September 2024. Barnsley.
Tuesday brought another trip to a “recommended” pub, and a first ever visit to Worsbrough Dale, birthplace of Mick McCarthy,
which is all you need to know.
We tipped up at the Boatmans Rest, near the banks of the Dove,
and resisted the artisan snacks at the entrance,
in favour of what looked like an Old Skool menu.
“Can we sit anywhere to eat ?” we ask at the bar.
“Eat ! Have you booked ?”.
Do we look like people who book ?
“We’re fully booked for weeks !’
And indeed, there must have been 60 odd Barnsley gentlefolk waiting for their bargain gammon.
We stayed for a beer. The pre-match talk centred on this being a pub with a lone Greene King IPA pump, but sadly the choice was Tim’s or Theakston.
Unexpectedly gorgeous, cool and crisp (3.5), enjoyed under the gaze of the biggest collection of pots and pans outside and Antiques Roadshow in Penistone.
And the football memorabilia!
A shame they couldn’t deliver on the grub or the heritage beers,
but if you want to see how well priced lunches in a 1970s themed pub can bring in the punters this is it.
retiredmartin 
Definitely Old Skool, especially with the pineapple rings.
What had the Gills done to upset the local Tyke press, as reported in that old newspaper clipping?
No cask Magnet 🧲, either!
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They’d done an Arsenal to get their nil-nil !
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Oh, Paul, if you’d stayed with CAMRA you could have had these pointless debates on Discourse all day rather than wasting your time in pubs 😉
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Four bowls accompanying the plate and not covered in gravy – that’s not my Old School.
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Old Skool is very different from Old School, Paul!
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And I’m too old to know the difference between Old Skool and Old School.
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As much as I appreciate the gammon photo, I hope you obtained permission before zooming in on another customer’s plate like that.
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Much worse, Rhys, I nicked it straight off the previous customers review on Google. Hope you didn’t have me down as a gammon man !
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Not at all, besides all my gammon needs are met in the comments section of the Pub Curmudgeon blog.
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I always think Pub Curmudgeon is worth reading, if only as an exemplar of how to use the English language. Just a shame he no longer does the craft beer reviews.
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I agree 100% on all counts!
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