Real Ale, Real Music

And so the announcement came and pubs can open from the 4th of July, although there remains a lot of uncertainty about how it is all going to work.... There has been a great deal of speculation over this past week about what pubs will look like when they re-open: booking in advance, signing in, having your temperature checked, leaving your contact details, ordering via an app, table service, contactless payments only, one-way systems, outdoors only, no standing at the bar, no standing in the bar , one at a time in the toilet, disposable menus, face masks to be worn at all times, keep-to-two-metres-if-possible-but-if-not-it's-ok, no bowls of free nuts on the bar, no newspapers or magazines to be shared by pub users, sanitising each table every hour, pool tables to be out of bounds (apparently the ball is a "vector of disease"), etc, etc. Some of those listed I may have imagined, but I am sure that for many of those responsible for running pubs and bars who managed t...

The oft-quoted date of July 4th as being when pubs, restaurants, and other social spaces could re-open is fast-approaching, but with no clarity from the government it is looking increasingly likely that that date will not be achieved.... We shouldn't really be surprised. The government's overall response to the pandemic has often been complacent, at times haphazard, riddled with inconsistencies, and sometimes downright confusing. It has regularly undermined its own advice with a succession of own goals and mixed messages emanating from a cast of characters that have contradicted themselves and shown in most cases that they are way out of their depth. A government, who on that form you wouldn't trust to organise a p!$$ up in a brewery, is continuing to cause massive uncertainty not just amongst breweries, but also pubs and the communities they support. Three weeks has been regularly stated by those in the industry as being the minimum time needed to get beer brewe...

In which I take a few tentative steps into the world beyond the reaches of the Calder Valley.... I decided I needed to have a change of scene. Over the past couple of months I have only been to a small number of places, all within a few miles from home, apart from a necessary trip into Bradford to get my car serviced. Although the rules on travelling to exercise were relaxed a week or two ago I hadn't felt the urge to venture too far. Yesterday though, amidst a succession of squally showers, I decided I would go somewhere different for my walk. I really fancied a walk on the tops, but in light of the weather I opted to go for a low-level walk from Slaithwaite (aka Slawit) along the canal towpath to Marsden and back. Another walk in a distant valley. Well not really, Slawit is only 8 miles from home. I went the pretty way, dropping down into the village from the Scammonden side, with the hills stretching away in the distance, the fields and moors an invigorating and enticing...