The Hooper, Bradford

Fairly small micropub located on Wibsey's High Street. Despite its central location, opening hours are fairly limited during the week. Luckily for us, they open a little earlier at 4pm on a Friday. The pub is split over a couple of levels. The main seating area is nearest the front window, with the bar itself on a higher level to the rear. When we arrived, a couple of locals had arrived early and had taken up positions at the bar where there were 5 cask ale offerings - Acorn Yorkshire Blonde, Salopian Lemon Dream, Bridgehouse Blonde & Porter & Elland Nettle Thrasher. The WhatPub website says that a CAMRA discount was offered, but I didn't notice any signs indicating this is correct and forgot to ask the question. My Porter was in good condition, but it felt fairly cold inside (probably because they had just opened) and lacked any atmosphere. The barmaid (possibly owner) was fairly friendly though. Wifi is available. Whilst The Hooper probably has the best beer range in Wibsey, I preferred the more traditional pub experience of the Dog & Gun. Local residents are lucky to have both on their doorstep.

Official site of The Hooper - thehoopermicropub.co.uk

Official site of The Hooper - thehoopermicropub.co.uk

A comfortable and smallish micropub, with most of the seating occupied by Bradford Bulls fans, who gave a derisory jeer to my Leeds Rhinos cap as I entered. All in good spirit of course, and we eventually beat them 30-12 in a pre-season friendly. There are five hand pumps on the bar, which is at the back at a slightly higher level. Two of the beers were from Settle Brewery, and their Ribblehead Bitter was in excellent condition. (See photos for the others.) The owner, a friendly chap who was happy to talk a bit of rugby league, told me he likes to get the beers from local breweries, and Settle is one that appears frequently. As mentioned below, probably the best place to drink in Wibsey, though I reckon the Dog & Gun runs it close.