Dukes, Halifax

Dukes is another modern, trendy cafe-type bar positioned in a lovely old arcade, of which Halifax seems to possess quite a few. We arrived here to find quite a few people drinking outside in the arcade and once again, there was quite a queue to get served. In fact, it was spilling out of the door. Beer options are listed behind the bar which is in front of you enter. There is seating in the space to the left of the entrance, with further seating option to the right where there is also a set of stairs leading up to another room and the bar's two unisex toilets. With the popularity of the bar, two toilets was not enough and quite long queues were forming, which wasn't ideal for anybody caught short. Cask ales on were Rivington Bounced Right Back, Chain House Only This Moment, Pentrich Release The Castaway & Anthrology Marlborough. Craft beers were Thornbridge Lukas, Gravity Well Einstein Equations, Yonder Freak Shake, Salt/Hooch Twisting Our Lemon, Wild Beer Jambo, Phantom/Makemake Swing Swing, Left-Handed Giant Sicilian Lemon, Pepper Water & Sky Above, Vault City Stoopid, Lost Cause Stone Cold, Ora Limoncello, Neon Raptor Slushasaurus & Phantom Infinite Primes. The cider was Pilton Murmuration. I don't recall much about my Pentrich beer, but can see that I rated it above average. With time ticking on and people needing the toilet and not being able to wait long enough, this turned out to be the final stop of our day trip to Halifax. So, a swift half of the Pilton cider wrapped things up nicely. I did quite like the bustling atmosphere in here, it has a lovely location and the beer selection was good. Yes, there are lots of hipster types, but at least they appreciate good beer. So, I was happy to put up with them and some of our party engaged with quite a few.

Situated in a lovely Victorian arcade, this is a modern trendy place aimed at hipster types. On entering, you can spot the core demographic immediately: an industrial interior, pink and green paint, with a bike and several skateboard decks screwed to walls alongside much merch on display; indeed, the website is dedicated to merch, with no mention of beer. I went for the Anthology Biscuit Mild, a pale beer which didn’t look much like a mild and didn’t really taste of anything; I couldn’t finish it. Perhaps this is more a place to be seen in rather than drink in, a slice of Halifax’s new-found ‘Shoreditch in the North’ status, though without the smugness.

Old meets new, set in a Victorian arcade as previously mentioned the interior houses a modern, craft forward slightly quirky bar.Four cask beers were available with Anthology The Loved Ones being a decent drop. I liked the vibrancy of this place and would surely be a regular if I lived nearby.

One of the arcade bars that are a feature of the town centre, with this one temporarily partly obscured by scaffolding so I missed it initially while distracted by the Temperance opposite... Anyway, the ground-floor bar is almost as high as it's wide so it feels quite spacious despite the limited plan area, and further seating is also available upstairs. Four cask beers on handpump, including The Loved Ones 'house' collaboration with Anthology (£4.80), another beer from the same brewery and others from Rivington and UnBarred. Also has an interesting range of craft beers and ciders served from a row of 15 keg taps on the counter.

A craft beer bar situated in the Russell Arcade whose vista is currently spoiled by being covered in scaffolding. A bright colour scheme with purples and pinks prominently featuring and clearly aiming at the younger craft beer drinking demographic. The large servery in front of you as you enter has a long 15 tap craft wall but also four ale pumps that were dispensing Pentrich Release the Causeway Pale Ale, Rivington Brewing Co. Moving South, Anthology The Loved Ones and an interesting Anthology Biscuit Mild which wasn’t really giving biscuits or Mild to that matter but was pleasant enough. There’s some colourful comforting seating to the right of the bar and then an additional seating space upstairs which is a bit more plain than the downstairs section. Some very interesting stuff on the keg taps at the higher craft beer pricing point of £5 to £7.50 a pint, but very good to see four interesting local ales featuring as well.