April 2025. Sheffield.
A Good Friday 10,000 steps around Kelham but definitely not a pub, oh no. Hang on that’s Ireland that’s dry today (once arrived in Kilkenny on that day, not fun).
Oh, hang on, Alder, haven’t been there for ages.
A whole year, in fact; I was bemoaning the loss of the keg (Preston) Bass they taunted me with that Christmas Eve in 2022.
Still, always great cask and keg at Kelham’s underrated music bar, and….hang on !
I’m lost for words. Fagan’s, a similarly youthful Sheff bar, had given the red triangle a good go before ditching a year later in favour of something hipsterish from Keighley.. Could Alder work their cask magic, seen on Titanic and Big Trip and the like, on the nation’s favourite ?
Yes, they could.
The proper glass helps. And the temperature, and the conditioning. It’s a 4.
Will their core trade go for it ?
The young lass is enthusiastic when I ask about Bass, and tells me their pub quiz last night had Bass cufflinks and ashtrays as prizes. Is this the big relaunch by a nasty national I’ve read about ?
I DON’T CARE.
I have a second in quick order, slightly less sweet, just as good, and that’s all I care about.
And then, taking that last swig, I caught the unmistakeable Bass aroma, and it was heaven.
retiredmartin 
Bass on at Fagan’s tonight I hear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s happening.
Be a lot of Bass drunk near the Pirelli tomorrow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stretton Social Club for me pre-match. I wish your team all the best. Manchester City that is.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is Bass exempt from the buy indie law?
We too have have fallen victim of good Friday in Ireland. Skibereen I think, even the booze aisle of a shop was blocked off.
LikeLike
Eeh, the state of that ashtray
LikeLike
My thoughts, exactly, marks need to be deducted for the sloppiness of the staff.
(I would have cropped that disgusting looking pile of fag butts out of my photo – either that or move the offending object onto another table. )
Too much of a rush, Mr Taylor, and not enough attention to the finer details. 😁
LikeLike
I moved the ashtray into the shot, Paul ! It reminds me of what a joy pubs were before the smoking ban.
The staff at Alder are great.
LikeLike
Martin, your photo of an ashtray stuffed full of cigarette butts, didn’t do the pub any credit, irrespective of how “great” the staff at the Alder might be. So, moving the offending object into shot, might not have been the wisest of moves. Mrs PBT’s, who is a reformed smoker, certainly wasn’t impressed, and neither was commentator, AP, who first drew my attention to the matter.
It’s almost 20 years since the smoking ban came into force, and apart from people like Mudgie, who keep banging on about it, most people welcome it. It’s been almost two decades, since smoking indoors was outlawed, but from what you are saying, pubs have been joyless since the ban came into force.
LikeLike
“Bass cufflinks and ashtrays as prizes”.
It’s Bass braces you could with the wrong side of sixty !!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was going to mention those Bass braces Jon wore in Northampton in 2018 !
LikeLike