Now, Now. I’ll have nothing bad said about ‘Ull.
It might not be aseptically pleasing, or indeed smell pleasant, and some of the locals might be willing to fight over a penny, but it is home to the greatest boozer in the North- Ye Olde White Hart.
I can’t find a Old Perculliar anywhere in Chester (on draft) or even a Black Sheep, and it sends me mad and local brew (Cheshire Cat) is frankly crap.
I've spent more time in Hull, and I've gone to more pubs there, than almost any Brit apart from the reluctant ones who actually live there. And I'd argue that I've been to more Hull pubs than even most Hull residents. I don't know how you define "the greatest boozer in the north" but for pure boozers I'd vote for the Criterion. Ye Olde White Harte at least holds some shreds of respectability by being on CAMRA's list of heritage pubs;
https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/h ... ?pubid=197
What did the utterly vile Criterion have to match that? Nothing, no redeeming features. Wild drunken thugs and screaming fights. Puking outside the door and lots of high alcohol lagers. It rates as the worst pub of all of the over 1,300 UK pubs we've been to. Not being able to stand the violent chaos of the bar we had a beer in the back room where a couple were having a screaming drunken argument while their child, no more than six or so, was wailing how he wanted to go home. They ignored him. I have a vast experience in UK accents, particularly Yorkshire, yet I had no idea what they were saying.
And I'd count it a blessing that you can't find any Old Peculiar. I've thrown out three beers in my entire UK pubbing ventures. Some disgusting shit called Cheeky Monkey in Liverpool, a Smithwicks in Belfast, and an Old Peculiar in Menai Bridge, Wales (close to you if you thirst for that vile brew). My friend and I (both two fisted drinkers who finish what they pay for) couldn't finish a half each of the Cheeky Monkey, it was like the essence of rotted mushrooms fermented inside a dead horse. The Smithwicks had gone bad in the cask. The Old Peculiar was undrinkable and I was going to take it back until I noticed that other drinkers were going back for seconds. As I noted in my journal of our 2002 trip;
Worst Beer – The aptly named Theakston’s Old Peculiar at the Anglesey Arms. The only beer we threw out in the entire trip.
I'll agree that the Black Sheep is a good brew.