Old Gate, Hebden Bridge

The Old Gate is a stone built pub with a long frontage. Once inside there is a single room which runs the width of the pub,the bar faces on entry,there is a stone floor,the seating is large picnic benches in the middle area and normal tables and chairs,the left side is up two steps,there is more seating upstairs. There was a good choice of real ales on the bar,i had a drink of Mallinsons Galaxy which was a decent drink,the other real ales noted were Thornebridge Wye,London Pride,Salamander Cascade,Thornebridge Jaipur and Vocation Heart & Soul. Food was being served and background music was playing. I thought this was a decent pub to have a drink in. Pub visited 3/9/2016

A posh looking place with eating and drinking over two floors, it is GBG listed and has the advantage of eight hand pumps of an unusual all brass design. The beers were mainly local with the furthest away source being some Red Willow from Macclesfield. Downstairs is one narrow long room with the counter down most of the back wall, there's some exposed brick brickwork and flag floors. I didn't venture upstairs but it looked a little more elegantly furnished than downstairs. There were a few dodgy punters in, probably displaced from the flooded pubs in the town and the staff seemed a bit harassed and off hand.

I came in here fully expecting not to like it as it's modern and trendy, fairly food orientated and looked expensive. As mentioned below it's a wide room with little depth and the bar takes up most of the far wall. The bar seems to have a copper top which must have cost a fortune in itself. I was in a rush here so didn't get to note all the beers but did spot that Magic Rock Ringmaster was going for £2.90 so is presumably a permanent fixture. I spotted something I had never even heard of Windswept APA (£3.30) which sadly was cloudy but tasted OK. I hope this isn't one of the school of pubs that think it's acceptable to sell cloudy beer. The pint was only OK but certainly not brilliant. If I had more time I would have sent it back. This place is trendy and food orientated but is reasonably priced. It has a great range of beers, there was a bank of roughly 10 hand pumps so I hope my cloudy pint was just a one off.

After a chilly experience at the Shoulder of Mutton, it was a pleasant change on a wet Sunday to find a warm welcome here, in the form of a solid fuel stove with an open door radiating heat and cheer. Further good news awaited on the bar, where 10 hand pumps from breweries such as Celt Experience, Roosters and Hawkshead covered a wide range of styles from porter to pale, and there was a real cider too. The beer was cheaper than the older-established pubs in the town centre (around £3.10 a pint compared with £3.50 to £3.80), and this was easily the busiest of those we visited, with families and diners, including some who were using the upstairs, and others like us who were just stepping in out of the rain for a few minutes.

Official site of The Old Gate - www.oldgatehebden.co.uk