Latest reviews from Sowerby Bridge
| 70 /100 1 STANLEY STREET “Close the narrowboat marina in the western part of the town centre, this very modern looking bar uses the contrast of the old stone building it is housed in well, and the mix works very well. It's a large open space with the bar along the left hand wall after you enter. Here there's a full row of its own regular beers brewed on site that sometimes also sports a special brew although these are sporadic at best. Another row of guest ales also exists. The rest of the kegs on the front are pretty much macro beers, but a backboard of keg ales also exists, some of these are always on, some change and third pints can be ordered off these.“ |
| 60 /100 River Lounge (Bar) 18 TOWN HALL STREET “This place overlooking the River Calder has been named a number of things, but in its current incarnation has its best selection of ales it's ever had. Perhaps more of a night spot than daytime, the bar against the right hand wall of the decent sized shop unit room is in the middle of the wall, and began with 4 hand pumps when it first opened, backed up by a couple of keg ales. First visited in 2016.“ |
| 72 /100 1 STANLEY STREET “Visited on 28th May 2016. Just off the main road through town, this is quite a surprising venue. It’s a huge single room with a long bar. There a plenty of seats but the place was really popular with the locals. 5 of their own beers on cask plus a mix of cask and kegs from other brewers. The guest range wasn’t the best maybe but made up for by their own beers. Nothing earth shattering but haven’t seen the beers elsewhere. It’s a nice place to try them and the place not to miss in town.“ |
| 66 /100 Sowerby Taps (Bar) 17 TOWN HALL STREET “Visited on 28th May 2016. Basement pub underneath a lively venue. Nice single room, decent decor and plenty of seats. Wasn’t too busy and got a table. A good range of local beers on cask that were well kept. Prices not too bad, service friendly. Did like this pub.“ |
| 70 /100 Firehouse (Restaurant) 7 TOWN HALL STREET “Visited on 28th May 2016. Two floored venue which has a modern decor. Lots of seating on both floors. Downstairs busy when we arrived but got a table upstairs. A good beer range with a decent mix of cask and keg. Both were well kept and had plenty to keep us ticking. Food was decent enough without setting the Firehouse alight. Good venue. Worth a look in.“ |
| 66 /100 OLD STATION BUILDINGS, STATION ROAD “Visited on 28th May 2016. Situated across the car park from the station, this is a solid stone building that is an old station buffet serving beer.
Large single room with neat tables laid out, looks smart with loads of railwayana on the walls. Beer range was decent enough with 4 beer on cask. Beer quality was good, prices decent and friendly service. Good kicking off point for a trip round town.“ |
| 60 /100 Sowerby Taps (Bar) 17 TOWN HALL STREET “Opened in late 2015, and using the basement of the old ’Bull’ pub that was once a Thwaites pub, this is not quite a micropub although it’s small enough to be one. As such it’s fairly intimate, quite bright with modern pub style fixtures and fittings in a single room setting. The bar faces you as you walk in, with some seats by the window to the right of the door, and the lion share to the left where an active fireplace exists. The name perhaps offers more excitement than what you find inside as the 12 keg options are not overly exciting, but the four cask hand pumps (3 rotate) do offer a decent enough regional choice to warrant a look, especially if you are a visitor to the area. The upstairs of the building is being converted into a b&b style hotel but will also have a bar.“ |
| 72 /100 Firehouse (Restaurant) 7 TOWN HALL STREET “The best pub in Sowerby Bridge for the beer lover. Real ale and craft beer from some of the best British brewers are available. On our visit there were beers from Thornbridge, Magic Rock, 5 Points and Redwillow.There were a decent bottle beers available too. The food is also excellent. The only downside is that it is expensive.“ |
| 60 /100 OLD STATION BUILDINGS, STATION ROAD “Quite a quirky pub at Sowerby Bridge station. Up to 6 real ales are available, although only 3 were on when we visited. The selection is all from local micros. They do a great pork pie too.“ |
| 72 /100 Firehouse (Restaurant) 7 TOWN HALL STREET “Refurbished in spring 2014, they proceeded to increase the cask pumps to six and doubled that number for their keg options, half of which are from microbreweries. There’s two permanent ales in the cask selection but the other four pumps do change as and when they are sold out. Their bottled selection is now the most impressive in the valley town, again with plenty of crafted ale options. Located a couple of doors after the bridge that crosses the Calder River it is still essentially a restaurant with some good deals to be found, but it’s also now very amenable to drinkers as a bar and does remain open past its food serving hours for this purpose. Naturally it has an appealing and relaxing decor for all its purposes. This place is owned by the same people that run the Old Gate in Hebden Bridge.“ |
