Proof of ‘unchanged’ nature of Old Town public house is needed
The George Hotel, Land of Green Ginger, Hull(Image: Katie Pugh)
An appeal has gone out from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for people who have long-held memories, and hopefully pictures, of a pub in Hull’s Old Town. CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group maintains a national inventory of public houses that have interiors of special historic interest.
This covers those venues that have remained wholly or partly in an unaltered state for upwards of 50 years. Examples of such pubs in Hull are the Olde White Harte and the Olde Black Boy. Now CAMRA would like help from pubgoers who have evidence of the George Hotel, in the Land of Green Ginger, showing it unaltered down the decades.
Stuart Mumby represents CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group. He said: “We are currently researching a new edition of our guide book to pubs in Yorkshire and the North East and we are interested in the George Hotel, the Land of Green Ginger.
“To date, we have been unable to find sufficient evidence of unchanged fixtures and fittings that meet the criteria for inclusion in the book. Existing archive material has been examined but found to be lacking in the details we need.
“We’re hoping that Hull Daily Mail readers, who have been regular customers of the George Hotel over the years and who have first-hand recollection of any changes that have occurred, can help.”
Stuart added: “Pictures would be wonderful, if there are any. What we need to do is establish the age of the fittings in the George.
“Ideally we need people who can remember what it looked like 50 years ago. We’ve been in contact with one person who is a relative of a man who owned the pub.”
The group is working on a second edition of the guide, which contains some of Hull’s old pubs. “What we are trying to establish is whether the George has sufficient historic interior features to qualify for inclusion.”
Stuart said that like the grade listings for buildings, the Pub Heritage Group has a category rating for historic interiors, with one to three stars for the most unspoilt examples. The CAMRA list is the product of over 30 years of research and identifies pubs with intact traditional interiors or which have features and rooms of national importance.
The national inventory currently includes five three-star graded entries in East Yorkshire, those being the White Horse, Beverley; Station Buffet, Bridlington and the White Hart, Olde White Harte and Olde Black Boy, all in Hull.
If anyone can help regarding the history of the George Hotel interior, they can email Stuart Mumby at mga@live.co.uk
READ MORE: Nostalgic photos from around the Hull area 35 years ago in 1991