With a football-free Saturday and no time for a longer trip, I took the opportunity to re-visit a couple of nearby railway station bars along with a classic town centre pub....
The West Riding Refreshment Rooms at Dewsbury railway station are something of an institution. Since 1994 this Grade II-listed part ivy-clad former railway building has been delighting travellers and locals alike with its real ale, food, and welcoming atmosphere. It was opened by Mike Field, one of the original 'Gang of Four' behind the former West Riding Brewery, and who subsequently set up the Anglo Dutch Brewery based in Dewsbury with Dutchman Paul Klos in 2000. The West Riding aimed to restore the former station buffet bar to its former glory, with some of the inspiration coming from one of the country's few remaining examples based further down the trans-Pennine line at Stalybridge. The building was sympathetically restored, with real ale front and centre in the offering, and the place still retains much of the look that it had back in those early days. The bar was an immediate success, not only attracting rail passengers but also real ale drinkers from miles around. Beers were sourced not just from local breweries, with Taylors a constant presence, but also from much further afield and in the days when there were fewer free houses it gave the opportunity to try beers rarely if ever seen in the area. The West Riding was not surprisingly the recipient of numerous CAMRA awards over the years.
Under Mike's stewardship, the success of the West Riding led to some cautious expansion over the years. An unassuming former Bass Yorkshire house in Huddersfield, the Sportsman, was brought into the fold, as was the Cricketers, a former Tetleys house in nearby Horbury. And when John Hesketh, owner of the Stalybridge Buffet Bar passed away, it was almost inevitable Mike would step in and buy the iconic place that had been such a source of inspiration in the creation of the West Riding. Subsequently the Beerhouses Group, as it had become, acquired the Old Turk, previously the Glue Pot, a once-popular pub near to Dewsbury Station, which is used mainly as an events venue and has been renamed the Terrace in recent years. Mike passed away in 2021, since when a second pub in Huddersfield, the County, has been acquired.
Back when the West Riding opened, the pub scene in Dewsbury was rather different to how it is now. It had traditionally been home to a number of cracking Tetleys pubs and when the once-thriving traditional market used to pull in visitors from far and wide, these and other pubs in the town used to be very busy, and I remember going out on several nights out in the town centre in the 1980's when it was a lively old place. But since then many of these pubs have closed down including the Woodman, which was the oldest pub in town, Fearnsides, the Gate, and the quirky free house, the John F. Kennedy, as the character of both the market and the town centre changed over the years. And more recently, visitors coming into Dewsbury hoping to visit the other Good Beer Guide-listed pub, the Shepherd's Boy, will have been disappointed to find it closed. With declining trade, owners Ossett decided this former Websters house wasn't worth any further investment, sold it on, and it is seemingly destined to become a dental surgery.
The West Riding was pretty busy when I walked in. There was a good selection of cask ales on the bar, with beers from Two By Two, Vocation, Taylors, Thornbridge, Brass Castle, Farm Yard, Wilde Child, and Ossett available. Predictably I went for a pint of Snake Eyes from Two by Two, which I took to a table by the radiator in the room to the right of the bar, but as the heat was rather high I shuffled along to the next one. My beer was predictably in good form (NBSS 3.5). A large group of young ale-trailers came into the room, and whilst they were lovely and friendly I felt slightly engulfed as I was almost surrounded, so with my glass almost empty I used that as a reason to move and returned to the bar. I had been intrigued by the Farm Yard beer, Discotheque, a 5.2% strong bitter, as it had a mirrored pump clip which I've never seen before! Brewed as a collab with Port Street Beer House in Manchester, it had a rich malty backbone with fruit and spice from the Bramling Cross and Endeavour hops used. Another good beer (NBSS 3.5).
I enjoyed my return visit here with its mix of solid implacable drinkers and fleeting callers grabbing a quick drink before catching the train. The fire was lit in the room beyond the bar (though not in the picture above!) and there was an air of chilled contentment about the place. And with its walls adorned with railway and brewery memorabilia, and a warm and welcoming atmosphere the West Riding Refreshment Rooms make for a compelling place to visit. And let's face it, they've been doing it right for over 30 years....
After a few minutes delay I was out on the platform waiting for a train to Huddersfield which eventually arrived. My plan was to visit a couple of places there and then head back home for food. When the train pulled in at Huddersfield, I noticed a few things had changed in the few months since I had last been in the station. The building housing the former buffet bar, waiting room, and toilets had disappeared as work continues to upgrade the station and add another platform as part of the improvements being made to the Trans-Pennine line, with other work around Mirfield and Ravensthorpe also in evidence as the train passed by earlier.
