Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: West Yorkshire

  • Shipley / Saltaire – SALT Bar and Kitchen

    Shipley / Saltaire – SALT Bar and Kitchen

    I visited the SALT Bar & Kitchen last week, although I’m now back in the area and it’s a reminder to myself I never wrote about my little excursion to this venue which is now owned by Ossett Brewery. It’s a short walk from the Saltaire UNESCO World Heritage site, so anyone going there might be interested in walking here as well to enjoy the history of this building. And the beer obviously.

    The bar is located in a former tramshed, it’s an impressive set-up and it was popular when I was there, with plenty of customers sitting outside with the wasps, seagulls and other dangerous animals that exist in this country.

    The whole set-up is modern and on-trend, with a central bar area.

    I wasn’t sure what food they did, but it transpired to be pretty much just pizzas. This is an entirely agreeable set-up to me and although this wasn’t the cheapest, it had some of the best toppings that I’ve had a pizza in terms of the quality of the ingredients. I was suitably impressed with this and it went well with my Hessian coffee stout from their own brewery.

    I went through a few third pints of beer, all of which were decent options, although I particularly liked this one, the Risk & Reward imperial stout from their own brewery. Also available at the bar were the Rat beers, which I saw at the Rat and Ratchet pub in Huddersfield this week, and they also sold all of the SALT beers.

    At the rear of the bar is the SALT Beer Factory that they said I could have a little look at. That wasn’t a special gesture, it’s open to everyone on weekends, but I did enjoy having a meander around their brewery set-up.

    I was impressed at this entire arrangement, the service was friendly, the staff were knowledgeable, the location was clean and modern, it’s definitely a destination venue. It’s also a marvellous advertisement for the brewery, quite different from the perhaps slightly less exciting set-up that Magic Rock have in Huddersfield. I’d also say that this should be listed in the Good Beer Guide, as they have cask and keg options, and this is a magnificent example of how to run a venue professionally.

  • Bingley – Mercure Bradford Bankfield

    Bingley – Mercure Bradford Bankfield

    Hotel prices at weekends are at the highest levels I’ve seen them in the UK at the moment, which has required me to be quite creative. There’s near 100% occupancy in chain hotels across the north of the country, a result of people wanting to have some weekends away. For my Saturday night stay the Mercure at Bradford Bankfield was showing at £45 for a double room, which was very cheap compared to everywhere else and seems to be a quirk, perhaps someone just cancelling. I also have a heap of Accor rewards points, so paid for most of it with that.

    I walked for twenty minutes from Bingley to get here and it’s an impressive building and I tried to ensure that I didn’t include the wedding party in my photo who were having photos taken outside the front of the main entrance. Unfortunately, Mercures in country locations in the UK generally have a poor reputation, and I had low expectations of this one, usually the grand frontages hide some dated rooms in cheap extensions.

    “Set in a Gothic style mansion house surrounded by landscaped gardens, the Mecure Bradford, Bankfield Hotel is a peaceful retreat and a short stroll from the banks of the River Aire.”

    The above is what the hotel has written, and ignoring the issue they can’t spell the hotel name, they’ve probably set up expectations here of a grand country house that they clearly can’t deliver on. Most of the hotel isn’t in a Gothic style mansion house, it’s in more modern extensions that are quite rickety. That means guests expecting they’ll be in lovely historic rooms won’t get what they hoped for.

    I also only realised after leaving that the hotel has been dumping inventory on Groupon, which in nearly all circumstances I’ve ever encountered is a sign that there are huge problems in getting customers and it’s almost always a last resort. They’d perhaps be better just reducing their prices on Accor’s web-site rather than handing over a big cut to Groupon, but there we go….. It could be claimed that it’s great marketing, but it doesn’t look like that, they’ve got some devastating reviews because they’ve over-promised a country house luxury stay and haven’t delivered on that to Groupon customers.

    Anyway, I digress.

