Real Ale, Real Music

A first trip to the North East for a while, taking in a few of my favourite pubs, a brewery taproom, and a trip over the Tyne to catch some football. Here's how the day panned out.... Saturday began early as I was off to catch the 8.17 Transpennine Express from Huddersfield north to Newcastle. I was going to watch FC Halifax Town at Gateshead, and it was a sunny and quite pleasant mid-December morning, quite mild for the time of year. Despite the fact that there were a diminishing number of days left for Christmas shopping and Newcastle United were home in the afternoon, the train was pretty empty when I and a gaggle of Halifax Town fans stepped on board, and whilst it got busier as the journey progressed, it was still relatively quiet when we arrived at Newcastle's Central Station just after 10 am. And just like Michael Caine's character in the classic 1971 gangster film Get Carter , our first action was to head straight across the road to the Victoria Comet , although in

The relentless build up to Christmas is now in full swing, and with that in mind here are a few thoughts about the festive season and a couple of recent events with a distinctively Irish theme as a bar in Enniskillen releases a Christmas advert and an iconic musician sadly passes away.... The rows of bagged and stacked Christmas trees have been in the supermarket entrances for a good few weeks now. The big retailers' festive adverts with their oodles of false sentiment and bonhomie have been on the TV screens for a while too. This has been since the early part of November which, with the adoption of the dreadful US retail concoction of Black Friday, has seemingly and seamlessly been appropriated into the festive period. Against this background of unbridled commerciality there have been two events in the past few days which have brought the more traditional and human aspect of Christmas back into sharp focus. The first was the release of their own Christmas advert by a pub in the No

A day when my original plans initially went awry but, hey, it all worked out well in the end! An afternoon a few miles away in Shipley visiting some of the town's bars turned out to be a pretty relaxed and enjoyable experience.... It was a bright sunny morning, the first for ages, and nothing like it to get you in the mood for a day's exploring. However, unfortunately our national rail network had other ideas. My first plan was a visit to Lancashire - rail replacement bus. An alternative Lancashire trip - see above. Number 3 - a trip east - signalling problems! And so when I arrived at Halifax railway station having booked tickets for my 4th option and discovering the train was running, but delayed, it was clear the problems still weren't resolved. The display said it all.... Oh dear.... I had decided to take the relatively short journey over to Shipley, where there were two Good Beer Guide pubs I had never visited, plus another one where a revisit was way overdue. I made i

A whistle stop tour through the marketing and advertising of beer, which has changed considerably in the years since I first lifted a pint glass to my lips. From the big brands of the 1970's to today's craft brewers, here are some thoughts and recollections.... When I first started to visit pubs back in the 1970's, choice for a beer drinker was a bit different than it is now. It was certainly more limited; you had bitter, or best, or you had mild, and sometimes a stronger, generally dark beer. If you wanted something different, you could, at your peril, opt for one of the kegs, maybe a Youngers Tartan, or a Whitbread Trophy, which would be sold under blanket pressure via a brightly-lit font. Or you could have a Guinness, or lager, or a bottle of brown ale off the shelf. If you didn't fancy any of that, then it would have to be a glass of wine such as Blue Nun or Mateus Rose, or a spirit. Babycham, anyone? Amongst real ale brewers, lack of much competition meant that the

A brand new blog breaking new ground by visiting a completely new area for me. Football was involved, of course, but what would the pub and beer situation be like? And where would it be? Read on to find out.... I haven't been to watch FC Halifax Town as much this time around, but at the start of the season we had discussed one or two potential away trips where we would have a stop over. So having signed up early doors, four of us set off early last Saturday morning to visit Maidenhead, where we hoped to be able to come back with the points and enjoy a few pints in this corner of Berkshire. And of course I was hoping to find enough suitable material to put together a new blog!  Maidenhead is situated just off the M4 and close to the M40, and with a railway connection that gets you to London Paddington in 24 minutes as well as having services to more local places like Windsor and Reading, the town, which takes its name from its location where a new wharf or ' maiden hythe ' w

A first visit to Harrogate for a number of years, and on this showing it won't be long before I come back. I found some great beers and new bars which with a number of long-standing favourites all add up to what is a thriving beer scene in this large North Yorkshire town.... It was a grey, miserable day as I set off on my trip to Harrogate, drizzling in and amongst and not really a day to enjoy the rich autumn colours which are continuing to show but in ever decreasing numbers. And by the time I arrived in the busy North Yorkshire town that drizzle had become persistent to say the least. But fortunately, it wasn't far to travel to the first place I had earmarked to call on my visit here. The Harrogate Tap is actually situated within the station buildings, and from a former empty and neglected space, a comfortable and stylish bar has been created featuring much dark wood, a tiled floor, and traditional furniture and fittings. It is run by the Pivovar Group, who also run the Tap