I was meeting Leon to tick the new GBG entry in Pontefract, the first for, ooh, ages (Ed : 2014)
Is Ponte really smaller than Castleford ? Who’d have guessed ? Pontefract has rhubarb and liquorice and THREE railway stations.
Leon lives relatively close nearby and also knows about trains, but not in a sinister way. He directed us from Monkhill past the castle ruins into town without pausing for breath, but I still managed a shot of the Mondrian.
Curry Charles was impressed with the cobbled streets and quaint shops here back in 2019, and although it seemed a little too quiet at 16:30 on a Wednesday, it looked cared for and enticing in a sort of mini-Hull way.
Just like Land of Green Ginger, you can never have enough of Ducks and Green Pease Row.
And now it leads not only to the Beastfair Vaults,
but to a rather good micro.
“A rather good MICRO, retiredmartin !” you ask.
Well, to be fair, they’re all I’ve got and the ones I’m going in now aren’t really any worse for table service and the beer quality is often excellent.
Like this rich, dark Small World Stout (NBSS 3.5+).
Lacings of the week ?
OK, no-one is going to come in on a mobility scooter and crash into the tables like they do in Spoons or Craft Unions in Scunthorpe but to be honest I was enjoying a chat with Leon about his turquoise ticking (top) and I wouldn’t have noticed if Colin the Cauliflower had turned up.
It was only 17:15; our tick was in the bag but we needed some value from our train fares so Leon started popping in pubs to lick look for handpumps, without success.
“Are ya interested in old pubs, like ?” asked a bloke lurking on the street corner. “Look round that corner“.
That line normally leads to a bloke with a fedora offering you a bag of exotic liquorice for a quid.
Wow.
Long closed but apparently on its way back, if you believe Facebook. I don’t.
Anyway, guess who’s been there most recently to record its demise for Pubs Galore. ITMA.
retiredmartin 
Don’t be fooled, that GBG is Martin’s backup version, where only previously blogged locations are shaded.
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It’s That Man Again, indeed. Yes, that was one of my last pub trips – late February 2020 – just before things went pear shaped. And I’m not just referring to my waistline.
I had a drink in six pubs that day, including the Old Grocers (not impressed with the customer service skills of the owner – he spent the whole time I was there engaged in some admin tasks that he could have done before opening – but I guess it was just so he could avoid being obliged to talk to people) and the Robin Hood (excellent pub – but I had reached my limit and couldn’t stop long). The other four had bad beer except for the Sam Smiths (the Windmill Inn – a beautiful pub) which had only keg, which I guess means it’s not in the GBG.
You should go to the Robin Hood next…
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I think I WILL go to the Robin Hood next, Will.
I won’t claim the Old Grocer chap was chatty because he brought our beers and took our money and that was it, and in a Covid world the interaction at the bar and from our distant tables is what we’re missing. I do wonder if the layout of the typical micro/craft bar with the guvnor sitting at the far end of a rectangle really works in terms of atmosphere.
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Yes, a bar along the side works better (like in the Itchy Pig in Broomhill), but not if the shop is too narrow (like the Beer Shed in New Mills). The Stop In Time in Brinsworth works, with the bar just inside the door to the left, but facing the street.
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I have nightmares thinking about the seating in that New Mills place !
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Looking fwd to my trip here, and so is poor unloved Col. Hope Leon will bring his GBG along so I can get to the root of turquoise ticking 😉
Am giving a grey Stabilo a go at the moment for shut pubs but it ain’t really working.
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As in Staines ?
I can’t remember how many GBG pubs Leon said he’d done but it struck me as a hugely impressive amount and as he’s younger than you I wonder if he’s a dark horse in the race.
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“and also knows about trains, but not in a sinister way.” Intrigued? Presumably you mean Leon is not a train spotter?
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I mean, for example, he doesn’t urinate on station platforms.
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I’d just like to thank CAMRA for making the 22 guide the same colour as my highlighters. Don’t let the Haterz win kidz.
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