    The main hall. The welcome at reception was helpful and the staff member apologised that he couldn’t offer me a free upgrade as they were full. To be fair to them, I was aware of that as the hotel filled soon after I booked the room that I did, so they were being entirely honest there. They didn’t bother with the welcome gift though, which they should have done, although the drinks voucher was pro-actively offered. I was nearly charged the wrong amount for the room, but it was soon fixed.

    I was aware that the bedroom was small when I booked, probably too small for two people, but fine for me.

    I think that the bathroom was about the same size as the bedroom….. There were some basic maintenance issues that needed addressing here that the hotel probably should have already fixed, such as the state of that window ledge.

    I took my welcome drink back to the room as I didn’t want to get in the way of the wedding that was taking place. As a drinks option, this Goose Island bottle is perfectly acceptable to me.

    The room wasn’t really clean enough, although it sufficed for me as I have relatively low standards here, otherwise I’d permanently be at receptions complaining. The bedding was clean, but the floor wasn’t and they had left half-used shower gels in the little bottles in the bathroom rather than replace them. That was shoddy and cost-cutting they shouldn’t be engaged with. Those mini bottles are a slight environmental disaster as it is, but they should be thrown away if they’re part-used.

    There’s no air conditioning in the room, although it’s an old building and so that’s not surprising. But, they haven’t bothered with putting fans in the room, and even Travelodge and Premier Inn do that. This to me is an omission, they should be doing this. I was also staying only for one night so this doesn’t affect me, but the hotel is saying it isn’t cleaning rooms for Covid cleanliness reasons. This is a little disingenuous, every other hotel I’ve stayed at recently is now moving back towards the usual housekeeping schedule. If they are short staffed then that’s fair enough, but they shouldn’t be claiming they’re doing it for cleanliness reasons, especially when they’re not properly cleaning the rooms anyway.

    The reviews for the hotel aren’t great and they should perhaps be most alarmed about how they’re doing badly on service looking at Google Reviews, that should usually be around 4.2 to 4.6 out of 5, but it’s down at 3.5 here. It’s easy to assume reviews aren’t reliable, but trends like that usually tell a story. There are a lot of negative reviews, although this one was quite blunt:

    “Worst hotel ever, no staff on reception. No food despite being pre booked my room has no lock and the door can be pushed open easily. The bedding was dirty. The curtains were falling down. The walls are like paper thin. I could go on for days. So instead of staying here give yourself a free upgrade and just sleep in a cardboard box outside the conditions will be much better”

    No lock? That’s not ideal. The walls were quite thin, although this was only evident to me in the morning as I could hear the television next door. The doors probably also need door closers on them as well to try and reduce noise, rather than them slamming shut.

    “Getting my bill right was clearly a major problem for the lady and she didn’t manage it (a subsequent charge to my credit card) as, in her words, she was emotional over the death of a disabled pigeon that morning. Clearly the cycle of nature passed her by. Food was adequate (no pigeon on the menu) but expensive as were the drinks. Bedroom was comfortable but the shower was unadjustable – fiercely hot all the time and unusable. A totally unsatisfactory stay and despite its convenience we shall not return.”

    I don’t want to make light of the disabled pigeon, but that review did amuse me.

    I can’t complain too much because the room rate was one of the cheapest in the area, but they often charge higher rates and I’m not confident they’re offering the standard of service that they should be. For my stay, it was entirely acceptable, but I wouldn’t stay here again.

  • Bingley – Library Tap

    Bingley – Library Tap

    Unfortunately, the two Good Beer Guide listed pubs in Bingley were closed (one was meant to be open but wasn’t) so I decided that I liked the name of this pub, the Library Tap which is operated by Amber Taverns. I specifically mean the library bit, the tap element seems a little odd in this pub’s instance as I had checked CAMRA’s Whatpub and it didn’t seem to sell anything much that I’d associate with a pub with the word ‘tap’ in it….

