The George Hotel, Hull

Seeing that this place was staying open until midnight on our Saturday evening visit, we saved it almost until last. I was glad we paid a visit, as this was one of my favourite Hull pubs on this visit. There is a single fairly large room with seating around the outside. Staff were really friendly and I was impressed with how professional they were. The 5 real ales were Ossett White Rat, Timothy Taylor Landlord, Little Critters Nutty Ambassador, Thwaite's Wainwright & Purity Ubu. My Nutty Ambassador was a gorgeous beer, whilst the 2 White Rats we ordered were swiftly replaced without any prompting by us, as the barrel was ending. The barman changed the barrel and delivered two fresh beers. Despite this being a lively area for nightlife, the George had quite a relaxed drinking environment with a more mature clientele. Match of the Day was showing on a small TV.

In the quaintly named Land of Green Ginger, it's done out in “Old” after a recent refurb. There are 7 pulls and national kegs, the old consists of distressed leather bench seating, Victorian cast iron base tables and lots of brown, beams and wood panelling, so a pleasant place to drink well kept beers if you’re of that bent, the down to earth old boys in there seemed to be. A GBG2019 pub.

A rather nice traditional place past the ruckus of the rough pub (Burlington) further up the road and situated in the heart of the old town. The attractive black and white exterior gives way to a staple-shaped interior (partly Georgian, so I’m told) with 4/5th length dark wood panelling and a large and impressive semi-circular banquette opposite the bar. The mottled and leaded windows look superb as does the glassware flyover above the bar and the two large brewery mirrors I spotted. Dart board spotted. Apparently has the smallest pub window in Britain but I’m not sure why that’s such a feat, maybe I’ll open a micropub and put a smaller one in. Seven ales on over seven pumps; Theakston Old Peculiar, Timothy Taylor Boltmaker, Wye Valley HPA, Castle Rock Harvest Pale, Abbeydale Moonshine (very good nick) and YBH Reet (good). Had a 5 minute chat with the friendly barmaid which did help liven up what was a fairly flat atmosphere on an early Sunday evening. Hull CAMRA 2017 POTY winner and I can see why they rate it. 8.5

Historic dark interior, lots of panels, an interesting place.

The George Hotel is a nice former coaching inn situated in Hull's Old Town on the fantastically named Land of Green Ginger. The attractive black and white exterior hints at its past life as a coaching inn, with the passage through to the rear courtyard/stable block still very much apparent, albeit now blocked. Whilst admiring the facade, you might also note a plaque to the left which draws your attention to what is apparently England's smallest window - nothing more than a slit in all honesty and very easy to miss even with the plaque right next to it. This was apparently used by porters to spy on approaching carriages so that they could be forewarned of a guest's arrival and provide prompt service. Today, doors at either side of the building lead you into a single room bar with a dark panelled counter to the rear under a smart canopy and simple bar back. The room has good three quarter height wall panels around most of the room and a nice long, curved banquette along the front wall underneath the rather more conventional sized windows. A huge Worthingtons mirror dominates the right hand wall where it hangs above standard tables and chairs. There is a nice big fireplace on the other side of the room with whisky boxes, scales, bottles and other such items above it, a dartboard in a case to one side and some more simple seating options dotted around. The room extends a little to the rear right where a nice old Stones mirror and several salvers are on show near to the toilet doors which look to have some nice period signage. A decent selection of 80's and 90's tunes played throughout my very late Saturday night visit and my fellow customers comprised several elderly lone drinkers and one seemingly lost hen party. I wasn't expecting too much of an ale range here, so it was a bit of a surprise to see a row of hand pumps dispensing Abbeydale Moonshine and Deception, Bradfield Farmers Blonde, Theakston Old Peculiar, Black Sheep Bitter and the improbably named Doc Morton's Crispy Automatic Duck. The barmaid seemed friendly enough and served up a good pint of the Deception for £3.20. This is an interesting old building that I'm glad I took time out to visit. The place retains enough traditional features to mark it out as one of the city centres more interesting pub interiors and the presence of several well kept ales should be incentive enough to encourage a visit. This was probably the pub that furthest exceeded my expectations during my time in Hull and is a good option to include on any crawl.

Traditional city pub famously located in one of the most strangely named streets in the land. Staple-shaped bar with dark wood-panelled walls and not a huge amount of seating. Six handpumps on the counter, offering a cider and usuals such as Doom Bar and Wainwright through Abbeydale Moonshine and Theakston Old Peculier to Fernandes Fruit Cocktail (which I half expected to be vile with a name like that, but it's a good brewery and the concoction was not overdone and was thus quite a decent pint).