In which I bring you a heady mix including another festival or two, shouty girl bands, illuminating conversations, a radical exhibition, a few decent pints, and more big brewery shenanigans....
I stayed local last Friday. Well, by local I mean I stayed within a few miles of home. I travelled by bus as well, and all the timings went to plan, which is not something you can say every time. I had planned to go to the Elland Beer Festival, spend a couple of hours there, and then head to the Grayston Unity where I had a ticket to see rising Manchester band Loose Articles as part of this year's Town Festival of Music & Words.
I left home just after 5 and caught the bus into Brighouse where, having earmarked a bus earlier in the day to go to Elland at about 6, my thoughts were on grabbing a pint from the current barrel of Two by Two that had been drinking well in the Crafty Fox the night before. However, when I spotted a bus waiting that was going to Elland from Brighouse imminently, one I was unaware of that went the direct route to the town rather than going round the houses like the one I'd planned to catch, for once I decided to give the Two by Two a miss. I boarded the little E4 bus run by South Pennine Community Transport, a couple more got on, and then we were off, travelling via the A6025 along the valley passing through attractive countryside for some of the 3 mile journey. We got into Elland, picked a couple up at Morrisons, and then at the next stop, the bus pulled in for a few minutes. A couple of ladies of a certain age got on board, seemingly with drink. "We've been to a beer festival" one announced. "Can you drop me by that cafe in West Vale?" said the other, before adding "I've been to a beer festival." She asked an unsuspecting guy at the front if she could sit next to him, as her friend had sat in one of the single seats. He shuffled up. "I've been to a beer festival" she said to him. "What time are you setting off?" she shouted to the driver. "Quarter to". "My watch says it's quarter to now". "It's 16 minutes to". Wonderful stuff. A fun journey on a bus with comfortable seats, better than the usual rattlers. The bus duly resumed its journey at a quarter to. As I passed the ladies as I got off the bus a couple of stops later I resisted the temptation to tell them I was going to a beer festival in case they decided to jump off and go back for another session....
The Elland Beer Festival was being held at All Saints Church on Savile Road, in the adjoining church hall. It was a little over 5 minutes walk from the main road, and I arrived to find there was something of a queue to get in. When it was my turn I got a glass, programme, and a couple of tokens, which would get me a couple of halves, to which I added another 5 tokens. The festival was spread over two rooms, with the cloisters outside offering some cover if it got too warm inside. The beer was being dispensed in the larger, lower room which was pretty busy, with all the tables taken. On one of them were some of my old friends from Elland, and I can't understand why it had not crossed my mind beforehand that they would likely be here, seeing as we'd all met in the Barge & Barrel at the other side of town up to thirty-plus years ago. We exchanged greetings, beers were recommended, and I went in to bat. There were people waiting, but there were plenty of eager staff behind the bar, so service was pretty quick.
Beers were predominantly from Yorkshire-based breweries like Ossett, Abbeydale, Bingley, Mallinsons, and Roosters, but there were some from further afield, such as Jarl from Fyne Ales, Schiehallion from Harviestoun. Jaipur from Thornbridge, and Darwin's Origin from Salopian. There were a couple of beers on keg from Vocation, one being the modern 4.6% pale ale, Crush Hour. My favourite of the ones I tried was predictably Jarl, followed by a pale 4.1% ale called Sword Swallowing Salve from Abbeydale's Dr Morton arm, but they were all pretty decent. There was a nice, friendly atmosphere about the place, and it was good to see the festival was so well-supported. It was good to see my friends again, but it was soon time to make tracks, as I had to go to Halifax. I set off walking back into down through quiet, stone terraced streets, and arrived at the bus stop a couple of minutes before the X1 arrived to take me to my destination.
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| Elland Beer Festival: great atmosphere and friendly service |
I was soon in Halifax and walked in to the Grayston Unity and ordered a pint of Lakes Pale with Michael the boss urging everyone around the bar to hurry downstairs to the venue to catch the final part of the Red Stains, an all-girl band whose energetic punk-disco sound had certainly got the place on fire. Next up, in front of a backdrop with their name in the style of a can of Stella Artois, it was another all-girl band, Manchester's Loose Articles. The band, who having been around since 2019, have been creating something of a stir this year with the release of their debut album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster, a support slot with the Foo Fighters at Old Trafford Cricket Ground, and being played on 6 Music. Loud and direct, with bags of in-yer-face attitude, their tight indie-punk tunes hit the spot and got the crowd rocking. They were reminiscent of the Slits, with shades of the Lovely Eggs crossed with high-energy contemporaries like Amyl & The Sniffers and the Lambrini Girls. It made for an exhilarating evening's entertainment.
