It isn't often that I've managed to get away on a pre-Christmas break, but that is what I did recently when I paid a first extended visit to one of our most beautiful and underrated cities, a place that had been on my to-do list for some time....
It wasn't my first trip to Lincoln, having been here a few times for football and once many years ago on a coach trip to the Christmas market here. But this was the first time I had booked a trip specifically so that I could have a wander around this historic city and try some of its many pubs. Having belatedly acknowledged my Lincolnshire connections from my paternal grandmother who was born in the county, I have decided I will make a least one visit to the county each year (this was actually my second). And so here I was on the train, a journey involving 3 changes on the way that took just shy of 3 hours from Halifax, the landscape flatter and ever more expansive as we got into Lincolnshire before the suburbs of the city started to appear and not long afterwards the train came to a halt at the Central Station.
I was staying at the Travelodge just around the corner from the station, but I was a little early for check-in, so I decided to go for a pint. The nearest pub was close by, but to get there I had to endure a regular part of daily Lincolnian life, ie. waiting for the gates to lift on the notorious level crossing that cuts across the High Street at the entrance to the station. After a few minutes, a rumbling train clattered past, the lights stopped flashing, and the gates rose, releasing the captive crowds held on either side of the track.
The Treaty of Commerce is a narrow-fronted pub run by long-standing Lincolnshire family brewers Batemans of Wainfleet. I had called in a couple of times before when here for football and found it to be quite a lively pub, the unusual name relating to some unspecified Anglo-French trade agreement from 1860. Today, early afternoon on a Thursday, it was still quite busy, a number of guys stood around the bar which was being run by a lively and cheerful lady who was deftly pouring pints as she dealt out the banter to those assembled. There was a good selection of Batemans beers on hand pump, and I ordered a pint of the 3.9% Gold, which started out as and is still sometimes known as Yella Belly. (This is a nickname sometimes given to folk from Lincolnshire allegedly arising from the colour of the overalls after a day picking mustard in the county's fields.). I took my pint and retreated to the back room to plan out the rest of my day. My beer was very good, refreshing and delicious, with a lager malt base and Chinook and Cascade hops, making it a strong start to the day (NBSS 3.5). I liked the pub too, and it is always worth knowing that if you are stranded in Lincoln and you need a hair cut, you can get one here, as indicated by the barber's pole at the front of the pub!
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| The Treaty of Commerce |
It was only a few minutes' walk to the Travelodge on Tentercroft Street, opposite the head office of the Lincolnshire Co-op. Duly checked in and bag dropped off, it was back out into the rapidly cooling air as the bright afternoon sun began to fade. Indeed, so cool had it become that I made a detour to M & S to buy a scarf. And then it was back out on the High Street, which runs like a spine from the edge of the city and then begins the climb from the lower, workaday feel of much of the lower part of the town centre before morphing into the lung-busting Steep Hill which takes you to the more upmarket area with its chic boutiques and posh eateries in the attractive streets around the castle and stunning Gothic Cathedral.
Lincoln has a rich and colourful CV. Its beginnings can be traced back to an Iron Age settlement that grew up around the Brayford Pool, a natural widening in the River Witham. Later the Romans came, calling it Lindum Colonia and establishing a fortress on the hill above the pool. Germanic tribes from around the North Sea settled in the area in the 5th and 6th centuries then the Vikings arrived, and after them the Normans, who built the existing castle on the site of the former Roman fortress. Parts of the Cathedral date back to Norman times, with other parts added over the subsequent centuries, and within its spectacular walls it holds one of the 4 original copies of the Magna Carta. By the 12th century, the city was one of the wealthiest in the country, and the the third biggest in England by the 13th. It was known for the quality of its cloth of which Lincoln Green was the best known. The city went into decline due to a succession of events not least the Dissolution of the Monastries. Its fortunes picked up with the coming of first the Agricultural and then the Industrial Revolutions. With the coming of the railways many industries grew up in the town, and heavy engineering in particular thrived, and during the First World War, the first tank was developed here. In more recent years IT and service industries have to come to the fore, whilst the relatively new University of Lincoln has become a major employer as well as attracting thousands of students to join the large number of tourists that visit the city every year.
