Ye Olde White Harte, Hull

Tucked away down a passageway on Silver Street, this is an ancient looking pub with a pleasant courtyard and a rather unexpected Victorian interior. The courtyard that greets you on arrival looks rather nice and is probably a good spot on a bright day, with a decent amount of seating available and plenty of colourful plants on show. A door to the left takes you into the Public Bar which has a curved dark wood servery along the front wall with a similarly shaped canopy and a stained glass window bar back. The room looks very inviting thanks to lots of dark wood panelling on the walls and ceiling and a magnificent tiled inglenook fireplace which is so large that a couple of tables have been set up inside. Smart banquettes and benches cover most of the room's remaining perimeter and the space between these seats and the bar was completely packed on my Saturday evening visit, making it extremely difficult to get a good look around. I did manage to note the walls had been decorated with various old maps, posters and plans plus some good Theakston memorabilia and even a small cannon. To the left of the entrance, there is another bar in the Smoke Room, with an almost circular counter and a lovely decoratively tiled bar back. The room has a flagstone floor, plenty of bench and low stool seating, comprehensive dark wood panelling and another mighty inglenook fireplace. The windows here were particularly fine and the only thing that struck me as being out of place was the TV screen that was showing a muted sci-fi movie for no apparent reason. Between the two bars, a large carpeted staircase leads up to a dining room and the 'Plotting Parlour' - a room supposedly famed for the decision taken within by local parliamentarians to refuse King Charles I entry to the city. The pub makes a fair bit of noise about this story and locals are seemingly proud of the tale (a chap in the next pub I visited told me the story without prompting) although the pub was badly damaged by a fire in the 19th Century, so the integrity of the room itself may well be called into question. On the bar, three Theakston beers - Best Bitter, Lightfoot and Old Peculiar - and two from Caledonian - Deuchars IPA and a house beer called Hotham's Harte. A very friendly barmaid served me a pint of the Lightfoot that was in excellent shape. With the large crowds in attendance, both bars seemed to be open for service, despite claims elsewhere that the Smoke Room bar is no longer in use. I thought this was a fantastic old pub that really merits an extended visit and space and time to explore the place. Whilst the beer range might not be the most exciting, I can't really quibble when my pint is presented in such good condition and I think the pub would reward repeat visits, so I'll certainly be bearing this place in mind when I'm next in Hull.

This is an old pub down an alleyway that is let down by a typical boring beer choice which gives the game away that it's owned by Star Pubs (aka Heineken UK). It's more than well described below and on my visit beers available were Courage Best, Theakston's Lightfoot & Old Peculier and Caledonian Deuchar's IPA & Edinburgh Castle. One hand pump was unused. I went for the Old Peculier (£3.20) which was in good nick. Given the large beer choice from small local brewers just a short walk away, I wouldn't bother with this one again.

Very attractive alleyway inn beside a small courtyard and with a heritage interior that is well worth looking around if in the Old Town. Six real ales on handpump, including regulars from from Theakston's and Caledonian, but I opted for a quick half of the Cameron's Strong Arm.

Another classic olde Hull pubbe listed on the CAMRA inventory (although large parts of the interior actually date from the 1880’s rather than the 16th century). Located down an alleyway in a courtyard, there are two bars on entering, a little one to the left and everything else off to the right. Stained glass windows, lots of black varnish wood panelling and a massive old inglenook too, though sadly there wasn’t a roaring fire going just some scrawny gas thing and the inside was notably chilly on an already grey and dank spring afternoon. Upstairs (unexplored by me) is the 'Plotting Parlour' where the decision was reputedly taken to deny King Charles entry to the city at the start of the English civil war. Apparently a skull in a glass cabinet that also passed my by. Six ales on but a pretty uninspiring selection - Theakston OP 3x Caledonian and 2x Cameron's. I went for the Camerons Press Gang which was middling. It seems from reviews elsewhere that this selection is pretty standard fayre. It’s one to visit on an inaugural trawl of the city’s boozers but I’m not sure I’d include it again the second time round.

Another National Inventory ticked off my to do list, so enjoyed the interior very much. A choice of six ales on our visit, which didn't excite me, so went for the Camerons Press Gang. The barmaid was a bit chatty, but got the impression that she didn't really like too many out of town visitors.

Definitely an interesting pub historically but it didn't really do it for me as a pub,lacking a spark of any sort, the beers were nothing too much to write home about although there was nothing wrong with my Old Peculiar, I probably wouldn't go out of my way to revisit.