Category Archives: Leeds

Coldwell’s Advent Calendar (or a visitation from Beer Hawk)

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Wednesday morning, 1030am, somewhere just outside Wetherby, near Leeds, someone’s knocking at the door!

Not more Black Friday online purchases, surely?

The nice guy from UK Mail helpfully drags the heavy box in while Mrs C wrestles with the dog who’s intent on savaging the strange intruder struggling with the large carton.

“Enjoy it mate! Wish I was getting one.”

“What is it?” (How does he know?)

“Beer advent calendar, delivered loads of ‘em.”

(How does he know?) “Cheers!”

I look down at the buff coloured box, and notice the writing on the side, well all over actually; BeerHawk, Hunting out the World’s best beers, and other stuff. There’s some handwritten words on the address label ‘Advent’. I start to smile, I wasn’t expecting it.

Mrs C says, ‘Happy Christmas’.

Cool. Bang on time too. Only have to wait until tomoz to open it.

I notice the senders address, Ash Way, Thorp Arch, LS23 … almost the same postcode as ours. I heard Beer Hawk had moved, I could walk to their new premises in under 20 minutes. It’s not their fault, it just saddens me that it’s been driven from North East Leeds to South West Leeds, and then back again, a round trip of about 40 miles instead of 3? I could have picked it up when I was passing Beer Hawk’s premises. I couldn’t though, could I, that’s globalisation for you I suppose; already my present is carbon heavy.

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I open the box. It’s like a Russian doll, there’s an exactly fitting smaller box snuggled inside. This time it’s a multi-coloured one, I think this is it, but I can’t get any leverage to pull it out. The bottles, are they bottles or cans? Anyway, they clank as I slowly turn it upside down and ease the outer carton away from the contents, noticing the ‘This Way Up’ sign as I do. Yeah, I get it, the outer one protects the nice shiny one inside. Why do we routinely waste so much in packaging? I mean it’s not like it’s going to hang on the wall in the kitchen like the Advent calendars we had when we were kids is it? No, it’s not. It’s far too; big, heavy, bulky, awkward and it’s got no hooks or anything.

So, where are we going to put it? It’s got beer in. Craft beer it says, usually stick them in the bottom of the fridge, but it won’t fit in there. Doesn’t want to go near the fire or a radiator either. It’s sat in the middle of the kitchen at the minute. I’ll let you know how I get on with finding a, albeit temporary, home for it. Obviously it’ll end up in the Leeds City Council recycling bin, with a host of other Christmas packaging on Boxing day morning. Maybe there’ll be that much we’ll have to take the car to the corporation tip, sorry LCC recycling plant at Thorp Arch like everyone else does. We could even drop the boxes back off at Beer Hawk as we drive past? Now that would be recycling.

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Seriously though. I’m quite looking forward to this. Like which beers are in it? Where are they from? Will the storage/temperature be an issue? Will they be nice? How much did it cost? I know you shouldn’t ask how much presents cost but I’m a Yorkshireman and I demand VFM, yet remaining cognizant of the need to pay a premium, on occasions, for frippery and niceties.

Anyway, what I am going to do is open each of the little boxes, in turn, on the correct day, and describe my experience from start to finish. A post a day for a beer a day for Christmas. Think of it as my little advent gift to everyone out there that reads my blog.

There is someone out there reading it, isn’t there … ?

If you are reading, can I just reassure you that I haven’t received any payment for this. Only a nice little pre-Christmas present from my wife that gave me the idea to write about it. I don’t even know the people at Beer Hawk, but I’m sure they are very nice.

The Old Cock, Otley

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As soon as I walked into this pub several years ago, I knew it was good. You can instantly feel when something is right, and presumably Leeds CAMRA members feel the same as they voted it their pub of the year 2011, 2012 & 2013. It being surpassed only by the excellent Kirkstall Bridge Inn which repeated the treble and is the current Leeds CAMRA pub of the year. There’s no doubt in my mind that both are very excellent, but different, ale houses.

