9 : The West Riding Licensed Refreshment Rooms

Station Buildings, Wellington Rd, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire WF13 1HF

The award-winning West Riding Licensed Refreshment Rooms (the West Riding for short, the West for even shorter) is famously easy to get to. You catch any train which stops at Dewsbury Station and there it is on Platform 2. Its awards include being the runner-up in the 2006 CAMRA national Pub Of The Year, the 2006 Yorkshire Pub of the Year and the 2005/6 Heavy Woollen Pub Of The Year. It is not difficult to see how it has won so many awards - it is a temple of the brewers' art where fine beer is celebrated by serious drinkers. 

The bar inhabits most of the station building. In view of its regional and national fame it is probably true to say that it is now a famous bar with its own train service rather than a railway station with a bar. There are a series of interconnected rooms where the predominant theme is wood. There are wooden tables, wooden panelled walls and wooden floors. The decorations feature old photographs, advertising signs and beer bottles. Blackboards tell you what guest beers are being featured that week : and there is a constantly changing selection available. You could probably be a regular at this pub and never drink the same pint twice.

As you would expect the staff all know about beer and how it should be kept and served. I tried a pint of "Idle Landlord" which was one of the guest beers on offer when I called in. Idle Brewery is a new microbrewery which has been open less than a year. It is based not in the Bradford suburb of Idle but in Doncaster. Idle Landlord is a rich, dark creamy pint that goes down easily for a beer this strong (4.6% ABV). It's the kind of pint which would cause you problems if you were a grocer : you wouldn't know whether to put it in the drinks cabinet or on the food shelves.

The bar motto appears to be "I missed the train at Dewsbury". This legend was on the T-shirts the bar staff were wearing. It needs little explanation. With beer as good as this in a setting as unique as this, you would have to be half crazy not to miss the train. 

8 : Whitelocks First City Luncheon Bar, Leeds

6 Turks Head Yard, Leeds, LS1 6HB

Not so much a pub, more an institution. Set just off the busy city centre streets, down a narrow alley, Whitelocks is a tourist destination in itself. A long narrow marble bar lines a long narrow room panelled in mirrors and glass. It tends to be busy most of the time so you need to plan your visit carefully if you want to be certain of a seat. It's not particularly comfortable but neither is visiting Stonehenge. It's the kind of place you would take your American Cousin Floyd to. 

There is a wide choice of drinks available with regular real ales and guest beers featuring prominently. If you look around you see other people drinking beer which is a bit of a rarity these days. I had a pint of Milestone's Loxley Ale. It's a Newark brewery and - according to the books - Loxley Ale is supposed to contain a hint of local honey. I did note down that it had a lasting taste so perhaps that was it. 

7 : The Leggers Inn, Dewsbury

Savile Town Wharf, Mill St. East, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, WF12 9BD

Unless you arrive by canal boat, the Leggers is hard to find, located as it is in the middle of an industrial estate. But boy, is it worth it. Set adjacent to the canal basin ("leggin" was propelling a boat through a tunnel by lying on the roof and walking it through) in what is a converted hay loft. You climb some stairs and are greeted by a glorious cross between a museum, antique shop and comfortable bar. The motto of the place seems to be "if you find it, nail it to the wall". There are beer mats, old gear wheels, bus stop signs and bits of old canal machinery. The seats are a mix of upholstered church pews and Shackleton High Chairs which have seen better days. A truly wondrous place to enjoy a pint.

If you ask them for a recommendation they will, as likely as not, pull you a small glass to give you a taste. This is gold standard hospitality. I had - upon their recommendation and following a brief taster - a pint of Copper Dragon Golden Pippin. You could imagine that anything would taste good in these surroundings, but it was an excellent pint : golden colour, quite bitter and not too strong for a lunchtime visit.

6 : The Scape House Inn, Golcar

74 High Street, Scapegoat Hill, Golcar, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD7 4NJ

As befits its name, the Scape House Inn comes complete with massive views over Golcar and the Colne Valley. The pub is in the romantic sounding Scapegoat Hill (which, alas, is nothing more than a corruption of "Slip-cote", which was a form of cream cheese). The interior of the pub is quite large and very open (in keeping with its location), On the day I visited it was almost empty and it was a little like sitting in an empty cathedral. It has a kind of seventy-ish feel about it ahich means that it is neither fiddly nor pretentious. 

