Real Ale, Real Music

A return to a pub I have not visited for a while, plus an enjoyable evening in the company of a fellow blogger.... Slubbers Arms, Huddersfield.... I was in Huddersfield the other day. A friend who is a Huddersfield Town season ticket holder was unable to go to their home game against Manchester City, and had kindly lent his ticket to me. It was the early Sunday afternoon kick off at 1.30, so I decided I would head over early and check out the Slubbers Arms in Hillhouse, which like the Shoulder of Mutton across town in Lockwood, was a Good Beer Guide stalwart for many years. Neither had been in for a number of years, but the Slubbers is back in for the 2019 edition. It bears an unusual name, and whilst I am not sure exactly which is right, it is almost certainly taken from the textile industry which has traditionally been a major employer in these parts. One view is that it is taken from the name of the job whereby bobbins were removed from the spindles in the mills, but another v...

More tales from the North East, with forays into Gateshead, and some more excellent places across the river involving railway arches and a palace by a lake.... I was watching Town take on Gateshead at the International Stadium, the athletics stadium which doubles up as the home ground of The Heed, and where the away side had scored an early goal to take a 1-0 lead. That pleasing scoreline didn't detract from the feeling of cold. Open at both ends, the International Stadium has, I am convinced, its own micro climate, where the winds blowing in from the Tyne and the steppes of County Durham meet to reduce the temperature by at least 10 degrees to that outside the stadium. To make matters worse, Gateshead equalised through our former player Scott Boden, and we played out the last freezing half hour unable to regain the lead. Still, a good away point, and as we marched past deserted car parks and buildings on our way to the hotel via the Millennium Bridge, we were warmed by that...

A day out in Harrogate to watch football, along with some good beers and a couple of bars, with the game providing a welcome but unexpected outcome.... Blues Bar, Harrogate.... Boxing Day. There's Football. Usually away. And you have to drive. Normally. And you don't want to, after the fun of Christmas Day.... So... up stepped, Pete, one of the guys I see at the football, who a few weeks before Christmas had said he was organising a bus to go to Halifax Town's away match at Harrogate on Boxing Day. So with no trains, buses and a general reluctance to drive, it made sense. So I enlisted my brother, our Tom, and most of the lads I normally go with. We met at the Old Post Office in Halifax, a friendly pub near the bus station in Halifax used by the Town Supporters' Club. They had put a breakfast on for us, there was the opportunity to try a beer brewed for the team (brewed by Bingley, I think, although I didn't try it), and from where the ...