    It’s a large building and this floor was once used by the town council with the library downstairs, but then the library took over the entire building.

    There’s an upper area at the rear and it made me think that this would make a really nice library…. The actual library is in a building around the corner and was one of the quirkiest library set-ups that I’ve seen, but I won’t linger on that now.

    Half a pint of Tetley’s bitter and a pack of decadent Scampi Fries were keenly priced and the service was friendly and helpful. There was a fairly relaxed atmosphere and this is quite a substantially sized pub, although they don’t do food and I’m surprised that this is financially viable given that and the cheap prices for drink. They do show a lot of sport, perhaps they get a chunk of money from that.

    Anyway, clean and organised, although a limited real ale selection of the very average Wainwright from Marstons and the acceptable Tetley’s bitter.

  • Northern Rail + TransPennine Express : Dodworth to Bingley

    Northern Rail + TransPennine Express : Dodworth to Bingley

    Today’s rail meander was from Dodworth to Bingley, a journey that required three trains to complete. Part of the reason, or indeed nearly all of it, that I write these railway posts up is to try and remind me of the routes that I’ve taken, and also to remember which rail companies have annoyed me.

    There were two ways of making this journey, one was to go into Barnsley and then up to Leeds, but on my previous journeys that line is crowded and I was hoping for a more peaceful journey where I could actually sit down.

    Which gave me the journey plan of:

    09:09 – 09:50 : Dodworth to Huddersfield (Northern Rail)

    10:12 – 10:31 : Huddersfield to Leeds (TransPennine Express)

    10:49 – 11:07 : Leeds to Bingley (Northern Rail)

    That meant that the bulk of the journey was on the first train, which I didn’t expect to be that busy.

    Dodworth railway station, a single track arrangement which is on the Penistone Line. The railway station was closed in 1959, but was re-opened in 1989 and seems to be reasonably well used.

    The two-carriage Northern Rail train meandering into the railway station.

    My guess that it wouldn’t be that busy was correct, I had a bank of the far too small seating to myself. It did get a bit busier as we approached Huddersfield, but nothing chaotic. There was a ticket check on the journey, unlike when I got the train the other way a few days ago.

    Back into Huddersfield railway station again, the one that is likely to be entirely rebuilt over the next few years.

    The second train pulled in early which slightly surprised me. I was standing on the other platform investigating something else, so it’s not an ideal photo. The train was three carriages and was busy with only a few seats not having reserved cards on the seats, although I was able to get one of them. No ticket check on this train, which goes to the beautiful city of Hull, but there were power sockets which were handy.

    Back into railway station at Leeds for what feels like the 30th time this year. There were some problems with football supporters yelling something that the police were heading to look at, but I have no idea what football team they were supporting as Leeds weren’t playing today.

    The third train was a bit broken and for a few seconds it was marked as cancelled, before being changed to delayed and then the doors opened. A staff member kept looking at the train and seemed pleased with something, but there was another option to get to Bingley a few minutes later if this train to Carlisle would have been cancelled. The train journey was moderately busy, but I was able to get a seat and there was a friendly guard doing ticket checks.

    And safely into Bingley, I think one minute late, so a very efficient set of journeys. Although the lack of delay meant that there was no chance of claiming Delay Repay, but I can’t always win on that one.

    And here we are…..

  • Northern Trains : Huddersfield to Barnsley

    Northern Trains : Huddersfield to Barnsley

    My time in Huddersfield was up, so I waved farewell to Harold Wilson and went into the railway station, slightly saddened that I was leaving too early to pop into the King’s Head or the Head of Steam (both pubs at the railway station) for one more quick visit. This rail journey cost just over £8, which was relatively high for a direct train journey of under one hour, based on prices that I’ve been paying recently. The anytime single meant that I could break my journey anywhere along the route, although nowhere initially sprang to my mind. I only realised too late that I could have got off at a stop near Holmfirth and walked there, but I’ll remember that for another occasion.