The Old Cock is a typical olde worlde tavern of the sort tourists and visitors to the market town of Otley would love to stumble across. The only thing is, it isn’t old at all. I remember it being a bit of a derelict, ramshackle sort of place for a good few years and it only opened as a pub after a long planning battle with the good burghers of Leeds city council. The owners persevered however, going to a national planning appeal and their vision finally came to fruition in September 2010.

Now Otley is one of those towns reputed to have the most pubs per head of population in the UK? A bit like the oldest Inn in the UK, this is a difficult one to resolve. It did have over thirty pubs once and still has twenty to go at, which is impressive given it’s size. At one time it had a reputation for being a drinkers paradise on market days as the towns pubs were allowed to stay open all day, as opposed to the 3.00pm closing rule elsewhere and hence on Mondays and Fridays the town would be packed with all day drinkers from nearby Leeds and further afield.

You’d think that such an abundance of pubs would mean that the closure of an odd one or two would be neither be here or there to the little town? Not so, they’re pretty proud of their pub heritage out here and they actually have an Otley Pub Club, who as soon as the concept of ACV’s came into play, assisted by local MP and Pub Champion Greg Mulholland, applied for ACV’s on every pub in the town. Some of the licensees didn’t like this, including Linda Exley and Lee Pullan who own the The Old Cock, and they were a little cross. Especially when their request to be withdrawn from the application was ignored. You can read the owners thoughts in a letter which was originally sent to The Morning Advertiser (now apparently unavailable on their site?) and which was re-printed in Bradford Tyke Taverner July/August 2016, the Bradford CAMRA branches’ excellent magazine.

I have to agree with most of Mr Pullans points and I think I have iterated most of them before. I do not however see this venture being anything other than an extremely viable going concern. Unless, God forbid, some unfortunate incident or illness beset the structure or the management. This is also a point against ACV’s I have made before. What if something drastic happens and you can’t go on or need your money out sharpish. It’s the infringements on an individuals rights by others that grinds with me, others that just think it’s a nice idea, but who haven’t put their money down or invested a lot of blood, sweat and tears.

Anyway, there’s nothing to fear here because this quaint, cosy, atmospheric little boozer is throbbing with vitality. Flag floors, exposed brick work, a proper bar with a tap room feel, plenty of room to stand around and a little ledge around the walls to stand your drink on, plus a few comfy seats to sit at and read a book, perhaps. I really like the window seat in the main bar and in the adjacent room and upstairs there’s more seated areas. There were even a couple of guys having an impromptu jamming session upstairs when I last called in, on a Thursday afternoon!

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I’ll make a comparison with the previous Otley pub I mentioned, The Otley Tap House, a micro pub. Both bucking the trend, in so far as they are thriving successful ‘new builds’ in old buildings, that were previously occupied by other trades. The only difference being that The Old Cock is properly a small pub, owing to the presence of proper, separate, substantial, gender specific toilets. Strangely enough, the Otley Tap House met with the same blanket ACV application, despite there previously being much local opposition to it’s own change of use application – too many pubs in the town you see! Personally I don’t.

Dotted around The Old Cock, there’s a few beery books and collated info about the pub, together with CAMRA promotional leaflets and magazines. A landlord recently asked me what could he do to improve his chances of getting in the GBG? Well, apart from the obvious, forge links with your local CAMRA branch, get involved in LocAle  and get some leaflets from your local branch. Oh, and beer books, I think it was Boak and Bailey who mention somewhere that the presence of beery literature is a very comforting feature in a pub. If I were a landlord I’d get a few copies of the GBG and put them on a shelf in full view, whether I was listed in it or not. Most folk would see them and instantly assume that the pub was featured, without ever delving between the covers or noticing how good, or otherwise, the beer was!

