The Lion & Key, Hull

I've tried visiting this pub located in Hull's Old Town before during January (2015) and had found it closed. Recent reviews online had not looked too promising either with TripAdvisor noting it down as closed, as one reviewer had turned up a week before me to find it closed without any notice. I was thoroughly expecting to be disappointed again, but lo and behold, it was open! The interior is very traditional with a seating area along the front window and further seating to the rear adjacent to the impressive bar which can be found to the rear right-hand wall. There is also a dining area upstairs. Walls are lined with plenty of knick knacks, whilst the ceiling is covered with old pumpclips. Food seems to be popular here and most of the dozen or so punters who were here appeared to be mainly there for the food. On the bar, there were 5 cask ales - White Rose Honey Blonde, Stairlift To Heaven, Best Bitter & White Dragon in addition to a handwritten clip for an Empire Fireside. I'm not sure Empire brew such a beer. The barmaid assured me it was correct, but I remain unconvinced. Instead, I opted for the White Dragon which was reasonable. Glad to have finally found this pub open and it's likely that I'll give it another go when I'm next in the city for a football match or a day's drinking.

A somewhat tarted up old pub, old features with a modern flavour and an excess of 'historic clutter' displayed, but saved by an impressive bank of handpumps with about 11 varying ales from micros on offer at time of visit. The food is also very good. Worth a visit, even in an area containing some good pubs.

What a find! Looks like a small traditional feeling pub but in fact there was plenty of seating plus a pleasant outdoor area to the rear. And wait for it... 14 pumps at the bar for cask ale! Several of these were from their own Cathead brewery, and there were a few from Titanic and Hilltop Brewing Co. I had a half of the Liquorice Stout which set me back £1.50 and was rather nice. Service was pleasant, polite and swift, despite there seeming to be only one young barmaid running the bar at lunch time. As has been mentioned before, this is apparently one of three pubs run by the same people in close proximity. Toilets are upstairs. The downstairs has been opened out but still feels like separate rooms. Overall, a gem of a pub.

One of three pubs in close proximity run by the same people (along with Walters and WM Hawkes), the Lion and Key is the one that perhaps best captures the middle ground between traditional pub and modern bar. You enter into a very smart front seating area with plenty of high quality, comfy seating options to the right around a nice fireplace, flanked by some fine wood panelling and a number of shelves full of all sorts of clutter. It's a cosy space that certainly lends itself well to a session and it was a shame it was so busy on a Saturday evening that I was unable to bag a seat here. Moving through, you emerge into a bare boarded area with the servery to the right and a few high tables and stools opposite. The bar has a high wooden counter and beautiful modern dark wood bar back. A window at the far end of the bar was signed for a 'Snug' and had presumably been relocated from elsewhere, as there didn't appear to be an actual snug back there. The pub has been liberally decorated with all manner of items without coming across as too over the top. The ceiling is covered with pump clips and suspended from it are a couple of large cartwheels acting as light fittings plus a big clock. High shelves are packed with various bits including lots of breweriana, old tankards, adverts, horseshoes and horse brasses, scales, bottles, first aid kits and the like. Meanwhile, the walls are almost entirely obscured by some great old adverts, posters, playbills and so forth. To the rear there is a covered patio with some decent stool and bench seating and a load of old road signs and adverts on show. The place was really buzzing early on a Saturday evening - probably the busiest pub I found in Hull, which meant there was a good atmosphere but tricky to find somewhere to enjoy your pint in comfort. The pub has its own brewery - Cat's Head - and three of their beers were on handpull - Pale Ale (£2.90), Christmas Jumpers and Strawberry Blonde. Guests were plentiful, with a choice of White Rose Original, Blonde and Beyond the Blonde, Great Heck Mount Hood, Hilltop HTP and Classic Bitter and Cottage Pullman. More Cat's Head brews were available on keg dispense, including a rather heavy sounding Imperial Stout. I thought I should try one of the house beers, so opted for the Cat's Head Pale Ale, which was good value and in decent shape but rather lacking on the taste front. I really liked the look and feel of this place which seemed well set up to cater for a broad range of customers and offered one of the stronger ale ranges you're likely to find in the city. I'd be keen to give this one another try, perhaps at a slightly quieter time to soak up the place a bit more, but this stood out as one of Hull's better ale houses.

This was only the second of two original pubs visited in Hull and for me was easily the best of all hostelries visited. I made two visits here both late evening and managed to find a seat even on the Friday. As noted below there is bric-a-brac everywhere, countless pump clips all over the walls and ceilings and a bank of hand pumps that I failed to count and failed to note the beers but I suspect most of them were from Yorkshire and some were from the in house Cathead. On the first visit I had the Neepsend Chinook Stout (£3.60) which was really outstanding and I was gutted to find it gone the next night. However the same brewer's Stout (£3.50) was on and that was also outstanding.

Old Town alehouse in a building with a narrow frontage, with a traditional-style interior crammed full of bits and pieces but notably the vast array of pump clips / beer mats on the ceiling and an imposing bar-back. Excellent selection of 14 real ales on handpump, from near and afar, but I risked a Kissing with Confidence from Revolution (£1.70, half) which was in good form. As with several other nearby establishments it is not as authentic as it appears, but definitely worth a visit in any case.

Ex Irish pub, full of crap inside and possibly the most amount of mounted pump clips on the ceiling I've ever seen. What else was there…a jumbo cart wheel on ceiling, a lovely bar back with Edwardian style ‘Direct Importers, Tinned Fruit and Choice Preserves’ signage and a Flavor Flav jumbo clock on a chain. To the rear is a patio with awning. 16 pumps, I gave up writing down what was on each one, suffice to say it wasn’t exactly Doom Bar or GK IPA stuff. Having heard that there was an in-house brewery (Cat Head) I decided to try their mild and it was a horrific phenol brew, more like Cat Piss. Hastily switched over to beer brewed by people with tastebuds and got a Great Heck Dave, much better and in very good nick. The dreadful homebrews aside, this was an interesting place with plenty to see and plenty to drink, so is worth a visit for that alone.