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Tag: Head of Steam

Cardiff – Head of Steam

Our first pub in Cardiff was Head of Steam, which ticked numerous boxes for me. Firstly, I’m working my way around every Head of Steam in the country and I don’t have many left, it’s also a decent venue which has the beers listed on Untappd and to add to that it’s also listed in the Good Beer Guide.

Some of the keg beer options.

Accepting that I was making an awkward request, I asked if I could order 1/3 of three different beers. The team member was helpful and pro-actively mentioned that there was an offer of any four 1/3rds for £10 which was very reasonable given the cost of some of the beers.

Anyway, from left to right:

(i) Brewmaster Special 007 from Brew York – grapefruit, hoppy and quite fierce, with some pineapple in there as well.

(ii) Bird of Prey from Ulitje Brewing Company – juicy, hoppy and another fierce tasting one.

(iii) Jellyfish Nebula from Tooth & Claw Brewing – a clean and hoppy beer, but I would have ideally liked a bit more punch from it.

(iv) Sticky Toffee Pudding from Vocation Brewery – this is the cask version and there were upfront toffee notes, roasted end-notes and it was a bit thin, but the toffee taste was pleasant.

Liam followed me by going for four different beers, with Ross ordering a pint of lager but I wasn’t judgemental about that….. Richard decided he wanted a decadent can. Richard will be showered with praise later on in this post for his decisions in this venue, but I’ll come onto that.

This is Richard’s beer but I helped him drink some of it, it was rich in flavour but hides its ABV. Not enough chilli for me, but lots of chocolate and it was slightly decadent.

Richard decided to get some cans and I was surprised and delighted by this one, Fancy Orange from Twice Brewed. This is my kind of thing, there’s orange, there’s fizziness, it’s low ABV but it’s rather lovely in a Hooch kind of way.

The Dandelion and Burdock sour and I thought that this was brilliant. It was punchy, herbal with elements of liquorice. This was certainly another one verging into decadent.

The bar had quietened down a little from how busy it was earlier. There was a private party on the first floor and no seating when we came in, but it was a little more calm later on.

Richard getting in the way of my photo of the Untappd screen, which for those who can be bothered to zoom in can see the latest check-ins from Liam, Richard and myself. Ross refuses to get Untappd which feels sub-optimal, but who am I to be judgemental….

This was the beer of the night with caramel, banana, toffee all beautifully combined. Slight burnt notes, but so agreeable with great mouthfeel and smooth for its ABV. Decadent and brilliant.

Richard was so excited at the beers he decided to sneeze a lot, so we ran for safety to the bar. Not one to linger on Untappd, but Richard is getting ever better at his scoring and even Liam is coming on nicely….

Anyway, this is a really rather lovely bar with an interesting mixture of cask and keg beers. The prices were reasonable with the offers and the team members were friendly, engaging and helpful. The venue could perhaps keep its Untappd listings a little more up-to-date, but that feels like a minor matter.

But, particular thanks to Richard for getting so involved with the can choices and encouraging us to stay a little longer than we might otherwise have done, he was absolutely right to tempt us into lingering in this really rather lovely venue. Definitely one that deserves to be in the Good Beer Guide.

November 16, 2025
Liverpool Weekend (Day Two) – Head of Steam

Hmmm, apologies for the blurred photo, that’s somewhat sub-optimal. Anyway, I’m something of an advocate for Head of Steam bars and I’ve visited most of them, including this one in Liverpool which opened in 2017. The chain is operated by Camerons Brewery and most of the venues are in the north of England.

I’m reminded that I haven’t been on an adventure including train beers for some time. When I was at Peterborough Beer Festival this year, a volunteer told me that he had a great idea of branding a series of drinks as Train Beers and I have some sympathy to his intentions. Anyway, I digress already. The service in the bar was polite but all over the place, the server hadn’t heard of Brew York despite them stocking two of their beers and she didn’t know where the third measure was on the glass so just over-poured it to a half. I can’t say that I was disappointed with that arrangement, indeed, I was quite pleased at the lack of staff training.

It was worth coming to the pub for this beer, which is the Adrenalina from Brew York. It had a cinnamon edge and it was a moreish and smooth pastry sour which is one of the better beers of this type that I’ve had. Unfortunately, the other Brew York beer had sold out and the venue wasn’t being that sharp on updating Untappd.