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I like the little plaques above the bar showing full details and tasting notes of each of the nine real ales on sale. Very neat, very informative and I wished I had handwriting like that! They were all in price order from £2.90/ pint of Theakstons to £3.50/pint for Kelham Pale Rider. Pricing was on ABV and I worked out the average at £3.10, which isn’t bad. I know from talking to Lee, a long time ago, that there is a bit of a premium, which along with the absence of cheap lager ensures a more select clientele, whom were a proper cross selection of locals when I last visited, plus the odd metro bus day rider like myself who had come for the beer.

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Beer quality was spot on. I tried a Pale Rider, I really do like this ale and a Stancil Black, which wasn’t black at all, it was very dark ruby when held up to the light. It was though good enough to warrant a second half of it. I could have gone for; Taylors Landlord, Ilkley Mary Jane, Kirskstall Pale, Saltaire Pride, Everards Carnival, and Barlow Black Stout. There was even a Beavertown Gamma Ray at £5.50/pint as well as a real cider, two keg ones, Staropramen and Amstel lager, Guiness and some Belgium bottles.

The only concession to food is bar snacks, the most substantial thing on offer was a sausage sandwich. Dogs allowed but no kids and sadly the need to return to Leeds on the X84 came around all too quickly.

Verdict – Destination venue for good beer and good crack. This is the type of small, town centre pub with an emphasis on quality, that defies any need for legislative intervention, and in the hands of good owners (which it has) will always thrive. Anyway, what ever happened to market forces?

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The Otley Tap House

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The Otley Tap House  probably falls into the category of a micro pub, in so far as it hasn’t always been a pub. It was a shop until it opened in it’s present guise, two days before the Tour de France came through Otley, which was Saturday 5th July 2014. I know that because I was there and what a cracking day it was for Otley, Yorkshire and British cycling in general.

I called in one sunny Thursday afternoon, shortly after one o’clock. There were only two older gents in, sat at the bar in conversation with the very nice bar man. It wasn’t dull though, because it’s that sort of place where within two minutes you get absorbed into the conversation, whether you like it or not. One of the blokes was keen not to be photographed as he was meant to be out walking the dog over Pool bridge, which is about three miles away, the bonny Spaniel seemed happy enough though, laid on the cool flagged floors.

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If I’m honest, it’s a bit bigger than your standard micro pub and there’s plenty of room to spread out or even sit away from the bar. There’s some tables out front on Boroughgate as well as a beer garden at the rear. Inside there’s wooden wainscoting in ‘that shade’ of green paint that is so currently in vogue, along with a trendy, random assortment of tables, benches and bentwood chairs. To be fair, they’ve pulled it off and it all works nicely. There’s some nice touches with posies and other interesting table pieces and ephemera dotted around too.

I was impressed with the community feel, not just with the friendly folk, which is a prominent feature of Otley anyway, but also with the many events on offer. I was pleased they had a reggae band on and anywhere frequented by Scooterists will do for me.

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Although there is a half decent bottle selection, including out and out crafty stuff, the focus is on real cask ales. Now when I say real cask ales you need to think of the CAMRA faithful, rather than hipsters and you won’t be far off the mark. Sadly, wherever I go that has a tap list on the wall it seems to be a recurring theme in my life that I much prefer what’s coming next rather than what’s on the bar now!

This was definitely the case on this occasion. Two from Marston’s, two from Black Sheep plus Saltaire Blonde. Now, if I were independent, and it is, I wouldn’t be having anything on from The Marston’s stable or from Black Sheep. I would be having all those on the ‘almost ready’ list though! Perhaps other people think the same and that’s why the Marston’s and Black Sheep gear were hanging about on the bar? I didn’t have Saltaire Blonde on the grounds that it is a decent ale I’ve supped before and in the interests of beery research I was going to try something I’d never had.

