Taylor Made In Keighley....

I had an afternoon in Keighley recently, where I spent my time sampling beers from the Town's most famous brewery, found out the story of its most famous beer, and paid a visit to a few of the pubs in the town....

I'd had loads of plans during the week of different places to go at the weekend for a research day for the blog. Gradually, one by one, they were all dismissed, mainly in light of the cold and extremely blustery weather brought to us courtesy of the latest celebrity strong wind event, Storm Darragh. In the end I settled on going to Keighley, a town I had not stopped in for years, my only visits being the slow and frustrating part of a drive on the way to or from the Dales or Lakes. There is an hourly daytime bus service that runs between Halifax and Keighley, which for whatever reason I hadn't been aware, so I decided to give it a go. The journey takes you through the hidden suburbs of north Halifax, the large linear hilltop village of Denholme, nearby Cullingworth, and some open and wild countryside before beginning the long descent from above Cross Roads, passing rows of tightly-packed gritstone terraces before finally arriving at Keighley Bus Station some 55 minutes later.

The town now known as Keighley was mentioned in the Domesday Book, with a market charter granted in 1305. Situated at a wide point in the Aire Valley at the confluence of the  eponymous river with the smaller River Worth, and surrounded by high moors and rich farmland, the town grew rapidly in the 19th century with the development and expansion of the textile and allied trades, aided first by the construction of the nearby Leeds-Liverpool Canal, and then the coming of railways. Other industries that developed in the town included engineering, whilst there were (and still are today) several breweries in and around the town. Situated 8 miles from Bradford and Skipton, and 11 from Halifax, it is the last major town in West Yorkshire before the scenery becomes more rural as the southern fringes of the Yorkshire Dales start to take over. Whilst today parts of the town are somewhat scruffy, it still retains many grand Victorian buildings, with thousands of visitors attracted to the house and gardens of Cliffe Castle, whilst the canopy along a terraced row of shops on Cavendish Street lends a grandeur which wouldn't be out of place in Harrogate or Ilkley. Keighley's library was the first to be built in the country by Andrew Carnegie, whilst the town entered into the first twinning agreement in the world when it linked up with Poix-du-Nord in France in 1920. The town's cinema, the Picture House, opened in 1913 and is one of the oldest in the country. Famous people from Keighley and the surrounding area include the Bronte Sisters, Yorkshire and England cricketer Harry Brook, singer Kiki Dee, fundraiser Sir Tom Moore, and actress Mollie Sugden aka Mrs Slocombe from TV comedy Are You Being Served?  

One of those breweries from those days, whose founder is one of the town's most famous sons, and the only one that has survived until today, is Timothy Taylor and Co. Ltd, who started out brewing in 1858 at a site in Cook Lane, brewing mild, bitter, and porter. The beers soon became popular with the people of the town and within a year the company were able to acquire their first tied houses, starting with the Volunteer Arms in the town centre, followed by the New Inn at Bocking. Demand continued to grow, meaning the brewery needed more room, and this saw them moving to a site at Knowle Spring in 1863, where they have remained ever since. Despite some setbacks and threats to their existence over the years, the company has continued to grow, with beers now sold all over the country. Quality was always the watchword, Timothy and his successors insisting that in order to be able to compete with other larger breweries, only the best ingredients would do. This has led to an assumption that the company's beers can be more expensive than other beers on the bar (often referred to colloquially as the Taylor tax), although the prices can be very low when they pop up in places like Wetherspoons or other chain pubs, where as a trade-off  the beers may not be as well-maintained. Whilst there have been some moves into keg beers such as Hopical Storm, cask is by far and away the biggest format that Taylors produce.

The beer that has helped the brewery's growth and has a significant proportion of the company's sales is Landlord, a 4.3% bitter. The beer, which has citrus peel aromas, grassy freshness, marmalade sweetness, and a bitter finish, started life as a bottled beer originally called Competition Ale, becoming Landlord after the name was chosen as winner in a competition in 1953. It was first brewed as a cask beer in the 1960's, when it was stronger than it is now - I can remember it being 4.7% when I first came across it in the 1970's. The beer's reputation grew when it began to pick up scores of awards and is the only beer to have ever won CAMRA Champion Beer of Great Britain 4 times. It got a significant boost when no less a figure than Madonna said that it was her favourite beer in a TV interviews with Jonathan Ross and Michael Parkinson. A national brand was born and today it is firmly established in the top 5 cask beers in the country.

It had been years since I'd last had a beer in Keighley. Back in the 1970's and 1980's, with the local scene around Halifax and Calderdale largely restricted to Websters and Tetleys - with some notable exceptions such as the long-gone Grinning Rat - Keighley, the home of a different brewery, had some allure, and from time to time we would visit the town and surrounding villages like Haworth and Oakworth to sample the pubs and their beers, and at one point in the early days when I was living in Leeds I managed to get on a trip from the Eagle Tavern to go round the brewery. Keighley town centre back in those days had plenty of Taylors pubs to go at, with the brewery having a virtual monopoly. However, over the years, places such as the Cricketers, the Burlington, Globe, Vine, Eastwood Tavern, and Burlington have all gone. Others such as the Friendly, Brown Cow, and Volunteers still operate, but are no longer run by Taylors. Of the original town centre pubs, only the Boltmakers, Royal, and Albert continue to be operated by the brewery, along with another pub they acquired a few years ago, the Lord Rodney, which now operates as Taylors On The Green.

It was cold as I got off the bus and wandered out into a draughty walkway at the side of the Airedale Shopping Centre. My original plan was to make my way directly to the Brown Cow, one of the town's two pubs listed in the Good Beer Guide. But in view of the cold wind aggravating what had been a slight need to go to the loo, I broke my journey at the Albert. A large pub situated beside a busy roundabout, it is one of the longest-standing of Taylor's current portfolio of 19 pubs.

