The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘hartlepool’

I’d missed lunch yesterday and was feeling a little peckish in the middle of the afternoon.  I wanted something quick, easy and unhealthy to put me over.  I stopped at the KFC outlet on Hartlepool Marina and immediately regretted walking in.  The staff were plentiful, but only one seemed to be serving.  When I say serving, in between telling her colleagues how she was looking forward to going out on the lash that evening, she managed to slowly serve a queue of three people in 10 minutes.  This must have been a new record.  Anyway, I did eventually get served but believe me when I say, I would have walked out, had I had other options.

Sitting down at one of the plastic tables with plastic chairs near the window, I started on my ‘meal’.  The fries were greasy, the chicken had clearly been stood around for a while and looked and tasted dried out. The only thing that was spot on was the cold Tango drink which was probably down to the fact that it is the only thing that didn’t require the staff to do something manual.   I pretty much left everything.  What made the experience fun though was listening to the servers friends who had by this point congregated in the corner and seemed to making themselves at home for the next couple of hours, no doubt with free drinks and food on offer.  My recommendation though would be, even if the food were free, don’t do it while this motley crew are ‘cooking’; sorry I meant ‘heating up badly while entertaining friends’.

Pryordurkin rating 1 Star (For the Tango)

Tel: 01429 271483

Remembering last year that the Christmas wreaths we bought from Jo’Anns Florists on Middle Street in Blackhall, we much better and half the price of the one we bought in York, I returned yesterday to pick up two of them.  One to put on pops grave and one for our front door.  At £25 each, they were as is now usual; excellent.  This shop over the many years we have now bought flowers from them has consistently supplied good quality, nicely presented seasonal flowers.  They have always been very competitively priced and with a second florists in the same village clearly keen to remain that way.  Living so far away as we now do, my sister in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire and myself in York, we usually ring up to have them delivered but as in this case, you can also pick them up in person.

Give them a go; they are worth the travel and certainly great value.

Pryordurkin rating 3 Stars.

Telephone: 0191 586 4817

I decided to give Grand Central Train Service another go this morning, travelling from York to London Kings Cross.  The train arrived into York on time and left bang on 8:21 as scheduled.  The train was pretty empty and many of the carriages only had a handful of people in.

The staff were cheerful and friendly as we headed for London.  My last review reported problems with punctuality so I hope this time will be different.  Over the weekend I popped into their sales centre in York.  It was like stepping back in time.  The place had a deathly silence about it and the elderly gentleman manning the front desk informed me they hoped to get a full service running as normal from next week.  Apparently they have their power engines back and they are being tested.

So back to the journey today.  I ordered some coffee at my seat and to be honest regretted it, the instant it was served. Not because the coffee was bad.  It was actually quite nice.  No, I regretted it because trying to keep the contents from spilling over my lap was a major challenge as we hurtled down the tracks.  I am not sure if this is because I sat in the last seat of the last carriage, but I certainly felt every twist and turn of the tracks underneath.  I was reminded that people who want the biggest thrill on roller-coasters always take the last seats.  I find myself being tempted to put my arms in the air as we take a bend!

The ticket prices seem to have gone up since I last used the service and the gap between Grand Central train service prices and those offered by National Express East Coast main line services has certainly narrowed.   However this doesn’t really surprise me and I still hope this service will eventually find it feets and settle into providing a reliable, good quality and value for money service to those people travelling from Sunderland, Hartlepool, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton, Thirsk and York to London Kings Cross.

Score: 3 Stars

USEFUL CONTACT NUMBERS:

0871 244 0216 – Web bookings and Mobitix support.

0844 811 0071 – To book tickets over the phone.

0845 603 4852 – Grand Central Railway Customer Services.

0845 748 4950 – National Rail Enquiries.

The Ship Inn. This old local public house held lots of good memories for me as we visited it today for a spot of lunch.  More than 25 years earlier, my Sister Christine and I had been in this same pub but for very different reasons.  Christine had fallen from her horse (read small Pony) and had broken several teeth.  The owners at the time took us in the while the parents were called.  The memory is still vivid and brought a smile to my face! 

Anyway today, we were returning from having visited Horden and needed some good homely food for lunch.  The place re-opened in the last year or so having been closed for 5-6 years previous.  The current owners are warm, friendly and welcoming, a clear Northern trait.

It has been tastefully decorated, not garishly like some pubs, but with understated quality and style.  The food is equally impressive with a choice of very good bar meals, to A La Carte dishes in the restaurant.  You can have a great Steak in the Bar or choose of the Chef Specials.  This time round, I went for a traditional Scampi and Home Made Chunky Chips which were fantastic.  Dusty went for the Chef’s Special which was a very good Chicken Curry.  It had clearly been cooked with care and was not the usual microwaved affair you sometimes get in pubs.  This was, as it said on the menu, authentic.

A great selection of Real Ale’s are also on offer, but because we are more wine drinkers we could not really comment. However  judging by the regulars in the place, it clearly has a loyal following.

Apart from the paper knapkins in the bar, forgiveable, given they do provide cloth napkins in the restaurant, we found everything to our liking.  Piping hot, freshly cooked food served with finese and style.

For businessmen working in or around Peterlee, Hartlepool or Durham this pub also provides some excellent accomodation. 

Anyway, we enjoyed our brief stop over and would recommend it to anyone who fancies a good meal in a good local pub.

If you visit, let us know what you think.

Score. 4 Stars. Visited December 2007.