There may be better beer to the west, but for the money there’s few better overnighters than Bradford. £21 on Sunday night at the Ibis Budget, and it’s only marginally scarier a location than the Travelodge in Maidenhead. If it wasn’t for the fog there’d be a glorious view of Valley Parade out of my… Continue reading BRADFORD’S INNER BEAUTY
Tag: West Yorkshire
TOP 100 PUBS – BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY
Keighley gets a bad press in Bill Bryson’s “Notes From a Small Island“, but then so do Milton Keynes and Worksop, so you can ignore him. And no town that boasts Eric Pickles, Dennis Healey, Kiki Dee and Terrorvision among its famous sons can be that bad. That would have been a supergroup and a… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BROWN COW, KEIGHLEY
IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
Taking the train from Bradford to Manchester gives you superb views of Iron Man art at Mytholmroyd, and peerless Calderdale views on the way past more pronounceable small towns. Only the Sheffield-Manchester line can match it. The train also gives me the chance to break my journey back at Hebden Bridge. 1.30pm kick-offs at the… Continue reading IS HEBDEN BRIDGE THE NEW GLOSSOP ?
HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
Hard to believe, but Mrs RM and I spent a fair few of our early mini-breaks in Wakefield. This was in the days before the internet, when we would find hotels by driving slowly past them, reversing, and asking about rooms. That worked until we got stranded near Skegness one time (ask Mrs RM). The St Pierre in… Continue reading HOTCAKES & FISH BISCUITS IN MERRIE ALTOFTS
SAM SMITHS – QUALITY IN CLIFFORD
It’s always good to sample Sam Smiths OBB close to source, and the Old Star in Clifford is about as close as you can get without braving Tadcasters dead-end (bridge re-opening next week I hear). I was visiting fellow blogger Richard Coldwell (Ouhouse), who knows about quality beer judging by the Clifford Beer Fest (Sat… Continue reading SAM SMITHS – QUALITY IN CLIFFORD
JOHN SMITHS LIVES IN ACKWORTH
I realise most folk reading this are drinking 10.75% Brown DIPAs in soulless halls in Manchester or Cambridge at the moment. I’ve just had a pint of John Smiths in front of a roaring fire, listening to old Yorkshiremen talking guff. I win. We thought we’d found yet another publican doing their own version of… Continue reading JOHN SMITHS LIVES IN ACKWORTH
KNOTTINGLEY KICKS BACK
One of the few downsides of the improvements to the A1 (Newcastle in 3hrs 30) is that it’s much harder to turn-off to little Knottingley these days. That’s meant that our custom for West Yorkshire’s finest pizza takeaway has rather dried up. Dario’s is still hanging on in the fairly grim little arcade along the… Continue reading KNOTTINGLEY KICKS BACK
SPEN – LIFE AMONG THE LION BARS
Before recent sad events I’d never heard of the Spen Valley, the collective name for the cluster of Kirklees villages between Bradford and Dewsbury. It must be hard work in Tourist Offices in Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike and Drub. Surely the names alone sell the place ? You might think Bradford is the UK curry capital, but it’s Cleckheaton… Continue reading SPEN – LIFE AMONG THE LION BARS
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HALIFAX ?
On each annual visit Halifax reveals it’s treasures a little more. I’ve stayed here quite a few times recently, due more to the regular gigs at the wonderful Minster than new pubs. This trip for a family wedding meant giving a group of octogenarian teetotallers a tour round a town that they absolutely loved. It was Chinese… Continue reading WHAT’S HAPPENING IN HALIFAX ?
TOP 100 PUBS – BIG 6, HALIFAX
This weekend in Halifax for a family wedding has been a revelation, and not just because I managed to get a group of elderly relatives to skip the Premier Inn breakfast in favour of Wetherspoons (saving £34.73). They weren’t as impressed with the lads off to the St Leger on their second pint of cider by 9.15.am There’s… Continue reading TOP 100 PUBS – BIG 6, HALIFAX
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