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The Whalebone, Hull
Hull
HU2 0PA
Reviews (Current Rating Average: 8½ of 10) see review guidelines
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Blue Scrumpy left this review about The Whalebone
Backstreet boozer in a run-down heavily industrialised area that was my first port of call on a Saturday visit.
We arrived at midday and the place seemed closed. But we tried the door on one side and lo and behold, it was already open.
It was a little cold inside, as somebody had broken the heater. But service was friendly and the atmosphere was warm and hospitable. Rudgate Viking & Half Moon Dark Masquerade are regular beers here. Guests were Rooster's Three French Hens, Bone Machine Blood Money, Bad Seed Burn Rate, Bristol Beer Factory One Way Ticket & Brew York Tonkoko. Real ciders were Perry's Collector's Card #05 Vintage, Purbeck Cider Company Katy Perry, Cotswold Cider Company She Devil, Cowfold Silly Moo, Malvern Magic Dry, Westcroft Janet's Jungle Juice & Lyne Down Medium Cider.
Simply a fabulous backstreet boozer that is worth seeking out and easily the best of 12 new pubs we visited on this visit to Hull.
On 10th January 2022
- rating: 9
[User has posted 2452 recommendations about 2451 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Quinno _ left this review about The Whalebone
Even better than I remembered. Traditional, friendly and rugby league on the telly. Didn’t make a note of the all the ales, though I tried Exit 33 Oat Stout (almost perfect). Roosters YPA (very good). Soaked up the atmosphere and should note that even on an early Sunday evening there was still a healthy trade. Upped the rating to 10 – I would never turn down an opportunity to go here.
April 2016
A 10 minute walk from town via a crumbling industrial estate towards the docks and up some rather ropey-looking roads, lies the Whalebone which is actually a thriving gem of a community local. Named, presumably, after the whaling trade that took place for a while in the city. This is a J-shaped place, full of punters on our Friday evening visit despite the insalubrious surroundings. A traditional, old-fashioned feel inside with loads of black & white / sepia photos on the walls of long-vanished Hull pubs, plus an impressive collection of old bottled beers running along high shelving. Boarded floor and light varnish third length wood wall panelling. Rugby League on telly (proper Northern, this one!). Seven ales at the bar, too busy and pissed to note them all but it was a good selection and my Riverhead Coffee Porter was in very good nick. Cider and perry too, I think. I loved this place and would thoroughly recommend it for the more hardened pub-bagger. Rated 9.5
On 1st April 2018
- rating: 10
[User has posted 5099 recommendations about 5082 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Pub SignMan left this review about The Whalebone
A bit of a walk from the city centre in a slightly rundown neighbourhood with historic ties to the whaling industry, this is a wonderful ale house that is well worth making the walk out to. The pub has a long U-shaped interior with the servery running down the right hand side of the left hand section. The bar has a simple tongue and groove counter and canopy, making use of the same panelling as used on the wall opposite. There is only enough space for a drinking ledge along the left hand wall but the space opens out to the rear where some decent bench seating can be found arranged around a rather homely lit stove. The front part of the pub has a carpeted seating area comprising a couple of long fixed benches with dated upholstery and a few sturdy, iron-base tables. The room then runs behind the servery down the right side of the building into a space that is also carpeted and offers standard tables and chairs in front of a brick fireplace with a signed and framed rugby shirt above. The whole pub is an absolute mine of memorabilia, the highlight of which, for me, was the many wonderful black and white photos of old Hull pubs, many no doubt long since gone, most of which have a handwritten note detailing the pub's name and location. A high shelf runs around much of the pub and bar canopy and is packed with old beer and cider bottles which partly obscured the various old adverts, beer trays and bits of sporting equipment behind them. There are a lot of other sporting items dotted around as well, including many photos of various local teams, lots of Hull FC paraphernalia and a rather off-putting ugly life-size poster of Dean Windass which greets you in the entrance porch on arrival. Elsewhere, there are pump clips, many photos of oil rigs and other bits of local industrial history, a great many CAMRA certificates, brewery mirrors, old pub price lists and a local road sign. Several TV screens were showing Premier League football and one day international cricket with the commentary from the latter audible and I also noted a stack of the day's papers on the bar.
I was the first customer in on a Sunday afternoon, but the place soon started to fill up a little and the local's all seemed very pleasant and happy to chat, with the excellent beer range being a common topic for discussion. The options on this visit were Rudgate Viking and Vanilla Mild, Great Newsome Frothingham Best, Fernandes Schnapphy Blonde, Phoenix Porter, Abbeydale Moonshine and Half Moon Super Moon. Five ciders and a perry option rounded out one of the city's widest selections and after a fair bit of deliberation I settled on the Vanilla Mild which was absolutely spot on.
This is a great pub that has a lot of character and plenty within to keep you interested over multiple visits. The ale range and quality was as good as anything else I found in the city and the staff and locals seemed like a welcoming bunch. I can't really fault this place based on this visit and felt it was the best of the thirteen pubs I frequented whilst in Hull.
