A Summers stroll in Scarborough

[Joe 90]

Last time I visited Scarborough for a weekend I was riding a vespa 125cc scooter back in 1988.
I seem to recollect the journey via the country roads taking a couple of hours.

First up lunch.

Mocca with an extra shot and a steak bake at the world's doggiest motorway service station somewhere near the highest motorway in England..



The joy of motorway driving in the UK !
40mph zones then 60mph then back down to 50mph and all ccctvied up ready go issue you with an automatic fine through the post.

Three hours later and I stopped off after York to check out this iconic roadside shop in the middle of nowhere..



Another hour and this didn't touch the sides..




Now then ladies and gentlemen this is what £60 a night gets you in sunny Scarborough!

Hotel Cortez from American Horror story



I'm sure this hotel was cool as fook back in the 1970's.
There wasn't a right angle in the place and there was a slight slope on the bed so you gradually slid off to the edge during the night and was awoken by the sticky carpet.
Tbf that wasn't the main issue with the bed, it was the two dead bodies masquerading as a mattress.
There was a shower next to the bed and an ensuite toilet about 2 m2 painted in a rather decadent midnight blue.

The room had a view of the skip and monstrous seaguls foraging with the enthusiasm of a scene from the Hitchcock movie..

[Joe 90]

Rigamortis had set in after some serious Northern Soul dancing the next morning, so I ventured out to explore the quaint English seaside town.

Breakfast first..



Go On then you rat of the sky, it was too oily anyhow and my hangover wasn't helping my appetite..



Who'd have thunk it, Buxton by the sea..



Fooked if I could find the fountain of eternal youth in Yorkshire.

Some interesting architecture and helpful train track cable cars to get you up and down the steep cliffs for a couple of quid.

No way was I walking up after the punishment my legs had taken the previous night on the dancefloor!











At the highest point stood this majestic hotel were I partaked of their facilities, very nice and decent value for £20..

[Joe 90]

Rejuvenated from my spa experience I continued my stroll..


Surfs up with plenty partaking of the delights of the refreshing North Sea..



Scarborough castle in the distance..



Back down to sea level..



Beachside chalets to rent for £50 a day..



Some street art..





Plenty of stuff to do for all ages here and a gem of a town on the North East coast, Would have liked to explore more but time wasn't on my side.





The evening venue beckoned...

[kingwilly]

Great stuff, Chitty.

[david44]

Lovely , I recall those open top buses in Sussex as a child thought they were only brought out for winning football celebrations by cup winners like ...Chelsea!

That spa seems good value a day pass in Surrey was nearer 40.
As for hotel prices makes you realize why folks go Spain or here plus the weather cuisine and hippy ending in the land of stiff "JOINTS" massage extras and delicious food.

[armstrong]

There's a bus like that in Bangkok with Great Yarmouth paint.

Fuck knows how it landed up there.

* It's not a public bus. Just appears at events.

[taxexile]

were you staying in the Grand Hotel? its a remarkable building, and in its day a stay there would have been an event. it is owned by britannia hotels, most of their hotels now are used to house illegal asylum seekers, but apparently the one in scarborough still operates as a hotel for the public. last time i was in scarborough, about 5 years ago, we went in to have a look at the place, but the state of the place, and the state of most of the visitors or guests there was rather off putting and we made a hasty exit. the hotel room you showed was particularly grim, but at least the sink was handy for a 3am piss. there are actually some good boutique hotels in scarborough, and that stretch of coastline is spectacular. its just a pity that the local councils make visitors feel so unwelcome with their policies on car parking. anyway, if you did in fact stay there, i hope you survived and wish you a speedy recovery.

some interesting facts about the grand hotel.

The Grand Hotel is a large hotel in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, overlooking the town's South Bay. It is a Grade II* listed building and is owned by Britannia Hotels. At the time of its grand opening in 1867, it was the largest hotel and the largest brick structure in Europe.

Design

The hotel was designed by the Hull architect Cuthbert Brodrick, who was better known as the designer of several Leeds buildings, and when completed in 1867 was one of the largest hotels in the world, as well as one of the first giant purpose-built hotels in Europe. The hotel's yellow (also referred to as tawny) brickwork was made locally in Hunmanby and is complemented with traditional red brickwork around the windows. The architectural sculpture was executed by Burstall and Taylor of Leeds.

The building is designed around the theme of time: four towers to represent the seasons, 12 floors for the months of the year, 52 chimneys symbolise the weeks, and originally there were 365 bedrooms, one for each day of a non-leap year. Following the renovation the room count was reduced to 280. The hotel itself is in the shape of a 'V' in honour of Queen Victoria. The hotel's peak was arguably during Victorian times, when wealthy holidaymakers made up the establishment's clientele. As Scarborough was a spa town, the building's baths originally included an extra pair of taps, so guests could wash in seawater as well as fresh.