The pizza was adequate, not exactly the explosion of meats that had been mentioned, but it tasted OK although inauthentic. Susan opted for the pizza where the middle was hollowed out and replaced with salad, but the kitchen forgot to hollow out the pizza and just dumped the salad on top. I gained from this as I was given a couple of slices of the pizza, so another win for me there. The beer in the photo is the Pemberley from Chapter Brewing, which I thought was rather lacking in flavour and I struggled to get the hints of roast and molasses.

The on-line reviews for the bar are generally favourable, with a healthy number of complaints to add to the mix, but most praise the venue. They received a complaint:

“Pubs great, a bit dark but I remember it as Halford years ago. However I called in with family just before the lock down and embarrassing I collapsed. It turned out I have Atrial Fibrillation and an irregular heartbeat. This has now classed me as disabled. I called in at the weekend and was embarrassed to be told I was barred and after I explained the situation the reply was your disabled”.

There’s always two sides to every story, evident with the pub manager’s reply:

“Unfortunately there a few inaccuracies in this review and yes indeed you are barred from the venue. The manager didn’t mention anything about being disabled. That was just what you were shouting as you were walked out of the venue.”

There’s something classy about adding “as you were walked out”. I’m pleased to say that I’ve never been walked out of a bar and if I had, I’m not sure that I’d be leaving a review about it.

And a complaint about the music:

“They played Gary Glitter’s Leader of the Gang. Upon objection, the bar staff said “it’s just music”. The ale’s really good. Not that good.”

The manager didn’t reply to that one. Another person was disappointed by the lack of Guinness:

“A wide range of beers but not to my taste, a Guinness substitute no thankyou”

I’d add that there are about ten keg beers, four real ales and plenty of cans, so I’m puzzled as to how not one of them is to someone’s taste, but each to their own. The manager also wasn’t surprised and delighted by the review, noting:

“A 1 star rating for not stocking a product is interesting we have 3 other stouts and porters available”

I still enjoyed my visit here and the environment was surprisingly quiet for a venue in the centre of Liverpool on a Saturday evening. But, I don’t like raucous (unless it’s at an event I organise, in which case it becomes positively desirable and on at least some occasions leads to some form of argument) so that suited our needs. The food was acceptable and the team members were doing their best, but they seemed short staffed and under-trained and that’s not the fault of those hard workers at the bar. Anyway, once again I’ve digressed, but I’m looking forwards to visiting more venues in the chain to complete my list (and as my friend Des comments, I do like ticking things off on lists……) It proved to be a satisfactory start to our evening out in the city centre and to my amazement, Bev liked her food. I suspect that she was probably still quite tired and unable to articulate any issues, as it’s rare that she’s content with her meal (but, of course, I don’t say anything).

September 18, 2023
Thursday – Brewdog, Head of Steam II and the Newcastle Tap (Part 3)

Continuing on from my little meander which had started at Head of Steam Quayside.

When I visited Newcastle last year, the Brewdog was closed, which meant I never got to tick it off my list.

I was pleased to see the selection from Funky Fluid, one of my favourite breweries, it was just like being back in Poland for a brief moment. Well, perhaps I exaggerate there, but it’s nice to see Funky Fluid beers in the UK. The service in the pub was friendly, engaging and personable, with the team member nonplussed by Brewdog Plus. I’ve used that word deliberately as I’m moderately amused (I need to get out more) that the word ‘nonplussed’ is used to describe complete opposites (ie, a contronym), it’s original proper meaning is to be perplexed. But, mostly it seems used today, and indeed how I’m using it here, to mean the reverse, as the team member knew exactly how to process it. He mentioned he couldn’t serve the Funky Fluid beers yet as they weren’t officially on, which I assume means that they weren’t on the till, but he gave me tasters of two of them. That included the Triple Gelato Peanut Butter and Jelly, one of the finest beers out there, which I had in Krakow a few weeks ago.

The very acceptable Made for Us from Alpha Delta Brewing, a local brewery.

The bar had a laid-back atmosphere, although I had expected it to be a little busier in the evening. It’s very well reviewed on-line, although I was moderately humoured by this review:

“My friend, wearing a yellow suit was refused entry as they do not allow fancy dress. When told that this was his normal attire the BrewDog employee rudely replied ‘I very much doubt that’.”

It was then a quick visit to Greggs to pick up my free sausage roll as part of the O2 offer. This branch opened until 04:00, showing just what a modern and dynamic city Newcastle is. Norwich doesn’t have any late-night Greggs and it’s that sort of cosmopolitan and on-trend approach that we need here….

