Hartlepool

[Jittlebags]

I find myself up in Hartlepool this Saturday and Sunday morning.  What's the pub and food situation like? Also for spending a few hours wandering about on Sunday morning. Marina area looks pleasant?

I shall be having a strategic shave before going just in case.

[Norton Canes]

Which areas will you be visiting?

In your shave, I mean

[The Culture Bunker]

Just be sure to keep your eyeline above neck level for both women and men that you pass by or meet - don't want to cause offence by making them think you're some kind of pervert.

[shoulders]

There are different piers which are quite spread out.

Rat Race Ale House in the centre is worth going to if it's still there. Hop & Cheese for further craft beer.

Nursery Pub looks decent too.

The Fisherman's Arms out on the Headland if you can be arsed.

Hartlepool is the place people from Sunderland and Middlesbrough slag off if that gives you any idea.

[shoulders]

Oh it's Teesside so ask for a "banked" pint of Strongarm

https://www.pelliclemag.com/home/2022/4/6/i-want-to-see-mountains-again-the-banked-beers-of-teesside-north-east-england

Surrounded on three sides by the North Sea, The Globe on Hartlepool's headland peninsula is an old, well-worn pub, with old blokes playing cribbage for coins, and muttering nonsense about football. The landlady cracks hilarious jokes and throws darts over a group of drinkers.


On every table sits marshmallowy tufts of foam, poking out of banked pints of Camerons Strongarm; a delicious ruby red ale with rich rounded flavours, reminiscent of raspberries and bready yeast. The eggshell coloured mound of foam rounds out the beer's malty body, making an already delicious beer even more quaffable.

[thr0b]

The Marina and naval museum nearby are a decent area to kill a few hours. If you like a Brewers Fayre for a Sunday dinner, there's a terrific one which looks over the marina where my mam used to work.

Rest of the town is a bit of a dive, but if you drive a bit further out down to Seaton Carew, you get a bit of an old-fashioned seaside village, with all ice cream shops and arcades and that.

[Inspector Norse]

Remember when I was at university, a guy from Hartlepool attached himself to our group for a couple of hours in the pub one evening. He had one of those charming dialects where all nouns were prefaced with an article. "Do you watch the football? Support the Oldham do you? What about the music? Do you like the Blur? Drinking the Guinness are you?"
Never saw him again.

That is my only experience of Hartlepool.

No wait! I tell a lie. An old friend I met up with recently told me that he knew someone high up in the Hartlepool Utd supporters club and that they were angry with Jeff Stelling for refusing to do a photoshoot with them.

That is the limit of my experience of Hartlepool.

[Zero Gravitas]

ctr-f hang

[Zero Gravitas]

Do not ask for a "banked" pint, it's not 1978.

[shiftwork2]

Terrific accent, I could listen to it all day.  Keep searching for Hartlepool Cranial Nerve Exam with no luck.

[ros vulgaris]

Terrific accent, I could listen to it all day.  Keep searching for Hartlepool Cranial Nerve Exam with no luck.

It's almost scouse-like. Maybe an Irish link.

No recommendations, it's been too long since I've been. If you're struggling and it's a nice day get the train up to Seaham instead.

[The Lurker]

Well, for starters, there's The Lurker HQ.

The Marina is lovely on a nice day.

The Anchor Tap (over the road from the fire station) is a nice little pub. Rat Race is indeed still there - if you're a beer snob, it's the place to be. Hops & Cheese is decent too.

Go for a stroll along the seafront, there's some good chippys in Seaton.

You can even go to Hartlepool v Southend at the weekend too.

[shoulders]

Do not ask for a "banked" pint, it's not 1978.

It's Hartlepool, so it is 1978.

[BlodwynPig]

Needs some tips on Darwen

[hamfist]

Marina area is indeed lovely, done some sailing out of there and doing a bit more in May. The chip shop next to the lock is (now) pretty good.

[buzby]

Maritime Museum was good. Last time I was there they were just getting rid of the last remains of the Steetley Magnesite works (which used to extract magnesium from the seawater), a famous urbex location that was accessed through the tunnel under the railway embankment at Brus Corner.

The corner of the roundabout that is now the sewage pumping station used to be the home of the Brus Cafe, which featured in the video for The Verve's Gravity Grave.

The rest of the video was shot further down the coast (I drove down via Seaton Carew, which as mentioned above is a nice little seaside resort) on the roads around Seal Sands oil refinery, Port Clarence and the former ICI chemical works at Billingham (the headquarters office block, which was another famous urbex location, was also still there when I visited ,but it is now long gone). As you may have guessed, I spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening doing some location spotting.

[Captain Crunch]

Worth going in the art gallery, it's in the old church near the station.  Their current exhibition is photos by John Bulmer, all grim 60's black and white stuff. Check out the comments board for a laugh.

[dontpaintyourteeth]

endear yourself to the locals by talking about how much you love scousers

[Dex Sawash]

Marina area is indeed lovely, done some sailing out of there and doing a bit more in May. The chip shop next to the lock is (now) pretty good.

Nice one, did you buy that boat?

[dissolute ocelot]

I recommend confusing it with Harrogate and demanding to be taken to the Royal Horticultural Society.

[hamfist]

Nice one, did you buy that boat?

Offer is with them. Very low cheeky offer - will know more end of the month !

[shoulders]

Chekky boat

[A Hat Like That]

One summer weekend, I walked from Hartlepool to Newcastle. Great weekend away. Think Hartlepool and Sunderland are far better and far nicer than reputations suggest.

Marina really nice, and active/busy. Few solid looking ale pubs. Headland a nice walk.

Even the beach from Alien 3 wasn't anything like the movie!

[madhair60]

Fartlepool

[hamfist]

So can you tell us when exactly you were in Hartlepool and who you were with during that time?

[gilbertharding]

Why, in The Damned United, does Brian Clough always refer to it as 'Hartlepools'?

In fact, if you look at Brian Clough's wikipedia page, it refers to him as managing 'Hartlepools Utd' - which made me check...

[Fambo Number Mive]

I find myself up in Hartlepool this Saturday and Sunday morning.  What's the pub and food situation like? Also for spending a few hours wandering about on Sunday morning. Marina area looks pleasant?

I shall be having a strategic shave before going just in case.

How was it? Many good walks? Never been and wondering if it is worth a visit.

[Gethin Grave]

Why, in The Damned United, does Brian Clough always refer to it as 'Hartlepools'?

In fact, if you look at Brian Clough's wikipedia page, it refers to him as managing 'Hartlepools Utd' - which made me check...

Hartlepool used to be two separate towns: West Hartlepool and Old Hartlepool. The football club started up as West Hartlepool but then changed its name to reflect that it represented both towns.

[Jittlebags]

Pubs were a bit dubious. There's a superb little Thai restaurant there. It's an interesting bit of coastline if you're into local history style stuff - fish docks, war defence and the like.

[ros vulgaris]

Hartlepool used to be two separate towns: West Hartlepool and Old Hartlepool. The football club started up as West Hartlepool but then changed its name to reflect that it represented both towns.

And the club's nickname is still Pools. At least before the monkey hanger thing caught on.