Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: South Yorkshire

Rotherham : Bluecoat

I first visited here in November 2024 and since I’m in the area again, and knowing that it’s in the cheapest JD Wetherspoon price bracket I thought that I’d pop in again. It’s listed in the Good Beer Guide and it was built as a Bluecoat charity school, but was turned into a pub in 1981 and JD Wetherspoon took it over in 2001. Following the closure of the now burnt out Rhinoceros pub in the town, this is the only pub that the chain have in Rotherham now.

This breakfast, unlimited coffee and half a pint of real ale came to the grand total of £5.18, which is some impressive value. And it tasted delicious, I’m not really one for full English breakfasts (or breakfasses as they seem to be called when customers order more than one) but I rather like the arrangement here.

The on-line reviews are generally very good, averaging 4.2 out of 5 on Google.

“It went from bad to worse, we ordered food and drinks using the app straight to our table – one drink was a pepsi max and one was pepsi. The guy brought the drinks over and one of the drinks had a lemon in, assuming this was a marker for which drink was which I asked which one was the full fat drink. The server said ‘I don’t know, sniff them’. At first I thought he was joking so laughed it off, until he walked off with nothing else to say”

This one I’ve seen variations of in numerous pubs in the chain.

“Ordering via app is a nightmare. Can’t make any changes at all to food order (dietary requirements etc), no way to request food without an ingredient etc. Tried to speak to bar staff in person and all we got was “you can’t make changes. Also, the food was disgusting.”

I’m guessing they tried to take out an ingredient of a meal that’s going to be cooked in the microwave….

“I work within the funeral service, after a long hard day at work. In the 19,5,2021, i was lucky enough to be out on a first date with a gorgeous lady. We decided to go and use one of your establishments (bluecoats rotherham).

Upon placing our order which was two large portions of scampi and chips, with a side plate of garlic bread. waiting for the service. After twenty minutes, the food arrived.

The order was wrong, the kitchen staff had sent one large portion and one small. After i pointed out the fact that there should have been two large portions. The small plate was taken away..
Thus leaving the large portion and garlic bread at our table..

Now to reiterate that i was on a date, i wasn’t thinking that for me to consume my meal would have been a ideal way to impress the lady I was with.. As she was left plate less.

After 15 minutes of waiting, of course now, the two plates are cold upon the table. So i called over the waiter, whom after a short and polite conversation, said he would take the plates and replace them under the kitchen heat light.

Now in so far as my limited knowledge of food preparation, is it safe to reheat fish products or indeed is it acceptable to even reheat any food products thereafter???

Upon hearing what the waiter was planning, i took decisive actions to ensure that i was able to have the reheated food, passed back to me.. i pulled the scampi apart.
And said that all three plates should be served at the same time.

We ordered food approximately 8.05 pm .. 8.55pm fifty minutes after placing our first initial order, still our table is merely adorned by pints of Carling (with a dash of lime). Lets not forget that this is a first date and still we haven’t been able to have a late evening meal… So releasing that it was a wasted opportunity for us to relax and have a good time. I called for the manager (Shaun) to come and i gave him the opportunity to explain what the problem was?

Upon which I was unfairly accused, of being nasty to two members of his staff. Which I then asked who i had apparently upset.. to which he retorted that he didn’t need to justify anything… he then claimed that I was being rude towards himself, which indeed i wasn’t.. The lady i was with can clarify this to be fact .. i was left feeling despondent as to how i was mad eto feel and highly disrespected in front of the whole public house…

I asked for a refund and left, luckily enough for me and my date, all was not lost. We enjoyed our meal at the local KFC…

I would like to Express my discontent and anger as to how i was spoken to and how the manager tried to publicly show me up..

I remained in my seat at all times, i didn’t raise my voice during the conversation, i didn’t personally insult anyone, i didn’t swear.. I i didn’t wish to be treated as i was.”

I have no words, but I hope that the date went well.

“Absolutely a disgrace the decor was very dark and dismissal decided not to eat surely if this was a “weather spoon” pub why isn’t they a dress code and the customers that it attracted were from the angel and county brough very low life will not set foot in this place ever again !!!”

Dress code? Seems aspirational.

