York or Bath

[Blumf]

Does the Courthouse pub have a clothes free option?

I like to be naked when I drink

They don't have a dress code that I know of, so yes, nude it up!

[Replies From View]

Bath has a reasonably nice rock pub called 'The Hobgoblin'. On the downside, the jukebox is a bit iffy.

Bath is fucking excellent for old pubs with real ales and live music; don't undersell it!  The Bell on Walcot Street (http://walcotstreet.com/) is my favourite at the moment because it's only ten minutes away from where my parents live, and because I have a friend who runs an open night there once a week.  http://www.stjameswinevaults.co.uk/ is further away for me (not by much) but has a dedicated basement for live music.  Again, cosy as well as lively, and loads of real ales, but also a wider range of wines if that's what you're after.

If you love your real ales and cosy pubs, Bath really is great; don't know how it compares with York.  Check out The Old Green Tree (quick google search throws up this:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/pubs/5125772/Somerset-Pub-Guide-The-Old-Green-Tree-in-Bath.html) which plays no music at all so is perfect for talking and/or reading, and the Raven (http://www.theravenofbath.co.uk/) which does things like storytelling events in the upstairs bit.  They're within a stone's throw of each other, so you can easily do both in one night if you want.

I sometimes realise how spoiled I was growing up in Bath when I try to find anywhere in Balham (lol I am like that bachelor one out of Fist of Fun) that's even remotely comparable.  Moderately historical, small interiors are usually marred by loud music, slot machines or TVs.

[Replies From View]

Bath looks slightly more Roman though

Yeah; "looks" being the operative word - bless the tourists who think loads of Georgian and Victorian stuff is Roman.  The Roman Baths were rediscovered by the Victorians and the museum structure around them is Victorian, but still people think much more of the whole experience is Roman.  See the big hole and the various water trenches, and the statue fragments that are clearly labelled as Roman?  That's yer lot.  All the grand columns and the walls and the roof?  No.  And that goes for the rest of Bath; it's largely 18th century or later.

It's the general lack of pre-Georgian architecture that gives Bath its particular character, and it's one people tend to love or hate.  Unfortunately its largely untouched completion in this regard (the Victorians didn't break it, and nor did the second world war despite a couple of raids) was vandalised in the 60s and 70s, so the value of that uniqueness is largely gone.  Thanks to that era of extensive redevelopment most of the larger scale building projects in the city now go down the route of awful Georgian pastiche (see the new Southgate; wrong only because it doesn't get classical right, but then if you're going to do classical you have to do it right or there's no point) or take a reactionary "radical" but actually timid and cheap-looking blue/grey glass and steel route (see the new bus station).

Sorry; getting boring there.

[Jemble Fred]

The area's far more interesting for its pre-Roman heritage than its Roman.

Still, I've always thought Vikings were twats, so still not too tempted by York. Maybe one day, for one day.

[Replies From View]

The area's far more interesting for its pre-Roman heritage than its Roman.

Anything you would like to share with the rest of the class?

[Jemble Fred]

Well, just that there were people living here for millennia before the Italians showed up. We have Bladud, and Solsbury Hill (admittedly very late pre-Roman), and Somerset is just generally the UK's pagan theme park.

[Replies From View]

Jumble Fred is SUCH A KEENER.

[Jemble Fred]

I just wish I was a BONEKICKER really.

_{The answer's in the soil.}

[Don_Preston]

If you go to Bath you can spend a day in Radstock!

[Neville Chamberlain]

You'll certainly feel like you need a bath after visiting Radstock!!!!!!!!!

[Replies From View]

You'll certainly feel like you need a bath after visiting Radstock!!!!!!!!!

EGG you said egg.

[Serge]

Radstock sounds like a particularly shit music festival sponsored by the BBC in about 1988.

[Neville Chamberlain]

If you're in the crappily monikered Radstock, you could always head over to the beautifully named neighbouring village of Midsomer Norton, although its name is rather misleading because it too - like Radstock - is a godawful dump.

[Don_Preston]

Having lived there for years, I can only agree with Nev.

However it is still better than Yeovil!

[Replies From View]

However it is still better than Yeovil!

Ha my elder brother used to live there.

[Don_Preston]

Stop Taunton! (Taunting)

[Goldentony]

Taunton gets a 4/10 for me. They have a shop that specialises in model trains whihc is quite delightful, and the pub near the station once had a sign saying ATP PEOPLE - BANGERS AND MASH AND CIDER HERE or something along those lines which was fantastic. I also remember they had a shop that had the knight from the Anglia television logo at the end of Knightmare on it.

On the shithouse end of things though, the Vegetarian breakfast I got there was like cardboard formed to look like people's shite. I think I enjoyed Welshpool more than Taunton. I compare them because they're pretty similar in that it's just one street, more or less.

[Neville Chamberlain]

Having lived there for years, I can only agree with Nev.

However it is still better than Yeovil!

Oi, Yeovil has the mind of a city in the heart of the country, dontchaknow?!?

[Don_Preston]

All's well that ends Wells!

[Neville Chamberlain]

I thought of a great joke about the town of 'Cheddar', but it was a bit cheesy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Don_Preston]

I thought of a great joke about Shepton Mallet but I don't want to hammer the point home!!!!!!

[Neville Chamberlain]

I've thought of yet another great joke, this time about Chard - I'm on fire!!!

[Replies From View]

LOL, erm...

...trying to think of one. 


What cities are there again?

Plymouth.  Plim moth.  Is "plim" a word?  If so, plim moth.

[Don_Preston]

I've thought of a great joke about Watchet - Look out for it!!!

[Jemble Fred]

I don't know where you're all coming Frome with this shit. It's just a fuckKeynsham. But you, you just keep Chippenham in.

[Don_Preston]

I've thought of a great joke about Pathe - but that's old news!!!!

[Dead kate moss]

I spent three days in Bath in 1988. Invited by a nice goth couple who lived in a shed thing they had built in the car park of the leisure center next to the extractor fan that gave out heat. But there wasn't really enough room for me and my friend, so the second night we broke into someone's stinky old caravan and slept there. The final night I 'pulled' a 'fit' Bathian 'bird' and we stayed at her house but she didn't let me do anything to her, maybe I still stank of the caravan.

It was quite nice. I had a fight with someone called Zebedee at one point. Never been to York so can't compare.

[garbed_attic]

Went to university in York - try to get some free fudge from the fudge kitchen near the Minister, which is worth going up! El Piano is charming for a place to snack, but you'll want to find somewhere more substantial and perhaps less vagany if you want to have a full meal IMO. The Shambles is obviously notable, though its shops aren't very interesting and it tends to be flooded with tourists standing taking pictures, so you can't just saunter down it some days without weaving around folks. If you are feeling in a peculiar mood, go into The Willow come 9.00 pm which transforms from a Chinese restaurant into a club, with free prawn crackers! If you decided to go to the York Dungeons, look out for my old friend Nats, who is short, dark haired and very good at putting on demented voices. If you say that Shambles Adam sent you, you probably won't get in for free, but it might lead to an enjoyably awkward conversation!