The Quayside Head of Steam I had visited earlier in the evening had opened in 2016, but this Head of Steam outlet in the city centre is much older and was opened in 1996 (and I think was their first). This bar set-up is a little unfortunate, the pub hadn’t updated its beers on Untappd, there was no blackboard and two customers were sitting in front of the pumps. The only thing I could do was to take a photo of the pumps and get the barman to read them out individually, a situation that wasn’t really ideal in a venue that was otherwise empty. The service was welcoming, although I was puzzled once again why this venue was so quiet for a Thursday evening.

I went for the Cloudy Lemonade from the nearly always reliable Vault City and the Papaya Don’t Preach from Brew York. Both beers were suitably refreshing, but the lemon curd taste from the Vault City was really rather lovely. The bar has now updated its Untappd list of beers and they have some excellent options, but as I couldn’t see at the time what else they had, I just left. My own radical opinion here, not that anyone will care, is that if they can’t keep Untappd up to date, then either list beers on a blackboard or take those chairs away from the bar.

Some of my professional photography skills, let’s call this artistic rather than on the slant. It’s a slightly odd design as well, the toilets are on the ground floor, but the bar itself is on the first floor.

The outside of Head of Steam and next door was the Newcastle Tap (the craft beers and pizza is visible at least) and unlike their neighbour, they had an up-to-date Untappd list and the beers were also clearly listed above the bar.

A fancy interior, I liked the barrel arrangement upstairs, that looked rather decadent I thought. They were serving pizzas as well, and although I had already eaten, they did look tempting, with 12 and 18 inch options. I managed to resist though, which I thought was quite impressive of me. This was another bar with a relaxed vibe and it felt suitably on-trend, with a mixture of cask and keg like the other pubs, but perhaps the widest range of cask options I had seen all evening, including at the Wetherspoons that I didn’t stay long in.

The bar is operated by Pivovar, who also run the Tapped Leeds amongst some others such as Pivni, Sheffield Tap and York Tap. I went for the John Barleycorn from Northern Alchemy, which was a little bland although it was well-kept.

The second beer I went for was the Honeycomb Pale Ale from Seven Bro7hers Brewery, lots of honeycomb here and a very nice drink to end the evening on. They make a chocolate honeycomb stout as well which I’ll look out for, that sounds like a liquid Crunchie bar to me and needs investigation.

Back to the hotel down these steps, I was quite pleased to see that there were numerous others walking up and down as otherwise it would have felt quite eerie.

Back under the High Level Bridge, which had been constructed between 1847 and 1849, designed by Robert Stephenson. It’s not the most subtle of structures, but it is an engineering marvel for the period and it’s Grade I listed. The top deck still carries trains over the Tyne, whilst the bottom deck carries cars (although recently it has been limited to taxis and buses) and pedestrians.

And a healthy evening snack in the Travelodge.

August 26, 2022
Thursday – Metro into Newcastle, Craft Beer and Peace at the Travelodge

Continuing on from the earlier riveting blog post, I was safely at Newcastle airport and ready to get to the city centre using the Metro system. I’ve used it before on a few occasions, but I’d entirely forgotten nearly everything about it. But, that’s the advantage in having a blog, the memories can all come flooding back.

Fortunately, there were plenty of signs saying which ticket to buy as well as numerous machines which were easy to operate. It’s formally known as the Tyne and Wear Metro, although often commonly referred to as the Newcastle Metro. The network isn’t as popular as it once was and it feels a little tired, it’s not really a surprise that passenger numbers are lower than they were in the 1980s when the Metro opened.

I like using different public transport systems and this one seemed to run regularly, although the signage wasn’t always particularly clear on platforms. The prices are also expensive, but yet the penalty fare for not having a ticket is set at just £20. They’ve already increased fares by 10% at the beginning of 2022, so they’re going to struggle to raise them again, or at least, they’ll price even more people off the network. However, they get some lovely shiny new trains next year, so that might boost ridership. It’s notable though that the £3.90 to get to the city centre is more than to get from Heathrow to central London, which is £3.50.

It’s quite a complex network, but the airport service goes directly to the city centre and there’s no need to change.

It was all clean and comfortable, although I didn’t see any staff on platforms or walking through the trains.