In terms of the real ale, there are seven on at the time of writing, the Ruddles and Abbot Ale from Greene King, as well as Doom Bar from Sharp’s being the regular beers. The four rotating ales are the Ossian from Inveralmond, the Odin’s Gold from Rudgate, the Midnight Bell from Leeds Brewery and the Cavendish from Welbeck Abbey. I went for half a pint of the Midnight Bell which was roasty, malty and had a bit of liquorice taste to it, well-kept and smooth.

It’s a venue with history, the staff seem friendly, it’s clean, the prices are low and the real ale selection is decent. All really rather lovely.

January 26, 2025
The Bluecoat in Rotherham

The Bluecoat

Address: 6 The Crofts, Rotherham

Local Council: Rotherham

I’ve now visited this pub.

For the moment, here’s my list of Good Beer Guide pubs visited. And for anyone interested, which I accept isn’t likely to be many people, my favourite pub so far is the Hop and Vine in Hull. Untappd is a handy place to see where I’ve been recently (and feel free to add me, the more the merrier).

I also don’t have an interview with anyone from this pub, but if they want to take part then please do contact me. It’ll also be an effort to update this database with pub closures and updates, but I’ll change the details of anywhere that I’m contacted about. I’m updating on a regular basis new pubs and also removing venues which are clearly more restaurants than pubs. And the pub that I’m saddest about closing is Goose Island in London which shut its doors in late 2022…..

This project is I accept entirely unachievable, namely trying to visit not only every Good Beer Guide pub in the country but having a fair crack of trying to visit as many pubs as I can. But, I have to start somewhere and here is where we’re starting. The image in the photo is from the Phantom Brewery Tap in Reading.

February 28, 2023
Wombwell – The Horseshoe (JD Wetherspoon)

Just as a separate post as not to upset the flow of my beautiful prose (ahem) on the LDWA 100 posts. I’ll keep this post short to avoid any one of my flights of fancy.

This is the Horseshoe pub in Wombwell, which was built in the 1930s and more recently taken over by Wetherspoons. There was also a pub on this site before then, dating to around the early nineteenth century.

As an aside, Wombwell is a small town located not far from Barnsley, with coal mines once providing its wealth. Unfortunately, the good times seem to have faded somewhat and the town is need of some funds to restore some of their grander buildings. The local press are saying that this building may now be redeveloped, after ten years of mostly standing empty.

Arguably slightly underpoured, but this is the Gorlovka Imperial Stout from the nearby Acorn Brewery, very keenly priced at £1.20, especially given it’s 6% ABV. Well-kept and suitably delicious, no complaints from me about that.

It was busy on a Saturday afternoon and had something of a community feel, but the pub’s location means it’s unlikely to get too many visitors from outside of the area as I’m not sure that Wombwell is known for its tourist industry. It’s relatively well reviewed on-line for a JD Wetherspoon pub, with everything seemingly well managed. I did quite like the recent review of:

“Youth club. Full of bratty teenagers strutting around, thinking they own the place. Staff couldn’t care less. They congregate in the toilets. Going to the bar and sitting with free coffee refills for hours and on end. Obviously been dragged up. Zero manners. Why in earth the staff don’t throw them out is totally beyond me. If I was the manager they wouldn’t step one foot over the threshold. Spoilt the enjoyment of the evening (from a hard full time working adult).”

I’ve heard complaints of younger adults getting drunk in pubs and causing a nuisance, but not so frequently of youngsters binge drinking coffee and being annoying. I was quite disappointed to miss out on this extravaganza though as it wasn’t taking place when I was visited. It’s quite a large pub with one of the more modern interiors, it feels like they have the best maintained building in the area in terms of the exterior. It can’t have impressed enough local CAMRA members though, as it doesn’t feature in the Good Beer Guide.

June 24, 2022
Sunday : Recovering after the LDWA 100

I say recovering in this blog post’s title, but I didn’t enter this year’s event, I just needed some sleep after only getting one hour over the previous 48 hours from my marshalling the event. Others who completed the event were much braver!

Richard drove us to his decadent Mercure hotel with a four poster bed as they had responded to his e-mail and confirmed he could have an early check-in. The rather less decadent Ibis Styles at Barnsley was rather less pro-active in offering such assistance to me, so I was pre-annoyed at the hotel before arrival. After I drank Richard’s coffee and privately laughed at how he nearly entered the room of a honeymoon couple (I’m not sure anyone in that arrangement would have been surprised or delighted), he kindly drove me to my hotel.

