Real Ale, Real Music

A brand new bar has just opened its doors in Halifax, whilst one of the town's most popular has just celebrated its 8th birthday. I've been along to both .... A new bar has just been opened in Halifax town centre by Vocation Brewery. For the brewery, based in Cragg Vale near Mytholmroyd, if you're local, or Hebden Bridge if you're from further afield, it is their fourth, following on from others they already operate in Hebden Bridge, Leeds, and Manchester. And ever since the news broke earlier this year that the former premises occupied by The Lantern and Alexandra had been acquired by Vocation, its opening has been eagerly awaited by many local beer fans. It is the first in the town to be opened by one of the modern breed of independent brewers. However, months with skips based outside on the cobbles of Alexandra Street, and signs and sounds of activity from within, and then spells of seeming inactivity had led to much discussion within the local pubs and bars Vocation...

Pub, football, pub. A typical Saturday for many. As a World Cup starts at an unfamiliar time of the year in a controversial choice of location where the options to get hold of a beer are extremely limited, I've been thinking about the routines around matchday somewhat closer to home... The 2022 World Cup finally kicked off last Sunday in the desert kingdom of Qatar. The event, the first to be held in an Arab nation, has been dogged by controversy ever since the country's bid to stage the tournament was accepted; allegations of corruption were rife, with 16 of the 22 FIFA executive members who were on the committee at that time subsequently being implicated or investigated for corruption or bad practice, the treatment of migrant workers building the stadiums for the tournament, the country's attitudes to the LGBTQ+ community, women's rights, and minorities, playing the tournament in the searing heat of the desert ( even though it had been moved from its traditional mid-y...

I hadn't been to Bolton for 30-odd years, and with the Manchester Christmas Markets kicking into action and the ensuing crowds I decided to venture a little further and check out this Lancashire town whose famous residents have included Peter Kay, Fred Dibnah, and Samuel Crompton.... I arrived at Bolton's extensive and somewhat oversized railway station around an hour and a quarter after leaving Halifax. I don't know if it had been subliminal messages getting through to me following Peter Kay's announcement a few days earlier he was going back on tour after an absence of 10 years but here I was in his hometown. Indeed, as I had been walking towards the station in Halifax, I even heard a bloke announce to his family as I walked past them that their booking to see the Bolton comic, who made catchphrases out of everyday mundanity like garlic bread and the big light,  had been confirmed. Much as I like Peter Kay though I was here to check out a few of the town's pubs. ...

The 2023 CAMRA Good Beer Guide has recently been published, and as usual there is plenty of interest in what has been included and what has changed from the previous year's edition.... The arrival of a new edition of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide always leads to a period of cross-checking and seeing what's in, what's out, and always throws up a few surprises. As usual, I have spent a little time looking at the latest edition, which, amazingly, is the 50th. Edited by Emma Haines, and with a foreword by the Prince of Wales (as he was then), the guide features over 4,500 pubs across the UK, almost 1,900 breweries, and more than 7,500 beers. One big change this year is that that pubs are grouped in their county by region, rather than alphabetically, with the breweries for that county with them, which has taken me a little bit of getting used to, but in many ways it makes sense, and I am sure it will be no problem to those who have not spent 40 odd years using the guide. After all t...

I made a first-ever trip to Stockton-on-Tees the other week and found a lively, bustling town with some excellent bars and pubs and a style of serving beer unique to a number of pubs and clubs in and around Teesside.... Every now and again, I like to take myself off and go somewhere I have never visited before. It doesn't matter whether it is a tourist attraction as such, as more often than not I find that some of the most interesting places are ones that wouldn't immediately strike you as having much to attract the casual visitor. That is not in any way to take away from Stockton's attractions and past; here history was made by George Stephenson in 1822 when the first tracks of the Stockton and Darlington railway were laid in the town, with the first passenger service in the world opening to nearby Shildon in 1825. The town had grown as a port since the Tees had been straightened to allow larger ships to dock here, and the railway made it easier for shipping coal from the ...