It was further up the High Street that I called in my second pub in the city, the Cardinal's Hat, the name a reference to Cardinal Wolsey, who was Bishop of Lincoln between 1514 and 1515. It manages to strike a balance between a traditional pub and modern bar, and with its mix of weary shoppers, after-work drinkers, and early evening revellers there was a nice atmosphere here, enhanced by the friendly staff behind the bar. There was also a good choice of beers on both hand pump and keg. After a minute or two weighing up options I went for a pint I'm Gonna Deck Your Halls, Bub, a presumably Christmas special from Wilde Child, its name based on a line in Arnold Schwarzenegger's 1996 film, Jingle All The Way. And very good it was too, a 4.8% murky DDH pale featuring Galaxy, Topaz, and Mosaic. I gave it a NBSS rating of 4, and if I had done my summary of 2024 a week later, it would have made it into my beers of the year list!
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| The Cardinal's Hat |
I finished my pint, and left the warm hubbub of the Cardinal's Hat, and began my walk up to the upper part of the city. I went not up Steep Hill, but took a route up to the left in the direction of the next pub I planned to visit. And whilst perhaps not quite as steep, it was still a pretty stiff climb up a couple of quiet roads before it started to flatten out, where in the distance a light beckoned. I walked past an Indian restaurant called Castle View, a name which sounded more like a B'n'B, the castle walls now visible. A little farther along was the source of the beckoning light, not the pub I was aiming for, but it was one I'd been to before, on that trip to the Christmas market many years ago. I had arrived at the Victoria, a long-established Batemans pub. I decided to go into this attractive solid-looking brick building.
Inside the pub was brightly-lit, festively-decorated, and warm, with a few people sat around. On the bar there was a large selection of Batemans' beers including their long-standing Christmas Special Rosey Nosey, a 4.9% delicious ruby beer with dried fruit flavours and a hint of spice. The pump clip with depicts a rosy-faced Santa complete with fluffy beard used to light up but this one wasn't, so as I ordered my half I mentioned this to the lass behind the bar, thinking in these days of rising costs this might have been dispensed with. But no, she'd only just come on and the person who'd been on the previous shift must have forgotten to switch it on. And so as I enjoyed my glass of Rosey Nosey (NBSS 3.5) it was merrily flashing away to all and sundry.
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| The Victoria |
It was just around the corner to the next pub and the one I'd been aiming for. The building was shrouded in scaffolding, that scourge of the pub photographer. The lights of the Strugglers Inn were on though and a door was open by a gap in the mass of steel poles. I walked in to a busy pub with a horseshoe bar ringed by happy-faced punters. It was a narrow room, with with a couple of low tables either side of an open fire, with some higher tables in an alcove at the back of the room. Every seat was taken and there was limited standing-room only. A couple of elderly dogs, one a dalmation or cross of patrolled the floor, barking at any other four-legged friend that had the cheek to come into their pub. The room was decorated for Christmas and there were pictures and mirrors, old pump clips and CAMRA awards on the busy walls. By the door that led to a beer garden and the toilets was a noticeboard with cards advertising local businesses and notices of upcoming events. The beers available on the bar's 9 hand pumps were advertised on a board above the fireplace. There was a cracking atmosphere, lovely and festive, and the staff were smiley and welcoming.
From the beers available, I ordered a pint of another Christmas-themed beer (which isn't like me normally!), Deck The Halls from Salopian. This was a refreshing blonde beer which had an ABV of 4%, and featured pale crystal malt with Citra and Cascade and maintained the impressive standard of the beers thus far (NBSS 3.5). I'd managed to find a spot at the end of the bar to enjoy my beer and got talking to a guy at the side of me. He said it was very much a cask ale pub. He pointed out a thinnish guy likewise on his own stood further around the bar. "He's the only guy I know of who only drinks lager that regularly comes in." Apparently a former landlady refused to serve lager herself to anyone who asked for it, such was her insistence that cask was king, and it was pretty obvious that with 9 handpumps dedicated to cask today in such a small pub they must go through a lot of it! And when I walked in the following lunchtime not long after 12 I found the pub was already pretty busy and everyone was drinking cask again, along with the odd whisky chaser. I really liked the Strugglers, or Struggs, as it is known as colloquially. It is a classic, a special pub, and a must-visit if you are in Lincoln.