The Ibis Styles desk was unmanned when we got there, so Richard coughed a bit and someone came out concerned that someone needed medical assistance. The staff member was friendly and helpful, meaning I was able to get my early check-in, so Richard drove back to his palatial accommodation and I was given a room which had another broken lock. But, it was a clean and comfortable room, so I was pleased.

After a few hours of sleep, I woke and decided to privately toast the entrants to the 100 event with one of the official bottles of beer that Aaron kindly let me have. They were all magnificent (the entrants, not specifically the beer, although that was lovely), whether they finished or not, as it’s all about the taking part and giving it a go. If you finish and want to do more, then great, and if you drop out half-way and swear you’ll never do another one of the bloody things, it doesn’t matter, you were all part of the event.

Richard had been fanned by nubile young men and women in his four poster bed in his decadent accommodation, all part of the hotel’s five star service. So he was back fully alert, I was slightly more dopey and grumpy, but that’s a standard state of affairs if I’m being honest. I did have an Old Speckled Hen as my free welcome drink and that helped a bit even though the hotel seems to like super chilling them.

We decided against walking into Barnsley as I couldn’t be bothered and Richard had walked four miles on the Friday, so wasn’t mentally prepared for another long hike. Instead, Richard kindly offered to drive us in. As the parking was free, I offered to pay for it which I thought was kind of me. We started off in the JD Wetherspoon operated Silkstone Inn as Richard was craving alcohol and whilst we were there I got myself a quick half pint of Hope & Glory from Rooster’s Brewing Co, which was well kept and very drinkable. Richard ordered half the pub’s menu again, whilst I limited myself to my half pint.

The Kes statue in Barnsley and I was perplexed at the time as to how I missed this when I visited the town last summer. On reading up on the situation, it now makes sense, as the statue was only put here in late 2021, with the unveiling attended by the film’s director Ken Loach and the main actor playing Bill Caspar, Dai Bradley. The statue cost a cool £100,000, paid for by public subscription, and was designed by Graham Ibbeson.

I thought this was rather lovely, the Covid memorial sculpture named Reverence, also designed by Graham Ibbeson. It’s intended to mark how many ordinary people were involved in the fight against Covid and the words on the plinth read “Barnsley’s fierce love will hold you forever in its heart”. This sculpture cost £210,000, although Ibbeson worked for free. These sculptures don’t come cheap do they?

Then another new venue for me, Spiral City on the Arcade, which had the very lovely Bad Kitty from Brass Castle Brewery, which complemented my Steakhouse BBQ crisps very well indeed. I managed to stop Richard getting drunk as he was driving, another selfless act that will go unnoticed as I don’t like to make a fuss. It’s a decent venue, with friendly staff and although I knew they were closing within 45 minutes of our arrival, we still felt welcome. There’s a mix of cask and keg, with the atmosphere feeling modern and on-trend, it was a very agreeable venue.

There’s the exterior, with Spiral City on the left and the Jolly Tap Brewery on the right.

And that’s the end of the story really for this weekend, as Richard went off to get drunk in his room in his decadent hotel after he kindly dropped me back off at the Ibis Styles. I think he got a turndown service and he had sobered up by the next morning before his big drive back to Norwich. It was a memorable weekend which I really enjoyed, with one final thanks to the volunteers who organised the LDWA 100 and to the entrants who had a go at it. I hadn’t expected to come back to Barnsley so close to my first visit to the town last year, but I was pleased to go to a couple of pubs there for the first time.

June 24, 2022
Monday : Barnsley to Ealing During an Underground Strike

The LDWA 100 had seemed to go quickly, although the entrants might not say that, and it was the end of the Jubilee Bank Holiday so it was back to usual for me, which meant travelling about the place. I was heading to London, conscious that there was an underground strike which would make crossing the city just that bit more exciting when I got there.

Penny Pie Park is about to reopen soon and this site has had an interesting history. It was a colliery in the mid-nineteenth century, then brickworks were built there and those buildings remained until the post-war period. Then they were demolished and the local authorities dumped a load of refuse into the holes to fill them up, then it became a green space. As the road network nearby has been reworked, they’ve taken this opportunity to develop the park and they’ve been busy moving the trees about the site. They now have 243 trees, which is an increase of four. That doesn’t sound very aspirational to me in terms of increasing the amount of foliage, but there we go. The park wasn’t open when I walked by, but as can be seen, it wasn’t far off and I’m surprised some of the local hoodlums haven’t pulled that fencing down.