The design has similarities to contemporaries of the period that were stylised as "French Second Empire mode". The windows on the ground and first floors are round headed. Those on the first floor also have a continuous iron rail balcony. All first to third floor windows have a cornice over the top denoting the floor boundary. The eaves level windows are located between the projecting brackets for the eaves. The attic windows are squared dormer on the lower level and rounded on the upper. The attic levels, being part of the roof are covered in slate. On the narrow end of the building there is domed structure between the two towers. Facing the sea, the three basement levels can be seen clearly extended the full length of the building. A glass-enclosed terrace has been added on top of this. The building was first listed on 8 June 1973 with number 1243163 under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

History
Construction began in 1863 and was completed in 1867, at a cost of over £100,000. At the time, it was the largest brick building in Europe. The first manager was M. Augustus Fricour, who had previously been in charge at the Hotel Mirabeau in Paris. The grand opening was on 24 July 1867.

From 1887, the hotel forged a link with the local annual cricket festival (Scarborough Festival), and allowed guests attending the exclusive use of the old dining room. The connection was extended to the cricket ground in the late 1940s, when staff from the hotel would serve food and drink to the players.

The hotel was badly damaged on 16 December 1914, during a raid on the town by the German Navy. The bombardment, by the battlecruisers Derfflinger and Von der Tann, accompanied by the light cruiser Kolberg, began soon after 8 a.m. and it was reported that the hotel was hit at least 30 times.

In 1939, the hotel became the home to RAF trainees and the corner cupolas housed anti-aircraft guns. Following the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980, the hotel was used in a covert training exercise by the SAS in preparation for other anticipated terrorist incidents.

The hotel now caters towards the budget end of the spectrum. The hotel was bought by Butlins, the company better known for its holiday camps, in 1978 and was run as an inexpensive choice of accommodation. In November 2004, the hotel was purchased by Britannia from Grand Leisure Group.

During the first decade of the 21st century, the hotel suffered multiple health and safety issues. Several cases of sickness had been reported in the mid-1990s under its previous ownership, and in 2002, an outbreak of gastroenteritis hospitalised one man and affected more than 200 guests and staff. A month later, 54 people fell ill, leading to ten days' closure to carry out cleaning. In October 2004, guests were quarantined in their rooms because of reports of sickness. In December, the hotel shut for ten days after an outbreak of the Norwalk virus (norovirus) that closed the establishment for several days, although no one required hospital treatment. A spokesperson for the North Yorkshire Health Protection Unit blamed the incidents on the age of the building and "bad luck".

In 2006, the hotel was fined £10,000 after a guest drank water that contained dangerous levels of bleach. In June 2011, 70 guests were affected by an outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea. The cause was suspected but not confirmed to have been a viral gastrointestinal infection. In March 2007, 120 people fell ill with norovirus; infection control specialists stressed that the management should not be held responsible, as similar outbreaks are commonplace elsewhere. In 2005, an investigative BBC report revealed several health issues at the hotel, including the presence of E. coli bacteria.This report was branded "sensationalist" by Scarborough council's environmental health officer.

In May 2006, a fire broke out on the sixth floor of the building, possibly caused by renovation work. The hotel was quickly evacuated while local fire crews dealt with what they described as "quite a severe fire". Extinguishing the blaze took over 40 minutes because of the number of stairs in the building and the amount of smoke, which both hampered firefighters' movements.

Following articles published by Yorkshire Live in December 2020 and June 2021, claiming that conditions in the hotel had deteriorated, the Sunday Times also reported on the poor state of the hotel. Similar reports were made about other Britannia-owned hotels; Britannia had been voted Britain's worst hotel chain by Which? surveys of guests for the eight years up to 2020. On 5 October 2021, the hotel was evacuated in response to a hoax bomb threat.

[kingwilly]

Interesting stuff tax, thanks for posting.

[taxexile]

Interesting stuff tax, thanks for posting.

my pleasure drwilly.

have a nice day.

[klong toey]

Oh we do like to live beside the seaside thanks for sharing.
It's a shame Judy, Judy Judy is considered to violent .

[taxexile]

[david44]

Alert for bike sox men


6 hours ago — Jabs will be offered for free to those at highest risk from the bacteria, including gay and bisexual men

SKY News is warning people in England not to venture North of the Tyne or Preston, always sound advice, for our great gourmet dancer and cyclist it is due to a bit of a blow, Norfern Irn has power cuts not explained id due to range jews fenian suicide bummers or poof sharing press beertairains

Good luck as THE OLD GRAFITI on the grate norf rd bridge in London announces

PS great freebiw for thise who like the middle aisle at LieDell or ALLdie there are free Ginner rear jabs

IT'S GRIM OOP NORF

TDs STD STV UTV etc

[taxexile]

Good luck as THE OLD GRAFITI on the grate norf rd bridge in London announces

PS great freebiw for thise who like the middle aisle at LieDell or ALLdie there are free Ginner rear jabs

IT'S GRIM OOP NORF

TDs STD STV UTV etc

its grim everywhere.

