retiredmartin

February 2024. Leeds.

Unexpectedly, Mondays are the new Fridays. 2024 has seen pub crawls in London and Manchester and Tunbridge Wells at the start of the week, having long believed that pubs don’t even open till 4pm on Thursday these days. And beer quality hasn’t suffered either.

“Fancy a Monday pub crawl artisanal curated guidance round historic hostelries in Leeds ?” asks Sheffield Hatter. I must learn to say “No thank you” but it’s too late now.

I met Will on the platform of Sheffield station, where folk with Milan scarves and hockey sticks (no idea) were adding a touch of colour on a dreich South Yorkshire morning.

Sheffield is not only the capital of “beer” (yawn)

Sheffield brewing is driving tourism and regeneration #beer #pubs https://t.co/m8EUIRrctK

— West Suffolk CAMRA (@wscBeer) March 2, 2024

But most trains are going west and south, and the Sheff-Leeds services still offers seats mid-morning, allowing me to capture the beauty of West Yorkshire’s second city as the train trundles in.

We’re meeting up with pub royalty today; Caroline from Grange over Sands and Andy from Hebden Bridge.

I can’t stand still and wait for their train, so I pop out the gates and admire the ongoing construction work outside the Scarbrough,

and briefly consider a pint of cask Tetley in the station pub (the one that’s NOT Spoons).

But a plan for the day has been made, and MUST be stuck to. That is the law of pub crawls curated exploration of hostelries.

So we greet Caroline and Andy, and nip out the back entrance to start the day,

(always assuming Caroline hasn’t been drinking cans of Doom Bar on the train).

It’s amazing how fast gentlefolk walk when there’s a pub in sight.

Brew Society is the sole newbie today, and a possible pre-emptive tick if ever I saw one.

Will writes “For those not familiar with it, this is a fairly new coffee house-cum-craft beer pub a very short walk from Leeds City station. Coffee and cake are available for those with a preference for non-alcoholic drinks before12 noon, but there are also two hand pumps and a plethora of keg beers.“

Indeed.

Really nice staff, good cask for about a fiver, great soundtrack,

enlightened laptop policy;

And a decent range of seating too.

OK, it’s not the Templar, or The Duncan, but there’s space in life for more than one sort of pub, surely ?

To Caroline’s dismay, I started on a half (Zapato, NBSS 3+).

…it was the only sensible decision I would make that day.