retiredmartin

May 2026. Elsecar. Barnsley.

Whenever I get bored of being at home, generally after being in the house more than 3 hours, I’ll walk down t’station and hop on the first train stopping somewhere I haven’t been for a year or two. Inevitably, that Cross Country service will be late so I’ll catch a different one entirely.

And so, on a warm Wednesday lunchtime I find myself at Elsecar, in that collection of mining villages betwixt Barnsley and Rotherham, an area only pub tickers truly know.

Most famous for Hoyland’s Furnace (of “There’s nowt such thing as bad beer, it’s just they that keep it that spoil it” fame), but a bit of a cask desert nowadays.

Some great old pub signs, mind.

Pub lunch options are a bit limited, but Barnsley is the spiritual home of the “Fisheries”,

and Hoyland’s King Street Fisheries has such mixed reviews I feel obliged to investigate.

Now, just ignore the aspostrophe (it’s South Yorkshire, different rules apply),

and look at those prices.

A decent sized fish and chips with curry sauce would cost you at least £12 down south, £13.60 in my go-to place in Ely. How Gordon gets to “£20-30” in his review is beyond me.

Freshly cooked, too, so you get time to read the Clairvoyants adverts and “The Uncensored Truth”.

But I don’t want the Truth, I just want somewhere to sit down to eat my £7.20 chippy tea lunch.

I walk for 10 minutes towards Elsecar before finding a brick wall facing this parkland to tuck in.

So the chips may not be piping hot, but the batter is crisp, the fish is fresh, and this is the easiest NF&CSS4 I will give all year. But take your own chair.