Real Ale, Real Music

I spent a night in Clitheroe last weekend, and I found that this small Lancashire market town in the heart of the Ribble Valley punches well above its weight in terms of the number of pubs and bars and the quality of the beer available within its boundaries.... I had only been to Clitheroe once before, in 2009, when FC Halifax Town played the first of two seasons in the Unibond League North to where they had been banished after the previous club collapsed in a mire of debt. That was one Tuesday evening when they took on Clitheroe FC at the team's somewhat sloping Shawbridge ground. I remember Town winning the game that night 2-1 and also having a pre-match pint at the New Inn, nestling in the shadow of the castle, which was then, as now, in the Good Beer Guide . So this was pretty much new territory for me, and whilst the town only has two entries in the current Guide, I'd heard there were several new bars, and indeed a quick check of WhatPub? indicated around 22 places to c...

A late change of plan last weekend saw me make a trip to Sheffield for the first time for a few years and provided an opportunity to enjoy a final drink of a Kelham Island beer following the brewery's recent demise, along with visiting several fine pubs and catching up with a friend from the world of blogging.... Last Saturday I had planned to visit Lancaster, going from Halifax and changing at Preston. I arrived at Halifax station 10 minutes or so before the departure time to find the word Delayed  ominously displayed alongside my train on the departures screen. Eventually it changed to say 12.02 which was half an hour late, and meant that I would struggle to make my connection at Preston and mean less time in Lancaster, making the trip less viable. I thought about it for a few minutes, then decided to cancel that train. But where to go? I looked at upcoming departures. There was one to Huddersfield (becoming increasingly harder to find from Halifax these days). I know, I could th...

The last week or two have enabled me to catch up with a number of friends from over a number of years and different situations which stirred some reminders of times gone by. And of course there were plenty of pubs and beer involved.... A few Sundays ago I was working my usual shift at the Meandering Bear in Halifax and a group of two couples came in. One of the couples I recognised, Steve, an old friend who I met when we were on the same geography course at Manchester University with his wife Diane who live and work locally, although I don't see them very often. The lady in the other couple, who I did not recognise, was wearing a hat with the brim which obscured her eyes. She ordered a glass of pinot grigio and the drinks for the rest of the group. I poured them, she paid, and as the girls went off to find a table my friend asked if I recognised the guy with him. Immediate reaction was no, I didn't, After a little prompting, I did, it was Paul, another lad who had been on that...

I had a football-free Saturday the other week and I decided to get the train over from here in West Yorkshire to Hull. It was around 5 years since I had last been there and I was interested to see what the beer scene was like these days. And here's what I found.... Hull has always had a different feel to other places, its own unique atmosphere. It feels like a bigger city than it actually is probably because being where it is, acting as a regional capital for much of East Yorkshire and areas of North Lincolnshire over on the other side of the River Humber. It is also at the end of the railway line from West Yorkshire and all points south, although there are services to places like Bridlington and Beverley to the north. The presence of many grand old buildings acknowledges the historic wealth brought to the city by the shipping industry. It sprawls for miles as the port has shifted away from the city centre down the Humber. Its importance was understood by the Germans as during Worl...