    Huddersfield railway station is probably going to be knocked down soon, or at least this rickety old bit at the back is. The frontage of the railway station is one of the finest in the country from the Victorian period when it was constructed, but everything else is tired, inefficient and in need of replacement. The matter is currently with Grant Shapps, which doesn’t entirely fill me with confidence, but perhaps that’s being unfair.

    This is platform 2, which it took me a little while to find. It’s illogically numbered due to historic reasons, but it’s actually the platform nearest to the station building, even though logically that should be platform 1 (which is behind it in the above photo).

    The service operates on the Penistone Line, which opened in 1850 and meanders through some fairly small settlements before going through Barnsley and onto Sheffield. There’s apparently a real ale trail which often takes place along the line, which sounds rather lovely (although probably isn’t, it’s probably packed with people feeling ill, but I digress).

    The situation I found myself in was a little odd. The train from Sheffield rolled in and it’s the only service that departs from Platform 2, so it was clearly the train going back again to Sheffield. The driver left the doors open and popped into the railway station building, so I assumed that everyone waiting would get on. They didn’t. I faffed about a bit on the platform looking awkward and confused, before deciding that I’d be brave and climb on board. I was half expecting the damn train thing to drive off and end up at Torquay or something if I’m being honest. One person followed me on, also looking confused. The driver came back a few minutes later and a customer asked him if they could board. He also looked confused, as if permission was needed to get on a train which had the doors open. Perhaps they’re just very polite people in Huddersfield…..

    Also, the seating set-up is completely pointless (not that I want to start moaning about something else), as three people don’t fit sitting side by side on those seats (well, usually don’t). They’d be far better off converting those to the same as most other rail companies, two seats one side of the aisle and two seats the other side. Anyway, the train service wasn’t that busy, so I didn’t have a problem getting a block of seats to myself.

    It’s not going to win any photography awards, but there were some scenic landscapes, and a fair few tunnels, along the journey. The guard seemed helpful, but there was no checking of tickets going on at any stage. They must be trusting folk.

    Arriving on time into Barnsley.

    This is Barnsley Interchange railway station, constructed a few years ago to try and merge the town’s rail and bus operations. What it meant for me was the chance to explore Barnsley, a town that I’ve never been to before. As an aside, I kept hearing Michael Parkinson’s voice in my mind (not all day, just occasionally, I’m not yet entirely losing the plot) who is the most famous Barnsley resident that I know. I don’t know many others, just Arthur Scargill and Dickie Bird, who statue I might go and have a little look at. Anyway, I digress.

  • Huddersfield – St. Peter’s Church (Gravestones Turned into Paving)

    Huddersfield – St. Peter’s Church (Gravestones Turned into Paving)

    This is St. Peter’s Church in Huddersfield, the parish church.

    Below is my moaning about how the gravestones have been used….. And I know others will think it looks lovely.

    There’s not much that can be done now, but I’m not a supporter of the decision to flatten gravestones and turn them into paving. We’ve got a selection above of a baby’s gravestone made into a step, a bin shoved on a gravestone, a gravestone cut up to fit, a fallen memorial, gravestones with picnic tables on and gravestones with paint all of them. It’s not the character that I’d want from a parish church, and there’s been a religious building on this site for over 1,000 years.

    And more photos. I accept they look quite beautiful in many ways, but at some stage someone had to pay a lot of money for a stone to remember their loved ones. This doesn’t feel the right way to treat them and some other churches did block attempts for their graveyards to be handled in this manner. They’re also not in the right place, so the historic link to the location of the grave is not immediately obvious, although I think there are records which might show the original burial location. At least though all of the gravestones have now been photographed, so their text won’t be lost forever.

    But, just as my complaining draws to its boring end, the situation gets worse. I just consider the current situation to be unfortunate, but the church has yet to finish its master plan. The church, in its great wisdom, has decided it can turn this park area into a lovely car park. Huddersfield Civic Society said:

    “Surely this goes against the council’s blueprint and the green agenda? Will it not also involve significant costs to redesignate the Traffic Regulation Order that restricts traffic in Byram Street? Surely, in light of the planned repurposing of St Peter’s garden, Kirklees Council and the applicant could work together to look for alternative parking?

