As a new series of Happy Valley was about to hit our TV screens, I spent a somewhat wet and gloomy Saturday afternoon in the Calder Valley where it is set. At least the pubs were warm and friendly, and the beer was good....
I don't generally like this time of year. It is dark, dreary, with the addition, in the case of this last week or so, of being wet and gloomy. In days of limited light, and nights whose shadows linger longer, the mood can be miserable and hard to brighten. A couple of lighter days have lifted the gloom, but once again, as I look out over the garden this morning, the sky is grey and heavy, and rain is coming down. We are in that no-man's land time of year. The first few days of the month of January, the first of the year, short days, long nights, the post-Christmas and New Year comedown, the return to work, a month of greys in varying shades, with the added pressures of spiralling costs, disruption and unease, a general malaise abroad.
Against that background I spent last Saturday afternoon in Sowerby Bridge, the town, a couple of miles west of Halifax, where I was brought up, and a few miles up the valley from where I live now. My brother still lives there, and it was with him and my sister-in-law and her brother that we had a pleasant afternoon, despite the miserable weather. My brother and I started at the Shepherd's Rest, which is situated up the hill from the town centre in the area of Bolton Brow.
The Shepherds is a large local's pub surrounded by terraced streets, situated on a corner alongside the main A58 Rochdale Road. The pub is run by Ossett Brewery, but a large sign outside announces the fact that it is currently up for sale. However, any uncertainty over its future wasn't apparent once inside. The pub was pretty busy despite the weather, with plenty watching the sport on TV, and there was a warm, friendly feel to the place. A little dog kept breaking away from its owner and giving all and sundry a friendly, inquisitive sniff, with most of the recipients, eyes focussed on the TV screen, largely oblivious to its advances. The beer, one selected from a wide offering from the Ossett portfolio on the bar, was good too; my White Rat was in fine form (NBSS 3.5).
We walked down the hill towards Sowerby Bridge town centre, which is very linear in format being based very much around the main road with very little in the way of retail, commercial, or offices off to the sides. Housing spreads up the hillside on one side, providing an infill between the Rochdale Road and the A646 towards Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, and Burnley, whilst on the opposite hillside on the other side of the railway any housing soon peters out and fields become the dominant feature. And as mentioned above, the town, like other areas in the Calder Valley, is currently back on our TV screens courtesy of the series Happy Valley, written by Sally Wainwright, who went to school in the town, which I always think is the spiritual home of the programme. Indeed, in the previous series the former Sowerby Bridge police station was the setting for the fictional one, before it was re-located in Halifax, whilst a number of scenes were filmed in the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms at the railway station, but as it is not currently open as a bar, I would think it'll be unlikely to make an appearance this time.
Another place like the Jubilee we didn't call in as we walked into town was the Hogs Head, which is just off the main road opposite a small car park. This is one of the town's two current Good Beer Guide entries, and is situated in an 18th century former malthouse. They brew their own beer here, which they sell alongside a number of guest ales. I last called in around three months ago, and enjoyed a pint of their White Hog pale, which was available at a reasonable price. It is a smart one room bar, with additional seating available upstairs at weekends when it can get very busy.
 |
| Hog's Head Brew House & Bar, Sowerby Bridge |
We went instead to the Hollins Mill (formerly The Works) where we had arranged to meet the others. I think it is fair to say this large pub has had its ups and downs in the years since it originally opened in 2006, but my brother has been a consistent supporter of the place, and we have also had a number of family do's there over the years in the function room upstairs. The main downstairs room is more or less L-shaped with the bar facing you as you go in. There is seating to the left, a fireplace with a welcome stove and a couple of armchairs and further seating opposite and to the right of the bar, with the high ceilings giving the room a feeling of space. Beyond the area to the right of the bar there is a smaller room with additional seating. Beers generally feature a number of Taylors beers and Phoenix Hopsack or Arizona, with others often available from the likes of Vocation, Oakham, and Salopian across the 8 hand pumps. I ordered a pint of Phoenix White Monk, which I hadn't seen for a while, and it was another decent pint (NBSS 3.5). The place was quite busy, and a space had already been cleared for a DJ to soundtrack the build up to the New Year celebrations that evening.
