Pint Of Ale

This grand Victorian building on the Headrow in Leeds was formerly the Guildford Hotel and remained so until a couple of years ago. Before the smoking ban, the pub was called O2 for a year or so - a bland no-smoking place whose sole reason for being was snatched away by the ban. So we now have The Northern Monkey.

The building’s frontage has not changed - it’ still a Victorian highlight on the sometimes drab Headrow. Inside, the curved bar dominates the one room. It’s a bare floorboard and leather chair kind of place with a mixture of low and (very) high tables. The music adds a good atmosphere, pillar candles are on each table and Banksy-inspired artwork (predominantly monkey-related) adorns the walls. They have a nine-panel vintage photograph of the pub when it was still the Guildford on the back wall - a nice touch.

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There is quite a large brewery in Leeds, you may have heard of it. It’s called Tetley’s and it is owned by Carlsberg. Until six months ago, Tetley’s was the only brewery in town. Spotting the gap in competition, Sam, Michael and Venkatesh moved in and set up The Leeds Brewery. Matt and I visited recently on a tour organised by Leeds CAMRA.

In the short few months that the Brewery has been operating, we’ve started seeing Leeds’ distinctively shaped pump clips cropping up all over the city and as far afield as Sheffield. While walking around the brewery with Sam, it was clear to see why the fledgling operation is becoming such a success. The passion that these guys have translates directly into their beers. Where possible they use English ingredients. The water is pure Yorkshire water and the yeast is strain last used by a long-closed West Yorkshire brewer fifty years ago.

In addition to the brewery’s three regular ales, they are brewing twelve seasonals this year, February’s being the dark New Moon which we sampled in plenty at the end of the tour.

The ales are winning several awards from beer festivals around the country and the brewery is sponsoring this year’s Leeds Beer Festival. Make sure you try a pint or two!

The two-storey glass frontage of this smart bar will either tempt you inside or make you think twice about entering what seems like a wine and lager only zone. If you feel the latter, then be brave because the food and the Leeds Brewery Best was brilliant!

We sat upstairs, overlooking the buzzing bar below. Leeds Brewery beers are cropping up all over the city at the moment and that’s no bad thing. The six-month old brewery seems to have captured the hearts of Leeds’ drinkers and brought ales I places where otherwise you may not see them.

Matt and I are off for a look round the brewery tomorrow and we’ll put an entry on Pint of Ale when we sober up…

We walked the half mile or so from the Fleece through freezing biting wind to be rewarded with friendly service, a warm fire, a fairly quiet atmosphere but only one ale, the dark Wells’ Bombardier. This was a little disappointing, especially as I thought it was not as good as it could have been. The pub’s coming soon board always seems to promise good ales around the corner though! Ruddles County has been on there for what must ne a year but so far no show!

Pudsey’s only Good Beer Guide listed pub, The Fleece is becoming one of my locals! It’s a two-roomed town boozer and it’s in really good shape, looking as though it’s been renovated in the not too distant past.

It’s a friendly place, the staff are always chatty and always say bye as customers leave, giving the pub a nice atmosphere.

The last time we were there, the beer choice was of three, including their regulars Tetley Bitter and Tim Taylor’s Landlord. There was a guest on last night too, a pale ale whose name we’ve sadly forgotten.

Despite its ovine name, there are pigs everywhere in The Fleece! From pictures to ornaments to a giant pig above the front door!

Matt, Debbie and I had an excellent day yesterday at the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway beer and music festival. The KWVR is a 5-mile long preserved railway, the trains of which are regularly featured in the Good Beer Guide, as the buffet cars of the steam-hauled services sport impressive bars complete with real ale.

We didn’t really know what to expect from this weekend-long event. The whole line was the beer festival. There was a bar on Keighley station, each train was serving at least three ales (and good burgers) and the main engine shed at Oxenhope was the festival proper. It was packed, people squeezing in between the massive steam engines, live bands and the almost 80 cask ales. It was a very geeky combination - steam trains and ale, but we didn’t mind. The atmosphere was that of a true festival - everyone was in good spirits and there aren’t many beer festivals where the scenery out of your window changes at around 30mph while bands play on!

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I’ve been a bit shoddy at writing Pint of Ale posts recently and I still have a backlog of 20 or so posts from our recent holiday. One of the reasons for this shoddyness is that I’ve been working away a lot more than usual and for longer hours. Part of this work has involved spending several nights in Grantham in Lincolnshire. I’ve been spending some of these nights at The Avenue, a family run hotel with an excellent bar serving three changing ales.

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I managed to visit 24 pubs during our holidays and I’m starting the task of getting them onto my pub counter. I’m taking a short break while the counter is on the milestone number of one hundred.

It’s been helped along by the five pubs Matt and I visited in July as part of our Summer Grand Adventure. We spent the day visiting pubs along the route of the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. One of the most interesting entries on the pub list is the train itself. The buffet car on the steam-hauled services is complete with a three-ale bar serving excellent local cask ales. It’s even in the Good Beer guide. It was good sipping a pint next to the window as the view was speeding by outside!

A Good-Beer-Guide listed pub in the pretty costal town of Tynemouth, positioned, as you may have guessed, on the mouth of the Tyne. There’s a small seating area on the pavement outside as you walk into the scaffolding-clad front of the pub.

There are two rooms, each with a bar serving six ales, three Jennings’ offerings and three guests. The first room is smaller, with a few barrel tables and an airy feel helped by the sunlight streaming through the large windows. The walls and decor are ‘traditional’ pub dark greens and blues.

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The Sun Inn was built in the 1860s in the market town of Bishop Auckland in County Durham. Today, it makes up part of the town centre in Beamish Open Air Museum, in the state it would have been in in 1913. It was dismantled brick-by-brick for the 30 mile trip north to the museum.

The pub is a small, two-roomed affair and although it’s a tourist attraction in the middle of an early 20th Century town, it has a certain character. Sawdust on the floors, authentic 1918 advertising, costumed bar staff, mirrors and stuffed animals give it a charm. Three (very much 21st century) ales were on tap, two from local breweries and a Yorkshire ale which I opted for: Theakston’s Old Peculier is an ale I can seldom resist. It was served with speed due to the crowds in the bar, but this did not affect its burnt aroma, deep dark colour nor its taste.

The pub is in the Good Beer Guide, but if you plan to visit, bear in mind that there’s a £16 museum entry fee to pay before you can make your way by foot, vintage tram or vintage bus to the pub’s door. Unfortunately, the beer is not sold at 1918 prices!