Polar Bear

The Polar Bear (like the Botanic next door) was named due to it standing opposite the former Hull Zoological Gardens, a forgotten Victorian attraction that stood on the corner of Spring Bank and Princes Ave. The Bear is one of the most notable pubs not only in the city but also in the UK as it is one of only eleven pubs that have retained a ceramic bar. In the Polar Bear’s case it is a wonderfully impressive, huge, curved affair that is now grade 2 listed along with the pub’s equally attractive stained glass dome ceiling. Coincidentally, one of the other ceramic bars is also in Hull, in the White Hart on Alfred Gelder Street.