Whitby - part 2

A view from the balcony of the Abbey Wharf

I'm now back from Whitby. I intended to write another post while there, but I got fed up struggling with the hit-&-miss WiFi connection in The Angel, a JDW pub which, interestingly, had cut some of its prices for real ales: they started at £2.99 last year, but at £2.59 this year.

Many more pubs in Whitby now feature real ale, and the choice overall is far better than it used to be. When I first went to Whitby years ago, the choice was mostly Camerons, Tetley and Sam Smiths. The old Shambles, recently taken over, refurbished and renamed the Abbey Wharf, now has a reasonable choice again; it was quite awful last year, both in beer terms and how it was apathetically run. The Buck, a pub I'd never set foot in before, had a well-kept Timothy Taylors Landlord and Best Bitter, and I was told the nearby Star Inn, which looked like a strictly locals, keg-only pub in the past, now had some decent beer, but I ran out of time before I could find out for myself.

Several pubs had beers from the Whitby Brewery, which was set up in 2013: here are their own beer descriptions. I really wanted to like them, but could not. The 'strong notes of toffee' (brewer's description) in the Abbey Blonde were far too prominent for me, and although I had two or three pints of Saltwick Nab, I couldn't get on with it, but friends enjoyed both.

Copper Dragon Golden Pippin was a good standby in quite a few pubs, including the Middle Earth where it was paired with Saltwick Nab. The Duke of York at the bottom of the 199 steps up to Whitby Abbey had an uninspired chloice: Hobgoblin, GK Abbott, Bombardier, Black Sheep, with only Golden Pippin to relieve the boredom. However, the pub does good food and has wonderful views over the harbour. The Endeavour had four beers, three of the ilk of John Smiths cask, and a Salopian (forget which one) which was well worth drinking - although it was £3.70 a pint.

My favourite beers during the week were from Brass Castle: Mosaic, which I referred to in my previous post, and Sunshine (5.7%, but very drinkable), both of which I had in the Little Angel on Flowergate.

The best music sessions that I came across (there were many I never went to) were in The Station. There are good English tune sessions in The Elsinore, but this isn't really my thing and I like them best in small doses, and also some mixed sessions in the Golden Lion. The Middle Earth is also a good venue for music during Folk Week.

In terms of beer choices, the best pubs were firstly the Little Angel (not to be confused with JDW's The Angel), and secondly The Station, but if you go to Whitby, it's worth wandering around the other pubs too.

Whitby - part 1

A session in the Elsinore

Back in Whitby for my annual visit for Folk Week; it's the festival's 50th anniversary this year, although I'm a comparative newcomer as I've only been coming here since 1988 (and I missed 1989). Nowadays I tend to favour the fringe: music sessions in pubs, dance displays in the streets and so on because, unfortunately, the queues for the main events are just too long.

We had our annual pub crawl yesterday, beginning in the Elsinore in Flowergate. This is a very friendly pub where some of us from the Merseyside area like to call into, and perhaps join in the music sessions. The beers are Camerons Strongarm, John Smiths Cask and Tetley Bitter. I always go the Strongarm, as I find the other two to be among the most boring beers on the planet. I wonder whether they've moderated the flavour of the Strongarm; nowadays the taste seems to be milder, and a bit more like Doombar than it used to be. The Elsinore is well-known for its musicians' sessions every evening during Folk Week, including a lot of English tunes - despite what some people seem to think, not all folk music comes from Ireland!

A view across Whitby harbour

Across the road is the Little Angel, once a Tetley house but now with a good range of real ales, and there were several beers I'd not had before. Firstly the Scarborough Brewery Citra (4.2%), which was light, citrus (obviously) and altogether a very pleasant pint and a good example of the style. Another new beer to me was Brass Castle Mosaic (4.3%), apparently a collaboration brew with the North Riding Brewery, made with the American hop, Mosaic. Sightly more fruity than citrus, it too was a very enjoyable pint.

