Ring o' Bells, Halifax

olde worlde pub with a historic church behind it, what a very quaintly british scene! The pub was sadly overwhelmed by a graduation ceremony going on behind it which meant a lot of cooked food polluting the air and kids running around. good selection of cheap real ale and i imagine, if experienced at the right time, this is a great traditional pub.

Named after the peals of the nearby Parish Church bells this is a great little locals pub. Two separate rooms, but with a broken through doorway, the rear room is quiter whilst "the craic" dominates the front room. Loads of banter going on between the regulars which made for a lively last stop of the day for me. In fact I enjoyed it so much I ended up having a pint and a half, despite the long day behind me. 5 handpumps including a real cider on offer and both the beers I had were in very good nick. Probably the friendliest pub I encountered on my trip round Halifax and one that I'll definitely visit again.

The Ring O’Bells stands in the shadow of Halifax Minster at one end of the Halifax Mile Ale Trail making it an ideal start or finish for this recommended activity. It’s not hard to see where the pub name is derived although it was initially called Sign of the Church and has the spurious claim to being Halifax’s oldest pub. Whilst the Shears Inn (at the other end of the crawl) dates from 1664, the Ring O’Bells was rebuilt in 1720 on cellars that are believed to date back to the 13th Century (which I was fortunate enough to be shown around). The interior is cosy enough but perhaps not as Olde World as you would expect given the pubs history with a main bar area and a couple of rooms radiating off to the right hand side. The main bar has bare floors, solid furnishings and a central open fireplace over which stands a late 19th Century photograph showing the pub and the adjoining Waterhouse Almshouses that were demolished when the pub was extended in the middle of the last century. The carpeted side rooms have some interesting and unusual brewery nick nacks and drink adverts (the Heineken one particularly caught my eye). On the beer front there were 6 ales available, Acorn Barnsley Bitter, Woods Quaff, Elland Scarletts Fury, Phoenix Double Gold and Brass Monkley Bitter and one that I missed (it was at the end of a long day!). Unfortuanetly I didn’t note any details regarding food, probably for the same reasons. The landlord was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable not just about the beers and the pub but the history of the town and the customers (albeit at a quiet time) came across as very welcoming and chatty. To be honest, this wasn’t initially on my list of pubs to visit but there is certainly enough to warrant inclusion on any jaunt around the town’s better hostelries.