You left us at the foot of Upper Washer Lane, about to tackle the colossus that is the Big 6 Inn.
But then, like Forrest Gump at Monument Valley, I just stopped.
“I’ve had enough” I whined, like a Wokingham wimp. Charles didn’t argue, even though it was a bit like taking him to Downham Market and not letting him visit the town’s crowning glory, the new Wetherspoons.
“Nightcap in the Grayston then” said Chris, probably. Chris lives in the Grayston, I think, which guarantees him a place at the front of their bijou music room (holds 18).
I couldn’t really say no, and it was next door to Chris’s curry recommendation. One of the quirkiest places on earth, even if they seemed to have missed “Icarus Falls” by local boy Zayn off their 2018 Top Albums list.
Loads of new things to note since my first trip, like this novel lager-ordering system.
Things had gone to pot by now, so I can only tell you that one of us had the Elland, Charles’s second Nettle Thrasher of the day.
Goodness knows what the keg was; if only we’d been taking notes like Proper beer bloggers do.
The bar area and the back room were full, so we had the gangway to the loos all to ourselves, a great people-watching spot.
Anyway, six pubs of an evening is plenty (unless you’re Stafford Paul), but I do remember the dhansak and peshwari naan in the Kashmiri Aroma was superb.
I woke up at 3am, not to the sound of “Wonderwall” being sung by locals under my window but with LBC blaring on my laptop and a blog half-started. Sure sign of a good night.
Later that morning, we visited the Minster, a wonderful gothic church,
and admired the rather more recent architectural highs of the Victorian market.
By the time we come again, Coletta’s Milk Bar may be a craft bar selling 8.2% milk stouts.
retiredmartin 
I love that the immediate response to “I’ve had enough” is “Nightcap at the Grayston then.” 🙂
I do like the looks of the Grayston– that ‘Nice shoes Sir’ photo suggests it has a good bit of history to it, and tons of character.
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“six pubs of an evening is plenty (unless you’re Stafford Paul)” – no, six of an evening is plenty for me, and far more than plenty if I’ve not wasted the daytime !
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Different time zones in Halifax, Paul 😉
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Yes, it’s another world t’other side of the Pennines.
Seriously though when you get to my age two pubs in the morning and six in the afternoon and a curry in the evening is just about enough.
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And even then only six days a week.
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From their website, Mark:
“The Grayston Unity is an independent bar owned by folks who live in Halifax. It’s in a building that dates back to the 1860s (originally opened as a County Court), take a look at the crest on the corner of the building. Opposite the bar is the glorious Halifax Town Hall (anyone can go in to take a look), designed by the architect whose next job was the Houses of Parliament. The bar itself is in a bit that used to be for carriages to enter. A Wesleyan Chapel built in the 18th Century sat on the adjoining car park until the 1950s”
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I really liked the Grayston but not been to the Wainhouse yet, must be good if it is in Halifax though.
Might go to Downham Market on the way back from Cambridge next month!
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Let me know and I’ll definitely meet you there. Direct train from Waterbeach. Definite pre-emptive !
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That’s a good, old-fashioned, Halifax look that you’re getting from Coletta there, Paul.
I’ve seen it often.
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Martin, even!
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Etu,
I can understand you confusing the two Mudgies but Martin and me ?
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It’s worse even than that Paul. It was only when I read it back that I discovered what I had typed.
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I’m odd, not even.
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Yes but where did you leave the purloined supermarket trolley – am I keeping up?
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The supermarket trolley was an HP deal, not purloined, and is now a mobile micro pub called “Trollale”.
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Can’t someone start a Boris*-bike-type scheme for mobility scooters?
*It was Ken, actually.
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Nice blog and all great pubs. I live just over the road from Wainhouse Tavern. No pub trip around Halifax is complete without a visit to the Victorian and the Big Six though!
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Thanks Adam. Great pub as a local. In my defence, I’d have forgotten even more about the Big 6 than I did about the Grayston !
I did visit the Victoria recently, another top pub.
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I noticed that chaps shoes before I read the caption to your photo -very smart for an old ‘un ! We spent a lot of time in the Fax in our youth & my brother in law played rugby there too .No micros then just lots of Tetleys suppose * -am guessing like a lot of places it has changed for the better -pubwise anyway !
* Could be wrong here -I was a dry martini & lemonade girl at the time.
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Pauline,
Indeed, it’s a very smart man that wears shoes to match the pub’s upholstery.
“I was a dry martini & lemonade girl at the time” and so unaffected by all that Dryanuary nonsense.
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– and I expect you’re on the Tetley’s now it’s brewed at a top Wolverhampton brewery.
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Next that time I go to the Plough and Harrow at Monknash, I must put on my rough-plastered shirt, oak-panelled trousers, and horse brass-rimmed spectacles then, Paul.
Unsurpassable.
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I guess views on Halifax would vary, Pauline. There’s more pubs there that welcome all of society than there are in my part of the world, where most boozers are long gone. The new small bars in ‘Fax seem to attract a lot of people my age or older, they’re not just hipster craft bars.
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twas a sad day when Tets left Leeds & no -sad to report I never drink beer but I do like pubs & most other forms of alcohol
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I am proud that this blog is occasionally read by people who visit pubs but care not a jot about beer, just like me.
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Yes, twas actually a sad day when Tets left Leeds.
Back in 1961 their directors decided that merging with Ansells and ind Coope would be a good idea without the foresight to realise that all these years later Tetleys would be little more than a memory.
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