It may be part of a so-called 'pubco', but the column finds the ambience plentiful at The White House.

IT hadn't been a race for the White House so much as a brisk and bracing 90 minute stroll along the shoreline at Old Hartlepool, past Fairy Cove Terrace to Spion Kop and back again beside the recharging Battery.

Despite its promenading pleasures, a certain irritation remained. On the A689 we'd passed a mini-bus bearing in large letters on the side the information that it was run by the Tynedale Club for the Differently Abled.

What sort of pathetic, mealy mouthed, politically cockeyed, committee conceived, ultimately insulting title is that? It's not only egregious, not only awkward and ungrammatical but is almost certainly offensive to some of those it purports to champion.

The physically handicapped would probably rather be seen - rather stop at home, anyway - than travel in something that badged them as differently abled.

Nor had the Mr Angry mood been lightened by an email that morning from a teacher in County Durham who talked of "setting a president". Unheard of? Probably not.

A pretty good lunch was needed. Happily, one was delivered.

The White House is in Hartlepool's exceedingly pleasant west end, near Ward Jackson Park. Once a Roman Catholic boys' grammar school, after the war a military hospital, it has now been handsomely converted by Ember Inns - part of what the trade calls a pubco.

Food critics aren't much supposed to care for pubcos. Chain reaction, this one was very pleasant indeed.

Served from a central bar, it has eight different areas - smoking and non-smoking, some traditionally furnished with leather armchairs and the like, others with those vogue-ish high tables and six foot chairs to match.

The column, of course, is decidedly from the feet on the ground school.

There was a menu for Ember members everywhere, an exceptionally informative drinks guide with a foreword by Masham brewer Simon Theakston and an attractively produced leaflet promoting the company's "Lagers of the World" festival, running until May 2.

The lager leaflet also revealed - "claimed" may be the better word - that a cennosillicaphobic has a fear of empty glasses. The symptoms seem familiar, at any rate, and the spellcheck's had to go for a lie down, an' all.

Happily there are also six regularly changing real ales, sufficiently well kept to make the White House one of just three Hartlepool pubs - the Causeway and the Jacksons Arms the others - in CAMRA's 2005 Good Beer Guide.

The GBG also reckons that The Times and The Guardian were available. Last week, perhaps seeking political balance, it was The Guardian and the Daily Mail. The Times, as Mr Bob Dylan observed, a-changing.

The Strongarm hadn't had far to stagger, the Timothy Taylor's Landlord was exceedingly aromatic. Others included Zebedee from the Marlow Brewery and Roaring Meg from the Springhead brewery in Newark, which makes beer with a Civil War connection.

The staff - young, female, smiley, attentive, exceptionally pleasant - offered a tab and an empty Bass bottle to mark the table. Other places let wooden spoons serve that purpose.

Many of the customers also seemed to be young ladies who lunch, though old men wouldn't feel unwelcome. The sign outside indicating that there were no children's facilities didn't mean, of course, that well behaved bairns wouldn't necessarily be welcome - weans in the garden only - but that those seeking a Wonky Weighbridge (or whatever now appeals to the kindergarten class) should find their child's play elsewhere.

We began with cold smoked chicken and mango with a mango dressing for £3.40, a bit light on the chicken but a pleasant combination; The Boss had spinach and ricotta ravioli in a tomato sauce with cheese shavings. "Excellent," she said.

From a main course list which also included lamb shank with rosemary and shallots, wild mushroom risotto and sausage and apple mash, she had a salmon and mixed peppers kebab - well she didn't, she had two, £1.95 extra - with jacket potato and dressed leaves.

A Lincolnshire sausage baguette - plenty of sandwiches, wraps and salads - arrived with a nice caramelised onion chutney and chips which let the side down a bit.

It was all very civilised, very relaxed. The Oval Office would approve.

* The White House, Wooler Road, Hartlepool (01429) 224392. Good value food until 8pm. No problem for the differently abled.

EATING out's growing so phenomenally in Hartlepool - so the council says, anyway - that tomorrow evening they're launching an "Eat Guide" and clearly expecting a good turn out. A double decker bus has been laid on to take everyone from the Ocean restaurant in Seaton Carew on to Cameron's Brewery visitor centre and to Krimo's on the Marina. The White House doubtless gets a word in edgeways, too. "Hartlepool," says the council, "has some great examples of world cuisine."

STILL walking, still on holiday, we also looked into the Maypole at Long Preston - administratively in North Yorkshire, but closer to Morecambe than Northallerton. (Probably closer to Belfast, come to think, than to Northallerton.)

The Good Beer Guide dances enthusiastic attendance - welcoming landlord, coal fires, great ham and eggs and Moorhouses Premium Bitter, champion beer of Britain a few years back. The Boss sipped cider made by an Italian in Batley.

Long Preston's on the Settle and Carlisle Railway. A Maypole Day warmly recommended.

SPOILED for choice, we hear of two beer festivals over the last weekend of April.

Bishop Auckland's knees up, organised by the Wear Valley CAMRA branch, takes place at the town's rugby club - by the Wear at Newton Cap - from April 27-30: 6-11pm Wednesday, 12-11pm Thursday, 11am-11pm Friday and 11am-5pm Saturday. Around two dozen ales are promised from all over these shores - quite a few from islands off them - including Rivet Catcher from the Jarrow Brewery, named last week as North-East beer of the year.

The Crown at Manfield, about five miles south-west of Darlington, must have at least 26 options because they promise an A-Z of beers and ciders, the X-factor no problem.

Manfield's festive from April 29-May 2 - Friday night curry night, music on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - and with perhaps even more to celebrate because it's just been named Darlington CAMRA's pub of the year, as well as winning the "country pub" title.

THE Britannia in Darlington, birthplace of Everyman publisher J M Dent, has deservedly been named CAMRA's town pub of the year in recognition of Sue Carr's unchanging commitment to ever-changing real ales. The Strongarm, happily, remains one of life's constants. The born again Grand in Bishop Auckland, living up to its name and contemplating a brewery out the back, is Wear Valley CAMRA's pub of the year.

...and finally the bairns wondered a little mischievously if we knew the difference between roast beef and pea soup.

Anyone can roast beef...