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| The King's Head in pre-station upgrade days; cars can't park there at the moment |
I left the station and headed round to the King's Head, much the better of the two bars at Huddersfield Station. Originally known as the Train Station Tavern, it was run for many years by the late Bruce Travis, who changed the name to the King's Head in honour of his hero, Jimi Hendrix, whose face is depicted on the the pub signage. Whilst I hadn't used the station itself recently, I had been both here and the Head Of Steam at the opposite end of the main building in the intervening period. I walked up to the bar and scoured the listings board to see what was on. In the light of the recent closure of Magic Rock and the subsequent acquisition of the brand by Black Sheep owners Keystone Leisure, there was no Ringmaster, my usual choice, on the bar. So I opted for another regular, Goat's Milk from Church End. A former CAMRA Champion Beer of Great Britain, it is not a beer I drink regularly, but I always enjoy a pint of this 3.8% pale ale when I do, and this was a solid 3 on the NBSS scale. The place was fairly quiet when I walked in, with a few familiar but unknown faces amongst the punters in the room, but as is always the case with this and other station-based bars things can rapidly change and within a few minutes of my arrival the bar was surrounded by a large group of people, and the noise level in the large room increased considerably. I had a few sips of my pint and then went to the loo, where I noticed one of the sinks was effectively out of use as it was occupied by a pair of red boxer shorts for whatever reason - needless to say I didn't investigate any further! Back out to re-join my pint, and the crowd at the bar was starting to dissipate and spread around the pub. I sat watching the scene and checking my phone as I enjoyed my beer. Presently I finished my drink, took my empty glass back to the bar, and headed off.
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| The King's Head: looks like the 1849's just landed.... |
I walked past the fencing behind which is the station car park, commandeered as a storage area as part of the upgrade, with Harold Wilson's statue as ever keeping an avuncular eye on proceedings,, and walked past the former George Hotel and turned left on to the main road and walked along and under the railway bridge where on the corner of Fitzwilliam Street and St John's Street was the second Beerhouses pub of the day.
The Sportsman is a Grade ll-listed pub which was built in 1930 by local brewers Seth Senior in the Art Deco style, with the historic curving bar dating from that period. Hammonds of Bradford subsequently took over the pub and did their own makeover in the 1950's from which much survives, and their name is still etched in the pub windows. Under their tenure they removed a central off-sales section which had split the large main room into two, so this effectively opened the room up to how it is today. Hammonds were themselves acquired by Bass Yorkshire and over their tenure and through the period from the mid-1970's when CAMRA became active the pub was hardly known for the quality of its ale. The Sportsman thus drifted along quietly over the years in its own way. It took the acquisition by the Beerhouses Group in 2009 to change the pub's fortunes for the better. A refurbishment which restored the pub to its former glory led to a Pub Design Award from English Heritage in 2010, and today a visit to the Sportsman takes you back to a different age. Beneath an old carpet in the main room there lay a parquet floor which was lovingly restored, with banquette seating and tables round the walls. The wooden bar back with its canopy and glass shelves largely dates back from the 1950's. To either side of the main room are two snugs, with both featuring the original bell pushes to request service from the bar. And mention must be made to the fact that on the way to the beer garden out the back are the toilets, with the small Gents featuring the original urinals and inter-war tiling depicting a number of sports, and like the Philharmonic in Liverpool are worthy of a visit in their own right!
I entered the pub via the corner entrance with its vestibule, holding the door open for a group chatting away behind me. The voices sounded familiar, and when they came and stood nearby at the bar I recognised them. It was Tara, Elaine, and Nick from Mallinsons Brewery who are regularly to be seen in the pubs in Huddersfield, and their beers frequently feature amongst the 8 cask ales on the bar here, with one on the bar this evening. I'm not sure if they were here to make sure it was in fine form, but if they were, I'm sure that they would have found it to be so, as I always find the beers to be in great condition here. Incidentally. Nick was telling me the next open day at the brewery is the 14th of June, and if you've never been along they are always well worth a visit.
When I ordered my beer, I didn't go for the Mallinsons, instead ordering another Farm Yard beer, following on from my half at the West Riding. This time I went for Sheaf, a 4.1% American Pale Ale, copiously hopped with Citra and Mosaic, and which is also gluten free. Another enjoyable point which I reckoned was worth an NBSS 3.5 rating. Finally, I went for a half of Every Time from Bristol Beer Factory. This is a 3.8% uber-pale session IPA hopped with Krush, Cryo Pop, and Idaho 7, which was an enjoyable beer with which to conclude my evening here (NBSS 3).
And from there, I ordered an Uber and headed off into the night in a homeward direction, having had an enjoyable afternoon and evening in three of the best pubs in the West Riding....
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