As a drinker from the North West, the beer prices here are a bit of a culture shock - around 40p to 50p per pint more than I'm used to. Still, I'm on holiday! More later in the week.

Back home from Whitby

I got home from Whitby Folk Week yesterday afternoon. I've written about the pubs in Whitby several times before (particularly in 2009, 2010 and 2013) and not a lot has changed since last year.

JDW's Angel Hotel (from JDW's website)

The Angel Hotel (not to be confused with the Little Angel on Flowergate) by the harbourside was taken over by Wetherspoons early last year, raising hopes that it would impact on the prices of beer locally which, apart from the reliably cheap Sam Smiths pub the Jolly Sailors, seem high to me with my North West perspective. In fact, we found that Wetherspoons' prices weren't much less than the average for the area, starting at £2.95 a pint. It has also been refurbished in a more modern style than the usual Spoons decor. In one way it is a typical JDW house: if you're stuck behind people ordering meals or various coffees, you can wait a while to be served, which is frustrating when all you want it a pint, although to be fair, this wasn't the fault of the staff who were working hard.

Whitby Abbey Blonde
(from the brewery's website)

It was good to see the products of the new Whitby Brewery, which was set up last year. I tried two of their beers, Abbey Blonde and Platform 3, which is specially brewed for the Station Inn. I found them a bit too malty for my taste - even the Blonde - but other people were clearly enjoying them.

As for the music, I stuck to the fringe this year and spent a lot of time time in informal pub music and song sessions, particularly in the Station, the Elsinore and the Golden Lion. Our Lunchtime Legends rock & roll gig had the Elsinore packed out again on Wednesday lunchtime; it was great to have several young children aged between 4 and 9 bopping along, waving their hands in the air to anthems like Daydream Believer, and generally taking the opportunity to be silly like all the adults around them. Young Jessica was given the mike to sing a word-perfect chorus of Poison Ivy.

My week ended in the Station at a lively song and music session, although the non-folkie elements present loudly demanded old pop and rock & roll songs from me: it sounded like the whole pub was singing along to Those Were The Days. So much for my intentions to be more 'folkie' in my material on the last night.

Some good beers along the way: Saltaire Blonde, Wold Top's Golden Summer and Headland Red, and Ossett Silver King were highlights for me during the week. An honourable mention goes to a golden beer called Carnival Ale from the Truefitt Brewery of Middlesbrough, which I had in the Golden Lion.

It always seem a bit flat the day after you get back from holiday, but I've already booked my accommodation for next year, which will be the 50th Folk Week.

Whitby Legends

If anyone is in Whitby next week, why not come along and say hello?

Pubs and music in Whitby

The Lunchtime Legends in the Elsinore
(photo: Sam Thomas)

I've just had a great time at Whitby Folk Week. The weather was wonderful, there were loads of music sessions taking place in pubs, there was dancing in the streets by various traditional dance sides and of course there was the organised festival itself.

I have written in previous years about the pub scene in Whitby. Here are a few changes I noticed:

The Angel Hotel overlooking the harbour is now a Wetherspoons hotel; I stayed there many years ago when it was a pub B&B. There are two modern looking bars on the ground and first floors serving a range of real ales, Rudgates in particular. There was nothing wrong with the Rudgates, but I wasn't keen and ended up on Moorhouses Blond Witch. At £2.89 a pint, this is the dearest Wetherspoons I have been in outside of London.

The Little Angel on Flowergate how has a good range of five beers at £2.70 a pint, which is cheap for Whitby and beaten only by Sam Smiths pubs; they included Camerons Strongarm, Tetley Bitter, Bradfield Farmers Blonde and two others that changed. They also had a special offer for Folk Week in conjunction with two other pubs (the Fleece and the Wellington): buy 10 get one free. I managed two free pints.

