Having been given(?) an Apple iPhone by my mobile provider it just seemed sensible to download the CAMRA Good Beer Guide application and see if it worked.
So, we arrived at Huddersfield station on a damp and cold Saturday afternoon, I activated the application, selected Search and the ‘Near Me’ option and got a list of pubs of which four were reasonably close by. One I expected to see wasn’t on the list.
Switching to the real-time map option we let ourselves be guided to the Cherry Tree (http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-cherry-tree), which turned out to a Wetherspoon’s establishment. It was in a large ex-insurance office building, a wood panelled place with a long bar. It was quite full with a fair number of people watching the rugby on TV (without the sound I’m pleased to say). Apart from that, not much to say. I had a good pint of Leeds Best and left while LA had the usual dry white wine and soda.
Had we not had the ‘gadget’ as LA referred to it, we would definitely not have visited the Grove (http://www.groveinn.co.uk/) and what a loss that would have been. Only a ten minute walk from the town centre, the Grove is at the end of a terrace of houses and has two rooms, old wooden tables and from what we could see no two chairs the same.
What is did have was about ten British and ten international beers on draught, a list of about 200 bottled beers, over 100 spirits but, to LA’s disgust only one dry white wine. It didn’t do cooked meals but had lots of snacks including jerked meats, biltong and flavoured crickets and insect larvae. It also had one of those atmospheres that said “stay, relax and drink”. It was pretty full (it was tea time). I had a pint of Thornbridge Ashford and one of Marble’s Brew 14, both excellent.
We really could have stayed but instead moved on to the surprise omission from Camra’s list, the Head of Steam (http://www.theheadofsteam.co.uk) in Huddersfield Railway Station. This is a four-roomed pub, very lively with good beer (not that TM enjoyed it on one visit). I had a Sam Smith’s Old Brewery Bitter.
The next pub (which is on the list) is the King’s Head at other end of Platform 1 on the station. This is one of the pubs on the Real Ale Trail featured on TV last year. I’m pretty ambivalent about it but the pint of Pictish’s Brewers Gold was very acceptable.
So, three pubs, the best of which we wouldn’t have heard about without ‘the gadget’ wasn’t a bad start for Camra’s iPhone application. The good thing about returning to Wakefield from Huddersfield is that the station is but a stones throw from Fernades, now that’s a pub I don’t need guiding to.
| Brewery | Beer | % |
| Leeds | Best | 4.0 |
| Thornbridge | Ashford | 4.3 |
| Marble | Brew 14 | 4.3 |
| Sam Smiths | Old Brewery Bitter | 4.0 |
| Pictish | Brewer’s Gold | 3.8 |
| Fernandes | Brewer’s Gold | 4.0 |
Attended by:-
LA, JA