After walking back into Barnsley (again) from the hotel, I popped into the library for a while to use their electricity. I had thought about going into the Toby Carvery next to the hotel for another unlimited breakfast, but I overdosed on bacon and salt last time, so decided against it. My train journey was from Barnsley station, which is part of the integrated bus and rail interchange.

Welcome to Barnsley with some vibrant artwork.

I had two trains as part of my journey, the first to Peterborough and everything was going to plan timewise.

Not particularly busy, the colours remind me of a Ryanair aircraft, but the guard didn’t try and sell me lottery tickets.

At Peterborough station, the EMR Intercity train to London arrived a few minutes early.

As can be seen here, I was able to find an empty seat.

Into St. Pancras railway station in London on time. I was annoyed that they’d shut the front of the railway station because of the underground strike, I don’t know why they felt the need to do that, they could have just closed the entrance to the underground network itself. I noticed someone joined the queue to board Eurostar thinking it was the taxi queue, but fortunately he checked before accidentally arriving in Paris or something.

There was though quite a long queue for taxis, the drivers do well out of these strikes.

The strike did reduce my options to get to Ealing somewhat, with absolutely no services from King’s Cross.

So, I remained calm and resourceful and I went to Mikkeller bar to think what I should do. This is the All Day Haze which Mikkeller brew here, a very acceptable Double IPA with a depth of flavour and a not inconsiderable 8.4% ABV.

I’ve never really noticed their brewing equipment at the back at the bar, so I went to sit by it. I’d add there were tables here, I didn’t just sit randomly in their way. Although I could have lingered for hours, I thought one drink was enough as I wasn’t sure how busy the public transport options would be.

And with my plan developed whilst in the pub, I decided that I would walk to Farringdon’s Crossrail station as that line was still operating.

And my first time in the Crossrail part of the station at Farringdon.

I think it was also my first time on the central section of Crossrail, or the Elizabeth Line, which now all joins up to form a complete line, but for the next few months it’s still necessary to change trains at Paddington and Liverpool Street. It’s not ideal, but they’re getting there.

Very nice, platform edge doors have been put in here, just like on the central section of the Jubilee Line.

The section of the journey to Paddington wasn’t particularly busy, but these services are frequent at around every ten minutes and they’re long trains so have plenty of space.

This is a bit of a faff with the current set-up, as it’s necessary to leave Paddington station, walk through the concourse, towards the back and then connect with where the other part of the Crossrail service is. The part of the journey from Paddington to Ealing was much busier, although I was just able to get a seat, but thought it was a bit packed to take a photo.

Although I’m not entirely sure that I needed a seat, it’s only one stop to Ealing from Paddington. This Crossrail thing certainly speeds things up somewhat. And it was fortunate for me on this journey that the Crossrail drivers hadn’t also gone on strike, as otherwise it would have taken me three bus trips to get to Ealing, which would have been quite a trek.

I was staying at Ibis Styles Ealing for the first time, a rather attractive building about a ten-minute walk from the railway station.

There’s a movie theme across the hotel, which is one of the better Ibis Styles designs that I’ve seen. All clean and comfortable, with nothing for me to feel the need to complain about here.

Spot the movie related design items in the photos. I can’t remember why I booked a twin, but it was probably 20p cheaper or something.

My welcome drink, which was the Goose Island IPA, which is something else which is always acceptable to me. It sounds like I’m getting easier to please, but there are some grumbles coming up with some other hotels, so I hope no-one thinks I’m tolerating anything less than what I perceive to be perfection (and what some others would consider to be petty comments).

This is a nice environmental idea, avoiding the need for a plastic keycard.

They’ve put some real effort into this design and the welcome at the front desk was also friendly. The hotel seemed to have decent sound proofing as it felt like it was empty, but I noticed the next morning that it clearly wasn’t given the number of guests at breakfast. With that, it was time to spend some time getting work done that I’d neglected a little over the weekend, pleased that I had managed to tackle a public transport system which was partly on strike. And thank goodness for the Elizabeth Line.