The Golden Lion near the swing bridge has been a Tetley-only pub for as long as I can remember and I hadn't set foot in the place since 1988. It had Pedigree, Black Sheep, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and one other golden beer that I liked but can't recall the name. I enjoyed a couple of good sessions and several good pints in there.

The best pub for beer remains The Station (formerly the Tap and Spile ands originally the Cutty Sark). It has a good range of eight beers always on, but I mostly stuck with the Ossett Silver King, which saw me through a couple of music sessions there, including one that lasted for seven and a half hours run by my friend Howard and me.

At £3.50 a pint, The Endeavour is the dearest pub in town. The Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted was good, though.

The pub crawl (see previous post) was popular and well supported. I missed out one pub, the Black Horse, because it was packed and I didn't fancy fighting my way through the solid scrum to the bar - it is a very small pub - but I had a pint in each of the others.

The annual Lunchtime Legends rock & roll party in The Elsinore went well as always, with the pub packed. It was great to see a row of children at the front, the oldest nine, who all sat there throughout the whole three hours enjoying themselves, joining in the songs and the arm waving to the anthems, and in one case even buying a CD. One girl sang the whole chorus of Poison Ivy into the microphone. We are, I was reliably told, better than One Direction - high praise indeed. After a 35-song set, my voice was slightly knackered.

I've already provisionally booked accommodation for next year.

Whitby pub crawl 2013

Pub crawl in Whitby, North Yorkshire next Tuesday.

If you're in the area, why not join us?

And if you're around at lunchtime the next day, you can come and see our band, The Lunchtime Legends, playing in the Elsinore on Flowergate in Whitby. It's free.

Jeff Stoker

Catherine and Jeff Stoker

I went to the funeral this morning of an old friend whom I've known since the late 1970s: Jeff Stoker, who died last week in his early 60s. He was a fine practitioner of the art of the accordion and an old friend of the Bothy Folk Club. He was for many years the main musician for the Southport Swords, and he founded the Mr Blundell's Alms ceilidh band with friends from the local folk scene. He played with them and later on he was the caller (i.e. calling the various dance moves needed during the dance). Mr Blundell's Alms was named after the Blundell Arms pub where the Bothy used to meet for more than 35 years. He enjoyed playing along with music sessions in pubs, especially in Whitby in Yorkshire during Folk Week, and sometimes led musicians in medleys of folk tunes at the Bothy.

Unlike a lot of folkies who like to sing songs about the sea, Jeff had actually been to sea with the merchant navy. I don't know whether it was there he acquired his habit of smoking a pipe, an increasingly unusual sight nowadays, although I don't think with him it was any kind of affectation. He simply preferred it to cigarettes. He also liked real ale and I often used to see him in the Guest House, my local, before ill health began to intervene.

Jeff for many years ran a small music shop in Birkdale called Acoustic Instruments North West, where he would sell, buy and repair instruments. I bought a number of things there over the years, including the speakers I still use with my PA system. I tended to get the impression that the challenge of a tricky repair was his favourite part of the service.

Jeff was happily married to Catherine, and they had two sons, Phil and Nick, but sadly Catherine died several years before him. I don't think he ever fully got over that loss. Not long afterwards, he asked me how I was getting to Whitby for Folk Week. When I said I was going to to drive over, he said, "Let's go together in my car." My protestations that I had my PA system plus two guitars were summarily dismissed by a reminder that he had a large Volvo estate, and so for several years we shared the journey and petrol costs. I suspect the journey to Whitby, where he and Catherine had spent many happy Folk Weeks, was easier with company than alone. I too liked the company, and the fact that - despite offers from me - he did all the driving! He always came to the Lunchtime Legends rock & roll party during folk week and at other times, and was happy to advise me when the sound needed balancing.

