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21-08-2014, 06:53
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Before you read this, let me confirm I have not lost my marbles !
Last weekend I was talking to Ken, you know Ken, everyone knows Ken, and he told me that he had been in Sheffield in a Sam Smiths pub drinking a new Smiths draught beer. Well, never been one to resist a challenge I set out to check it out in Huddersfield. This was the reason for me ending up where I ended up, and the other, more important reason was that it was hosing down and I was stranded without a jacket.
Yes I am talking about the Commercial on New St. I did not find the beer I was looking for, but there were 4 handpulls all serving 'Old Brewery Bitter'and several other pumps serving keg versions of their other beers, including a couple of different Smiths lagers. The cask came in at less than £2 a pint, (my half cost 90p) and was not a bad beer. But what really surprised me was how busy the place was.
I had wandered around town a bit and called in various pubs. Mostly there were a sprinkling of drinkers in them, some were busier but they were concentrating on serving food rather than beer. The Commercial was rammed, I struggled to find somewhere to sit and people watch.
It brought my thinking round to the old days. This was how I remember pubs from my youth. Lots of middle aged and older men, sitting around, chewing the fat with their mates and shifting gallons of beer. It was a proper pub. No pretensions, just lots of chat. I could overhear conversations on many and varied topics.Football, Politics, The inefficient local council, and so on. There was background music, but unobtrusive.
So if you have a desire to hark back into the past and want to while away a few minutes, call in. It is not the best beer in town, not the best pub either, but it is somewhere I will call in again. Just for the craic, which is what I think a pub is all about. And a chance to keep dry !!
More... (http://www.aswiftone.com/2014/08/like-old-days.html)
Before you read this, let me confirm I have not lost my marbles !
Last weekend I was talking to Ken, you know Ken, everyone knows Ken, and he told me that he had been in Sheffield in a Sam Smiths pub drinking a new Smiths draught beer. Well, never been one to resist a challenge I set out to check it out in Huddersfield. This was the reason for me ending up where I ended up, and the other, more important reason was that it was hosing down and I was stranded without a jacket.
Yes I am talking about the Commercial on New St. I did not find the beer I was looking for, but there were 4 handpulls all serving 'Old Brewery Bitter'and several other pumps serving keg versions of their other beers, including a couple of different Smiths lagers. The cask came in at less than £2 a pint, (my half cost 90p) and was not a bad beer. But what really surprised me was how busy the place was.
I had wandered around town a bit and called in various pubs. Mostly there were a sprinkling of drinkers in them, some were busier but they were concentrating on serving food rather than beer. The Commercial was rammed, I struggled to find somewhere to sit and people watch.
It brought my thinking round to the old days. This was how I remember pubs from my youth. Lots of middle aged and older men, sitting around, chewing the fat with their mates and shifting gallons of beer. It was a proper pub. No pretensions, just lots of chat. I could overhear conversations on many and varied topics.Football, Politics, The inefficient local council, and so on. There was background music, but unobtrusive.
So if you have a desire to hark back into the past and want to while away a few minutes, call in. It is not the best beer in town, not the best pub either, but it is somewhere I will call in again. Just for the craic, which is what I think a pub is all about. And a chance to keep dry !!
More... (http://www.aswiftone.com/2014/08/like-old-days.html)