After having arrived safely into Central Station, the next task was to check-in at the hotel, which was a very reasonably priced Travelodge on the Quayside. I had forgotten just how many steps I had to go down to get to the hotel, which was a reminder of how many I’d have to go back up later on.

The standard Travelodge set-up, this was once seemed to have been modernised relatively recently and it had air conditioning which sort of worked. It was nice and bright, with everything working as it should.

The windows didn’t open, but I was pleased at the views over the River Tyne.

As the hotel was next to the Quayside pub, operated by JD Wetherspoon, I popped in there on my way by. It’s not the first time that I’ve been here, I remember going here with Liam a few years ago. The pub seemed organised and clean, but the real ale selection was the weakest I’ve seen in any Wetherspoon pub, just some generic options from the generic Greene King. It’s a quite a well reviewed Wetherspoon though (well, relatively), although I’m puzzled by the recent review:

“Can’t believe I’ve just been turned away from the Quayside for wearing shorts on a hot bank holiday weekend”

I can’t imagine how bad they must have been for a Wetherspoons to turn someone away, I’m quite intrigued.

There didn’t seem much point in staying at the Wetherspoon pub if there was nothing interesting in terms of beer, but I was more excited about the next venue, the Head of Steam Quayside which was just a short walk away along the Tyne.

Views over the Tyne to the Sage Gateshead, and a BAM hoarding for those with good eyesight (or just strong observational skills).

The beer list at the Head of Steam Quayside, which is one of two venues that they have in Newcastle and I hadn’t previously been to either of them. The pub’s Untappd list was out of date when I visited, but it has been updated since. There’s a decent selection of cask and keg, with a range of different beer styles.

A quirky interior, I liked it. All very laid-back and comfortable, this is a pub that I’d visit regularly if I lived a bit nearer to it. It’s not actually as well reviewed on Google as the Wetherspoons that I walked into and then out of again, which seems odd. It mostly seems to be reviews about the food and service times, customers seem much happier about the beer.

I thought that this was creative (the light, not the arrangement of safety devices at the back).

The barman complimented me on my strategy of ordering three one thirds, so I decided that I liked him and that he had excellent judgement. He was conversational and engaging, indeed there was an inviting atmosphere to the whole arrangement. I had the Jellyfish Nebula pale ale and the Spree & Easy IPA from Tooth & Claw Brewing, although the little star of this show was the Maris the Dank Engine 2 from S43, an 8.1% Double IPA.

There’s an outside seating area as well for those who like sitting in the street, although it’s not really my thing.

As there are quite a few more pubs for me to still write about from my evening’s meander around Newcastle, I’ll break that into a separate post. I would claim that it’s to increase anticipation, but it’s realistically just so I can make progress in a slow and steady manner in actually posting things.

August 5, 2022
Leeds – Head of Steam (Mill Hill)

For reasons that I’ll post about when writing about (look at that for anticipation and cliffhangers…..) my National Express coach trip from London to Bradford, I managed to get 45 minutes in Leeds as part of the experience. This was handy as I was able to visit a Head of Steam in the city that I couldn’t visit earlier in the year as it was shut. That means that I’ve now visited all three of the Head of Steam outlets in Leeds, the others being Park Row and Headingley. This one opened in 2014, Park Row in 2019 and Headingley in 2016, so it’s the oldest in the city.

An interesting little design set-up which can be viewed by anyone going upstairs to the toilets.

I went for two half pints, the Barista Stout from Theakston (on the left) and the Abduction from Vocation Brewery. Both very decent beers, I very much liked the initial hit of raspberry and the aftertaste of plum with the Abduction, that was really quite classy. Definitely the best way to eat fruit. I was pleased with the range of beer styles being offered across cask and keg, with a pleasing selection of darker beers.

The reviews are pretty positive, but the pub was rightly annoyed at the 1/5 review on Google:

“Not been inside just outside”.

Really bloody helpful that is….

Service was friendly and this venue felt more like a relaxed pub than a bar, the other Head of Steam in the city centre is much more of a vibrant bar environment. I like this pub, it felt like it had a community feel and customers were served in turn and efficiently. The prices were reasonable and the pub seemed clean and organised. I was glad that the National Express faffing about led to me getting the chance to visit this pub, but perhaps it was just fate. And as a bonus that I didn’t realise when I was there, the pub is in the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide.

