professionals'. Still, it provided a nice stop off to warm our hands on the 'fire' with some reasonably priced drinks.

"If only it was a bit quieter" one of our number shouted into another's ear, "it would probably be quite good in here."

We'll just have to visit on a weekday to see if we were right.

Paul's POV

He doesn't have one (apparently)

Saturday by Lynne

Saturday afternoon + sunshine + boredom = Beer / friends

Long day at work = really tired = short blog

Saturday from Neil's (accurate) perspective

Whilst on a misson to find Lynne some shoes ("I'm not really in the mood for shoe shopping" exclaimed Lynne after wandering aimlessly around a couple of shops) we decided instead to check out the food festival.

After selecting some unusual cheeses we headed towards the pies. Having selected a nice pork, chicken and stuffing pork pie, I turned around to see Leanne homing in on yet another free sample. Before she could grab her next morsel I caught her attention and engaged her in some small talk. Since it was a fine sunny afternoon and I was quickly tiring of the small talk, I suggested going for a frosty cold beer. It took about half a second for Leanne and Lynne to agree, and a bit longer for Leanne to decide she'd better ring Paul so that we could cross a few more pubs off.

As we set off towards Judges Lodgings I decided I needed some food. Going for a quick fix I headed to the bakery for a steak slice and let the others go ahead to get the beers in. Upon tucking into the slice I managed to burn all the taste buds and skin from the inside of my mouth due to the steak being HOTTER THAN THE SUN!! By the time it had cooled down enough to finish, the others had made their way to Varsity due to overcrowding at Judges.

We made our way outside to the beer garden and because of the need to cool my mouth down I set about consuming my pint at a fairly speedy pace. When Paul showed up with his own pint, Leanne added some of the one she'd bought for him into each of our glasses (but due to Lynne being a slow drinker I had some of her share too). We then decided to head off to The Roman Bath since daytime means no live band, karaoke or scary drunk old people!

Since Leanne's blog entry describing the pubs is quite accurate I won't comment further on the establishments themselves, but I will say that the Roman Bath was quite pleasant on this saturday afternoon.

After drinking 2 and a half pints we decided to head home and line our stomach with some delicious cheese and pie before the evening's festivities.

Satur-Day ( Leanne's POV)

It was Saturday. It was a sunny day. I needed to get something to wear underneath my skirt so that I didn't flash my pants when spinning around on the dancefloor at the salsa event of York's year the following day, so I wandered into to town and found myself meandering the food stalls at the food festival, sampling the odd olive or bit of fudge. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Lynne and Neil pounced upon me. Neil twisted my arm behind my back until I screamed in pain, and noone in the crowded market took a blind bit of notice as Lynne held a blade to my throat and forced me to phone Paul and make him come to the pub...

Pub Number 36: Varsity
After I got over the shock of being kidnapped, and Neil had hypnotised me into believing that being in a sun-tickled beer garden on a Saturday afternoon, sipping lager was actually a good thing, I quite enjoyed Varsity.

From my past experiences of the place, I expect that on a Friday or Saturday night it is a place full of young people drinking caffeine loaded flourescent blue drinks and being obnoxious, but on a Saturday afternoon, it is quiet and pleasant. The sun streams through the windows and is absorbed into the newly carpeted floor, creating a warm glow in the room.

It was a bit cold sitting in the beer garden, but I suppose that's not the pub's fault.

The drinks are on the pricey side, unless you spend £2 on a V-card which gets you 25% off - and since I was buying 4 beers, I saved money by doing just that.

Paul turned up with another beer in his hand which meant that he got told off, and the 'spare' was shared between the remaining three drinkers.

Pub number 37: The Roman Bath
Since Lynne and Neil (or should that be Neil and Lynne?) had conspired to get me drunk, popping into a second pub on the way home didn't seem to be too much of a drain - especially since the pub of choice was the Roman Bath, which is more like an educational outing than a Saturday afternoon boozing because, true to it's name, the Roman Bath has a case full of Roman artefacts situated in the centre of the bar area. It also has a museum which can't be that good as it's only about £2.50 to get in - so we chose to sit in the bar drinking beer instead (well, it was either that or venture into the over-crowded beer garden.)