| 66 /100 Williams (Bar) 80 WHARF ST “Easily missed on the main road if you’re not paying attention as it does not have the most prominent signs and is part of a row of brick terrace shops and houses, however it offers a different type of venue for ale drinkers in Sowerby Bridge. There’s 4 rotating hand pumps with some good finds on them and a keg option too. Despite this place having a very wooden decor and furnishings you’ll feel like your in a bar rather than a pub, or a plush pub at the very least as it feels fairly modern and is certainly clean and well-kept. There’s some sofa chairs here too and a small outdoor area at the side. Food is served although it only opens in the late afternoon for a fairly roaring evening’s trade.“ |
| 56 /100 Moorings (Greene King) (Restaurant) NO.1 WAREHOUSE, CANAL BASIN “Restaurant-pub part of a fine historic warehouse conversion right next to the Sowerby Bridge basin that’s always full of barges. It overlooks the canal water and has one of the finest views in Sowerby Bridge and if you arrive by barge there’s a high likelihood you’ll be dining here. Although it’s both bar and kitchen food is what people flock here for and the owners have had the foresight to stock this place with plenty of real ales given the competition for craft and cask in this valley town. Most of the ales are from Greene King but they could come from any of the family of brewers it owns and there’s a rotation on some of the multiple hand pumps in the middle of the bar. There’s also the Greene King produced house ale permanently available here. It’s a modern decor in the traditional sense and a very warm and cosy place with the exposed brick work and beams providing the older world charm to plusher furnishings. WiFi is available and there is a small patio area on the cobbles just outside the entrance, although the views across the water from inside are much better.“ |
| 62 /100 Navigation Inn (Bar) 47 CHAPEL LANE “You have to go up the hill (towards the Shepherds Rest) before you head downhill to the canal side to reach this pub. You won’t see it until you’ve left the road and descending to the pretty stone building. Before you get inside you’ll note the large elevated garden just in front of the building that catches the sun throughout the day and evening. whilst offering views across the Calder Valley. This is your best place to find Real Cider in Sowerby Bridge and its five cask pumps will have a mix of ale, perry and cider. The only permanent feature is the Navigation Inn’s own beer which looks suspiciously like Tetley’s Cask, but the other four pumps rotate and it’s Cask Marque accredited. If you arrive in Sowerby Bridge by canal boat this is probably the first place you’ll visit after stepping off the boat as it is right beside the basin for moorings and food is served here. The interior decor is also very much nautical like its name with round porthole windows on the doors and galley type seating and wooden plank decor - it’s like being back on the boat you’ve just left!!! The convivial area is surprisingly small given the size of the building.“ |
| 66 /100 Commercial Inn (JDW) (Bar) THE WHARF, 31 WHARF STREET “I visited here just one month after it opened, a very bright and modern Wetherspoon that borders between bar and restaurant and given it was packed you wonder where these people went before this place existed. Built from scratch facing a traffic light road junction, there’s no aesthetic value in the building which also has a small patio area at its front, but it’s nicely decorated throughout. with a very small lounge type area on one side and a dining area that's obscurred but behind the bar. There must have been some Yorkshire input into the planning of this place as there’s 12 cask ale pumps all in an impressive line next to each other at the bar, and all full! The prices are pretty decent too, although there’s plenty of competition in Sowerby Bridge so market forces are clearly at work here. Local brewery Slightly Foxed sometimes make a special Wetherspoon ale for this pub.“ |
| 74 /100 Shepherds Rest (Ossett) (Bar) SHEPHERDS REST, 125 BOLTON BROW “This pub is a bit of a climb up the hill towards Halifax if you’re coming from Sowerby Bridge town centre, but it’s certainly worth it given the range of ales available - the bonus is it’s downhill once you’ve sampled a few of them. There’s plenty of choice with ale pumps on three sides of the centrally placed bar serving predominantly Ossett brewery and its smaller owned microbreweries’ ales, but it does include a few guests as well to mix it up a bit. It’s a two roomed affair with an large archway separating both sides rather than any defined partition and a beer garden at the rear and comfortably furnished and decorated.“ |
