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| A view from the John Smith's (ugh) Stadium |
After a sunny morning stroll around my favourite of West Yorkshire's big towns (where the local busker try to force us all to suicide by performing 'Long Black Veil' in dramatic tones), it soon reached 10:59am and I was ready to go in.....
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| Me checking I've got the right place .... |
Perhaps because I'm naive or hopelessly optimistic, I was thinking that because Hudds CAMRA had recommended this, there'd be a little loft conversion parlour type room with a jolly round man in a Terriers shirt laughing to himself and serving cask ales straight from the barrel, whilst rockabilly music played in the background and cats leapt around the bar counter. It wasn't quite like this, it was in fact very much a beer shop (a VERY good one at that) with a couple of tables and chairs so you could sample bottles or the two 'craft' ales on tap. What made it good was our young jovial bearded host from Withernsea, he seemed concerned by Hull City's recent form, he was personable and helpful, and made us feel part of things. We sampled a schooner (2/3 pint) of a Partisan Saison (very nice) and then found a bottle of a liqourice Great Newsome ale. However, I'm very much a pub enthusiast/geek rather than a beer enthusiast/geek and it made me chuckle when he asked "do you know what is happening at 12 noon?" "What IS happening at 12 noon?" I asked, half expecting Seasick Steve to come in a play an impromptu gig featuring songs about Arbor, Redemption, Buxton and Magic Rock. What it was in fact was the unveiling of a 9% beer from Cloudwater (a Manchester brewer) which was guaranteed to be amazing. It probably was. True enough, an excited local came in and was pleased to hear some of this fabled brew was already in the fridge preparing itself for action! Fair do's, but I was craving an old fashioned pub experience.
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| Magnificent selection of ales at the Arcade. |
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| Rat & Ratchet in the 'Udders sunshine |
After Hull City again did their best to embarrass themselves (but play well for the last 15 minutes), there was some hopes of dodging the 'police slalom' (Ben's words) and getting a swift pint in one of Huddersfield's many other glorious ale pubs (Grove, Sportsman, Head of Steam, King's Head, Vulcan, Wood Street thingy) but we thought it safest to get out of town and back to York.
Once back, me and Dad had a nice relaxed 'swift half' of Sam Smith's OBB in my incredibly local local, the Trafalgar Bay where a Norwich fan tried to look tough (which never works) and the barman displayed a distinct lack of charm (as often happens here), but it was still nice enough.
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| Back home and all is well with the world! |
Si