Fanny's Ale and Cider House, Shipley

It's more than 10 years since I was here and it seems to have grown. The move of the bar counter to the left hand wall has opened up the rear of the pub, and there are more spaces for drinkers upstairs. It was very busy, mid-afternoon on a Saturday, but service was very efficient and despite the scrum at the bar, no one seemed to wait very long to be served. There are two staircases to upstairs rooms, and the room at the back is reached by a fairly steep ramp, because this is where the wheel-chair access toilet is. We found a table in this room and spent a pleasant half hour contemplating our beers. Mine was Ossett Silver King (NBSS 3.5), and with eight or nine to choose from this would be an interesting venue for a longer and possibly quieter session if visiting during the week. As it was, crowded and busy, it was a good place to be. Who says cask beer is dead?

A reasonable covid time revamp of a favourite old pub, basically the counter has been moved and is with nine pulls in operation. Otherwise much as was although some say “that” picture isn’t the original but a sanitised version, no comment from me. Otherwise still one of the best in the area.

This shop conversion has been extended into a house behind it and also upstairs. The back room now has a disabled toilet and I assume there is an entrance that avoids the steep front steps. The downstairs area here has wooden floors, is rather dark and is something of a labyrinth of small rooms and areas. Upstairs is brighter and looks more comfortable as well as having a jukebox. The bar is on the left and has hand pumps on three sides. I noticed six beers Taylor's Landlord & Golden Best, Naylors Mosaic, Kelham Island I Tried So Hard, RAT Ratastrophic and Bosun's Arctic Myst. I went for the Mosaic, The Kelham Island beer and the Ratastrophic. Prices were around the £3.50 mark but the 6.5% Ratastrophic was over £4.00. All beers were in good nick and I don't recall the barman looking like Harry Potter or his girlfriend resembling Hermione Granger! My only minor gripe was the cider in the pub name as the only ones I could see were mainstream keg although the barman says they normally have Old Rosie. However, West Yorkshire isn't a County normally associated with cider. I liked this rather quirky place.

This is a multi-roomed, atmospheric ale house. Well worn floorboards, a piano, chandeliers and loads of b & w pictures around the walls. 7 handpumps with 6 beers available. Now for the bad news. There was a Harry Potter lookalike, personality free, lazy git behind the bar. Glasses and bottles on many of the tables, but Harry was much too busy playing on his phone to do anything as mundane as work. He didn't even bother to reply when I said goodbye as I left. Get rid of him and it'll be worth an extra point.

Despite it appearances of age this has only been a pub since 1997 when it as converted from a pet shop, but they did such a good job it’s hard to tell. Plenty of period and brewery memorabilia clutter the various rooms including some impressive brewery mirrors, but for me as a tourist the more modern aerial photograph of Saltaire was equally interesting as it was only on seeing this I fully appreciated how bloody big Salt Mill actually is. We visited twice whilst staying nearby, the first time of an early Thursday afternoon when it was virtually empty and we could have a relaxing pint in one of the small rooms, and then the Friday evening the day after when initially, due to the large crowd assembled on the pavement outside, I initially thought there must have been a fight in the pub to clear it out. But no, it was due to the pub being packed inside and the pavement was more comfortable for vertical drinking. I thoroughly enjoyed this pub and the only quibble I had was that the beer availability was mainly all the same Blonde style. Alongside the regular TT Landlord and Golden Best there was Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Saltaire Blonde, Stancil Brewery Blonde and Don Valley Brewery Atomic Blonde. But I guess as we’re in the middle of one of the best hot summers for many a year it’s the style that was selling and after traipsing around Saltaire I really appreciated the Stancil Brewery Blonde and Don Valley Brewery Atomic Blonde, both of which were in very good nick.

Brilliant rambling ale house, great choice of beer