The Whittington and Cat, Hull: Why it's time to show some love for Yorkshire pub on the wrong side of never-ending roadworks
I was trying to work it out and I think it’s been getting on for six years now since the Whittington and Cat became the loneliest pub in Hull.
While it sits, you see, bang in the middle of town, it’s been on the wrong side of the seemingly never-ending A63 Castle Street roadworks that have clogged up the centre of the city for what feels like an eternity.
Being on the blocked-off side of the road has meant that the Whittington and Cat has effectively been without all passing trade, most walk-in trade and has been an absolute chore to get to.
Whichever way you attack from – either in car or on foot - you have to throw yourself into constant traffic jam chaos and hope to come out unscathed.
Somehow landlady and owner Gill Ralph has managed to keep her pub open throughout and, with the Highways Agency promising to have the road complete and fully re-opened for vehicles in a matter of weeks, she can finally see the light at the end of the underpass.
The pub has been a fixture of the city’s drinking circuit for as long as anyone can remember and the building itself is believed to date from the 1830s.
It’s always done decent pub grub and still does and used to be a popular stop-off for those going to see a gig at the nearby Ice Arena. That’s what I mainly used to use it for.
It seems that the pub has mainly survived thanks to the abundant upstairs accommodation (which once featured on Channel 4’s popular Four In A Bed show) that has no doubt ironically been a long-term home to many of the workers on the road improvements.
With time nearly, finally, up on the Castle Street works, it’s high time to show some love to a true survivor of a pub and I hope the drinking contingent of Hull’s population will find its way across the new road for a pint or three in the Whittington and Cat.
Welcome 4/5
Atmosphere 3/5
Drinks choice 3/5
Prices 4/5
The Whittington and Cat Commercial Road, Hull, HU1 2SA
www.whittingtonandcathull.co.uk