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Believe it or not, I tried the Black Sheep Cascade Pale, a small batch special. The quality of the beer was very good. I’d score it 3.5 on NBSS. Regarding my personal thoughts on the very pale beer, I wasn’t so sure. If you’re going to do a single hop brew then for pity’s sake make sure it’s bang full of hops, this wasn’t. This conservative approach just seems to be a feature of many traditional brewers, almost a case of trying to jump on the band wagon then falling off before it gets going. Going back to the Tour de France, I remember a similar Black Sheep ale called Velo and suspect this beer may simply be a Velo variant or even the same thing by another name? Don’t tell me you don’t do this sort of thing brewers, because I know you do.

As well as the five cask ales there were three lagers, including Warsteiner and Brooklyn, some quality Gins and prices were reasonable, particularly the house wines by the bottle.

Now the toilets were quite quaint as there was a single urinal bowl and an unpartitioned toilet bowl in the same room . Although they easily passed my test with flying colours, this got me thinking about the point where a micro pub becomes a pub, because The Otley Tap House  was clearly large enough to enter into the small pub category? However, after consideration, it became apparent to me that one of the factors differentiating this is the existence of substantial and gender specific toilet facilities i.e. Gents with at least one trap and a couple of urinal bowls and Ladies with at least two closets. I therefore concluded it was by sole virtue of the toilet department that The Otley Tap House remains in the category of micro pub. A very good micro pub.

As a small market town, Otley is renowned for it’s number of pubs, quite a few of which are only fair to middlin’. The Otley Tap House is however, one that is definitely worth visiting.

Beer Photography by Mark Newton

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Beer Photography Exhibition Poster Low Res

As part of Leeds Beer Week 2016 there is an official Beer Week photography exhibition celebrating the Yorkshire Beer Scene.

Featuring imagery shot by Mark Newton the project focuses on the people that make the local beer scene so interesting. Mark has been documenting a wide range of people and businesses involved in the industry. He also lifts the lid on what a wide range of locations and kits are used to create artisan products, and the locations in which these are being produced. Mark has covered everything – taking portraits of writers, designers, bloggers, maltsters, & farmers amongst others.

He even took a pic of my good self and other Leeds CAMRA members when we carried out the latest Leeds real ale census. Sadly, Mark tells me that these prints didn’t come out very well and they won’t be included in the exhibition. Now I’m not sure whether he’s trying to tell me something here? Anyway, I’ve featured a few of his images in this post and I think you will agree, they are pretty good. I’m none too sure how Mr Hampshire features though, when I don’t! Smugly sat in one of my favourite city centre bars – no prizes but do you know where it is? You can work it out with a bit of observation based research, even if you’ve never been; the required detail is under the glass.

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All the images shot by Mark Newton will be on view during Leeds Beer Week at North Bar and just down the road at The Brunswick in their upstairs event space. There’s also a selection on the walls at Northern Monk Refectory too (including the one with Hampshire on!). So pop on over and help celebrate what we have around Leeds while enjoying some cracking beers.

Don’t worry about missing them if you can’t get along to Leeds Beer Week neither. Mark tells me that the images at The Brunswick will be on display until the end of September and the others probably until mid October.

For more information on Mark and other examples of this exhibition and other work, head on over to www.marknewtonphotography.co.uk .

The exhibition is supported with funding from Leeds Inspired, part of Leeds City Council. image002

Leeds Beer Week 2016

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What’s all this  Leeds Beer Week thing then?

If I’m honest I might not get to know, it’s nearly half way through and I’m still in deepest Dorset sampling the local beers and hostelries.

I do know is that it’s not actually a week, more like ten days of beer and brewing related events between Sunday 28th August and Tuesday 6th September? Anyway, the person to speak to about it all is Matt Gorecki, head honcho at Gypsy brewers Zapato. I listened to him speak about the event at a recent Leeds CAMRA branch meeting and I also caught up with him separately.

Basically the idea is to create an inclusive city wide festival celebrating beer and beer culture in Leeds. The strategy is looking at a three year plan, with this first year being just the shoots of something bigger, with the aspiration of creating a Leeds Brewing alliance across the city.

Reading between the lines, it’s basically a case of they’ve got them in other cities, so why shouldn’t we have one?