For many years, in the run-up to Christmas, Jeff ran a carol singing session in a local pub (originally the Blundell Arms, then the Park Hotel, and latterly the Fishermen's Rest - all in Birkdale); the plan is to keep this going. It was in the Fishermen's Rest today that we gathered after the service in St Teresa's. The three officiating priests included a brother in law of Jeff and a cousin, so it truly was a family affair. The one positive thing was that church was full with Jeff's family and various friends from different strands of his life. He was a modest man and I feel sure the turn-out would have surprised him, but I had thought it might be busy. And deservedly so too.

Review of my ale and music year

Around this time of year, bloggers tend to do a review of the year. I don't feel able to speak generally about the whole country on the enormous subjects of music and ale, so I've decided to write a short review of my personal year.

Best Folk Club: Southport's Bothy, which is one of the oldest folk clubs on the country, continues to provide, within the limits of what a voluntary, non-profit making organisation can, an excellent range of guests withing the folk scene, using the broadest definition of that term. Traditional singers, singer-songwriters, old established favourites and rising young stars make up the guest nights. In between guest nights, there are singers nights when anyone can get up to play a couple of songs and tunes: the quality of singers nights is such that some people prefer them to the guest nights. The format hasn't altered since the club was founded in 1965, and it has clearly passed the test of time.

Favourite pub: this has to be the Guest House in Union Street, Southport. Despite being a pubco tenancy, Gail the licensee consistently has up to 11 real ales on, which usually constitute a mixture of microbrewery offerings alongside more familiar regionals. This does mean that occasionally the selection is not especially exciting for lovers of microbrewery beers, but generally I'm more than happy with what's on offer; I don't know of any tenancy that can provide such a range. The pub itself is just over 100 years old, largely unaltered with wood-panelled walls and it hosts acoustic music nights on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Favourite pub in Liverpool is harder: the Ship and Mitre on Dale Street has an excellent range but suffers from a ill-judged 1960s refurbishment, while the Lion on Moorfields also has a good range and is an attractive mini-gin palace as well. The former pub hosts the Woody Guthrie Folk Club (last Thursday of the month), while the latter has my acoustic song session on the 2nd Thursday of the month.

Favourite beers: around the 4% mark, I'd mention Southport Golden Sands (4.0%) and Liverpool Organic 24 Carat Gold (4.2%). My favourite strong beer has to be Liverpool Organic Shipwreck, a 6.5% IPA. Honourable mentions go to two Wigan breweries: Prospect for consistently good beer and Allgates for its significant improvement. The formerly good Cains of Liverpool continues to be disappointing.

Best Beer Festival: for my money, the Wigan Beer Festival. Although it's in a sports hall with less atmosphere than the now redeveloped Wigan Pier venue, it makes up in so many other ways: much more extensive and interesting range of beers than before, ample seating for all, regular courtesy bus between the festival and the town centre, and it's friendly to boot. To any who still miss the old venue: the festival was outgrowing Wigan Pier even before it moved, and would have no chance of fitting in there now even if it were available. The National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester and the Southport Beer Festival also worth visiting.

Favourite Music Festival: this has to be Whitby Folk Week. I've been going since 1988 (with one year missed since). The setting of a beautiful old fishing town is unique with a good range of guests and events in various venues across the town, pub sessions for songs and tunes all over the town, frequent folk dancing in the streets, plus for me the annual Lunchtime Legends gig in the Elsinore, which has been a fixture of the folk week fringe since 1992. Also extremely good was Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival, which had a completely different character: a big stage in a field with a succession of acts invited by Fairport throughout the weekend. Their big-name guests this year included Squeeze, Joan Armatrading, Bellowhead, Richard Thompson, The Saw Doctors, Dennis Locorriere, Big Country, Ashley Hutchings Morris On, and Richard Digance, plus a load of newer artists, most of whom I hadn't heard of but who were all pretty good.

Best non-folk gig: rock band Karnataka whom I saw in St Helens. Hint of progressive and hint of Goth, but mainly themselves. If you recall All About Eve, Karnataka are vaguely in that style. A seasoned band with good material and a lead singer, Hayley Griffiths, who has a beautiful voice.