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| A special pub: The Strugglers Inn |
I set off walking down Westgate, with its mix of houses, hotels, and car parks. In the distance the Cathedral tower was illuminated. I turned down the historic Bailgate with its little shops and restaurants, and then on to Eastgate where almost immediately I came to the next place on my list, Beerheadz, a modern bar with 3 hand pumps and a number of keg lines. It was a real contrast to the Strugglers, which didn't rally do the place any favours. It was busy and noisy, and it took a few minutes to get served. The beer also took a dip, although to be fair it was still pretty good, my pint of the 3.8% Big Sky Bitter from Second Sun, who are based in Barnard Castle and who were a new brewery to me, was a little thin and lacking in character (NBSS 3). Maybe a second visit before going to the Strugglers might give a more favourable impression
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| Beerheadz |
I went for some food at a nearby Thai restaurant, where I decided to leave a couple of the CAMRA pubs out of the equation this trip, and save them for next time. So I didn't make it to the Morning Star, or the Adam & Eve, nor the Joiners, in the upper part of the city. I also didn't make it to the Golden Eagle in the downhill part this time, although I had visited previously as it is near to the football ground. After some rather nice food at Thailand No 1, I walked down past the cathedral, which was bathed in a warm, deep blue/purple light, through narrow streets with little shops and restaurants. We began to go downhill, the incline, becoming more pronounced. Soon I was on Steep Hill, which more than lives up too its name! It didn't take long to get back to the Cardinal's Hat, and the High Street, and then it was simply a case of keeping straight on till I got to the next pub on my list, with of course the usual delay at the level crossing!
It was a little further on after the level crossing, and then my next stop was at the Tiny Tavern, a micropub not far from the football ground which hadn't been open last time I'd gone to Sincil Bank. Back then it was two 17th century cottages, which were knocked together to form a cosy, but diminutive pub. To enter you have to ring the bell, and then wait to be let in by whoever is working the bar, which in this case was a cheerful lady with orange hair. She led me through what seemed to be a storeroom, and through into a comfy room, which fell into two natural halves. The bar was in the rear part of the room from the street, with a standing area and some seating opposite the bar. The other half was full of seating which was occupied by a couple of groups of middle aged and beyond who were laughing and chatting away. A fireplace was a centrepiece, and the place felt warm and welcoming. There were 6 handpumps on the bar, and I opted for a 4.1% pale ale from the Hop Kettle Brewery, who are based down in Swindon. It was pleasant enough, without being too remarkable (NBSS 3). I enjoyed the atmosphere in this friendly pub, and decided to stay for another pint. This time I went for a beer from a more local brewery, Welbeck Abbey who are based over the border in Nottinghamshire. The beer in question was White Stag, a 4.3% IPA, which was full of refreshing citrus flavours (NBSS 3). It was time to go, I'd had a most enjoyable time at this friendly little place.
I left by the door in the lounge, and walked back towards the hotel. On the way I came to the Ritz, a large Wetherspoons which was brightly lit up in a manner befitting an art deco former cinema. I had been in before on a football trip, so decided to call in for a final nightcap for old times sake. The huge pub was relatively quiet, the odd group, couple, or solo drinker dotted around the spacious interior. I got myself a half of Best Christmas from Pheasantry, which was an ok brown/amber beer (NBSS 3). I couldn't help thinking that compared to the Tiny Tavern it was rather soulless and cold here, and so once my glass was drained, I headed back out into the night and onward to the Travelodge.
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| The rather spectacular Ritz |
And so that was Lincoln. I had a thoroughly enjoyable couple of days here, and having left myself a number of pubs to do, there is plenty of scope for another visit to this beautiful city in the not too distant future. As if I need an excuse....
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