It was with some trepidation, then, that I received an invitation from Leeds University Union’s Real Ale Society. “There is a Beer Fest in the Old Bar”, they said. “Come and have a look!”, they urged. Now, your editor is always up for new experiences and challenges, so at 4pm on a
Friday I am waiting outside the Union Building. Everyone seems to be in normal clothing, so I stuff my Batman costume in my bag and await my guides.

We enter, and descend to the Old Bar, and the surprises start. The bar is long, and there is a promising sprinkling of hand-pumps along it. At one end is the temporary bar for the Beer Festival, with more pumps and some real cider behind. The friendly chap behind the Festival Bar is handicapped by not having any glasses to put our beer in, but this is quickly resolved and some Leeds Brewery Winter Spark is handed over. It’s rather good, and also rather cheap.

A stroll along the bar reveals quite a choice. The Black Sheep Rep has clearly been in, with Black Sheep’s Best Bitter, Golden Sheep and Black Sheep Ale on the bar. They even have one of those flashy new illuminated pumps. Acorn must have called too: Sovereign and Barnsley Bitter are present. Copper Dragon have chipped in with Golden Pippin and Challenger IPA, and there’s also some Abbeydale Absolution and some Wentworth Bumblebeer. Some of these are here just for the festival, but I’m assured that many are permanent fixtures.

The beer list for the festival shows me what’s to come. There are to be beers from Roosters, Kelham Island, York, Ossett, Fuzzy Duck, Anglo-Dutch and Fernandes. The last one causes a double-take; the Fernandes beer is to be their Malt Shovel Mild. Someone is going to sell mild in a bar full of students? Blimey.

By this time, I’m well on with a pint of Acorn Sovereign, and I’m not surprised that the cider list includes a perry. Three real ciders and a perry are on offer; I’m prepared to bet that Janet’s Jungle Juice sold quite well.

I learn that the best way to keep up with what’s being sold in the Old Bar is to check the Real Ale Society’s Facebook page. As I write this, the choice is apparently Roosters YPA, Leeds Best, Fuzzy Duck Cunning Stunt, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Coppergate and Bradfield Jack-O-Lantern. That’s a range to rival most of the pubs in town!

I’m told that non-members are welcome in the Old Bar until 6pm in the evening, when the Union becomes a members’ club. You should still be able to get in after that, but you’ll need to find a friendly student to sign you in.

On leaving the Union, I find myself refreshed. I’ve had a few pints of rather good beer in pleasant surroundings. I’ve also met students happily enjoying some decent beer, appreciating the quality of some local real ale.

And none of them were wearing fancy dress!

1.Preheat your oven to 200c
2.Combine the flour, baking powder, bicarb, and sugar. To this, add Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Melt your butter and leave to cool. Get your orange, and squeeze the juice into a jug, then add milk until you get about 150ml. Add the (cooled) butter, milk and orange to the mix and then add the egg and beat. Don’t be worried about lumps in the mix – this actually makes better muffins!
3.Fold in the fruit and scoop into muffin cases.
4.Sprinkle a little Demerara sugar onto the top of each muffin and bake for about 20 minutes.
These muffins can be a great accompaniment for warming, fruity beers such as Theaktson’s Old Peculier – especially as the nights are dark and cold now. The spices in the muffins perfectly compliment the complexity of deeper, richer beers that are abundant at this time of year.

The pubs on the route of the 760 bus route from Keighley to Leeds. There are a lot of them, if not quite 760 in number.  Let’s start at Keighley Bus Station, but let’s look around before getting on a bus.

Livery Rooms, Keighley

Our conveyance will start west out of the bus station, head briefly north, before turning east down Cavendish Street. The first four pubs can more readily be reached on foot from the bus station. Near to the traffic lights at the top of Cavendish Street is the Livery Rooms,  a typical JD Wetherspoon’s outlet with 10 handpumps, one dispensing cider and often six different and rapidly changing guest ales.  This pub does all the things that Wetherspoon’s are famous for, some of them a little better than other similar outlets.

As the bus passes the vehicular entrance to the bus station, on the other side of the road is the Cavendish, a busy two-room town centre pub which features Tetley Cask Bitter.  A little way down Lawkholme Lane, which runs at right angles to Cavendish Street is the Volunteers, a cosy Taylor’s pub selling Golden Best and Best Bitter. Decorated with award-winning floral displays, outside both front and back, many of the regulars enjoy a horse-racing bet and are able to follow their choices’ fortunes on the many TVs.

The Volunteers, Keighley

Just before the bus turns right at the bottom of Cavendish Street, on the other side of the road, is the Victoria, which serves no real ale, so is best passed by. Having passed the bus stop for the train station and the new Asda, the route takes us past the sad sight of the Eastwood Tavern. This pub was part of a parcel sold to a property company based in Mayfair who appointed a part of Scottish and Newcastle to manage the pubs. Within months the pub closed, its boarded windows and door a monument to the dysfunction of the country’s pub ownership regime.

Set back off the road, just before the roundabout where the A650 dual carriageway ends, disgorging its traffic onto Keighley’s inadequate roads, is the Beeches, a Toby Carvery with accommodation that serves Tetley Bitter and Dark Mild. Banner advertisements for bargains on ale and/or food often adorn the boundaries to entice occupants of the passing traffic.

When the bus has negotiated the roundabout (now with added traffic lights in the forlorn hope of coping with the additional traffic attracted by the Asda), the next pub is the Bridge, a spacious opened-out pub with a conservatory and a fine garden featuring children’s playground architecture. The only cask ale is Tetley’s Bitter, but beware of being offered the smoothflow facsimile. There is a bus stop outside.

Having crossed the bridge over the River Aire, less than half a mile further on, is East Riddlesden Hall to the right next to the traffic lights at the junction with Granby Lane – the bus stop is just before the lights. The 17th Century hall is owned by the National Trust and often features events where Old Bear brewery beers are sold. Ian Cowling, of that ilk (the brewery, not the hall) recently celebrated his 50th birthday there.

However, a short way up Granby Lane, is the Marquis of Granby, a canal-side gem featuring Theakston’s Mild, John Smith Cask and Wells’ Bombardier. A warm welcome awaits from Joan, her son Ian, and a coterie of pretty barmaids (have you had your eyes tested recently? Ed), but not before 4pm Monday to Thursday, as the midday opening time only applies Friday to Sunday.

Nearly a mile further on is the Airedale Heifer, a former coaching house with a splendid garden for those clement days which seem all too rare. This food-led pub has three handpumps, but, on a recent visit, had only Taylor’s Landlord for sale – reflecting, perhaps, a lack of demand for the ale occasioned by the enticing wine list.

A further few bus stops takes us to the boundary of Keighley and Craven CAMRA branch’s area, which seems a good place to pause.  This part of the trip ends on a sad note with the Dalesway, a motel extension which serves no real ale. But, What Ho? I see some beguiling pubs ahead in Bradford branch’s area.

To be continued …