Real Ale, Real Music

A return to a well-known station buffet bar and a first visit to a new craft bar are featured in this latest set of ramblings.... Another Friday night, the start of another weekend, and I decided to follow the pattern of the last few weeks and head off on the train to a place I hadn't visited for a while. And this time I decided to pay a visit to the West Riding Refreshment Rooms in Dewsbury, which is only a few minutes ride away from Brighouse. I alighted the train and crossed over the bridge to the other platform and whilst I could have gained access from it, I decided to go outside and take a picture of what is a pretty imposing building. The pavement area outside the bar had been re-flagged and plenty of picnic tables were laid out, some of which were occupied, and as I walked past one of them I spotted a mate, with whom I had a few pints before getting the train back. Imposing: The West Riding Refreshment Rooms, Dewsbury I went in to get a beer. The bar is situated in the midd...

Over the past few days in and amongst the usual day to day stuff I have been on a leaving do, attended a CAMRA presentation, and visited a beer festival. These are all things that a couple of years ago would have scarcely raised an eyebrow, but such have been the limits on our social activities over the past 18 months or so that each one was anticipated with a certain degree of excitement.... Leeds was buzzing in the late afternoon sun last Friday when I got off the train to attend a leaving do for one of my work colleagues. I had arrived a little earlier than the arranged meeting time, and anticipating - correctly - that our likely calling points over the coming hours would be devoid of any decent cask or craft beer, I decided to try out the Bankers Cat, Thornbridge's relatively new outpost in Leeds, situated minutes from the station on Boar Lane. I had never had the opportunity to visit before, it actually opened in December 2019 but successive lockdowns restricted the periods it...

Less than 10 minutes on the train from my base in Brighouse is Mirfield, and I went over recently to check what this small town in the Lower Calder Valley has to offer these days.... It's a place I have driven through for years, hardly giving it a second thought, visited on several occasions in the past, but with 4 entries in the current Good Beer Guide, two of which I had never visited, and it being so close to home, I realised this town of around 20,000 souls was way overdue a visit. It is also the birthplace of world-famous actor Sir Patrick Stewart, Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation no less, former Chancellor of Huddersfield University, and plenty more, as well as Brian Robinson, the first British cyclist to win a stage in the Tour De France, way back in 1958 and long before the more recent ascendancy of the sport in this country. The weather earlier in the day had been showery and changeable, but late afternoon blossomed into a bright sunny evening, meaning m...

I love visiting the Lake District, having been dozens of times over the years, but I can count my visits to Kendal, the town that lies at the southern tip over the area, on the fingers of one hand. So I decided to go along to check out the beer and pub scene....  I had never really considered visiting Kendal for the day. In fact, embarrassingly,  I had only found out recently it had its own railway station, but then a recent blog by  Martin Taylor  suggested it might be worth a visit for its pubs. It is also home to the new Lakes Brewery, formed by some of the old brewing team at  Hawkshead  and so with a few other breweries based in and around the town it suggested there is maybe something happening in this corner of the South Lakes, although I learnt during the day that other than a few collaborations with other breweries, Lakes haven't really got going yet. I caught the train from Halifax to Preston, then changed and caught a Pendolino heading up the Wes...