BRAPA in .... TICK CAVE & THE DAD SPEEDS (Completing East Yorks)

I'm having a real push to get my blogs up to date, I've been a month behind for far too long and I'm thinking by Mid January, in the absence of #ThirstyThursdays, I might be somewhere close.

Tuesday 28th November 2023, 4pm

I know it is most people's favourite place in East Yorkshire 'coz it'S prITTy', but Beverley doesn't do it for me. Possibly connected to the fact I live in York which has a similar undercurrent, I find it stifling, a bit 'much'. For all the architecture and Saturday Markets.

Driffield? Yes. Hull? Absolutely! Bridlington? Why not? Bev? Not so much.

Hull City are at home to the struggling Millers of Rotherham tonight, and eyeing up the BRAPA Person of the Year prize, Daddy BRAPA is at the wheel, suggesting this would be a good night to knock off the two remainng ticks I need for a fully green county.

Parking at rushhour is tricky in Beverley, as you may well imagine, so Dad drops me at the lights so I can make a start on the tick whilst he looks for a space.

Royal Standard Inn, Beverley (2550 / 4708)

This was Beverley at it's brilliant best. Freezing cold, dark and near deserted as I walk beneath the majestic North Bar (not the L**ds pub). You know what they say in Bev, always better to be North Bar Within than North Bar Without. Probably. The front bar (of the pub) is a wood panelled homely perfectly formed square room, the landlady is a fantastic character, she just 'gets' BRAPA. Later, she reads me a list of Tetley's outlets in East Yorkshire, just for the giggles. I'd had a surprisingly good pint of Doom Bar last time I was in Bev, ticking off the 'Spoons, and I'm being absolutely Stone Cold Steve Serious when I tell you this was a quality Doom Bar, pinkie swear. No tongue in cheek RetiredMartinness, swear down on Colin's life. Daddy B is quickly upon me, having parked effortlessly, and shares my love for the beer and bar room, which always makes a pub better in my eyes.

I become human SatNav now, because we don't trust the official one to take us to South Cave by the most expedient route, so I have to concentrate. Pitch black, no lighting on these roads, and commuters driving like it is Brands Hatch. Quite the high octane journey, but worth it!

Bear Inn, South Cave (2551 / 4709)

And yet the first five minutes are dreadful and we spend it snarling impatiently at an empty bar! What is this doss house? Where are the staff? I can hear Gunpowder Plot style mutterings in a darkened room towards the back, and hear a ghostly clanking of pool balls, but see no people! Possibly too much Line of Duty, but Daddy B brilliantly describes it as resembling an OCG (Organised Crime Group) - it 'FEELS' like a pub but is obviously a cover for illicit activites! Roaring fire and 8.5/10 carpet are just for show! Eventually, the guv'nor, with a nod and wink to his two mates watching a video on their phone behind us, appears out of nowhere and pulls us what turns out to be beer perfection in the form of Black Sheep Respire, like NBSS 5*. He is such an interested, engaging chap, asks to view the pub's entry in my GBG, he explains how he keeps his cellar to guarantee beer perfection. Soon, the fire and carpet seem more innocent, and it is only right that I offer him the oppotunity to do the ultimate East Yorkshire greening. What a turnaround, remarkable!

Only one problem remained, food. The Walkers Ready Salted crisps had merely tided us over, this place wasn't doing anything, the chippie/Chinese was closed down, I'd not done us quiche, Dad hadn't done snax, so we cross the road to Fox & Coney , a revisit but a solid if quite foody pub.

We're told in the Bear that the F&C nearly made the 2024 GBG too / instead, but the owner took umbridge with the local CAMRA citing rudeness (amazing and embarrassing how often I hear such tales) and decides he didn't want to feature in the poxy book anyway!

I try two different ales here, I like mine more than Daddy B likes his, but wasn't a patch on the Respire. But another good fire, attentive staff, and washed down the spicy buffalo wings and celery.

And then Hull City top off a celebratory night with a stunning 4-1 win, 3-0 up inside the first 20 minutes. We're not good enough to go up but we are certainly a much improved side under Rosenior. Incredible stuff, this really had been an exercise in completing East Yorkshire in style.

Join me on Monday night, where I'll try and make sense of a day in Derby where I drank too much too quickly.

Keep on pubbing, Si