Grayston Unity, Halifax

The original Grayston Unity bar was located near Halifax Town Hall and made an appearance in the 2023 Good Beer Guide. It closed down almost a year ago and was replaced by this larger version on Horton Street. It's not immediately obvious from the outside that you have found the correct premises, but we soon established we had indeed discovered the Grayston Unity. On entry, it didn't look too big. However, there is apparently a large space for gigs and events downstairs and there was further seating on a third level upstairs. It seemed quiet inside on first entry, with me leading a group of 12 of us in. I apologised to the barman about our large (and potentially noisy) group, but he was just happy to have the trade. There are both cask and keg beers here, along with 3 boxes of cider at the end of the bar. All are listed on the opposite wall. Regular cask beers are Saltaire South Island & Goose Eye Chinook Blonde. Guests were Rooster's One Horse Town, Wishbone Abyss & Small World Port Nelson. Ciders were Pulp Damson Craft Cider & Saxby's Traditional & Plum Ciders. On the craft side, there was Brennan's Irish Stout, Cloudwater Fresh & Fuzzy, Thornbridge Thirty-Five & Vault City Iron Brew. I quite liked this place. Whilst it was quiet when we entered, I think our group helped to pick the atmosphere up a little and I'd imagine it's a bustling place when there is an event on.

An interesting slightly quirky affair, the pub was friendly and welcoming with five cask beers on offer, my choice of Parkway Norwegian Blue was far from my favorite of the day but the quality was good. The keg offerings were mid-range on my interest level but stuck with the cask.

Situated in a Victorian former court building, the name is taken from a founder’s mother’s maiden name, whose family owned a brewery in Keighley and a number of pubs, including the Turkey Inn at Goose Eye; the Meandering Bear is a sister bar. With Gaia creative writing courses and yoga, folk, jazz, slam poetry and open mic nights, this is an all-singing, all-dancing virtuous creative community venue. My Titanic Iceberg was very nice.

First visit since the business moved to larger premises, with more space for live music as well as seating in its new home. The former shop-unit bar at street level is supplemented by a basement performance space (not visited) and the Tiny Grayston snug plus the roof terrace upstairs. Eclectic mix of furniture and decoration throughout. Five cask beers available on handpump, including my excellent Goose Eye Chinook (£5.10 with a packet of peanuts) and others from Saltaire, Roosters, Settle and Kirkstall. Also has eight craft keg taps and a range of boxed ciders.

Described as a Bar, venue & cultural hub, this is an interesting bar. Long and thin with seating before you get to the small central bar on the right hand side and then additional seating beyond. Then apparently there is a smaller snug room up the staircase to the right of the entrance and then a roof top terrace beyond that, but neither of those were explored, nor was the performance area downstairs mentioned by the previous two reviewers, which I completely missed. The bar has five ale pump, a set of keg taps for craft beer options and for our visit four cider poly pins at the end of the bar. The available ales were Goose Eye Chinook Blonde, Saltaire South Island New Zealand Pale Ale (very good), Titanic brewery Iceberg, Blackjack Brew Co Early Days and Parkway Brewing Norwegian Blue. Then the craft options included three from Cloudwater a couple from Thornbridge and Brennan’s Irish stout. There is a membership scheme available for £27 a year which gets you roughly 5% off the price of drinks. Interesting place and I enjoyed my short visit here and can imagine that it’s a good location to come and watch a performance. Opening and closing times vary and are extended when there is an event on, either here or in the nearby Piece Hall ( which happens during June and July).