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| Loose Articles |
I was back at the Grayston a little over 12 hours later for a rather more sedate afternoon compared to the previous evening. I got myself a pint of Lakes West Coast IPA from the keg selection (the cask I had been drinking the previous night had not surprisingly gone) and headed downstairs. I had just missed the start of John Matthews in conversation. He shared memories of his time in the Cuban Boys from when they were managed by Jonathan King, getting played on John Peel, flying to the USA to meet Glen Campbell, and of some of his other musical projects, served up with plenty of humorous anecdotes on the way. Next up was a short film based on a discussion that had been held at the Town Festival a couple of years ago which linked punk values with sustainability and asked the question Can Punk Save The Planet? After a beer break with another West Coast Pale and conversation upstairs, it was back to the venue where publicist Jane Savidge was in conversation with broadcaster, writer, and musician John Robb. The talk was preceded by a showing of the highly-acclaimed video to the 1998 Pulp song This Is Hardcore, the album of the same name and background to its creation about which Jane has just written a book and formed the basis of the conversation. We also got a fascinating insight into the birth of the Britpop movement as Jane's PR company had represented artists in addition to Pulp like Suede, Elastica, and The Verve. And finally, I went to the sell-out conversation with the legendary broadcaster and writer Stuart Maconie in which the conversation revolved around following in the footsteps of Bradford-born writer, broadcaster, and social commentator JB Priestley's tour around the country recounted in English Journey, published in 1934. Stuart describes his own journey made almost 90 years later in his latest book The Full English. It was a very interesting discussion with Stuart's familiar warm Wigan accent ringing around the room. It had been a most entertaining and illuminating afternoon. And then it was a pint or two more of West Coast IPA upstairs followed by some excellent Snake Eyes from Nottingham brewers Black Iris across at the Meandering Bear before I decided to call it a day and head off home for some food.
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| John Robb and Jane Savidge in conversation |
The Town Festival of Music and Words has been taking place over a longer period than ever this year, spread over a couple of weekends for 10 days. Most of the events have been at the Grayston Unity and the Book Corner, but other venues have been used across the town including a pop-up gallery space at the Culturedale hub at Northgate House and the Calderdale Industrial Museum. It was at the gallery that the Festival opened, and whilst there have been exhibitions at the Festival in the past, generally music-related, this was something rather different. Called Radical Halifax, it focusses on the hidden history of the town, unknown to the majority, featuring people of the town who campaigned against what they saw around them and committed themselves to changing things for the better. So amongst them are peace campaigners, Luddites, Chartists, political campaigners, and anti-slavery activists, with images and graphics by Marcus Jack and words and research by Dan Whittall. It is well worth a visit if you get chance before it closes on Sunday 20th October, and Dan is giving a talk there on the themes explored in the exhibition on the previous day at 11am.
Other events as the Festival draws to a close include Tyneside band Lanterns on the Lake supported by ex-Radiohead drummer Philip Selway at Halifax Minster on Friday 18th, poet and comedian John Hegley at the Book Corner and former member of 1990's alternative rock band Lush, Miki Berenyi at the Grayston Unity on Saturday, whilst on the Sunday legendary Oklahoma singer-songwriter Gordon McKinney is also at the Grayston.
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| Oklahoma's Gordon McKinney |
Meanwhile, in other news, as part of the ongoing soap opera that is Carlsberg Marstons Brewing Company it was announced last week that, following Marstons' decision earlier in the year to pull away from brewing and leave it in the er, safe hands of Carlsberg, the Park Brewery in Wolverhampton, where Banks has been brewed since 1875, is to close next year with the loss of 97 jobs, with production transferred to the Marstons brewery in Burton-on-Trent, now operated by Carlsberg. Just to recap briefly how we got here; in 2020 Marstons announced a £780 million merger with Danish brewers Carlsberg, in which Marstons would have a 40% share with the breweries acquired by the new group. For both Carlsberg, with their focus on lager, and Marstons with their portfolio of ales and large number of pubs in the UK, the merger made strategic sense. However, the influence of the Danes began to take hold and as is inevitable in the wake of feasibility studies and return on investment analyses, the accountants hold the cards. When Carlsberg and Marstons got together, it was to create synergies, ie. find mutually beneficial ways of saving money and creating efficiencies. And once Marstons decided to pull out of brewing, sell their 40% stake in CMBC to Carlsberg, and concentrate on managing their pub estate, it left their former breweries even more exposed. So whilst there has been an outcry both locally and nationally, it was almost inevitable that given the fact that the Marstons site in Burton has more scope for expansion than the city centre location occupied by Banks, plus the relative closeness of the two breweries, that when push came to shove, it would be the Wolverhampton brewery that would lose out.
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| Facing the axe: Banks's Brewery, Wolverhampton |
And finally, back to the Elland Beer Festival. Elland was, until it closed earlier this year, home to the eponymous Brewery whose flagship beer was the 6.5% 1872 Porter which won multiple awards over the years. Now obviously they weren't there this year but one of the beers that was on offer was a Victorian Imperial Porter from Craven Brew with an ABV of 6.5% (which I have to admit I didn't get to try). Now the programme notes intriguingly stated that it was "first brewed over 22 years ago, often replicated but never improved or bettered...brewed originally from a porter recipe dating from the late 1800's." Now interestingly Craven Brew is run by Dave Sanders who was involved in Elland Brewery in the Eastwood and Sanders period of its history, dating from 2002, and who famously fell out with his erstwhile partner John Eastwood. It is tempting to conclude that with Elland no longer around this was a case of finally having the last laugh....
Follow me on twitter/X: @realalemusic
And here is some Loose Articles....
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