    Perhaps Kirklees could make available dedicated spaces in one of the nearby car parks that are little used on Sundays. After all, there already is provision at the church for temporary parking for funeral vehicles and dropping off disabled parishioners. Huddersfield Civic Society objects strongly to this plan and hopes Kirklees planners will reject it for the sake of the town’s future.”

    I agree with the Civic Society.

    Anyway, complaining over.

  • Huddersfield – Travelodge

    Huddersfield – Travelodge

    My luxury abode for the few days that I was in Huddersfield was the Travelodge which was located around a ten minute walk away from the town centre. What it lacked in convenience it more than made up for by being reasonably priced. Friendly staff as well, although I rarely have any issues in that regard with Travelodge (or indeed with any hotel company to be fair).

    The room, which looks like more other Travelodge rooms around the country. They’ve taken out the sofa from the room, which was evident as there’s a mark on the carpet where it once was. It was all sufficiently clean and comfortable though, no issues there.

    The beautiful view of the sweeping plains and dales of Huddersfield. What’s a little harder to see is that there’s a railway line on that embankment, although there didn’t seem to be many trains on it.

    Although I need to add that my wide angle phone has distorted this, it’s not the biggest bath that I’ve ever seen (and it is a bath and not a shower tray).

    The hotel is pretty well reviewed on-line, although as something outside of their control, I did have some problems with my Vodafone signal and there’s no free wi-fi in the room (or not beyond the free thirty minutes per day), so that wasn’t ideal. There’s no cafe bar at this Travelodge, they just offer the silly little breakfast box which is £5.25 and comes with a small cornflakes, milk, a muffin, flapjack and pain au chocolat. I’ve never had one (well, other than the ones they’ve given me free on a few stays) and they pick up a fair few negative reviews about them. I’m surprised that they’ve persisted with them. Anyway, I digress.

    As a hotel, this was a perfectly good stay, very little internal or external noise and the staff topped up the teas and coffees every day and changed the towels every day, although that’s the limit to what they’re doing at the moment. All very acceptable.

  • Huddersfield – The Grove

    Huddersfield – The Grove

    Hop & Vine Tony and I couldn’t get into this pub when we tried on Monday, primarily as it’s shut on Mondays. However, I didn’t want to miss out (and my friend Julian S from Norwich is also a fan of this pub, so it came personally recommended), so I went down on the Tuesday evening to see why this Good Beer Guide pub was so well reviewed.

    The beers on the bar, certainly an excellent choice with plenty of different styles. Incidentally, I didn’t like how my view of their crisp selection on the bottom shelf was obscured by the high bar. I realised after I had ordered that they had Frazzles and I didn’t get to order them….. I’m not saying that this is a critical problem in the world today that needs media attention and Government action, but I felt it worthy of mentioning here.

    A more complete look at the beers that they had, which I’d mostly already had in one shape or form, but there were some that intrigued me. The Albino Pheasant from Verdant Brewing was tempting, but it’s not a cheap beer and I’m sure there will be another occasion.

    The artwork on the wall was, well, I can’t really say anything as apparently it’s of the owners and it feels wrong to make any other comment than to say it’s certainly quite decadent. I would say though that I hope JD Wetherspoon don’t decide this is an angle that they want to go down, I don’t need to see any more of Tim Martin.

    The interior decoration was certainly quirky….. In front of the stuffed animal on the wall, that’s a Green Devil IPA from Oakham Ales which I expected to be quite average, but was actually anything but. Zesty, hoppy and quite powerful, I really liked this.

