I’m skipping over my 3rd micro pub in a row, not because the beer wasn’t good (the Acorn Porter was spectacular, NBSS 4), or the atmosphere unfriendly (it was great), but because even less happened than in the two in north Barnsley.
No sniggering at a failed entrance, no doggie stand-off, no animated discussion about duck-plucking. They were starting on the Madeleine conspiracy when I left, mind.
But I did narrowly avoid a lynching as I took this constricted shot as I left.
A burly Barnsley bloke berated me. “Oi, you taking a photo of my van ?”. My explanation that I was a harmless weirdo who took photos of plain pubs somehow worked. And he wouldn’t have caught up with me, anyway.
I’m glad I survived that mild threat; I’ve been very kind to the Hoyland huddle of pubs over recent years.
And it meant I could finish South Yorkshire on a real high, even if the Ale House DOES sound like yet another micro. AND it opens at 4pm.
It really isn’t.
Hard to describe where this is, tucked away between the A61 to Chesterfield and the Fitness First Gym on Archer Road.
The Ale House has a darts board, which I guess makes it a gym of sorts.
The Public bar was full, the Lounge empty. Everyone was older than me; I could have been at the WMC on a Friday night. Except the beer was shifting at a volume not seen since Foxfield. Good stuff too.
Not a “CAMRA” pub in the Kelham Island sense, but a drinkers’ pub, and a place you’d spend a whole Friday night attempting a 139 check-out. John Lowe will tell you how (top).
It was another peerless pint (NBSS 4.5) from Drone Valley, and would have been a shoo-in for Beer of the Month if not for Halifax on Tuesday.
Simon will love it, but if it’s his sixth pint of the day he may never get there. Or home.
retiredmartin 
Young Martin,I’m sure I’ve had to pick you up on this before but it’s shoo-in not shoe-in.
A shoe-in might have ensued if you had told the burley Barnsley white van man to bugger off but shoo-in comes from the verb to shoo as in shoo away – the noise or gesture you make to send a person or animal in a certain direction.
Shoo-in derived from the horse tracks of America to identify a race that had been rigged.
As I’m sure Russ would have told you …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Corrected, Prof. Just for you.
LikeLike
Looks wrong though. Some claim that usage is everything, and those mighty arbiters of such things today, football commentators, use it to mean an easy goal etc., i.e. one which didn’t even need a football boot?
How often do we hear “off his own back” rather than “bat”, these days too?
LikeLike
I just assumed you meant the Barnsley white van man originally came from the New Forest.
LikeLike
I’m just delighted no-one has picked up the spelling mistake in my post correcting young Martin’s mistake.
Over to you Russ.
LikeLike
“Over to you Russ.”
Unless it’s no space after your comma I haven’t a clue. 😛
LikeLike
Just worked my way through your recent micro-series. Well done on finishing South Yorkshire, the new additions have some challenging hours that I have mostly yet to tackle. Great line re the darts board. The beer quality in that set of micros seems to have been very high.
LikeLiked by 1 person
To be fair, it was. And you’ll know how fussy I get about quality. I spent my 15 mins in that Ale House mesmerised by a chart showing you every possible checkout permutation !
LikeLike
Nice post, Martin.
Did those darts players also do a Blues Brothers tribute act?
Whatever, here’s a bit of Sheffield, from before the days of micro pubs:
LikeLike
For some reason, that’s a different item. Scrub that. I meant this!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for replacing my mis-post with something decent, Martin.
LikeLike
“I’m skipping over my 3rd micro pub in a row” –It takes a lot to make Martin skip over writing up a pub altogether; that place must have been unremarkable indeed! Mind you, if Simon had gone in there he’d have managed to stroll in when the place was filled with oddballs and angry babes. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, he really would !
LikeLiked by 1 person
“but because even less happened than in the two in north Barnsley.”
You need to team up with BRAPA more. 😉
“which I guess makes it a gym of sorts.”
If that’s all it takes then most pubs are a gym of sorts; due to all the elbow bending. 🙂
“John Lowe will tell you how (top).”
Ah. I was thinking ‘blues’ for at first but now realise it’s darts.
“Simon will love it, but if it’s his sixth pint of the day he may never get there”
All the more reason to team up with you. 🙂
Cheers
LikeLike