Biggest disappointment of the year: being put on tablets in April for four weeks with no drinking for a month. During this period, I went to stay with my friend Geoff in London, but the expected pub crawls didn't materialise and the trip to Fullers Brewery was interesting but lost something with me on the wagon. I also opted out of a Wigan beer festival helpers' trip to Ulverston Brewery during this period, and I cut short my attendance at a friend's stag night once I'd had my fill of pub coffee.

Best apocalypse: 21 December, which was when the Mayans had supposedly foretold our doom.

Favourite blog: after this one? Too close to call!

All the best for 2013!

Whitby Legends 22 August

If you're in the area of Whitby in North Yorkshire next Wednesday lunchtime, we're playing our 21st consecutive annual rock & roll party at the Elsinore Hotel, Flowergate, Whitby. This gig celebrates twenty full years of the band's existence - not bad for something that began as a one-off jam session. It's bang in the middle of Folk Week, and we know that some in the festival hierarchy have in the past been less than enthusiastic about what we do, although after all these years irritation has dwindled to resigned acceptance.

It begins at around 12.30 p.m. Special limited edition anniversary T-shirts will be on sale - come and grab one while stocks last. The pub sells real Cameron's Strongarm, and Tetley's and John Smith's bitters on cask.

Whitby Folk Week 2011

My housemates, Alan and Rose, enjoying
a drink at Scalby Mill, Scarborough

I got home yesterday from my annual visit to Whitby Folk Week; we had a great time as usual. Our annual Lunchtime Legends gig in the Elsinore on Flowergate, our 20th in this venue, went down well; it was so hot in this small pub that after our 34-song set, I looked as though someone had poured a bucket of water over me. It was good to have Jez Lowe joining us again on bass, and the great Pete Coe opened for us with a very dirty-sounding distorted guitar, singing songs like I Hear You Knocking, I Fought The Law (And the Law Won) and the Kinks’ song Superman. Although we had no new recordings, we sold 4 CDs - and even 3 cassettes, believe it or not. Candy Rell’s rendition of the Dusty Springfield classic, You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, got the whole pub singing. Hi Ho Silver Lining and Your Sixteen finished our set as always; the one time we did Hi Ho half way through, they wouldn't let us go until we played it again at the end!

Boggart's Breakfast dancing in Whitby

The following day, with my voice already slightly hoarse, I ended up doing another couple of hours in The Station pub, which was also good fun. The Station has some good varied song and music sessions during folk week, while the Elsinore is a magnet each evening for accordion-driven tune playing. The standard of performance of many of the music session performers, who play just for pleasure, can be very high, attracting appreciative crowds of drinkers who are happy to stand and watch. In particular, I saw a group of young female fiddle players in the Station performing with obvious energy and enthusiasm.

Whitby wouldn’t be the same without the dancers who performed regularly every day in the streets of Whitby, bringing the festival, like the pub session players, to ordinary holiday makers and residents of the town.

Music session in The Station
(Steve on the left looks shocked!)

Looking back at last year’s pub crawl, not much has changed, except that the steak and ale pie in the Duke of York disappointingly wasn’t as good. Also, £3-20 seemed to be the standard Whitby price for real ale (50 to 70p more than I’m used to paying, and about 14% up on last year, unlike my income!), except in the Elsinore where the Cameron’s Strongarm was £2-90, and the Jolly Sailors, which sold Sam Smith’s Old Brewery Bitter for an amazing £1-61. Perhaps not wonderful, but I find it a perfectly acceptable standard bitter. My favourite beer of the week was Ossett Silver King in the Station; once when it went off temporarily, I had a Directors, which was surprisingly rather good. 

Persephone dancing at Whitby



Overall, Whitby is good place for pubs and brilliant during folk week for very varied live music too.

Only 51 weeks until the next one.