June 24, 2022
Tuesday to Thursday : Off to Barnsley for the LDWA 100

Quickly skipping Tuesday and Wednesday as not much of excitement happened during my time in Norwich, it was time for the big event of the LDWA 100, the 100 mile event. I might have mentioned that I walked this last year…..

Richard turned up in his little tank, which I first thought was in camouflage, but he reassured me that it was just very dirty. We were off to Barnsley on the Thursday, ready to help marshal the main LDWA 100 event on the Friday to Sunday.

Safely there and back in the Ibis Styles which I stayed in last year. My Accor settings have me at the end of a corridor miles away from the lift, whereas Richard for reasons unknown likes to be near the lift. So our rooms were nowhere near each other, although it transpired that I was directly above Chelle and Paul, but I’m pleased to report they didn’t cause any noise issues on the floor below.

Classy, that made me feel extra safe in the room.

And my chair had lost a leg, but I had a window that opened, so I was content with that at least.

The signage at the hotel bar is written in the Yorkshire dialect and I got myself an old Speckled Hen as my free welcome drink, whereas Richard went for one of his decadent wines.

We were meeting up in town with one of the heroes of the LDWA, David Morgan, who was far too excited to see us struggle up the mountain that leads into Barnsley. We were meeting at the Tipsy Cow, a very decent craft beer bar, so that Dave could tell me all his gossip, not least all of the mountain summits he’s run up recently. We had walked the two miles or so into the town centre of Barnsley from the hotel, which was one of Richard’s longest walks for a long time. He was very brave and I’d actually like to see Dave and Richard do a walk-off to see who could get the furthest.

Incidentally, they had Cherry Porter from Titanic Brewery, so I was sold on that, and very nicely kept it was too. With that, we moved on, Dave to his South Wales group meal, whereas the Norfolk & Suffolk volunteers and entrants were all scattered about, so it was left for me to supervise Richard in the pubs.

I thought I’d show Richard the Dickie Bird statue. At least having been somewhere before saves me from having to write much about it again, I can just link to previous blog posts for anyone who hasn’t been fortunate to have already read them.

Back in the Old No 7, I went for the Spindizzy from Chin Chin Brewing Company, which was well kept although not particularly exceptional.

The pork pie was lovely though, after I’d carefully picked the jelly out.

I was looking to find a pub in Barnsley that I hadn’t visited before, so we thought we’d pop into the White Bear. We popped into the pub and then popped straight out again, as it appears they had problems with their speaker system and the music volume could be heard in Huddersfield. They were also short of customers, but that wasn’t an entire surprise given the early evening rave going on. Now that I’ve passed my 30th birthday, and Richard is now in his early 50s, I suspect we need to find places that are generally quieter in the future, as I’m not as young as I once was (not that I liked loud places when I was younger).

Richard, who if truth be told is much greedier than I am with food, went for a heap of plates full of JD Wetherspoon cuisine in the Joseph Bramah.

I had a packet of Mini Cheddars alongside my Farmers Stout from Bradfield Brewery, which had a depth of taste to it and was well-kept. As a flavour combination, Mini Cheddars and/or Wotsits go really well with stouts. See, it’s worth reading this blog to get top tips about craft beer and food pairings. I ordered a different beer as my second round, but they ignored that and brought me the same one that I’d had. I couldn’t be bothered to argue about the situation, especially since I had enjoyed my previous half pint. It’s a friendly pub though, spacious and it wasn’t too busy.

Next was a repeat visit (for me) to the Jolly Boys. I got myself another one of my classy snacks of Bacon Fries, which is making it look like I survive on things like this…..

When a space became available, we moved to the upstairs balcony which was quite decadent. It was the Bank Holiday Jubilee weekend, hence all of the bunting. Friendly service here again, I’ve worked through a lot of the Jolly Boys’ Brewery beers before, so I went for the tried and tested Jolly Collier Porter.

Barnsley Town Hall at night. I’m skipping out one pub, Maison du Biere, as it was outstanding and so it’s getting its own post, it was the first time I’d been there and it significantly exceeded my expectations. It was so good that it meant we forgot to go and look for some beacon they were setting on fire, but I hadn’t been much interested in that anyway so that’s fortunate. A good pub is better than watching random fires if you ask me…. More on that pub in a little bit, but it was time to walk the two miles back to the hotel, which Richard braced himself for and achieved comfortably fuelled on by the beers and food of the evening. We met Chelle at the hotel with her dog in reception at the hotel, I suspect she’d been hitting the bar again (figuratively, not literally), but I didn’t say anything.