A large and imposing pub dating back to Victorian times, it has a comfortable, lived-in feel to it. Large screens showing Sky Sports News had several attentive viewers, although why there needed to be two situated right to next other I have no idea. One for each eye, maybe? Who knows! There was also a competing soundtrack that was playing too loud to be comfortable, and looking around at the generally middle-aged+ clientele, I would have been surprised if it would have been their type of music. But hey, who knows! The bar was an attractive horseshoe feature in the room to the left of the entrance, whilst to the right there was a pool room from where the click-clack of a couple of sharp hustlers rang out when I went for that much-needed loo break. There was just one beer on cask, Landlord, which I am sorry to report was only average (NBSS 2.5). Which was a shame, as I found the pub to be very friendly and welcoming, 

Once I had negotiated crossing the busy road, it was only a short walk to the Brown Cow. With its slight elevation, trees in front, and a bluff facing wall it cut something of an imposing spectacle as I approached in the dismal weather. Once inside though, I was in a cosy and welcoming place, with just the lady serving behind the bar and a guy sat at the bar with a pint in front of him. This former Taylor's house is now free of tie and a number of different Yorkshire breweries were represented on the bar. However, when in Keighley, as they say, I decided to stick with Taylors, only this time I went for the Boltmaker. The pub consists of an L-shaped room around the bar, with a raised area to the right, off which there is a further room at the back of the bar behind a sliding door. There was a fire on in the raised area which was very welcome on this cold day, and having grabbed copies of a couple of local CAMRA magazines, I settled down to enjoy my pint. A tawny-coloured bitter, with a biscuity malt base and a dry bitter finish, its name was changed from Best Bitter a few years ago, and here I found it to be  pleasant and enjoyable (NBSS 3). A few more people came in before I left, although it was still pretty quiet. I finished my pint, zipped up my coat, and headed off, having had an enjoyable half an hour here.

Brown Cow, Keighley; warm and welcoming

Back out in to the wind, with dusk creeping over as the daylight dimmed, it was a few minutes walk to the next pub. Back in the 1980's, the pub formerly known as the Lord Rodney was a rare Tetley pub amongst a sea of Taylors. Standing beside the parish church in an attractive setting, it was acquired by Taylors some years ago, and more recently underwent a major refurbishment and a name change. So it became Taylor's On The Green, a name that has no character and sounds like it was dreamt up by a focus group who had no experience of or interest in pubs or beer. Surely they could have come up with something better than that! They could have taken a leaf out of Wetherspoon's book and named it after a famous local figure such as the Timothy Taylor (seems the obvious one to me!). Even the Mrs Slocombe would have been better...JOKING! The TOTG has an attractive exterior, whilst as you go in there is a little snug area to the right. On the left there is a mix of high stools with raised tables, sofas, and armchairs, with a large room at the back with a glass roof, and more seating. There is wooden flooring throughout and old photos adorn the walls. There is a long bar with the full range of Taylors, which I noticed included the 4.4% stout, Northern Rising, the collaboration between Taylors and Northern Monk that I had enjoyed the other week in the White Cloth Hall in Leeds. The girl behind the bar was smartly-dressed in Taylor's-branded uniform, and I ordered a pint of Boltmaker, which I took with me to one of the high tables. There was what appeared to be an extended family group in Christmas jumpers who seemed to be having an enjoyable time. The beer was similar in quality to that at the Brown Cow (NBSS 3), which considering this is Taylor's flagship pub, was a tad disappointing. As was the subsequent pint of Landlord I had here (NBSS 3). Nothing wrong with the beer, but I was expecting better. And so an ultimately unsatisfying visit here. The overall impression was of a bland place which had all the right components but lacked any character and warmth. Actually, thinking about it, that bland name is fairly appropriate!

Taylor's on the Green, Keighley

Fortunately, help to restore the equilibrium of the afternoon was nearby. The final pub I had planned to visit here was another Taylors tied house, the Boltmakers Arms (opening image), which I had been in before but a long, long time ago! This small pub is situated next door to an Italian restaurant, and as I walked in a sea of bodies were crowded around the bar. I managed to get served fairly quickly though, and as luck would have it, a couple of guys beside me in a corner beside the bar were drinking up and on their way, so I grabbed their spot beside the bar. I'd gone for a pint of Boltmaker again, partly because I was in the Boltmakers but also to benchmark against the other pints I had. And this was definitely the best of the three I'd had, cool, refreshing, and in excellent condition (NBSS 3.5). There was a great atmosphere here, a really friendly local atmosphere, with the two ladies behind the bar doing a splendid job in keeping everyone watered. If it had opened in the last few years, it would have been called a micropub, as it basically consists of one room with a part wall acting as a divide into two areas. I finished my beer, and ordered a half of Golden Best, Taylors' take on a light mild, which was a style popular in these parts at one time. It's a fruity beer with a malty character has an ABV of 3.4%, which I felt justified an NBSS rating of 3. And to finish off, I had a half of Landlord Dark, formerly sold as Ram Tam, which is basically a dark version of Landlord with added caramel (NBSS 3). What a great little friendly pub, and why this is not in the Good Beer Guide and the TOTG is, I have no idea. Well worth a visit.

The bar at the Boltmakers

And with the last bus to Halifax long gone, I headed off through the dark streets towards the railway station with the plan to get a train to Bradford from where the call of a curry was beckoning. And I have to say that it had been an interesting return visit to Keighley, the home of Timothy Taylor....

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