| 66 /100 OLD STATION BUILDINGS, STATION ROAD “In the station building that is not directly on the platform as there is a car park between the two, this pub focuses on real ale if it’s not serving coffee to the commuters. Most of the length of the building is given over to wooden tables and seating so there’s plenty of space sitting against either the front of back wall. The bar occupies one end, the toilets which require a code to access at the other. There’s a good selection of ales and you can try a sample before deciding if you wish. The decoration is full of rail related articles that compliment the historic building and its a quietly atmospheric place to sit and sup. This has become my last stop back when exploring the pubs of West Yorkshire although I’ve never been completely convinced about how well kept the beer is here.“ |
| 66 /100 Hollins Mill (Bar) 12 HOLLINS MILL LANE “In a large open space of a mill building just off the main road before it crosses the bridge across the river, this pub is on an island within the town with the Rochdale Canal forming the other water boundary. The old building offers an atmosphere of its own with iron girders and brick walls providing the look. The open feel is convivial enough and there’s usually a good amount through the door in the daytime, and the popular comedy club upstairs brings plenty through in the evenings. The bar focuses mainly on real ale, but there’s lager and cider too with a decent selection for all. Furniture includes sofas, chairs and tables and its not unusual to find a chess game happening in one corner or someone on their laptop in another. Out front there are picnic tables and a couple of covered frames for smokers. Food is available.“ |
| 54 /100 Church Stile Inn (Bar) SOWERBY NEW ROAD, PINFOLD LANE, SOWERBY “On the same road but down hill of The Rushcart Inn, this pub benefits from some great views across the Calder Valley from one of its three rooms or from the tables placed out front. The pub itself is in its own building with little around it and has a very urban and local feel to it. The two rooms at the front house the bar and the games room, with a slightly nicer best room at the rear all connected by the central corridor. The bar stocks a couple of real ales.“ |
| 60 /100 Rushcart Inn (Bar) SOWERBY GREEN, SOWERBY “This is the last pub in the Sowerby conurbation before the houses give way to fields on its western end. This place is already high up on the hill but its on the wrong side of the road to offer any vistas. It’s fairly small and compact inside, with three rooms in an open plan design. The bar in the middle section is opposite a horse shoe shape of benches against the wall with small tables that have a traditional pub feel to them. Either side of this is a room of similar size but set-up for dining and the other is a larger dance floor and pool table area. The building itself has an appealing countrified look to it despite being surrounded by houses and its car park also doubles as a patio area with a section at its end specifically designed for this as well as a platform area just in-front of its entrance.“ |
| 70 /100 Shepherds Rest (Ossett) (Bar) SHEPHERDS REST, 125 BOLTON BROW “We had a bit of trouble finding the Shepherds Rest but it was worth the effort. It was a dark, damp afternoon and the pub is an unassuming looking street corner local leaning into the side of the hill as you go out of town towards Halifax. Inside it’s homely and welcoming, with almost as many dogs as people. The walls are oxblood red and there’s subdued lighting, a brick fireplace and a cosy snug through a brick arch. The beer selection isn’t bad either. As well as five Ossett beers (it’s an Ossett Brewery pub) there were three guests and a cider when we visited. We’ll be back – and, now we know where it is, it should be easy to find next time.
(Visited 26 December 2012).“ |
| 78 /100 OLD STATION BUILDINGS, STATION ROAD “My mother found this place by chance one day when she was out walking and introduced me to it on a Sunday afternoon when we were in the area and looking for a spot of lunch. They don’t serve food on Sundays but the friendly barman kindly made us a sandwich anyway. Four of the six taps were on, each with a beer from a local microbrewery. Mum was quite taken with the idea of the Saltaire Elderflower Blonde and was offered a generous sample before making her choice.
I was delighted with the place and have been talking about it ever since. I like it because it serves several purposes - café, bar, tearoom and meeting place for beer enthusiasts and railway buffs - and blends them together exceptionally well. It’s in the only surviving part of the old station building and has been beautifully restored to its original style, with green and cream walls, a bare brick chimney breast at one end, light wood tables and art deco pendant lamps. There’s an interesting collection of posters on the walls depicting old breweries from around the area and railway timetables.
The station is still operational and the bar also has a “Whistle-stop Window” open from 0645 to 0930 on weekdays to serve hungry commuters with breakfast on the go. My plan is to test this out when we eventually get round to doing the trans Pennine and Calder Valley railway pub crawls.
(Last visited 28 December 2012).“ |
