Real Ale, Real Music

An early evening wander through the streets of Leeds featuring a classic traditional pub along with a number of more recent upstarts.... The Adelphi is a venerable old Leeds boozer with a striking frontage which, although currently at the back of some extensive and noisy roadworks, still stands out as a thing of beauty. Built in 1901 by the former Melbourne Brewery, it was designed, like the Cardigan Arms and its neighbour, the former Rising Sun, on Kirkstall Road, by local architect Thomas Winn in the style of a Victorian drinking palace. To visit the Adelphi today is to be taken back in a world that has largely been lost to the passage of time and redevelopment. Many of the old buildings that stood close by have long been demolished, with those spared from the wrecking ball emerging as apartments or trendy cafe bars or creative spaces, whilst a backdrop of new glass and concrete edifices continues to rise up above the urban landscape. The Adelphi is a true survivor in a changing cit...

Yes, it's out! The 2022 CAMRA Good Beer Guide, the 49th edition of the real ale drinker's guide to the best beers and pubs was released on November 12th, leading to a flurry of excitement amongst the real ale community. And the first brand new pub featured in the guide I visited was in a location that I had not expected to be visiting when I woke up that morning.... I had arrived home one evening the other week and found a parcel had been delivered. I couldn't think of anything I had ordered other than the odd CD, and even though the current shortage of cardboard has seen deliveries arrive in all sorts of shapes and sizes, it felt a lot heavier than a CD. I opened it up, and it turned out to be the 2022 Good Beer Guide, delivered before its official release date as I had signed up for the CAMRA Privilege Club a couple of years ago. This gets you a discounted copy of the Guide every year, but the price you pay though is you are required to keep quiet about what lies within i...

The second of two blogs based on a recent trip to Glasgow, where I had had a slightly underwhelming first day followed by a more promising start to the second. You left me on the subway having just left Ibrox station from where I was travelling the few minutes to Bridge Street.... The train came to a stop, and I headed up the steps out of the station into the still rainy weather. I looked around, the bridge over the Clyde was off to the left, whilst across the road was a junction beside a low railway bridge. Diagonally opposite across the road was the low building that was The Lauriston , one of the pubs I had on my list. It hardly looked open though from the distance, hard to tell if the lights were on, or if the door was open. Better cross the road to take a closer look. I pressed the traffic light button, a double decker bus gleefully splashed the contents of a large puddle in my direction as it turned the corner, and I waited. A guy was shuffling down the pavement on the other side...

This week the COP26 climate summit is taking place in Glasgow if you hadn't noticed. Purely coincidentally, I recently made my first proper visit to the city and discovered a fascinating place with plenty to see and do, some great pubs, and some friendly people. Here's the first of two blogs on my visit.... Despite having been to Scotland many times over the years, one glaring omission was Glasgow, where I had only been a couple of times for work, a quick change of trains, and one hectic lunch stop many years ago, so I had hardly explored the place. So I decided I would put things right and booked myself a stay for a few days so that I could explore Scotland's biggest city and former industrial powerhouse. I had decided to go via train from Halifax via Preston and then onwards to Glasgow Central. In less than 4 and a half hours I would be in Glasgow. Well, that was what was supposed to happen. What actually  did happen was that due to a broken down freight train just north ...

After a year's absence because of you-know-what, the third Halifax Festival of Words took place this weekend. And it has been some weekend! Here's my reflections on what has once again been a great showcase for the town.... I have to declare an interest here. If I come over a little biased, I apologise in advance. But I have to say, having been involved in all three Festivals of Words, this was the best yet. And these are my own personal reflections, not a comprehensive report.  The Festival of Words officially opened at 1pm last Friday at The Albany Arcade in Halifax Borough Market by the Town Crier, and was followed by a short set by Todmorden-based opera singer, Nicola Mills. I had only ever seen Nicola perform on a live stream before, but her voice rang around the market and led to many passers-by stopping and joining the assembled crowd for a few minutes before resuming their shopping. People emerged from Adam's Cafe, they came clutching pies from Grosveners, and carry...

Last week, I had booked a gig in Leeds for the first time in ages, and so I decided that I would take the opportunity to stop over in the city and have a wander around some of the city's pubs and bars before the gig. This is where I went.... This week I spent an enjoyable evening in Leeds, visiting an interesting mix of traditional pubs and modern bars before heading up to the Brudenell Social Club for my first gig in the city for a couple of years. Evenings like this have been very few and far between over this period, and I had been looking forward to it all week. I was staying over, and as I had booked in to the Travelodge near to the Trinity Centre I was handily placed for the North Bar on Swinegate, my first stop of the evening. This is a modern bar in a new building, the space it is built on once home to the legendary Queens Hall, which following its closure as a bus depot played host to many gigs and the odd CAMRA Beer Festival amongst plenty of other events. The bar has a ...

It had been a couple of years since I had last visited Mytholmroyd in the Upper Calder Valley, so on a beautiful autumn early evening I caught the train and had a wander around the village's pubs.... I realised as I sat in the Shoulder of Mutton , the pub nearest to Mytholmroyd's railway station, that I had written about the same three places I was planning to call in last time I had visited. But so much has happened over the past couple of years that it felt like a new exploration, a chance to see how things are faring post-lockdown. Sadly for the Shoulder of Mutton, vandalism had recently stuck and so as I took the usual pub photo I noticed that a couple of the windows were boarded up. The pub was fairly quiet when I walked in, a few people were dotted around the tables, but it is quite a rambling place, and I noticed that several people were sat outside in the beer garden above the lively Elphin Brook. The pub is a solid-looking building set on a corner of the road through t...