Chester is an ollllld settlement, founded by the Romans around AD79 as a fortress called Deva during the Roman’s expansion North. In fact, it may originally have been intended as the country’s capital. It’s also where I went to university to do my MSc in Biomedical Science and I went back recently for my graduation.
I booked my train tickets ridiculously far in advance, because Aberdeen to anywhere that far South is expensive! Because I was so unbelievably forward thinking for a change, I actually managed to get my hands on my first ever first-class tickets for only a nominal extra fee. As soon as I got on that first train of the journey I knew that was it, I am never going back to standard class! On the first train I got free coffee and a free scone with free jam and free clotted cream. Actual clotted cream! On the second train I got free coffee and free biscuits. On the third train I got free coffee, a free bacon butty and free cake. On the last train I got nothing because that was only standard class. Rude! FYI on the way back to Aberdeen after my trip ended I got all of that plus two free gin and tonics, which made up for the fact the train was busy and I had to sit next to other people!
In Chester my parents had booked a really nice Airbnb right off Bridge Street, smack in the centre of town, which was great because I had ambitious plans to eat and drink my way around all my favourite places (and some new ones). The notable ones are, of course, mentioned below.
The first place I wanted to go to was Porta, an authentic little tapas restaurant which sits underneath the Roman Northgate. I can’t rave about Porta enough! It’s warm, cosy, full of atmosphere and has hands down the best patatas bravas and the best pastel de nata I have ever tasted. Apart from the specials, which obviously change, I’ve had everything on the menu and have never been disappointed. There are a couple of things worth bearing in mind though. You can’t book a table at Porta, I’ve normally tried to get there early or just accepted that I might have to go away for a glass of wine before trying again. Which is definitely not a problem when you have the likes of Covino just around the corner. Porta’s also normally quite a bustling and noisy place. This adds something for me, I enjoy the activity and being able to watch the chefs in the corner of the restaurant do their thing, but, it can be tough to hold a conversation sometimes. Again, not a problem for me but something worth thinking about if you’re taking your hard of hearing pal or wanting to have a serious in depth chat with someone. Could be a good excuse to get a little closer to someone though!
After a long day on the train (about 8 hours) for me and a long day at work for my parents, Porta was our only stop for the evening. Bed was beckoning!
It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that I can be a bit of a coffee snob! I’ll only drink instant out of desperation or out of politeness. I can be overly British about accepting personal discomfort over possibly offending someone or appearing awkward…until I get to know someone! My parents are not coffee snobs so with only instant in the Airbnb it was an absolute priority for me to get myself to a coffee shop ASAP! Chester is full of ‘hipster’ coffee places and even more have sprung up since I was doing my masters. If I’m honest I feel like most of them are style over substance. (One fine exception to that is Bean & Cole which is both style and substance). I’m a sucker for good branding though and I love to people watch in these places so paying over the odds for a small coffee that tastes a little burnt sometimes is something I have done more often than I care to admit! What was I saying about being a coffee snob again? Maybe I should take that back and just leave it at snob!
So, my choice for morning coffee was the Bridge Street Roastery which was a new one for me. Honestly? It’s been a couple of weeks between me going and me writing this and I don’t remember much about it which probably says all you need to know. It was fine, I know I had a nice cookie because I have a photo of it, and I’m assuming that the coffee wasn’t bad otherwise I would remember that. But it obviously didn’t blow me away either!
After I was suitably caffeinated, me and my parents went for a walk around the walls. The Chester walls circuit is about 2 miles and takes in most of the ‘must see’ Chester sites; Eastgate clock, River Dee, Chester Canal, the Roodee (Chester racecourse) and the Roman amphitheatre. The walls were built by the Romans to defend Deva (Chester) and strengthened before the English civil war in the mid-1600s. They’ve also had multiple repairs over the thousands of years they’ve been standing. I imagine there’s quite a lot of ‘wear and tear’.
The walls also hold a couple of my favourite stories and ‘facts’ about the city. For a start the Roodee was once covered by water and acted as a harbour but after the river silted and a few hundred years went by, the site of the Roodee became home to the Goteddsday football match. This was such a bloody and brutal match that football was banned and replaced by horse racing in the early 1500s. The first horse race on the Roodee was actually the first horse race of its kind in the country and was allowed by Mayor Gee, hence the ‘gee-gees’. Further along from the racecourse is the home of a set of steps by the River Dee that women would run up and down holding their breath. If they could make it all the way they would be lucky in love! No idea if it’s true but I like to think it could be.
