The Commercial, Barnsley

The Commercial is a typical looking town pub that is very close to the Moulders Arms. Once inside there is a single opened out room with the bar on the rear right side,the room is carpeted and has comfy bench seating and small stools,there is a pool table to the front right. There were two real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Bradfield Farmers Blonde,which went down well,the other real ale was Abbeydale Deception. I thought this was a very smart pub inside. When i visited the pub mid Saturday afternoon it was closed,two hours later and the pub was packed with drinkers. Pub visited 30/12/2016

Located just a short walk from the town centre, this is a smartly furnished, single room free house with a commitment to serving decent ale. You enter through a short passageway, into a compact room with the bar to the rear right. To the left is a basic lounge type space with tartan carpet, three long banquettes including two U shaped ones in the front window and rear recess, and some standard chairs and low stools to round out the seating options. A rather bland cream colour scheme has been broken up by some small photos and a Southern Comfort mirror, but visual distractions are at a minimum. The front right area clearly used to be a separate room, but has now been knocked through and is used as a games area, with a covered pool table, dartboard and prominent photo of Barnsley's Oakwell stadium on the wall. There are quite a few trophies on display here and on the rather simple bar back, hinting at the pub's prowess in such games. There is a pub sign next to the basic servery for a pub called the 19th Hole, although I have no idea where this comes from - perhaps the landlord is a golfer. There is a row of stools along the bar next to a plaque denoting it as 'Bullshit Corner'. For such a small pub, there were a surprising number of TV screens of varying sizes, showing two different matches simultaneously, with commentary from one of them audible. There was also a charming pub dog doing the rounds, although one of the bar staff eventually removed it, commenting that dogs and children aren't allowed in the bar. There were three hand pumps in action, offering Tetley's Cask, Abbeydale Deception and Ramsbury Over the Sticks, with the latter served in decent condition by a jocular barman. The local's seemed to have a good rapport with the staff and the pub was notably doing much better business than some of the other, drabber looking boozers in this part of town. I quite liked the community feel of this place and thought the owners were making a good fist of providing decent beer in a comfortable environment to their customers. I was made to feel very welcome as a stranger and would be happy to return the next time I'm in town.