It was there that we reminisced about Lynne's Lager and Mint Sauce cocktail from a previous crawl whilst perusing the pub menu, and scared some tourists off by developing our very own pubcrawl 'handshake'...

Following the second lager of the day, I managed to escape my kidnappers and went home to bed for 4 hours.

Mardi Gras

Pub Number 34 - Vodka Revolution
A rare Sunday outing saw us turn up to the Mardi Gras party night being hosted by Vodka Revolution. Since it is not the sort of place that would be appealing to us on a Saturday night, we decided tonight would be a good chance to pop in. Upon entry we were generously welcomed with Hawaiian Leis and a complementary glass of Cava. With lots of salsa people present we spread ourselves over two tables. James opted to sit with his salsa friends rather than his pub crawl friends. Being a Mardi Gras party the bar staff were all dressed up VERY camp. Despite the vast array of Vodka and cocktails available, you can thankfully still opt for a pint of Becks if you so wish. Atmosphere was predictably lively but not too busy.


Pub Number 35 - Bobo Lobos
Due to the number of salsa people present this evening we headed towards Bobo Lobos next for salsa. They have salsa nights on Sundays and Tuesdays, and on Tuesday night they have beginners and intermediates salsa lessons with York's very best and only profesionally trained and qualified salsa teachers Lossie and Gareth. Check out their website http://www.encuentrolatino.co.uk/.

Small dance floor but still good for a salsa fix. Being a Cuban bar there are plenty of cocktails on offer and a good selection of beer. It is probably the only bar in York where you risk the onset of altitude sickness if you visit the toilet since you have to climb about a hundred flights of stairs - so plan ahead!

Outside In

The night started badly. James was absent, Paul had a headache and so only three of us arrived at the designated time in Harkers. This was against the rules.

The moment we did the math(s), we decided to go somewhere we like instead of continuing with a pub crawl of places we might not like, but as we wandered through the narrow cobbled streets in drizzle our minds began to rebel against city wall pub crawl and we sought a pub OUTSIDE the walls, which is why we found ourselves being stared at by the locals in the Gillygate. Which is actually a nice pub. Fast service and a bright and buzzing atmosphere on a Saturday night (but not in a Slug and Lettuce*/Pitcher and Piano way - more in a country pub way)

Following that we progressed to Keystones which is so nearly in the city walls it was accidentally added to our list at one point.

Thankfully, as we were nearing the end of our pint and our quiz machine tokens, Paul made it out to join us so we were permitted to venture back inside the walls:

Pub Number 32: The Royal Oak
This pub is on the CAMRA radar and, in my experience these pubs always make a good place for a nice sit down and a chat over a beer with friends. This was no exception.

The toilets were weird (but since I'm writing this several weeks (and pints) after the event, I can't recall why and I have a feeling it was more to do with the mens than the ladies), the atmosphere was warm and there were several condiment sachets on the table... so Lynne made a beer and Mint Sauce cocktail which 'made the beer taste nicer' and made Neil seriously reconsider their relationship.


Pub Number 33: The Lowther
The Lowther is full of young people who are trying to get wasted before heading to the Gallery night club (presumably to make it more bearable.) Despite this, the Lowther was also the only place that had a late licence in York back when I was a young person and so it does hold fond memories for me. The toilets were always horrible, and they seem to have gone some way to improving that. You used to be able to see up people's skirts when they walked up the stairs. They've put an end to that too. But enough of all this nostalgia - what's it like now?

Pretty much the same clientele - i.e. 5 - 10 years younger than us but in a very bearable way if you manage to get a seat. And we did.


There, Neil discovered his inner-old man:


Lynne discovered her inner child:


And we all discovered the joys of bluetooth:

Then we headed out over the makeshift bridge (I forgot to mention that the river views were 'closer than usual') for a romantic meal in Subway and a nice warm bed.


*Incidentally, Paul got searched on our vist to the Slug and Lettuce, Back Swinegate the other week - obviously when you're sporting a ginger beard, yellow t-shirt and Dr Who trainers, and you dare to enter the Slug and Lettuce, you look like a drug dealer