 |
| Hollins Mill, Sowerby Bridge |
It was raining again when we left the Hollins Mill, but fortunately it was only a couple of minutes walk to our next port of call. It was just over a year since I had last visited the Puzzle Hall Inn, but again, my visits to Sowerby Bridge in the intervening period have been fairly sporadic. It is the town's second entry in the Good Beer Guide, and now this community-owned pub seems to be firmly back as a key part of the town's social scene like it used to be, and with plenty of music, spoken word, and other events happening on a regular basis, it is also drawing in visitors from out of town too. That said, it was pretty quiet when we walked in, with just a couple of tables occupied in the larger room as you go in, whilst in the smaller room with the bar one table was occupied. Subdued lighting and the warmth from a stove gave the place a cosy, intimate feel. From one of the 6 hand pumps I ordered a pint of The C Word from Big Trip, another hazy juicy pale from these guys, which maintained the high standards we had found over the course of the afternoon (NBSS 3.5). Our ordering at the bar done, we sat down at one of the two empty tables in the bar, and had a good natter as we enjoyed our drinks.
 |
| The Puzzle Hall Inn, Sowerby Bridge |
It was just less than 10 minutes walk in the rain to our final pub of the afternoon, which had by now turned into evening. This was the Turks Head, just off the main road on Old Cawsey, which I am pretty sure has never been in the Good Beer Guide. In fact, there was a time until not that long ago when real ale hardly featured, but in recent years it has been available. I had last been here about 3 months ago when my friend and country singer Gordon McKinney played an excellent gig here and had been delighted to discover no less than 5 hand pumps on the bar, including Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Oakham Citra, and a couple from Durham, including the moreish unfined Sabro Cadabro. A few of us had come down to see Gordon, who is from Oklahoma, with his partner Heather Burns, who the day before had performed at the Town Festival in Halifax. The wonderful music, the company of friends, and some excellent, and stronger beers than I'd realised had contributed to me missing my last bus that night, but hey, that's the price you pay sometimes!
 |
| Live music at the Turk's Head from Gordon McKinney |
And so on this occasion there was no live music, but whilst we were there a DJ snuck in and set up and we were soon enjoying and singing along to some Northern Soul classics (well I was anyway!) as we enjoyed our drinks and chatted. The pub was pretty busy, as it had been on that Monday night when I'd called in to see Gordon. It is a small pub, but is split into two distinctive, room-like areas, with the bar in the smaller area to the right as you enter via the main door. Outside, down some steep steps is an attractive beer terrace overlooking the River Calder, although unsurprisingly there were no takers on this occasion. The pub is a keen supporter of live music, and regular gigs are put on both here and its sister pub, The Blind Pig, a few minutes walk away. And credit to the team here for creating a lovely friendly pub which is welcoming to visitors and locals alike. And as with last time, the cask beer was very good and I had two pints of, I think, Durham Idaho 7, a 4.7% pale ale with El Dorado and Citra hops also featured to give plenty of citrus and tropical flavours, but with talking and listening to the music, I may have got it wrong! Anyway, it was another good beer and another NBSS 3.5.
 |
| The Turks Head, Sowerby Bridge |
It was only 5 minutes' walk back to the railway station via the footbridge over the river, but when I got there, I discovered the train was running late. The ETA moved back another 5 minutes. Then one of the arms on my glasses came away. Another few minutes delay for the train. The rain was coming down, with the odd leak in the ancient platform roof leading to cold drips splashing my head. Finally, around 40 minutes late, the train limped sheepishly into the station. Despite that, and my broken glasses, and the weather, I'd had a pleasant afternoon in the Calder Valley. Or, if you like, TV's Happy Valley....
Follow me on twitter: @realalemusic
Comments
Post a Comment