As you’ll have realised if you bothered studying my May travel map*, there was a trip to Castleford squeezed in before month-end.
This will really make my American readers jealous they’re not in England this summer. “Cas” has never featured in the blog before, but then neither has Bexhill.
But I know I’ve stopped off at the Winter Seam, the Spoons squeezed into the snow dome at Junction 32 off the M62 which greets you if you brave West Yorkshire’s most unsung town by car.
This is WHY it’s unsung;
But my middle name is “BePositive” and I can assure my readers that Cas is worth the stop-off on the way to Pontefract with fellow Pub Man Leon that I’m using it for.
Lovely fonts for Matthew Lawrenson,
those windows in the ruined Crimea Tavern (above),
a gorgeous walkway over the Aire accompanied by that powerful smell of sluice gate (the boat isn’t a secret micro),
and the wonderful tiling of the Junction, the pub that specialises in beers from the wood.
In fact, most of the town looked dead, including the absolute pre-emptive cert of Doghouse, cousin of a new GBG entry in Selby, the Castleford of the West (?).
And finding myself unexpectedly back at the Station Pub (great name), the strains of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” didn’t entirely convince me of the presence of life.
It was 15:40. I’d best go and give Leon a welcoming committee.
*Reminds me, I need to update the map on my blog
retiredmartin 
Another town just waiting for the hipsters and artists to move in. Soon the locals can enjoy cloudy homebrew at £7 a pint and organic coffee at £4 a cup.
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Keep reading, Morten…..
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Both my visits to Castleford pubs have been en route to watching matches involving its rugby league team, although I concede that their traditional nickname, Classy Cas, doesn’t really extend to the surrounding town, even if the ground itself is an unreconstructed classic of low-roofed standing terraces and wooden, pillar-supported grandstand: https://whenmyfeetgothroughthedoor.blogspot.com/2013/05/classic-cas.html
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I must have been to Cas several times to watch rugby but have managed to delete it from my memory -definately have never visited any pubs there !
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Bet you’ve changed your mind about visiting the pubs there after reading this.
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Richard used to help out at the Junction’s Beer from the Wood festival. Haven’t been to the pub in years.
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Never too late to enjoy its many charms, Pauline.
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It’s not Bexhill you want….
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Good old Dumpy!
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American jealousy has spanned almost two years.
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You’ll be back…
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Sad to see the Crimea Tavern in such a state – sure it was a Guide regular at one time along with The Rock, unless my memory is playing tricks. Whatpub for Cas throws up a few, including the Doghouse, a micro for which it writes: “Currently terms of licence require two door staff after 21:00”.
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Yes, the first time I went to Cas in c.2009, we did the Shoulder of Mutton (Tetley Dave), The Eagle, and the Crimea. All super pubs, only the Eagle remains. Must revisit.
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I distinctly remember that first pub being known as Tetley Dave’s ! Now there was a pint of Tets !
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Love that “Emily Fowler” window. Interesting that it speaks of “beer & porter,” as if those are two entirely different things.
I’ve gotta say the strains of Pat Benatar’s “Love Is A Battlefield” would only inspire me to go in search of other strains. 😉
I wonder what the financial arrangements are for a pub that can choose to just stay completely shut until all the Covid restrictions are ended. I would assume for the vast majority of pubs they’ve got to grit their teeth, adjust to the regulations, and start earning some money, one way or another.
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Gorgeous window. Don’t ask beer questions on here, Mark ! (Paul will know).
“Love Is A Battlefield” is one of those irritating ’80s songs I know every note of despite not buying it and it only reached No.17 in the UK !
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I don’t think I know of any pubs now with only a beer ( and porter ) licence but there would have been quite a few of them a hundred and more years ago.
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Interestingly Paul, I explained to Martin in that on visiting (& swiftly leaving) the pub opposite the spoons in 2019 that I can’t remember the name of, they told us they didn’t serve wine, only beer. But I think there were spirits too.
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That was it ! I remember.
This is why BRAPA likes to go pubbing alone so he can make notes and not be distracted talking about ephemera.
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