Pub of the week

NELLIES, BEVERLEY

Some pubs never change, even when they constantly change. Nellies never changes. Nellies always was and still is about more than any single element.

Built around 1666, the White Horse Inn on Hengate in Beverley is easily the most atmospheric pub in the East Riding and could probably claim that title across the whole of Yorkshire. Ancient furniture, wonky floors, dark corners, and utterly beguilingly wondrous. You’d describe it as Dickensian but it feels like it might have been like this since long before Dickens ever put pen to paper.

It’s called Nellies after one of the former landladies and is effectively curated by its regulars today. Landlords and staff come and go and even regulars eventually move on but those that are left take up the righteous cause and keep the old place wheezing along as it has for well over a quarter of a millennium.

It’s currently a Sam Smiths pub, so you know what to expect, a cheap pint and own-brand crisps. But these are minor concerns compared with what really matters about Nellies; the environment and the people. Any time, day or night, when you step through the threshold, you’re entering a timewarp more vivid than any period drama.

The old men chuntering in the bar, the amazed students soaking up the lounge and the bemused tourists in the Sliding Door room, wondering what to make of it all.

All add to the ongoing tale of Nellies and (hopefully) ever thus it will be. The faces may change but the story is retold daily.

■ Nellies (The White Horse Inn), 22 Hengate, Beverley, HU17 8BN. Tel: 01482 861973.