The Barge & Barrel, Elland

A multi-spaced pub with a large bar area incorporating a horseshoe counter which is home to 12 pulls. There is also a front snug and a side room as well as a big function room at one end. Some of the original Victorian features remain in the form of a tongue and groove ceiling over the servery and an ornate plaster ceiling in what was the back room. This room has a view over the Calder & Hebble Navigation. Stained glass, the fixed benches and a mix of wooden and Britannia tables add to the ambience. It's well known as a drinkers pub which used to have an onsite brewery, Yorkshire's greatest living brewer, Dave Sanders, was once brewer here. It does suffer from piped music and there are a few machines dotted about but I didn't see any screens. Currently under threat of being sold to Punch and destroyed by conversion in to some sort of eating pub just like a thousand others. I hope it can be saved because it's a fine pub.

The Barge and Barrel is now an excellent brew pub, I tried a pint of each of the 4 Barge and Barrel brewed ales and found them all interesting and in perfect condition. If travelling by narrow boat, it has good moorings for several boats. A highly recommended pub.