Whitby from Church Street. The 102 year old swing bridge is in the distance

Whitby pub crawl ~ 24th August

On the Tuesday of Folk Week, Jean organises her annual Whitby pub crawl and invites us along ~ she's good that way. There are many fine pubs in Whitby, considering the size of the town, and we can't visit all of them. The pub crawl covers most of the best real ale pubs.

Beginning on the West Side:

The Elsinore, Flowergate

A very friendly local, which a couple of hundred years ago was the first building you came to when entering Whitby. It is a popular Folk Week fringe venue for various folk musicians, was the first pub to welcome Goths during their weekends in the town and also lets the Lunchtime Legends play during Folk Week (see previous posting). It's slightly cheaper than most pubs, and serves Cameron Strongarm, Tetley Bitter and John Smiths Cask.

The Little Angel, Flowergate

The Little Angel

Just across the road is this cosy-looking local, which is however rather bigger than the outside suggests and has three drinking areas. Just outside is a worn old mounting block for people to get on their horses. When we visited it was serving Adnams Bitter and Tetley Bitter.

The Station Inn, New Quay Road

Situated near the railway station and opposite the harbour, this pub has had several names previously: the Tap & Spile, the Cutty Sark, but originally the Green Man. It has three separate rooms, sometimes each with a different music session during folk week. It serves eight real ales and a real cider (Weston's Old Rosie). The beers included Ringwood Boondoggle, Whitby Old Dog, Timothy Taylor's Golden Best and Old Hooky.

Across the swing bridge to the East Side:

Black Horse, Church Street

The Black Horse

This is an extremely small, traditional, two-roomed pub. A pub since the 16th century, it has also been used as a funeral directors, spirit warehouse, and brothel. It is frequently packed during folk week; the musicians and singers tend to meet in the rear room. Both rooms have a real ale bar, with 3 beers on.  The beer I had on the crawl was Whitby Rhatas.

The Duke of York, Church Street

The Duke of York (centre front)
with the 199 steps and
Whitby Abbey behind

This pub is full of character and has wonderful views over the harbour. It is at the foot of the 199 steps that lead to Whitby Abbey and St Mary's Church (both worth a visit).  The pub does good food, especially the steak and ale pie, so if you're lucky enough to get a window seat while eating your dinner, then it's very enjoyable.  Tables can be scarce at peak meal times.  The beers on offer included Copper Dragon, and Courage Directors.

The Shambles, Market Place
This large open plan pub with a central bar was once a Burberry factory until it was closed and production moved elsewhere. It has wonderful views over the harbour, serves food which I've been told is good, has a family room and a games room with a snooker table. The beers are mainly from Theakstons and the Copper Dragon range, including the IPA.

Endeavour, Church Street
A single-roomed pub with, during folk week, a constantly changing range of real ales (4 handpumps). It has singers and musicians all day and evening during folk week and I understand it also has music quite regularly at other times. The various beers I had there included Adnams Broadside, Ringwood Boondoggle. Close to a chip shop if you need it.

Middle Earth Tavern, Church Street
The furthest pub on the crawl, the Middle Earth has outside seating with good views over the harbour.  Popular for music sessions during folk week, when it can get packed, it nowadays serves only one real ale, which was from the Copper Dragon range when I was there.

I had to take back two pints during the entire week, none on the pub crawl, but as they were satisfactorily replaced, I see no reason to name the pubs concerned. I found beer in Whitby was well-kept for the most part. This crawl was undertaken in August at the height of the holiday season. Beer ranges will probably be more limited off season, but I've been to Whitby at quieter times and the pubs are generally still good.

Whitby music

Double rainbow over Whitby

I've just returned from Whitby where I've been for the Folk Week. I didn't get to many formal concerts, although I did see the great John Kirkpatrick, a great singer of mostly traditional material and expert squeeze box player, and a joint concert of Keith Donnelly and Les Barker, two of the funniest acts on the folk scene. I spent more time in the fringe sessions and saw some spectacular singing and playing, particularly in the Station Inn. The Elsinore also has some busy music sessions in the evenings, and a couple of afternoons I played in a couple of impromptu singarounds there.

