A stopover in Leeds for a gig with a few beers in a mixture of pubs and bars, which with some decent food to be had made for an enjoyable time predominantly wandering around a former edgy part of the city.... I caught the train over to Leeds from Halifax, arriving in the city just before 5.30. I popped in to one of the several drinking places close by, the Friends of Ham on New Station Street, which is currently not in the Good Beer Guide but to me these days is always worth a visit and its inclusion or not is probably more down to the level of competition to be found in the city these days. It was fairly quiet, being a Monday, with just a few tables occupied by people enjoying a post-work and/or a pre-train drink. I went for a pint of the 4% Hamthology pale ale, a collaboration between the bar and local brewery Anthology, which was a very pleasant beer in excellent condition (NBSS 3.5). I spent an enjoyable 20 minutes here before my mind turned to checking in to my hotel and then sor...
A reflection on rural pubs, how things have changed over the years, and how some of them have adapted in order to survive in these difficult times.... I revisited a pub at the weekend where I used to go sometimes when I was a lad, and whilst I have called in intermittently over the years, it was quite a while since I'd last visited, and so it was interesting to see how it had changed. The pub in question was the Fleece at Barkisland, which is situated high above the West Yorkshire village of Ripponden on the edge of the Pennine moors, where I was attending the evening part of the wedding of one of the football lads, whose stag do I referred to in the blog I wrote following our recent visit to Boston and Newark. The Fleece is a traditional pub which, according to an inscription in the stone over the door, dates back to 1737. It was situated on an old pack horse route which in these parts tended to go over the hills and avoid the valleys below, which were often dangerous with...