July 2026. Keighley.
I could paint you two very different pictures of Keighley. One one hand, one of the UK’s scruffiest towns, litter down every street, laundry hung up across side roads, a virtual absence of vibrant independent trade. The old story of a once affluent mill town without a mill.
And a town centre devoid of trade on a summer afternoon,
with the parish church sadly locked with open drug taking on the gravestones.
But…there’s great countryside beyond the canal, National Trust properties, and that remarkable museum at Cliffe Castle.
And Timothy Taylor‘s brewery, which has got to count for something now that Landlord is our biggest selling beer, surely ?
Their Tap has graced the Beer Guide for a decade and I had to revisit; I mean, it’s actually called Taylor’s.
Confusingly, it was called the Lord Rodney in 2017, when all I had to say was “over-plays its dining credentials a bit“. Why didn’t I comment on the seating back then ?
Or the soundtrack. Improbably, it’s “I Don’t Like Mondays” and “2,4,6,8 Motorway” for the gentlefolk today.
It’s the only even moderately upmarket dining option in Keighley, unless the steam train to Haworth has mushy peas, and with the the restaurant trade to the back it seemed to be doing good custom.
But can anywhere support this many hand pumps in 2026 ?
I mean, even the gent in the Panama hat favoured the continental lager over the cask.
Well, he missed a treat, as my pint of Landlord was stunningly dry, cool and (yes) chewy, and you know I never lie about beer quality (I scored a 3 nine years ago).
In olden times a 4.5, but you’re not allowed half marks anymore, which is something I hope Andy Burnham will address early on.
Perhaps it was the hideous seating options, but it drifted a teeny tiny bit after I sat down to the worst view in a pub imaginable,
but I sense I’ll be taking Mrs RM there for the Chip Shop Steak Pudding before the next leg of the Cask Camino.
retiredmartin 
I have not been to Keighley since 1998 and that was to get to Haworth. You are really selling a long awaited return. Especially all that litter waiting for my collection. I don’t like to switch off from litter picking at all when I am on holiday …
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I’m sure you mean I’m really not selling a return visit, Lana !
Passing through on the way to Skipton and the Dales I’d stop for a morning to see Cliffe Castle (nice tea shop) and the ruins of that mill.
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It’s May 2023 I was there and thought if that’s anyone’s first TT pub it could well be their last. Not just hideous seating options but far too cold Dark Mild – that at a time when Stafford’s Railway Inn had it on drinking very well.
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I was thinking “What would Paul make of this seating” as I walked to the bar !
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“I was thinking” is roughly translated as “I knew”.
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“The worst view in a pub imaginable”
Oh come on Martin. Your writing shows you to be a chap of quite expansive imagination.
There wasn’t a morris dancer or mummer to be seen. Never mind bell ringers…
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I attend the Rochester Sweeps festival and Faversham Hop Festival every year and enjoy drinking Spitfire from a plastic glass whilst watching Morris dancers
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Morris dancers, fine.
Rochester, great town.
Plastic glasses, abomination.
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Actually, the – within reason – worst sight at any pub for me is…bouncers.
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The worst sight for me is a bank of handpumps with D**m B*r, GKIPA, Ruddles and Abbot. Sadly, I’ll be seeing that depressing sh*tshow again tomorrow ‘cos Dad wants a cheap lunch. Ho-hum.
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