Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: Sowerby Bridge

  • Sowerby Bridge – Hollins Mill

    Sowerby Bridge – Hollins Mill

    After visiting the Hogs Head in Sowerby Bridge, I came to this former joinery premises which is run by the same company and is also listed in the Good Beer Guide. I would have visited the Jubilee Refreshment Rooms by the railway station as well, which is the only other Good Beer Guide listed pub in the town but it was shut and so I didn’t……

    The lighting proved challenging to take a photo, but this is the interior of the pub. They usually have a board behind the bar with the cask and keg options, but they were rewriting it when I visited so taking a photo would have been a little awkward. The environment felt a little sparse and it was more like being in a museum’s cafe than in a pub, but everything was clean and tidy. There’s an outside area as well which seemed popular, other than there were two dogs fighting which I didn’t think was ideal. Actually, it was very off-putting and I’m not sure whether I’d take children here.

    The Hop, Skip and Juice from the nearby Vocation Brewery, a perfectly acceptable pale ale, along with some really excellent beefy crisps from Seabrooks. Like the Hogs Head, this pub also doesn’t serve food beyond basic snacks, so this must be a challenge to shift enough beer to make money.

    Anyway, a perfectly welcoming pub with helpful staff. It apparently won the ‘CAMRA’s Best Conversion to Pub Use’ in 2006, but I don’t like the design personally, it all felt a bit open plan to me and I’m not sure that the acoustics worked very well. Anyway, I’m not an interior designer and I’m not even sure why I’m going down that line…..

  • Sowerby Bridge – Hogs Head Brew House

    Sowerby Bridge – Hogs Head Brew House

    Fortunately it’s not too hot today as I explore the delights of West Yorkshire, with this visit being to the well-reviewed Good Beer Guide listed Hogs Head Brew House in Sowerby Bridge.

    I had already seen what drinks were available as the pub has listed them on their app, so that saved some time when at the bar. Well, saved a few seconds anyway. A range of beer styles there and a decent cask and keg selection of options.

    The bar, which feels bright and modern, and although it’s a little hidden by the lights in the photo, there’s a hog’s head above the counter (there are some other dead animals attached to other walls in the pub as well). The service was warm and welcoming, with the pub having quite a relaxed vibe.

    The cellar is visible through this glass panel in the floor and there’s a well that goes down even further.

    All very on-trend, a mix of the old and the new. The surroundings are comfortable and there’s certainly a lot of decoration and stuff around the place. There was one customer’s dog that spent about five minutes barking and he seemed oblivious to that it was annoying at least one other table. The pub didn’t feel very busy internally, but there were a fair few customers sitting outside in the garden area opposite.

    I went for the Paper Planes from Salopian Brewery, quite a quirky hazy beer, but with a depth of flavour that I liked. Of little relevance to anyone else, that’s the second beer I’ve had from Salopian Brewery in the last couple of weeks (and I’ve never had any from this brewery in Shrewsbury before that), both of which have been really quite acceptable.

    I’m not sure that I have much more to add about this pub, but I liked it and I’m glad that it’s in the Good Beer Guide. I’m not entirely sure how places of this size make money when they don’t offer meals (although they had pork pies), but there are two canals that meet in this town and perhaps they get some revenue from the tourist trade linked to that.