The Grantham Arms, York

Although the tart’s boudoir decor has been replaced albeit with hints remaining in the main dining area, the Grantham remains very much the dining pub even down to being greeted on the public side of the corner with “are you eating?” Better of course than “have you booked?” or the cringe making “are you dining with us today sir?” A choice of three pulls, a passable Landlord and a couple from Copper Dragon. Entering to the right is pretty much a bar with the dining area through to the right from there, another sitting area is to the left. The decor is eclectic with a nice large picture of the place in the 1950s plus other large B&W photos of the area, there’s a few odds and ends, and a couple of seats are converted from bedsteads. The outside has a selection of tents and plastic bubbles used as a dining terrace. There’s a fair bit of grey paint of course inside and out, still it’s friendly and ok for a quick pint.

Like its near neighbour The Anchor, a change of owner has brought a change of decor, sadly the gin soaked tart's boudoir style has all but gone being replaced by something more traditional. There's a revamped beer range, Landlord, Black Sheep and Saltaire on this visit.

I have been travelling around Europe for the last 3 months and this was by far my worst experience; when you consider that I've been through some of the Eastern Bloc countries, and staying in some backpacker hostels, that's really saying something. The room was poorly equipped, lacked basic standards of hygiene and cleanliness and the bed was a cobbled-together combination which ran east to west giving me the most uncomfortable night. I spent the night clock-watching, waiting for dawn, and my escape.