November 14, 2021
Huddersfield – Head of Steam

Another belated write-up from my visit to Huddersfield a couple of weeks ago. This is the Head of Steam, located at the other end of the railway station from the King’s Head. This pub isn’t in the Good Beer Guide, which is rather a shame I think, as there are plenty of cask and keg options.

The neatly laid out bar. The whole pub had a feeling that this was a nice place to linger and wait, which is ideal as it has become almost an extension to the railway station’s waiting areas.

There are four different rooms in this pub, all with varying feels and designs, with a central bar area.

I visited on a Sunday evening and it’s fair to say that it wasn’t packed inside the pub. The food option are pies from Pieminister, which I’ve had before in other locations and they’re fine, but I’ve never been hugely impressed with them. However, there are limited options for the pub and it’s a sensible choice to have something which is easy to prepare.

The pub uses Untappd for its menu which makes things much easier and, as I’m easily pleased, I like my photo appearing on the bottom of the screen after rating a beer (I accept that I probably need to get out more….). I went for half a pint of Ghost Porter from Yorkshire Heart brewery and half a pint of Wishbone from Abyss brewery, both decent dark options.

I’m finding Head of Steam really quite reliable for their beer options, more so than Brewdog who are also more expensive (and they’re opening a venue in Huddersfield in the next few weeks). There were a range of beer styles offered here, with the back-up of bottles and cans for anyone who wasn’t pleased with the extensive choice. The staff members were friendly and polite, with the whole arrangement being what I’d say is one of the better railway station bars. It must also be on the very edge of being listed in the Good Beer Guide and I hope it gets over that line in future years.

September 28, 2021
Leeds – Head of Steam Headingley

Although it looks like I’ve visited a branch of William Hill, the sun was annoyingly in the way for taking a photo of Head of Steam which is next door. I could have stood outside the window of the bar and taken a better one, but there were customers inside looking out and they might not have been entirely surprised and delighted of me taking a photo with them in it. This location was previously Havana Bar although a basic Internet search shows that there were consistent and substantial problems with that venue, of the nature that I won’t go into here.

The bar area, which is all modern as would be expected from a Head of Steam. There are two floors here, with the first floor being used as additional seating and also some sort of games room set-up. It wasn’t massively busy when I visited early evening on a Wednesday, but there were a few customers dotted about. Service was immediate and friendly, all efficient and well managed.

I went for the Litmus – Strawberry, Basil and Black Pepper from Atom Brewing of Hull. The beer had a perfectly enjoyable taste, but the tastes of strawberry, basil and black pepper were all too faint for my liking, which was slightly disappointing. A taste of black pepper running through a beer should be strangely slightly decadent, but it was lost on me.

There was a more relaxed and comfortable vibe to this bar than the Brewdog down the road, with a much better curated list of beers as well which cut across most different styles. Some of the furniture probably needed replacing, but this is a student bar which probably does a considerable amount of trade on weekend evenings, so I can imagine everything takes quite a knock. Also as another of my random comments, Head of Steam have these tables in a couple of locations which aren’t even because of the chunky wood and although I know that wood isn’t necessarily flat (it’s not that visible in the photo to be fair), I suspect a few drinks get knocked because of these slight slopes on the table.

Anyway, all very lovely and it’s nice to visit another Head of Steam, there aren’t that many left for me to go to now.

September 23, 2021
Leicester – Head of Steam

On 5 April 2018, what I consider to be one of the best pub chains in the country opened a grand new pub on Market Street in Leicester, a craft beer delight. Plenty of money was spent on the interior to give it an on-trend and cutting edge feel to it. It lasted for just nine months when the owners Camerons turned into The Sanctuary, a different brand they also operated, which in turn survived for just a few weeks.

I asked a few people this week what happened to the Head of Steam and why it closed. There was universal acceptance that this was a great pub, but that it was ahead of its time and simply the wrong building for the brand and in the wrong part of the city. It seems that the pub was well managed, it got positive reviews and looking through their beer list, they were doing a marvellous job. Unfortunately, the customers just didn’t come and even the launch party was heavily under-attended.

The premises became used by a steakhouse which only lasted a few months, but after a couple of years of remaining empty, Olivia’s Townhouse have now moved in. This one looks destined to fail as things stand, they’ve been hit with a series of negative reviews and I suspect that they might struggle as well to make this site work. They’re aiming at a very different demographic to me, namely 18-21 year old women judging from the marketing with no real ale or craft beer available.

