The Red Shed, Wakefield

A shed, painted in Labour Party red, and more the sort of thing one might expect to find in a former mining village than in a city centre. Two-part bar and seating area with a concertina partition between the two. Three interesting real ales from smaller breweries, including the Razzle Dazzle raspberry stout from Wilde Child (£3.40) that was better than it might sound!

I'm not really convinced about this one. It is exactly as described on the tin, it's a red shed. An old army hut converted into the local labour club. In theory this is a members club, but none of our group were queried when we entered. Lots of union badges and plaques around the walls in the main room. A decent range of beer on the handpumps and my pint was in very good nick. Very quiet early on a Friday evening when the nearby Fernandes Tap had been busy. I doubt if I'd bother with this one next time I'm in Wakefield, but it's interesting to visit it once. Listed in the CAMRA GBG 2016.

This place looks like some sort of storage shed for the huge shopping complex that towers over it, but amazingly it is the home of Wakefield Labour Club, with a reputation for serving excellent beer. The interior was partitioned off when we visited on a quiet Sunday evening, so I only got to see half of the building. The place has something of a spartan interior, with white walls decorated with a few pictures and trinkets from various political rallies and the like. A bookcase on one wall is stocked with a good deal of left wing literature, but given the building’s history, I was surprised that they didn't make more of the fact that some notable Labour politicians have delivered speeches here. Nowadays, you're seemingly more likely to find comedians or musicians taking to the stage than any of the 'New Labour' crowd. There is a decent array of seating throughout the room and one or two locals were positioned around the bar, leaving the rest of the space empty. There were four hand pumps dispensing Acorn Old Moor Porter, Moorhouse Pride of Pendle, Phoenix Xmas Kiss and Wentworth South Yorkshire Pale Ale. The beers sampled were in good condition with the Porter in particular going down a treat. The barman seemed friendly enough, although he spent much of his time trying to fix a faulty alarm at the front entrance. This place is a real curio and well worth a look on any crawl of Wakefield, although it's worth remembering that it keeps unconventional hours. I'd certainly consider a return visit and would love to see the place on a busier, livelier evening.