Sounds good and I’m all for anything that promotes our fair city and brewing in general. There was a bit of criticism from some of the CAMRA members that the 2016 event looked a bit like an event concocted between a few select trendy brewers, beer bars and establishments. Not so said Matt, The Duck and Drake are on board with their own beers from the wood and BBQ mini festival. Matt says he wants as many pubs and bars to sign up to become involved, even if that’s just as small as showcasing local brewers for the event. I strongly advise you to persuade your local licensee to take this up and really push the envelope, demonstrating the ground level support for this next time round.

Chatting to Matt privately, I got the feeling that this is just a ‘toe in the water’, something done on a shoestring budget that will hopefully blossom into something really big over the next couple of years. My own personal opinion is that it will. I think that people will look at what is going on this time and then, as I advocate, sign up for next year.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Leeds is one of the premier beer cities in the UK and that includes making the stuff as well as consuming it. We just need to shout out and make our mark. I often think Leeds is a bit slow to catch on to self promotion, a good example being the belated arrival of an arena type venue in what’s the third largest city in the UK; despite eagerly watching the success of neighbours who took the initiative years ago.

So Leeds, lets stop ploughing our own furrow and have a bit of collaboration and show people  how good our beer scene is. There’s still time to get involved so have a look at the Leeds Beer Week web site for further details of events over the weekend and into next week. There’s still plenty of cool stuff to go at and even a poll on the web site for best; beer, brewer, bar, bar with biggest selection, best newcomer etc. Doesn’t say how you propose one’s that aren’t on the pre-prepared list though?

If anyone has been to any events then any comments would be appreciated for a ‘So what was Leeds Beer Week like’ follow up.

The Cats Pyjamas, Headingley

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I was sent an invitation, via Twitter message, to visit this place when it first opened. Sometime in late 2015, I think? I usually don’t rise to that sort of thing, unless it’s a one off event, so I waited until now (Aug 2016) to try it out.

I’ve read lots of good things about The Cat’s Pyjamas, some of which I found to be accurate, some not so. The big myth that needs to be dispelled is that The Cat’s PJs is NOT the Headingley version of Bundobust!

Those of you who have been will know that Bundobust is excellent, a beer bar that does food, excellent food and excellent beer, but you can walk in and just have a beer. The food is ancillary to the main function and comes presented in little pots, snack size essentially. Okay, you can pig out and get four or five pots between two and make an acceptable meal out of it, but it’s NOT a restaurant.

On the other hand, The Cat’s PJs is a restaurant that serves excellent beer, but it’s not a drinking place and the alcohol is ancillary to the meal, hence the comparison with Bundobust must end and can go no further.

The first thing we were asked on a Thursday at 5.30pm was, ‘have you booked?’ No, but we were pleasantly informed we could have a table until 7.00pm. This was echoed to yet more customers and it was clear that come seven o’clock the entire place was booked out, which bodes well. NB no students in town in August neither, or very few anyway.

CPJs interior

The place is exactly what you would expect an Indian styled gaff doing craft beer (essentially their words, not mine) to be like. The chairs must be the heaviest in Leeds. A bit of a design flaw there, my old Mum couldn’t have moved one on her own. There are two rooms, I favoured the downstairs, upstairs looked a bit like it was a converted first floor room in an ex retail unit, nicely done out, but uniformly rectangular. The comfort blanket that is the bar is on the ground floor and you could see directly into the kitchens where cleanliness and efficiency appeared to be of the highest order. The upstairs Lavs, complete with Bollywood wallpaper, were spot on too.

