Old Gate, Hebden Bridge

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

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

A massive refurbishment as been completed here. It's now a two floored light and airy, girly friendly bar. The upstairs area is a restaurant with table service. Downstairs is a very wide room, but without much depth, there's a small seating area up a step or two to the left, but the rest is open plan. Quite foody, with a lot of the menu being served on boards, it's not cheap either, but the food that we saw coming out looked good quality. Massive windows all along the front of the bar make it quite a good place to see and be seen. A couple of craft keg fonts on the impressive copper topped bar plus 9 handpumps serving 2 standard ales, Magic Rock Ringmaster & Moorhouse's Pride Of Pendle, plus 6 guests and a changing real cider. The two we tried were in very good nick. This is a far cry from the last two incarnations of Last Orders & The Inn On The Bridge. It's also just been included in the CAMRA GBG 2015. Good job guys, keep it up. We'll definitely be back here.

This is back to being called The Inn On The Bridge but it was closed last night at 6 so I couldn't go in.