Wakefield is quite good, as is Preston. I wouldn't bother with Warrington to be honest.
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I don't really know Warrington but have never got the impression there's much there. Wakefield has some great options but are there enough? Considering the size of Preston I'm not sure it's that great. I don't think Wigan's that bad but if Wigan Central was absent then I'd probably write it off.
Sadly daytime opening times in Wakefield are a bit limited even on Fridays, Ale & Hearty will clarify I'm sure. We did actually have a mini-crawl of Wakefield on 17th July 2015 while the southerners enjoyed St Albans.
Preston is definitely better for a crawl, no idea about Warrington and I don't mind Wigan but I doubt there's enough good pubs. It has 7 in the GBG that are central and several of those are a bit small.
I did a ten pub crawl of Warrington a couple of months ago (I'm just about to start the write-ups), but would say only four or five were worth a revisit, although I believe a micro pub has opened since I was there. Not enough for a PuG crawl in my opinion. I've always thought Wigan, on the other hand, is one of the most under-rated places for a good pub crawl.
From the options suggested in this thread so far, I like the sound of Preston, Macclesfield, Bradford and (geography permitting) Lincoln.
Wakefield has a good, solid drinking scene, but is maybe two or three venues short of a full day out. There are 9 pubs that I would nominate for a crawl, with a couple of others that just about flop over the finishing line, including the local 'spoons. Opening times are better than they were, with 6 of the 9 opening at 12. Of course, the three that open later include some of the better venues. One thing I've done in the past, to get round the delayed opening times, is take people on a short bus ride to Horbury and visit a decent cluster of pubs there, before heading back into the centre. However, that may be over-complicating things for a large group. In short, Wakey is a possibility, but realistically an outside choice.
Chorley is good and its also compact. A bit of pain train wise though. Or has this already been done?
The restoration of the Swan & Railway and reopening of Tudor House have improved matters considerably in Wigan, and if you factor in the edge of town micro pubs it’s not a bad day out.
I also second the recommendations of Chorley and Preston though Warrington is pretty average from what I know about it.
Having been to both Warrington and Wigan in June I would say they are well behind Wakefield in terms of ale variety and quality,while tacking on Horbury to Wakefield could produce a very fine day out.
Preston sounds an interesting call ,thanks Will for the solid research above.
Of the towns mentioned so far, this is the number of pubs listed under "Town Centre" for each place and the number that sell Real Ale.
Obviously no guide to pub or beer quality but shows some towns might struggle to get near a decent "Full Winfield".
Of course the Yorkshire towns (except Wakefield) were suggested as a possible combined crawl for two or more venues.
_______________Pubs___RealAle
Bradford...............55..... 29
Chester................94..... 54
Chorley................34..... 24
Halifax.................46..... 26
Hebden Bridge......15.... 13
Lincoln.................54.... 38
Macclesfield..........52.... 40
Preston................60.... 29
Sowerby Bridge.....21.... 17
Todmorden...........18.... 13
Wakefield.............60.... 32
Warrington...........52.... 18
Wigan..................35.... 19
We seem to have a decent number of options and no new suggestions in the last few days, so here's a poll: 2020 Spring Crawl to The North.