On 1st March 2017
- rating: 9
[User has posted 3114 recommendations about 3114 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Just a quick pint, then I'm off left this review about The Whalebone
Located in a very unpromising quarter some distance north from the city centre, and housed in a what initially appears to be rather run-down premises, so the attractive and well-maintained interior comes as a very pleasant surprise. Traditionally furnished, but what particularly interested me was the extensive display of old pub photographs all around the walls. Had a decent range of real ales and ciders on too, and justifiably busy on a Friday evening with a proper community feel. This one is certainly well worth making the effort to find.
On 17th April 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 8117 recommendations about 8117 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Will Larter left this review about The Whalebone
This pub is quite a walk from the more established real ale outlets in the old town centre, but well worth the effort. I approached via the pub's apparently forbidding frontage on Lincoln Street, but in fact the pub has a more conventional appearance from Wincomlee. Once inside it feels very comfortable and welcoming, with five hand pumps on the bar offering an interesting selection of ales. There were a couple of TV screens, one showing World Cup T20 cricket, and the other the Cheltenham Festival, which suited me well. My beer was in very good condition and I would happily have stayed for longer. This is one I would definitely make a point of visiting on any future visit to Hull.
Date of visit: 18th March 2016
On 4th April 2016
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3746 recommendations about 3483 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
John Bonser left this review about The Whalebone Inn
To the north side of the City in a rather forbidding looking former industrial area that is close to the River Hull, is The Whalebone. Situated near a roundabout where two roads join, there’s no hanging pub sign, but we do see a large illuminated M & R Ales sign, a reminder of a former long gone local brewery ( Moors and Robson), standing out like a beacon in the fog. Unusually, despite the pub not being directly on the road intersection corner, there’s an entrance on each of the two streets.
It’s a comfortable single bar pub with something of an old fashioned boozer feel to it. It’s traditionally furnished and decorated with evocative black and white photos of Hull pubs which have long since disappeared. There’s also plenty of sporting photos, reminding us that, not only is there a league football team in Hull, but that the City is also a Rugby League stronghold. A framed Hull Brewery Co price list dating back to 1943 shows mild at the princely sum of one shilling a pint.
A number of framed CAMRA certificates are displayed – in recognition not of the real ales, but of the real ciders that are also sold here.
The Whalebone Brewery has brewed next door since 2003 and, on my visits, 2 of their beers were on – Neck Oil and Diana Mild at £ 1.60p and £ 1.50p respectively. Both these beers are named after the local whaling industry – Diana being a whaling ship that got stranded in Arctic waters in winter in the 1800’s, leading to loss of life of most of the crew, and Neck Oil being the most prized oil that a whale provides
Unfortunately, I have to report that, on two consecutive recent early evening visits, both the Neck Oil and the Diana Mild tasted rather unremarkable and bland to me, Although I didn’t cotton on until it was too late, it is perhaps telling that most of the other customers were drinking one of the other real ales, which, from memory, were Copper Dragon and T T Landlord. The pub has been a CAMRA Good Beer Guide regular for a number of years now.
RobCAMRA is probably right to advise one to do this by taxi after dark – even in the daytime, there was a disconcerting, rather eerie quietness to the area as I was walking out to the pub from the City Centre.
Taking the visits here as a whole, this wouldn’t be one of my top recommendations for the first time visitor to Hull.
On 31st August 2012
- rating: 6
[User has posted 560 recommendations about 560 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Alan Winfield left this review about The Whalebone Inn
The Whalebone is in a declining industrial area close to the river hull.
Once inside this was a proper old pub the bar was on the right and the room seemed fairly dark inside,this pub brews its own beer and there were two of these on the bar i had a drink of Neckoil bitter and this was a very nice drink the other beer brewed here was Diana mild there was also a few more micro beers on i noticed Copper Dragon bitter.
For people who like Ciders there were three real Ciders on the bar.
I thought this was a really nice pub and well worth the walk here.
On 8th May 2011
- rating: 9
[User has posted 6113 recommendations about 6113 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Spaced-out Sian left this review about The Whalebone Inn
Lots of F-ing and B-ing at the bar, but this is a true locals pub with great real ale and real cider so f*cking I'll let them off.
On 5th February 2011
- rating: 10
[User has posted 7 recommendations about 7 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
ROB Camra left this review about The Whalebone Inn
A proper gem of a pub although not somewhere I'd like to walk to at night as it's a bit derelict round here. Sells a couple of it's own beers Diana Mild and Neckoil bitter along with a seasonal rocket fuel whose name escapes me. Add a couple of guest beers, a very affable atmosphere and you have a very good pub. Well worth a visit, but get a taxi at night.
On 1st July 2010
- rating: 8
[User has posted 3224 recommendations about 3135 pubs]
Please Note: This review is over a year old.
Gill Smith left this review about The Whalebone Inn
Called in to try the Whalebone beers as they are brewed here, and both the Diana Mild and Neck Oil Bitter were in good condition. Very friendly busy pub that had a true local feel to it.
On 19th February 2010
- rating: 7
[User has posted 1339 recommendations about 1222 pubs]