The Corner House, Todmorden

Paid a visit on Saturday evening as part of our Calder Valley real ale trail. We ditched the two pubs we were originally planning on doing at Todmorden in favour of The Pub a bit further out from the station, and it was probably a good decision. At the bar were six hand pumps, all of which were on. No cider or Jaipur on the pumps at the time of my visit. This is a nice micro pub which was pleasantly busy and lively at the time of our arrival. There is a further seating area upstairs (up the previously well described Fred Flintstone steps) with a few tables and chairs but there was only one small group of people using this area. There is also a single toilet up here, full of inspirational quotes. If I ever find myself back in Todmorden, I could probably do a lot worse than to seek this place out again.

This one is a proper micropub with no music or TVs. As mentioned below it's a small room in a corner building. The stairs leading to the first floor look like they were constructed by Fred Flintstone being an uneven stone staircase rather than just steep. Nevertheless, I wouldn't like to carry a tray of drinks up it. In addition to beer and cider they also have a wide range of specialist gins, a keg cider and a couple of lagers one of which is Joules Green Monkey. They also do limited wines and soft drinks. There are six hand pumps which had a cider, Thornbridge Jaipur, Small World Thunderbridge Stout, Adnam's Ghost Ship, Ticketybrew Golden and Great Yorkshire (shurely an oxymoron?) Yorkshire Classic. I went for the Thunderbridge Stout (£3.00) and Jaipur (£3.50). I'm no fan of gin but do like both rhubarb and ginger so couldn't resist trying a rhubarb and ginger gin from Liverpool which was excellent. The only downside for me here was the upstairs toilet but other than that I really liked it.

A neat two storey micropub, just off the market place. A very, very steep flight of stone steps leads to the upper level. Upstairs there are 3 tables and the toilets. Downstairs are barstools. 5 handpumps with 4 changing guests plus Jaipur as a permanent fixture. The standard beers are a sensible £3 per pint and Jaipur is £3.50. There's also a real cider available. We got a friendly welcome and there was plenty of banter going on downstairs. It's a very good addition to the Tod real ale scene.