    I also didn’t have great expectations for my half a pint of Alf, a collaboration between Marble Beers and Amundsen Brewery of Norway. I’m not very good at describing pale ales, but I’ll have a go, but just to say, this was a beer which had a depth of flavour that I’ve rarely experienced in this style, although it is a 5.4% beer. I had to think about this beer and sip it slowly, pretending that I actually had a clue what flavours I was trying to decipher. It was very fruity, that was evident, and there was a strong hoppy background to it and I decided that I could taste peach, although I probably made that up. A clean flavour and rich aftertaste, and I wish I could explain why I liked this beer, but that’ll have to do in my little write-up. I gave it 4.75 on Untappd though, which was generous of me.

    The pub had a relaxed atmosphere, clearly something very different and not run of the mill. The staff were friendly and helpful, welcoming customers who were leaving and departing, with a community feel to the whole arrangement. I hope that they remain in the Good Beer Guide for many more years to come, it was all really rather lovely.

  • Huddersfield – King’s Head

    Huddersfield – King’s Head

    Huddersfield Railway Station has the rather lovely situation where there is a pub at either end of the building, the Head of Steam at one end (more on which in another post) and the King’s Head at the other. It’d be nice if Norwich railway station had such decadent choices, but maybe one day (and perhaps a Greggs as well whilst they’re making the changes). The pub was formerly known as the Station Tavern and the interior is something different, with the floor tiling being of note. It’s certainly a large space (and there’s some outdoor seating as well), although perhaps rather sparsely laid out at the moment though.

    Tony, from the wonderful Hop & Vine pub in Hull, was joining me for the day and this is where we started our little expedition from. Something which doesn’t appeal to me (I prefer quiet and genteel in pubs…..), but there is regular live music held here and I think that that’s a popular way of getting people in for this venue.

    The list of beer options and I liked the range of different beer styles that were available. The prices were also reasonable and it was easy to see the beers that they had.

    The Tiramisu Stout from Salvation Brewery, which was entirely pleasant to drink, but lacking in any real depth of taste. The beer is listed by the brewery as having “a delicious depth of flavour”, but it wasn’t quite desserty enough for me.

    The service in the bar was friendly, with the staff member being engaging and conversational. I can see why this is listed in the Good Beer Guide, a very acceptable place to wait for a train.

  • Huddersfield – Rat and Ratchet

    Huddersfield – Rat and Ratchet

    The Rat and Ratchet in Huddersfield has an excellent reputation locally and is listed in the Good Beer Guide and has been for the last thirty years, which is an impressive achievement by any measure. The pub is located near to the Queensgate Campus of the University of Huddersfield, a short walk from the town centre.

    Underneath the pub in the cellars is the Rat Brewery, which as this useful sign notes has been producing beers since 2011 under the new owners, the Ossett Brewery. The beers are still though separately branded for the moment.

    It’s fair to say that I liked the signage.

    The bar was nicely presented and the barman was kind enough not to comment that I nearly tripped over the little step by the bar whilst walking towards it. Fortunately, I recovered the situation promptly and professionally……

    I was slightly puzzled (not difficult, I’m nearly permanently puzzled by something) at the weekend to see the Ossett Brewery beers at the Salt Beer Factory and so I asked the barman about that given it was replicated the other way round here. He mentioned that it was all part of the same family, which is something that I didn’t know. Judging from their on-line branding, the brewery is treating Ossett Brewery as their cask product and Salt as their keg product.

    The list of cask and keg options is clearly marked up.

    I ordered half a King Rat from Ossett, as well as half of the Ratsputin which was an imperial stout which some depth of flavour to it. Both well kept pints, at the appropriate temperature and so on.

    The service was friendly and the environment had an historic feel to it, although it had a modern edge to it as well, the ‘old meets the new’ and all that. It felt a welcoming pub judging from the other customers and I can see that this would be a handy place to have as a local. There’s very much a focus on their own beer, with few guest beers, although that is perhaps not unreasonable given that they brew some of the products here. Definitely a very worthwhile addition to the Good Beer Guide.