What it did mean was that we didn’t have many hours of sleep before we had to get up for the LDWA 100, and indeed, we didn’t expect to get sleep during the weekend anyway. But, it’s much harder for the entrants, so I decided not to feel sorry for myself as I’m good like that, always a bundle of positivity.

June 20, 2022
Thursday : Maison du Biere in Barnsley

I’ve posted about this pub separately to my daily post about my repeat visit to Barnsley before the LDWA 100.

I had already been to the other pubs we had visited in Barnsley, so I was looking for somewhere new. I hadn’t visited Maison du Biere before, I think they slipped between the Good Beer Guide list and they’re also not listed on Untappd. I’m very pleased that we visited though, this is an outstanding pub.

I don’t suppose that I’ll ever run a pub again, but this was the shop section of the bar. I was conscious that the dust on some of the bottles meant they weren’t selling as much as they hoped, but the selection was excellent. The prices were very reasonable as well, and it’s a shame that they’re so far away, otherwise I’ll go back. Although I think I’ll find a reason to go back to Barnsley to go here again anyway.

And if that bottles weren’t enough, look at the number of taps. And there are some very decent options there, not just generic beers to make up the numbers. I’m always excited to see beers by Vault City and the Strawberry Sundae was smooth, decadent, fruity and also very keenly priced here. Then there was the delight of the Triple Cream Milk Stout from Cassels Brewing, smooth and sweet. The Salvation Raspberry and Chocolate Stout from Abbeydale Brewery didn’t quite have the depth of flavour I’d like, but it was well kept and still had an enjoyable flavour. I can’t think though that there’s anywhere else in Barnsley offering beers of this quality.

When we entered the bar, I knew that they closed in one hour and there was no-one else there. The staff member, who was knowledgeable and engaging, made us very welcome even though she was cleaning and likely expecting no more customers. It is in my mind a complete travesty that this bar was empty when some nearby pubs, which to be honest were bloody awful (oh woo, look, Fosters and Carling, what a smorgasbord of beers we have), were busy. Everything about this bar shined, including the service from the team member, the decor and the beer range. I could find no fault in any single part of this bar’s operations and regular readers (all two of them) will know I normally find something to complain about. The staff member made us feel very welcome and was conversational, a very good advocate for the venue.

Spotlessly clean, with comfortable seating.

Richard, who is very decadent, bought this gin to take away and is responsible for giving me a headache the next morning (I selflessly helped him try it), but I didn’t say anything….

There are some exceptional bars such as Goose Island and pubs such as the Hop & Vine, but this is certainly up amongst them. I’m not sure if it opened too recently to get into the Good Beer Guide, but it sells real ale and it should absolutely be listed in the next edition. Clearly a contender for my very exciting (to me, although not really anyone else) Pub of the Year award. A complete delight and I hope it does well in the future, it deserves to.

June 20, 2022
Barnsley – Experience Barnsley

I’ve finally got chance to work through my little backlog of posts that I wanted to write but never got chance to (or did get chance to, but I went to the pub)…..

This is Barnsley’s town hall, which was controversial when it was built in the 1930s because it was so expensive. Today it’s still used by the council, but it’s primarily the museum and local archives and there’s a new building nearby for the council staff.

I thought that the museum would be a bit dull, as they really pushed how interactive and modern it was. Sometimes, if I’m being honest, this means that they’ve taken out all the interesting bits and put in some screens that don’t work and aimed the whole arrangement at children. I have to say though that this wasn’t the case here, it was a brilliantly laid out museum which had lots of information about the town’s history.

The museum are very proud of this, a fire engine from 1791 which is thought to be the only one linked to the English inventor Joseph Bramah which still survives. It was the first that Bramah built and was used by the Wentworth Castle estate from 1791, where it remained until 1949. It was then given to Barnsley Fire Brigade who probably wondered what on earth they were going to do with it. It moved about to a number of locations before being moved to this museum when it opened in 2013.

The museum looks bright and modern, but there’s plenty of information on those boards for people who like reading things (people like me).

This is rather lovely, a grant which dates to the early twelfth century and is the oldest document which is held by Barnsley Archives. It is a grant which transferred 20 acres of land from Adam, son of Swain, Lord of Newall, to Adam Beccon, his godson. The payment was a red rose annually if it was requested, which sounds like a good deal for the godson.