Legends looking, er, legendary.

Our own Lunchtime Legends rock & roll session ("the premier fringe event of Folk Week") in the Elsinore on Flowergate at Wednesday lunch time had a set of 32 songs, probably the longest set during the whole of Folk Week, and we're not even booked to play! It was packed out as ever and seemed to go down a storm. A charming young girl was giving me nice smiles while I played and bought one of our CDs, so I asked her her name. She told me, and mentioned her age was: "Five and three quarters." Our opening act was the excellent Jim Causley, who got into the spirit of things with songs he associated with his mother (he is a lot younger than us!). For a change we were joined by a bass player, Joe Gannet, who joined us to good effect, giving the sound a bass presence it sometimes lacks. John Kirkpatrick (mentioned above) has opened for us twice: 1998 and 2008.

Going to Whitby is like going on holiday with friends, as there are so many people I know there, some I see only once or twice a year, but quite a few from the Southport and Merseyside area.  All in all a great week, with the weather mostly good, but as usual it was all over far too quickly. I hardly took any pictures, but the one included here was of a double rainbow I could see from the small yard of our holiday cottage.

We went on a pub crawl in Whitby; I'll write about that in a day or two, in case anyone chooses to visit this lovely fishing port (although the amount of fishing gets less every year).

I also saw some traditional dances from most parts of Britain, and they are rather more varied than the "bells ands hankies" image, although there were plenty of those around. Here is a YouTube video of the parade of dance through the town, taken across the road from the Elsinore, which you can see clearly.

Whitby pubs

Whitby is a lovely town and has some charming pubs serving real ales to match. On the Tuesday of folk week we went on a pub crawl. I didn't take any notes during the week and cannot remember all the beers we had.

The crawl began at the Elsinore on Flowergate. This is a small, friendly one-roomed local that welcomes folkies and also Goths during their weekends. The cask beers on offer were Cameron's Strongarm and bitters from John Smith's and Tetley. At £2-52 a pint, the Strongarm was one of the cheapest pints in Whitby.

Next was the Little Angel across the road with a couple of real ales, one of which was Adnams. This pleasant little pub is worth a visit.

The Station Inn (formerly Tap & Spile) was next. This had eight real ales on, including Daleside Blonde, Copper Dragon IPA, Cumberland, Sharps Doom Bar, Whitby Black Dog (sadly no longer brewed in the town). I liked the Daleside and the Copper Dragon the best.

Crossing the river, we went to the Black Horse on Church Street. This is an unaltered narrow 2-roomed pub, but I can't recall what the 3 beers were. A quaint old pub, though.

Along the road is the Duke of York with 3 or 4 beers,the best of which was Copper Dragon, but it also had Deuchars and Bombadier. This pub is good for food; my favourite was the steak and ale pie. There are tables that have fine views over Whitby harbour; it's nice to sit there with a decent pint and a meal watching the sun set over the harbour.

Our final pub was the Shambles by the market square. This is a new pub, opened only a few years ago in a former Burberry factory building. It is spacious with great harbour views and it serves Theakson's beers and Copper Dragon Golden Pippin and IPA. This pub also does food; I haven't eaten there, but have been told it is good. The picture of the piers and lighthouses was taken from a window in this pub.

Other good pubs, but not on the crawl, are the Endeavour which had a changing range of 6 real ales during folk week, and further down the road the Middle Earth, which had Copper Dragon, but unfortunately ran out of real ale during the week; they must have underestimated the demand.

