Real Ale, Real Music

A trip to the east Cheshire town of Macclesfield, the home town of the iconic frontman of Joy Division, Ian Curtis, whose haunting and atmospheric music touched so many of us. On a hot and sunny day that couldn't have been any further removed from the gothic images associated with the band, I also quenched my thirst at a number of the town's pubs.... If you walk along Mill Street in Macclesfield town centre in the direction of the hills beyond you come to a large mural of Ian Curtis, sited somewhat incongruously above the entrance to a convenience store. It is a striking image, by street artist Akse, based on a photograph by Kevin Cummins of the Joy Division singer in characteristic pose, looking into the distance as the folk of his home town go about their daily business, its piercing starkness at odds with the day's bright blue-skied sunny weather. I'd seen that this mural had been unveiled last year, and ever since then the town had been on my radar to visit to check

A whirlwind weekend in London, taking in several pubs in different parts of the city, a trip to Wembley to watch our football team in the FA Trophy Final, and numerous trips on the underground.... A few months ago if you'd said we'd be in London to see Halifax Town play at Wembley I would have laughed. A season going nowhere, the threat of relegation still a worry, lower mid-table at best seemed to be all we could hope for. And then on April Fool's Day, it all changed with a dramatic second half equaliser away at Altrincham in the semi-final of the FA Trophy after a dreadful first half performance. We then won through on penalties, and Town were back at Wembley for the second time in 7 years. More fool us. Not only that, that dramatic game at Alty served to galvanise the team and after several outstanding results in the final league games of the season, they managed to finish a pretty respectable 11th in the National League table. And so last Saturday morning 7 of us met at

I was back over the Pennines to Manchester to meet up with some old friends the other Saturday. And along the way we took in a couple of taprooms and a few bars, based in a part of the city that not so long ago you would have hesitated to visit during the day, let alone at night. But as we drank beer and ate pizza, it was all very relaxed and convivial.... Was it almost a year since we'd last caught up? I could have sworn we'd had a meet up back in the autumn but all the evidence seemed to point to it having been last June, on the Thursday bank holiday we'd been granted for the Platinum Jubilee. We'd certainly talked about doing it in our WhatsApp group but as often is the case, it hadn't come to fruition, and so this was in essence our de facto annual catch-up, coincidentally on a day when another royal event was taking place, an event which had been succinctly summed up on the cover of the current edition of  Private Eye as ' Man In Hat Sits On Chair'. T

News broke recently that the famous brewery based in the lovely Yorkshire Dales village of Masham has gone into administration. Whilst the pandemic and current economic problems have undoubtedly had a big impact, one could argue that some of the problems go back a lot further.... The Black Sheep Brewery started out in 1992, but the back story as to its opening is the rise of family tensions the likes of which these days grace many a Netflix drama. The founder of Black Sheep, Paul Theakston, was a former MD for the family brewers, T & R Theakston, having been in the role since 1968. His father Frank, who was dying from leukaemia at the untimely age of 46, was annoyed at a family member who had suggested they should get out of brewing as the price of a pint would have to go above 2 shillings a pint ( or 10p in today's money ), and with concerns about the impact on the staff that worked at the brewery he passed the business on to Paul who was then only 23 and had been working as a

The start of the early May bank holiday weekend saw me heading up the Calder Valley for a gig at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club, but before that I drank some wonderful beer at The Crafty Fox in Brighouse, and then had a chat with the new owner of the area's original micropub.... Last Friday I had a ticket to see Teesside noisemakers Benefits at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, a gig I had been looking forward to for some time. I decided to get the train from Brighouse, which gave me the opportunity to call in first at The Crafty Fox for a pint or two. This is a regular haunt for me when I am in the town and I usually bump into a few friends when I am there. The bar, which opened in autumn 2019 a month or two before lockdown, has got steadily busier over the past couple of years with customers drawn by amongst other things some excellent beer on both hand pump and tap, regular live music, and the all-round friendly vibe created by owner Baz, his wife Michelle, daughter Georgia, son