At the risk of sounding like a stuck record, a new bar opened in Halifax yesterday, incredibly the 3rd in 4 months!
The latest to open is the Alexandra Beer House on, not surprisingly, Alexandra Street, down the side of the Halifax's Commercial Street branch, and was formerly the Three Lanterns restaurant.
The plan had been to pay a long overdue visit to The Grayston Unity and then pop down to The Pumproom, but a guy I was talking to in the Grayston mentioned a new place had just opened up near where he worked, and so, me being me, I decided a visit was in order. I'd had a good chat with both Michael and Martin, the Danish guy from behind the bar, before I left. As ever this is a good relaxing place for a chat and a beer.
I headed across town through rainy streets and found The Alexandra Beer and Bottle House. It has a small footprint, with a small bar and seating alongside the window front. There are shelves stacked with bottles and cans from the likes of Marble, Magic Rock, Vocation, and Arbor, and behind the bar there are plenty of spirits available if you are so inclined. On the bar are two hand pumps, last night dispensing Vocation Pride and Joy, which was in excellent condition, and a beer from Brass Castle. There are 4 fonts for craft beer. And if you enjoy your pint that much that you want to take some home, they have a fancy machine on the bar that will bottle the beer and seal it for you so it stays fresh for ages!
Additional seating is to be found in an upstairs room. I was chatting to Ben, one of the guys behind the venture, and he was saying that it had been an empty shell when they'd got hold of it, but what they have done is create a light and airy place that should appeal to a lot of people. Ben is also a musician, and so not surprisingly, there was some pretty decent music playing over the speakers. Early days, but well worth checking out, and I wish the lads well.
I wandered back to my original destination, the Pumproom, where there was plenty of conversation to be had around the bar. I opted for a pint of Elland SPA, which was on form, before I finished off on Salopian Darwin's Origin. Tony was telling me it had all been going well and it is great to see this veteran of 2 weeks continue to be busy. Here I caught up for a while with Sean Liqourish from the 'Pub Paper' and we had a good natter before I headed off to catch my bus home.
So Halifax now has 3 new small bars. All are different, all have something to recommend them, with only the Pumproom being a micropub applying the strictest definition. And despite being a relatively small town, I think there is room for all of them, as the town has been lagging behind neighbours like Huddersfield for some time and is now finally beginning to catch up.
Earlier in the week, I'd enjoyed a couple of great pints of Great Heck Blonde at the Cross Keys in Siddal, consistently one of the best pubs in the area, and then at my brother's wedding do at The Works in Sowerby Bridge, we were able to enjoy some excellent Salopian Lemon Dream. Coming on the back of an excellent weekend in Shrewsbury, it's been quite a week!
The latest to open is the Alexandra Beer House on, not surprisingly, Alexandra Street, down the side of the Halifax's Commercial Street branch, and was formerly the Three Lanterns restaurant.
The plan had been to pay a long overdue visit to The Grayston Unity and then pop down to The Pumproom, but a guy I was talking to in the Grayston mentioned a new place had just opened up near where he worked, and so, me being me, I decided a visit was in order. I'd had a good chat with both Michael and Martin, the Danish guy from behind the bar, before I left. As ever this is a good relaxing place for a chat and a beer.
I headed across town through rainy streets and found The Alexandra Beer and Bottle House. It has a small footprint, with a small bar and seating alongside the window front. There are shelves stacked with bottles and cans from the likes of Marble, Magic Rock, Vocation, and Arbor, and behind the bar there are plenty of spirits available if you are so inclined. On the bar are two hand pumps, last night dispensing Vocation Pride and Joy, which was in excellent condition, and a beer from Brass Castle. There are 4 fonts for craft beer. And if you enjoy your pint that much that you want to take some home, they have a fancy machine on the bar that will bottle the beer and seal it for you so it stays fresh for ages!
Additional seating is to be found in an upstairs room. I was chatting to Ben, one of the guys behind the venture, and he was saying that it had been an empty shell when they'd got hold of it, but what they have done is create a light and airy place that should appeal to a lot of people. Ben is also a musician, and so not surprisingly, there was some pretty decent music playing over the speakers. Early days, but well worth checking out, and I wish the lads well.
I wandered back to my original destination, the Pumproom, where there was plenty of conversation to be had around the bar. I opted for a pint of Elland SPA, which was on form, before I finished off on Salopian Darwin's Origin. Tony was telling me it had all been going well and it is great to see this veteran of 2 weeks continue to be busy. Here I caught up for a while with Sean Liqourish from the 'Pub Paper' and we had a good natter before I headed off to catch my bus home.
So Halifax now has 3 new small bars. All are different, all have something to recommend them, with only the Pumproom being a micropub applying the strictest definition. And despite being a relatively small town, I think there is room for all of them, as the town has been lagging behind neighbours like Huddersfield for some time and is now finally beginning to catch up.
Earlier in the week, I'd enjoyed a couple of great pints of Great Heck Blonde at the Cross Keys in Siddal, consistently one of the best pubs in the area, and then at my brother's wedding do at The Works in Sowerby Bridge, we were able to enjoy some excellent Salopian Lemon Dream. Coming on the back of an excellent weekend in Shrewsbury, it's been quite a week!
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| The Alexandra Beer House, Halifax |
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