Festival staff go to Halifax

Each year the Steel City festival committee arrange a free day trip for the volunteers, as a thank you for their hard work.

This year’s destination was Halifax, so on a Saturday morning, a few weeks after the festival, a packed 52-seater coach set off to see what the West Yorkshire town had to offer.

First stop was Cock o’ the North, the tap room for Halifax Steam Brewery, just on the outskirts of town. The brewery had experienced some difficulty getting staff for the day, so two of our committee ended up acting as temporary barmen to ensure everyone got served without too much of a wait. They seemed to enjoy themselves, no doubt helped by the free pint they received for their efforts.

An hour later and everyone made their way back to the coach, only to find out that the driver wasn’t able to start it! A mechanic was apparently being despatched to sort it out, but in the meantime we all had to make our own way into Halifax. Some chose to book taxis, some took a short walk to the nearest bus stop and a few others walked into the centre.

Once in town, there were plenty of excellent venues to choose from. A particular favourite was the Grayston Unity, a Grade II listed building advertising itself as the smallest live music venue in the UK. By a coincidence of timing they had just had a Sheffield breweries event, so the pumps featured beers from Abbeydale and Little Critters.

Guided by a local CAMRA member, a small group of us got on a bus and left the town centre in search of the (almost) legendary Big Six. A short ride and a myriad of tight streets later, we arrived at the award-winning building. Dating from 1857, this pub has an unmade road on its garden side and is set within a row of terraced houses. Erected as a purpose-built beer house with its own brewhouse, it has an unusual layout and retains many of its internal fittings. These include oak-framed fitted seating, wood-panelling and a fine bar back-fitting, all probably dating from soon after its 1928 acquisition by local brewers Ramsden’s. The layout consists of a central corridor with two partly opened-up rooms, plus a bar-lounge and an excellent cosy snug. In addition, four cask beers were available. An excellent interlude in a packed day.

Back in town, the Meandering Bear, Victorian Craft Beer Café and the Square Chapel Café & Bar were all visited and found to have a good range of well-kept beers. All have won recent awards from Halifax & Calderdale branch. Slightly out of town at Dean Clough Mills was the Stod Fold brewery tap, also a recent award winner, and a large number of the volunteers all met up in the final pub of the day, Kobenhavn, the Halifax & Calderdale Pub of the Season Autumn 2021. Six cask lines and 24 keg lines gave us plenty of choice for a last drink.

Finally, a quick walk through a very festive looking Piece Hall and we were back at the coach, now thankfully working again. Overall a great day out, with a good range of top-quality pubs, which it was pleasing to note were very busy. If anyone fancies taking a day out to sample Halifax’s drinking establishments, a copy of the pubs list and map that was produced for the trip is available from our website.