It’s not anywhere near the walls but it’s one of my favourite stories so I’m going to tell it. There’s a clock tower in the city with only three clock faces on it. Chester is right on the border of Wales and when there were fewer buildings to block the view into the city you could see over the border from Wales into England. Not wanting to give the Welsh anything for free the people of Chester chose not to put a clock face on the side of the tower facing Wales. Apparently, that’s where the saying ‘won’t even give you the time of day’ comes from! As above, I have no idea if that’s true but I so want it to be. It’s the height of pettiness!
Walking around the city whilst reminiscing (mum also went to university in Chester) is thirsty work and I knew exactly where I wanted to go. I’d been thinking about it for weeks!
There’s a ‘secret’ cocktail bar in Chester along Watergate Street called Prohibition. I love that shit. You have to walk up to, and knock on, a none descript door that’s tucked out of the way and wait for someone to let you in. Inside, the bar is dark and cosy and the menus are hidden in books. The drinks are inventive and tasty and the staff are lovely. I actually spent the 2017/18 new year there. I can’t remember what me and mum had but dad had a cocktail that involved pickle juice and it was weirdly great!
On the way home from Prohibition we weaved our way to Urbano 32, my favourite pizza place in Chester. When I first moved to Chester I was still vegan and Urbano 32 do great vegan pizzas, now I’m not vegan I can tell you they do great non-vegan pizzas too. The restaurant has a really cool vibe but we got our pizzas to take away so we could greedily eat pizza on the sofa. Winner! Whilst we were waiting we had a beer, obviously, and they sold cans of Dead Pony Club, an Aberdeenshire favourite of mine. Also a winner.
The following day was my graduation day and I started it right with a coffee from Jaunty Goat. This has to be the most stylish of the stylish coffee places in Chester and I am in love with their logo.
There’s not too much to say about graduation. Gyles Brandreth from The One Show is the Chancellor of the University of Chester and did all the handshaking and Joanna Lumley was there receiving an honorary doctorate. Other than that, it was a pretty standard affair. I made dad take me on a photo shoot around Chester, which is about the only time I’ll suffer having my photo taken over and over again! I’m not going to lie, I love prancing around in that gown and the fact the graduation was in Chester with it’s cobbled streets, medieval rows and fancy clock it all felt very ‘Harry Potter’ and I am absolutely down with that. We, my parents and I, had dinner in Hickory’s on the River Dee to celebrate. The food there is so good and I went to town, had a fair few of their frozen margaritas too.
Biomedical Science graduate. 
Dad was pretty invested in the rugby on our last day in Chester so me and mum left him to it in the Airbnb and went shopping. The shopping bit isn’t so interesting and I actually don’t think we bought anything. We got bored pretty quickly and retreated to another new coffee place called Chalk coffee on Watergate Street. They had doughnuts there and we all know that I fancy myself as a doughnut connoisseur. I’d give them a solid 6/10 on the scale; bit sweet and the dough could have been softer but I’d eat it again! For 10/10 doughnuts you need to go to the doughnut stand under the Eastgate, but unfortunately they were never open when we walked passed. It was tragic!
Pretty quickly after Chalk Coffee I was ready for a beer and I was pretty keen to go to Beer Heroes, also on Watergate Street. My supervisor, my colleague and me have a beer swap every Christmas and I wanted to pick something up from Chester for it. My theme this year is to buy a beer from everywhere I travel. I think I’m a little spoiled by the bars in Aberdeen because they’re on another level, but Beer Heroes was definitely creeping up my list of favourite bars towards CASC, 6° North or Brewdog (all in Aberdeen). Essentially, anywhere that has a good saison and is unafraid to sell sours has a vote from me.
…and that was pretty much it. My visit back to Chester and my graduation was done and after an incredibly brief trip back to Hereford I travelled back up North to Scotland. First class, obviously. That’s the only way I travel now!! (I wish)!
In A Kingdom By The Sea 