Real Ale, Real Music

"There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern" Samuel Johnson Next Friday marks the first anniversary of the launch of Brighouse's first, and so far, only micropub, The Market Tavern. By any measurement it has been a runaway success and has become such an integral part of local life that it is hard to remember what the town was like before it opened. Yet little more than a year ago what is now a thriving hub of the community was an unassuming old brick building, a former butcher's store room beside the old market. But, with much hard work, and advice and support from the likes of Hugh and Ruth of the Cross Keys at Siddal, and Alan and Alyson from Calan's in Hebden Bridge, Andrew 'Snap' Gardner and Debbie Taylor have succeeded in creating a warm, welcoming, friendly pub where great beer and good conversation are always the order of the day. The bar features 6 hand pumps, which generall...

Last weekend I decided to go and watch my first away game of 2017, in fact the first I had been to for a few months. It was fairly local, only at Altrincham, and provided the opportunity to check out one of the up and coming places for beer in the Greater Manchester area. We met up in Manchester, some of the lads getting the train from Halifax, whilst two of us met for breakfast at the Keys in Huddersfield. This is a deceptively large place, situated beneath the Parish Church on Byram Street, and the food was very good. They also have live music on from time to time on an evening. I noticed that Roger Davies and his Band are due on soon. We got the train to Manchester, and met the rest at the Micro Bar in the Arndale Centre, where I had a pint of Dan's Pale Ale, which was pleasant enough, and from yet another brewery inhabiting the spaces around the Piccadilly Mile. The Micro Bar used to be owned by the now-defunct Boggart Brewery, but it is still as good now as it ever was. We...