Perhaps if Head of Steam had opened a smaller outlet, more similar in size to their Hull premises, then it might have survived and prospered. Sadly, this transpired to be an expensive mistake from the chain and I can imagine that the losses here were significant. Hopefully one day the Head of Steam will return to Leicester, but perhaps in a more manageable location.

September 5, 2021
Leeds – Head of Steam (Park Row)

I’m slowly (but very surely) working around all of the bars in the Head of Steam chain, a process taking me a while as they’re mostly up north and I’m mostly down south. This is their outlet in the centre of Leeds on Park Row, opened in 2019, and they have another one in the city.

The bar has plenty of seating as there’s external seating, a large room near to the entrance and seating all around the bar area itself.

The gaming area of the bar and there are screens at the rear which rotate through the beer selection that’s available. I looked at the beer list before I went in and then ordered accordingly. The member of bar staff was friendly and knowledgeable, so it felt an inviting place to be. My first impressions were very positive and, as it transpired, all my impressions were very positive of this Head of Steam. I also liked that there power points generously located around the bar so that customers could charge their devices up.

I wasn’t sure what I’d think of this fruited Gose from Tooth & Claw Brewing, called Squeeze Please. I thought that it was delightful as it’s hard to imagine a beer that was much more lemony than this one and I’m very much a fan of that flavour in nearly any drink, from tea to coke and from beer to cake. A very drinkable beer with a lot of lemon zest to it, all really quite decent.

I thought that I’d order two half pints, so this is the other choice, the Black Coral from Camerons Brewery. It was OK, not as much body as I had anticipated, but the flavours were there. Another very drinkable beer, although I’m not sure that I really felt it was 4.1%. Camerons have owned the Head of Steam chain since 2013, hence their beers appear regularly, but I hadn’t tried this one before and it was the only stout that they had on draught.

Clicking on the image above of the bar’s screen shows my Untappd ratings at the bottom of the screen….. I’m easily pleased if I’m being honest.

The reviews of the bar are generally positive, just a few negatives about the food and some ridiculous comments because customers didn’t agree that Head of Steam were enforcing Covid-19 rules at the time. And a few people complaining that the beer was expensive, but my two half pints came to £5.10 which I thought was reasonable given the quality of them.

Inevitably quiet on a Monday afternoon, I was pleased that the bar was open. Beautifully run, spotlessly clean and a really nice venue, one of my favourites in the chain. I can imagine that this location gets busy on weekend evenings and I also suspect that the noise might all get a bit much. However, during quieter times at least, definitely recommended.

August 2, 2021
Birmingham – Head of Steam (II)

Head of Steam is one of my favourite chains and I’ve been to several across the country and I’ve been to this one before and enjoyed the quality of the food and drink that they had.

I came in here again as they were advertising on Facebook the new bottles from Vault City Brewing. The staff member hadn’t heard of them and was initially confident that they didn’t have them. I did on four occasion say that I could see the beer in the fridge behind her, but she wasn’t having any of it. She was polite enough though and got another staff member, who told her they were in the fridge behind her. I decided not to say anything. They hadn’t yet been listed on the till and I did ask the price before ordering and was given an estimate, which transpired to be a fair chunk out, so this was a more expensive drink than I had anticipated.

Being honest, I wasn’t entirely sold on the engagement here in terms of beer knowledge, but these are challenging times for pubs and perhaps they were short-staffed.

And here is the drink that I wanted, the Raspberry White Chocolate Honeycomb Imperial Stout from Vault City Brewing, which was a rather beautiful beer. Although a stout, there was a sourness from it, with the various flavours each noticeable by taste in what was quite a complex beer. Rather lovely to have that white chocolate smoothness, the tartness of the raspberries and the touch of honeycomb. I lingered over this drink for over an hour, as it was one that could just be sipped for some time. I’ve also just realised I had listed it incorrectly on Untappd, as they have a similar sour version, which I’ve now corrected.

The interior of the bar, which was all clean and organised, as well as being quite empty. It’s a large venue and there’s an interesting bit at the entrance which feels like a covered beer garden type area. So, everything was fine with the visit, but it was missing the level of engagement that I’d usually expect from Head of Steam. No negative issues though and marvellous that they’ve got such excellent beers in stock. A perfectly well deserved entry into the Good Beer Guide in my humble view. And a reminder that I need to try more beers from Vault City Brewing.

July 23, 2021