Real Ale, Real Music

I visited Bingley brewers Goose Eye last week and had a most interesting tour around one of Yorkshire's most popular traditional brewers. Meanwhile a few days earlier, by way of a contrast, I went to a Meet the Brewer event with one of the country's leading modern brewers, The Kernel. And so here's some thoughts on the brewing world.... The original Goose Eye Brewery originated in the small Pennine village of the same name a few miles from Keighley in the late 1970's, started by Brian Eastell in an old building close to the village pub, the Turkey Inn, which became the main outlet for the fledgling brewery. These days it would be classed as a micro brewery, but back then, its small scale meant it was something of a novelty. I remember making the trip a few times and braving the incredibly steep roads that converge on the village, but it was always worth the visit to enjoy the novelty of drinking a pint of Goose Eye in the Turkey Inn in Goose Eye! I also have vague memor...

This week I have been exploring fairly close to home, visiting some places in the area to the south-west of Leeds. A number of pubs were involved, as you might expect.... The Heavy Woollen District is situated across parts of the Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield metropolitan areas, the principle locations being around the towns of Batley, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, and Ossett, spreading out to the likes of Cleckheaton, Mirfield, East Ardsley, Morley, and Horbury. It takes its name from the main activities in the local textile industry which was traditionally the production of heavier woollen materials like blankets, and following the invention of a machine in Batley in 1813 that could process the left-over fibres, soft rags called mungo and hard rags otherwise known as shoddy . Whilst the local textile industry is nowhere near as big as it was, its legacy has meant that by and large each of these towns and villages has managed to retain its own distinct character, even though these days the...

As December comes round again to the background of the Christmas build up, ongoing price rises, and a wave of industrial disputes, I escaped with a mini crawl around Leeds the other evening which I'll tell you about, along with a few other bits of news of recent happenings.... It has often struck me that one of the best concentrations of quality pubs and bars anywhere in the country is in the immediate vicinity of Leeds railway station. Depending which way you approach it you could come out of the station concourse, turn left, cross over at the lights, drop down the hill to the Scarbrough Taps ( as everyone in Leeds seems to call it ), then go around the corner to The Head of Steam, then up Mill Hill to the Bankers Cat, cross over to Tapped, and then back to the station via the Friends of Ham and The Brewery Tap. Six quality pubs with only a few yards between them, with some excellent cask and keg beer on hand. If you want to eat, there are pizzas at Tapped, charcuterie and cheese ...