A hoard of Roman coins rating from between the first to third centuries that was found in the town, evidence that there was some local activity in the Roman period.

The Moot Hall Clock, which was located on, well, Moot Hall, until 1822. This was the centre of excitement in Barnsley with meetings upstairs and floggings downstairs, it all sounds really quite intriguing. It was made by the local clockmaker Tobias Fletcher in the 1790s and was taken down when the building was demolished in the 1820s.

The ‘This is Your Life’ book which was given to the comedian Charlie Williams.

I’ve seen the film Kes a couple of times, this display contains a signed photo from Ken Loach and a taxidermy kestrel.

The England football cap which belonged to Ernest Hines, dating to 1929 and 1930.

This tray was kept as it served the last pint of Barnsley Bitter.

A “coal not dole” helmet worn by Rita Brenton, as Barnsley was once a mining town although the last one closed in the 1990s.

All in all, I thought that this was a really well put together museum and given that there was free entry, there was nothing for me to find fault in. An excellent example of a provincial museum where the money has been spent wisely, so I can see why it has won a number of awards recently.

September 27, 2021
Barnsley – Sod the Pedestrians

I haven’t complained about anything for a few hours, so this seems like a good moment. This is an example of how pedestrians are really not well cared for sometimes and they wonder why accidents take place. On the left of this road junction is the Ibis Styles Barnsley and Toby Carvery, on the right is the road into Barnsley town centre. On both sides are residential areas and plenty of people need to walk between them, as I noticed when doing this walk myself, this is a busy crossing area for pedestrians. In the middle of all this is the M1 motorway.

And this is what pedestrians have to cross, the entrance to the bloody M1. Just as cars really want to start speeding up to join the M1, there are pedestrians trying to cross here. No warnings for car drivers, nothing to help pedestrians. The appropriate flooring is there to help disabled people get across and know there’s a crossing, but they’d be very brave to try and cross here. I hated this crossing, and there’s one on the other side which is no better. The path does carry on and is protected after this point with a crash barrier, but then pedestrians have to cross the other side as well, where cars are coming off the M1. That’s slightly easier though, as there are traffic lights controlling that, although nothing for pedestrians, they just have to notice when they’re red for the cars.

There’s the M1 and the slip road (or whatever they’re called) onto it is to the left behind the trees. I don’t know who is responsible for sorting out this crossing, but I think the lack of care here is irresponsible and I hope that no-one is ever injured on this crossing.

Anyway, moan over….

September 19, 2021
Barnsley – New Central Library

The council demolished the town’s central library a few years ago and they promised they would replace it, which they’ve now done and the new building opened in 2019 in the heart of Barnsley’s Light Box regeneration area. I normally cringe when I see that a new library has been constructed, as too often they’re worse than what they replaced, but the arrangement here wasn’t as bad as I feared.

As is partly visible here, I was impressed at how much seating there was, with power sockets readily available.

Everything felt modern, although it’s not the most inspiring of buildings given that it looks like an office block.

The maps collection, probably not used that much, but it’s a very useful resource for a library to have, especially when it’s presented neatly like this.

I don’t know how true this is, but a member of library staff told a visitor that this chair made out of cardboard cost the council £750 and they’ve put it in the corner so that no-one sits in it. I have no further comment to add about this.

Clever, use an environmental reason to justify just leaving the exposed concrete on the stairways. The signage in the building is appalling though, I’m not sure why they need to keep it a secret of where things are located. However, the fiction section is on the first floor and the reference section is on the second floor, that’s the main divide.

I was suitably impressed by the entire set-up, with the staff being friendly, although there seemed to be a lot of them and they frequently looked bored. There’s plenty of space, lots of seats, a decent selection of local history books and a clean environment which was quiet. I say quiet, the public were quiet, the staff seemed to want to create an atmosphere more akin to a busy pub, but it’s easy to be critical…… Having written that, I went to look at the reviews of the library and this seems to be a common problem, so I think someone’s suggestion of a quiet area for the staff to sit in might be a useful benefit.

I can’t imagine that this library came cheap, but these things should perhaps always be a little expensive to do properly (although I’d rather they spent more money on books rather than decadent furniture).

September 19, 2021