I’ll start with the beer NMBCo. Mango Lassi, Heathen IPA 7.2%. The nicest beer I drank all day and I visited some good places and had some good beers too that day, I tell you. Tropically fruity, dry and slightly sweet at the same time, not cheap, £3.10 for one half, unfined and unfiltered, worth every penny though and eked out with copious amounts of Corporation pop, it went well with the food. Mrs C’s Camden Hells was a shade cheaper at £2.90/half. The beer range was quite interesting, both bottles and the draught list. No cask ales but some splendid key keg stuff, as well as a cider and Kingfisher. The value conscious will note from the pic below that as well as being all the money, there was a hefty premium on a half pint. My tip to get around this would be to have an advance visit to a small Tavern in the same Town that sits at the end of the Arndale centre’s Arcade and Markets equally impressive beers at more reasonable prices.

CPJs Tap list

The food was however, tremendous. Indian inspired, as opposed to the Pakistani and Bengali fare served up in most W.Yorks curry houses. The Kolkata Chaat starter was almost nearly as good as Bundobust’s, but you did get more of it. Sorry, I did say I wouldn’t, didn’t I? The Tandoori prawn starter sublime. Rogan Josh and Kheema Matar were like you would make at home. Now I’m not Asian, but I do a lot of Asian inspired home cooking, to traditional family recipes that friends have given me over the years and I can tell you that this is The Dogs … The real deal … The Cat’s Pyjamas in fact. I had to look it up, but that’s what it means.

One Pulao rice and an outstandingly fluffy Garlic Nan completed the beers, two starters and mains and came to 5p shy of £40. Service was excellent, quick and friendly and, ‘No, I couldn’t manage a pudding mate.’ If you subtract the six quids worth of ale from the total, it came to around seventeen pounds each. For the quality of the food we ate, I thought that represented excellent value, on top of which I gladly left the customary staff 10%.

I know I said I wouldn’t mention Bundobust again, but the above comments on beer prices versus food echo loudly all the way down Woodhouse Lane into the city centre.

Verdict: I’ll definitely be going again. The food is sheer authentic quality. You can have a good ale with it if you’re feeling flush. Make sure you book when you go. I’m in love with their logo too.

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From Cynic to Supporter – The Leeds Digital Ale Trail Challenge.

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I think my last post evidenced my cynicism about The Leeds Digital Ale Trail . Hey, but I’m open minded and a little more investigation was definitely required. Assisted by a clever tweet by Boak and Bailey, to whom I am grateful, I managed to flush the designer of this innovation out into the open.

To be fair Philip Bennison didn’t need much coaxing, he’d already committed to come out on a Leeds CAMRA branch social last Tuesday night when we had a few pints, a good old natter, a full explanation and demonstration and a right good trial run of the App by CAMRA members.

Philip has been in Leeds for about four years now and he really loves the place. He also loves his beer too. He earns his daily bread working in digital technology and is a director in a company called fablr who are behind The Leeds Digital Ale Trail. Quite simply, Philip wanted to showcase Leeds and it’s beer scene, whilst at the same time showing what he could do and making something that people will like. He says he likes making things that people like. At the minute there is no financial yield from The Leeds Digital Ale Trail and it’s purely a project being undertaken in Philips spare time. Although he was clear that if the opportunity arose to monetarise the project then he would do it. I guess we all would, given the chance and I have no issue with this.

The acid test for me is the pubs on the trail? At the minute there are 23 Leeds city centre pubs, which are all walkable. I’ve been shown them. No, I’m not telling you what they are. Yes, they all pass my ‘pub test’ and are bone fide drinking houses of the highest calibre. If you are drinking in and around Leeds, the giveaway is the presence of the The Leeds Digital Ale Trail beer mats.

Philip assures me that no money has changed hands between him and any of the premises on the trail, there are no financial incentives of any kind. He just chose the pubs and bars he likes going into. I’ve since spoken to some of the managers of premises on the trail and they wholeheartedly confirm this.

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Phil demonstrating the App to Leeds CAMRA members Keith and Paul.