[david44]

Good catch Poxexcell

[Joe 90]

were you staying in the Grand Hotel?

Funnily enough it was actually booked solid!
The Brittiania hotel chain should really reinvest some profits back into the building as it is a magnificent example of Victorian architecture. I did venture in to Britain's worst rated hotel on TripAdvisor and had a look around, the outdoor terrace has a perfect view over the harbour.

They have a similar hotel in a prime location in Llandudno that they've let go to rack and ruin. The Brittiania group really are leeches and bloodsuckers, I wonder who the owners/shareholders are?

The only satisfied guests I saw where the thousands of seaguls nesting all over the building and the walls and pavement all around were stained white with seagul shit.

[taxexile]

I wonder who the owners/shareholders are?

Britannia Hotels was founded in 1976 with the purchase of the Britannia Country House Hotel in Didsbury, Manchester. Its chief executive, founder, and largest shareholder remains Alex Langsam. Langsam is a non-domiciled UK resident, registered as living in Austria for tax purposes since 1999. His net personal worth was valued at £401 million in 2025 by The Sunday Times.


Alex Langsam is the founder and chief executive of Britannia Hotels, a budget hotel chain in the UK known for its poor customer ratings. He has amassed a fortune estimated at £400 million, largely through government contracts to house asylum seekers in his hotels.

no surprise there.

[Joe 90]

^ nice sleuthing Tax!

Scratch the surface and I'm sure there's more to this "non dom" traitor dubbed the " Asylum King" .
He lives in the wealthy paradise of Hale in Cheshire.
His heritage and wealth grants him a prime plot in the Mount of Olives.

[Joe 90]

Some musical nostalgia and a catch up with old hipsters..

[Joe 90]

Between Scarborough and York the fields either side for miles were full of picturesque hay fields with millions of freshly stacked bales, impossible to stop and get a pic because of the traffic but memorable nevertheless.

It's nice to get home for some traditional fayre from Hells Kitchen to recover and get ready for the next adventure.

Homemade chicken and vegetable soup with a crumble and cream made from the finest Yorkshire blackberries and apples..

[Mendip]

Did you pick the blackberries yourself?

That crumble looks great but I can't help feeling that you overfilled the dish a little bit?

When that happens to me I use the overspill to make a couple of mini crumbles using recycled Korat Chef foil pie cases, and freeze them.

[misskit]

Such a nice place for a summer beach getaway, Joe. Just lovely.

Not knowing anything about UK geography, I had to look to see where you were on Google Maps. Just after looking at the location, I saw the below news article and got a little worried until I looked for Lyham on the map. Whew! You were on the other side of the country at the beach!

Panic in little UK seaside town as naked man in 'gimp' mask on streets | Weird | News | Express.co.uk

[Reg Dingle]

^ You didn't stumble upon that whilst googling Scarborough, you filthy fucking minx.

Nice pics Joe

[Joe 90]

Did you pick the blackberries yourself?

That crumble looks great but I can't help feeling that you overfilled the dish a little bit?

The Blackberries are coming to fruition early this year due to the early heatwaves, more Blackberries on the bushes than ever before.
Might pick some more later and have a crumble with custard instead.

saw the below news article and got a little worried until I looked for Lyham on the map. Whe

Lytham is the posh end of Blackpool popular with retirees, wealthy. That gimp must have got lost on the tram from Blackpool, plenty of gimps there. They have gimp clubs and hotels I've heard.
I believe Hal is there on holiday at the moment, not heard from him in a while...

Nice pics Joe

Cheers, you should take your family for a weekend. Nice part of the country .

I'd avoid my hotel though as the receptionist was a 5foot wide Tranny who spoke with a Geordie accent and reminded me of Leslie from the tv series Benidorm.

[Mendip]

Cheers, you should take your family for a weekend. Nice part of the country

To be fair, it's probably not easy to combine a family holiday with a 'gimp trip'.

Doorbell footage shows the man walking through the town of Lytham at around 12.50am on Friday, July 18.

[david44]

Other incidents saw the Somerset Gimp walk up to villagers before dropping to the floor and "writhing" in grass and dirt. Hunt was then ordered not to "crawl, wriggle or writhe on the ground wearing a full-body covering or mask."

For those who dess 'normally' may I add the lovley hills of Somerset are known as the....................................



Wait for it



















MENDIPS

Where insertion into sheep and dogging were common long before Conk Ken or the Gimp clubs of Chiang mai