ALL CHANGE AT BARNSLEY’S OLD No.7

September 2026. Barnsley.

If put on the spot and asked to pick ONE (1) Barnsley pub, it would have been the Old No.7,

Acorn’s flagship and the best place to drink the revived Barnsley Bitter.

Not any more. Sold to Valiant in 2023, it still feels a cask pub, but today there’s a Tap Takeover (ugh) by West Yorkshire’s Vocation.

And that feels sort of wrong.

But the landlady is charm itself (“There ya go darlin“), and offers me a collector’s card I’m duty bound to take, and then instantly lose. It’ll turn up in the wash.

Note the AI slop to the right of the Pride & Joy. Who will speak up for the AI slop*, heh ?

A long, thin drinkers pub, the sort you get in Newport (not Essex) or Glasgow, and quickly filling up at noon opening. I headed to the big window.

It’s a rich and chewy pint, NBSS 3.75 in old money, VERY GOOD in woke CAMRA scoring. A pub in safe hands, I reckon.

I hadn’t been since 2017, when I noted;

“like all great “Proper Pubs“, the Old No. 7 was playing “Gold” by Spandau Ballet.  Some things never change in Barnsley.”

Well, this Thursday lunchtime you got “Get Up Offa That Thing“, “Boogie Nights“, and this one;

And if you can leave a pub before the last verse of “Valerie” you’ve a harder heart than me.

*Me

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

20 thoughts on “ALL CHANGE AT BARNSLEY’S OLD No.7”

    1. Well, Martin was there and we weren’t, so we’ll just have to trust him.

      But I’ve never knowingly heard “Valerie” (a friend of mine at school in Hemel Hempstead was subsequently married to two (2) women called Valerie, though not at the same time, and let’s be thankful for that, though what must his childhood have been like to inflict such trauma on him in adulthood?) and I may consequently have left countless pubs before the last verse had created its sound waves. If so, I apologise to whoever I may have offended.

      Probably only RM.

      Sorry, RM.

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      4. I also have a very good friend who has married two (and is still married to the second) Valeries though she prefers to be called Val.

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      1. Every third world was a duck?

        I thought it was turtles all the way down? I don’t know whether I should blame Trump for this, in case he has you shut down by his Supreme Court.

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  2. I couldn’t possibly leave a pub while “Valerie” was playing. (Unless I was in the Thule and had to stomp off for the ferry)
    So Sun-Bright pale ale was “sparkling to the finish”? An early example of artisanal craft?
    Only been to Barnsley once and that was just for football. Looks great!

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    1. I think Martin has admitted to making places look better than they are (see Huntingdon passim) and it’s too late to ask for your money back.

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  6. “Some things never change in Barnsley”.
    Yes Martin, Autovacs.
    ( A discussion about Glasgow GBG pubs with Autovacs is just getting going on that site we like to avoid )

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