Being from the North West, I found the prices rather steep: in Whitby, I was paying £2-80 to £3-00 for beers I would normally pay around £2-30 to £2-50 in Southport. Two Sam Smiths pubs, the Plough and the Jolly Sailors, had Old Brewery Bitter for under £2-00, but owing to the eccentricity of the brewery, there can be no music in these pubs as they refused on principle to buy the new-style licences 2 or 3 years ago. I don't understand a principle that turned the Plough from a large pub that was heaving during the 7 days of folk week with music sessions in 3 separate rooms and another in the large back yard, weather permitting, to one that looked almost deserted most of the time. Doesn't Sam Smiths want to make money?

I'm not sure what the beer ranges would be like out of season. However, prices notwithstanding, I like the pubs in Whitby and found the beers were generally well looked after; I would recommend a visit to this picturesque town to anyone.

Whitby Folk Week

This week-long folk festival crams around 600 events into 7 days. Needless to say, when there's folk, there's real ale as well; I'll do a separate posting on the pubs and beer tomorrow.

This year, Folk Week coincided with the Whitby Regatta which took place over the first weekend and meant the town was filled to bursting with very diverse groups of people. The fireworks display on the east pier on Monday at the end of the regatta was quite spectacular.

My folk week included watching various kinds of traditional dance displays (the picture shows Jet Set Border Morris), some concerts, pub music sessions and singarounds, and the launch of the Lunchtime Legends CD, Daze, on Wednesday.

To those who think traditional dance consists only of bells & hankies, you couldn't be more wrong: clog, sword, Irish, Appalachian, North West, and rapper were just some of the styles I saw during the week. The Newcastle Kingsman impressed a lot of people with their humour as much as their skill: they're a young team of students and graduates dancing rapper, which is "... a fast traditional English dance [from] Northumberland and Durham involving five people connected by short, two-handled, flexible swords (called rappers) forming a chain. Without breaking this chain the dancers weave in and out of one another twisting the swords to form locks and breastplates, sometimes even jumping or somersaulting over the swords." So now you know.

Performers I saw included: Bryony, a female trio singing intricate harmonies of mostly traditional material; Strawhead, a male trio who sing otherwise forgotten songs from the 16th to 19th centuries on a huge range of topics, often introduced by Greg Butler's humorous take on events in our history; Tich Frier, an endearing Scot with a great sense of humour, a fine singing voice and a great range of material from trad & Burns to modern songs; Kerr Fagan Harbron, a group of young singers and musicians who take their music from English, Irish, Australian and American traditions; plus too many others to list. Suffice to say I didn't see a bad performance all week.

Our CD launch filled out the Elsinore, a small pub on Flowergate, and was opened by festival guest, Jez Lowe, a great singer songwriter from the North East, who showed his rock & roll roots with a set including Get Back and House of the Rising Sun. We did 3 sets, ending with Hi Ho Silver Lining, which as ever raised the roof wonderfully. We also sold a few CDs.

Spontaneous pub sessions are a feature of folk week, and I particularly enjoyed an afternoon playing with other singers and musicians in the Elsinore, including a young man just up for the day whose guitar style was tremendous. The songs ranged from Steve Earle, Steely Dan, Al Stewart, Johnny Cash & others, to traditional songs and tunes.

Wednesday night is always rock & roll night with Shagpile, a group led by veteran folk singer Dave Burland that attracts a huge range of punters from some old hippies who can show everyone how to jive properly to young kids who make up their own rock & roll dances or just conga around the hall. Unmissable for many of us.

I didn't get to any of the many workshops and ceilidh dances that took place every day throughout the week, but they're there for those who want them. My folk week ended on Friday night listening to musicians in the Station Inn until closing time at 2 a.m. We had to be out of our flat by 10 a.m. on Saturday, and I made it ... just.

The Elsinore, Whitby

This pub is where I have spent much of the last week (which was Whitby Folk Week) drinking Cameron's Strongarm, playing guitar and on Wednesday, launching our new CD, Daze. The other 2 real ales were Tetley's Bitter and John Smith's Cask~ I drank neither.

More details in another posting.