So, where did the trail take us when we tried it? Well, starting in Baht’ap, we split into small groups and went on our separate ways. Our first pub was Wapentake, subject of a recent post by myself. Mein host, Anton instantly recognised Philip and asked him how the App was going. Shortly after getting our drinks we got our first question, which we got wrong, even though the explanation of a Wapentake was written on the wall above us. Hey ho. Once you’ve started, you seem to get a question every ten minutes and every time you answer correctly you get points towards your team score. We got the next one correct. To maximise your points you need to stay in the premises for 30 minutes before clicking to get the next venue, which was The Lamb and Flag, also subject of a post by yours truly. Now there’s a theme building here, and No! I’m not involved in this project at all. There are some sponsors involved though and Philip would like to say thank you for the generous support from; Northern Monk Brew Co. Leeds Food and Drink LTD and Flash Talking.

When we entered the Lamb and Flag the girl behind the bar was quite excited by the fact we were doing the The Leeds Digital Ale Trail and was asking where we had been taken. Throughout, Phil was really keen to get feedback about how the App was going and she told us there had been quite a few people using it.

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I think we got that question wrong!

Now this feedback thing is important because when Philip says it is a trial then it is a trial. There were a few glitches that had to be ironed out. Now, I’m okay with the basics but I’m definitely not an IT expert and I had no idea how to tweak and develop an App. I do now though, you just get your lap top out of your satchel and start typing away. With his computer on the bar top Philip had soon remedied the fact the App hadn’t given us our bonus score in the last pub. Secretly, we were hoping that he was promoting our team score, but he didn’t, even after quite a few subtle hints. The App shows the leader board for all the teams who have participated.

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Now is it easy to play? Dead easy, apart from Philip the rest of our party were all over fifty and the interface was easy to interact with, in fact there’s not much to mess about with once you’re logged on, just ‘press and play’ as they say. They probably don’t say that anymore, but hey, what do I know?

All the questions are related in some way to Leeds, with a historical focus. I won’t give any away because it might spoil it; the bank of questions is still not huge. Some were quite hard and I don’t think many would know which Egyptian God the Temple at  Temple Works was styled on? I actually did get this one right! If you’ve never seen it, it’s near to NMBCo Refectory, both fascinating places.

The App then took us on a logical tour of the pubs and bars just South of the centre, visiting Calls Landing and then the classic Victorian splendour of The Adelphi, both good boozers, one post modern, one very traditional. In the Adelphi we got a 20% discount for being on The Leeds Digital Ale Trail , which is similar to the CAMRA discount the establishment offers. Eventually we all met up again in Tapped for a debrief. Clearly all the pubs that were visited that evening, by different groups, got the CAMRA seal of approval. None were part of the overtly commercial night time economy vertical drinking type establishments, nearly all were independent or small chains (there are two more Calls Landing/Stew & Oyster venues in the suburbs). All of them were places that I would have chosen to go to. So full marks there Mr Bennison.

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I was surprised that some venues  were unenthusiastic about joining the project. Maybe they will come on board as it takes off. I hope so because I think it’s a really good idea, definitely if you are unfamiliar with our city. It’s clear the opportunities here are almost limitless. Philip recognises this and we chatted about a Headingley (suburb of Leeds) Digital Ale Trail, different cities and towns. You could even have themed routes, a Whiskey or Gin trail hunting down specialist bars.

As I said, one thing that is vital is  feedback, so if you’ve had any problems, or got any ideas then let Phil know through the Facebook site or tweeting with the #leedsaletrail hashtag. One thing that is important is to keep updating your App because they are continually modifying it, as I saw.

Overall, I was really impressed. A really nice guy who was enthusiastic beyond belief about what I think is a really good App. Okay, it won’t suit everyone, but those who like this sort of thing will think it’s pretty cool. Perhaps it will come to your town or city in due course?

Now the Pokemon thingy hadn’t really hit the news last Tuesday, but think what you could do, if you combined them both? Or even an App that tracked down virtual mythical and legendary brews? A decent pint of (original) Tetley’s or a proper pint of Draught Bass. Can you do ‘back to the future’ Phil? Maybe not.

The App is available on iPhone and Android devices, and can be downloaded for free from Google Play  and the App Store .