May 2026. Elsecar. Barnsley.
An aimless lunchtime in rural Barnsley, but now with a tummy full of fish, chips and curry sauce; what to do ?
Elsecar is a pretty village, exemplified by the Long Row of late 18th century* miners cottages commissioned by the Earls Fitzwilliam, whose name dominates the area.
20 years ago we’d visit Elsecar Heritage Centre from Waterbeach, even bought garden furniture there, but it seems to be in permanent refurbishment mode these days, so I’ll have to come back when there’s something happening. Even the Maison du Biere, shiny new handpump in place, had decided not to open on a sunny half-term day.
So I revisited the Market, I think Will may have suggested I do.
And what a choice it was.
£3.80 your cool and immaculate pint of Barnsley Gold (CAMRA rating – Very Good),
comfy bench seating,
soundtrack of Hall & Oates and Belinda Carlisle “Heaven is a pub in Elsecar“, and great welcome from landlady and the regular at the bar.
I wanted to chat, he wanted a chat, and pubs are great for that.
As cheery as anyone you’ll meet on his third bout of cancer, touchingly adding a half of Fosters for his late wife (“She had a gin and tonic but I won’t drink that”) to his own order, I was moved.
He had family just up the road from me in Sheffield, but you knew the family in the Market was almost as important.
*And that’s as much history as you’re getting on this blog
retiredmartin 
We played a gig outside in the Crown beer garden, and I get my stained/leaded light and glass supplies from Kansa craft in Elsecar, but sadly never been to that pub.
The pork pies at Percy Turners, just nearby at Jump, are legendary, however some say the ones from Mapplewell are better !!
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I am always warmed to hear that people who have troubles and have lost partners have other family members who care about them. Love the look of the pub.
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Disgraceful, we expect, nay demand, that you produce the definitive history of Donnington brewery and it’s entire estate. On vellum, illustrated by monks.
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I’m thinking of dropping by South Yorkshire next month.
“She called be angel; I called her darling back. I smiled as I settled onto the bench seating by the window, the worn leather cold through my jeans. I caught her eye across the room, and for the first time all day, my shoulders dropped.”
Oh, yes. Elsecar is a contender.
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Is that a song lyric or a memory, Morten ?!
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Just something that I came up with. I like to play around with pub captions to go along with posts on social media.
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It was great.
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Glad you enjoyed the Market. I’d recommend it to anyone, so I can’t remember specifically recommending it to you, but happy to take the credit.
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I remember a good one in Preston, when it had cask John Smiths.
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I was looking at that Market pub yesterday, Paul.
Oddly, that was 2019 but my last (and next) pint of John Smiths cask came 3 years later in Douglas.
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So now only brewed for export ?
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No John Smiths cask spotted since then, although occasionally someone reports the Smooth as cask. I think the loss of the cask Bitter, and Magnet, is a bigger loss than almost anything in CAMRA’s lifetime, but do they care, oh no. They’ll celebrate when Doom Bar goes, you watch.
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