The air might be a bit thinner on top of Scapegoat Hill but the beer was as full and rich as you could want. I chose the Jennings Cumberland Ale as I had never tasted it before. It was a pleasant, nutty pint, at 4.0% ABV perhaps a little strong for a junch-time pint

5 : Cubley Hall, Penistone

Mortimer Road, Penistone, Sheffield S36 9DF

You'd be forgiven for thinking that Cubley Hall was one of those stuck-up hotels which look down their ritzy noses at beer drinkers. It's a lovely building set in its own grounds. The restaurant serves, I believe, excellent food and there are 12 sumptuously furnished guest bedrooms. But there is a warm welcome for those who want nothing more than a pint of good beer, and the best bit of the Hall - the panelled rooms and plastered ceilings - are reserved for beer drinkers and those who want bar snacks rather than for the rosé and ratatouille brigade.

Being introduced to the delights of Cubley Hall by my friend Tim, we both had a pint of Black Sheep which was well-kept, fresh and refreshing. Not having to drive, Tim was able to go on to sample the Tetley Imperial and he told me that it had a stronger taste with plenty of hops. It is easy to imagine spending an entire evening within these fine old walls, tasting the beers and watching the fine ceiling turn to layers of iceing sugar.

4 : The Golden Fleece, Elland

Lindley Road, Blackley, Elland, West Yorkshire, HX5 0TE

It brands itself as a 16th Century Inn and it is difficult to argue too much with the description (although a fair amount of reconstruction must have gone on over the centuries). However it is old and pleasant : one of those places where things hang from the ceiling. There were cartwheels, tankards, walking sticks, copper pots ... you name it. It seems to attract a "pensioners-lunch" type of customer and one half expects to see a few OAPs hanging like fermenting game from ceiling hooks. But it is clean and fresh : the kind of place you could happily take your Aunty Violet.

I ordered a pint of Greene King IPA. After starting to pull it the landlord noticed the barrell was about to go off so I was treated to a 5 minute workshop on barrel-changing. Nice to see the landlord drawing himself a half to taste it before pulling me a new pint. You feel like suggesting that the kids should come up from the local school to watch and to learn. But sad to note that the bar had more varieties of wine on sale than it had beer.

3 : Shibden Mill Inn, Halifax

Shibden Mill Fold, Shibden, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 7UL

What a joy to find a pub which achieves a maximum of five for both the general feel of the pub and the taste of the pint. The pub in question is the Shibden Mill Inn which is located in a idyllic green valley about a mile and a half north of the town, The pint in question was a pint of Moorhouse's Best Bitter which is brewed specifically for the pub by the Burnley-based brewery. It's a pint which will make anyone who has ever strayed from the true path and ordered a pint of lager return to the fold. It's a pint that sends your taste buds on an all expenses paid holiday. It's a pint that justifies a trip to Halifax. 

The pub itself is a delight, set in a small valley down a road that it pleasantly hard to find. The soundtrack is provided not by canned music nor clinking wineglasses, but by the Shibden Beck which, at the other side of the car park, trundles its way towards somewhere or other. It's a suitable place for your final heart attack. It's a collectors piece. It's a joy.

2 : The Black Horse Inn, Clifton

Westgate, Clifton, Brighouse, West Yorkshire HD6 4HJ

The Black Horse Inn, which is situated in the village of Clifton in West Yorkshire, is a 17th century village inn which seems to see its future as a "Restaurant with Rooms" rather than as a place to sink a pint or three of beer. It is pretty - there are flowers everywhere - and it is certainly old, but it is not my idea of a village inn. It is the kind of place where you are likely to receive a "what, no food!" look from a suited landlord when you order your pint.

Despite the care it takes over its menu and its rooms, there were only two beers on offer when I visited : Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Black Sheep Bitter. The promised guest beer was not in residence when I called. I had the Black Sheep bitter which made a good lunchtime pint : not too heavy or too fruity. The decor is again of the "pretty" variety : whilst there was a display of pewter tankards, the display of champagne bottles got greater prominence. It's that kind of place. It is where you would take your mistress rather than where you would take your mate. The phrase "Restaurant with Rooms" features heavily on the pub sign. Which is fair enough : it does exactly what it says on the tin.

1 : The Albert Hotel, Keighley

Bridge Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire BD21 1AA

This Victorian treasure was built in the days when such buildings were measured in terms of grandeur rather than square-footage. The scale of the main room is slightly breathtaking with a massive inverted "U" shaped bar looking rather like the stern of the Titanic. It was lunchtime when I visited and the few customers were lost amongst the rows of tables and chairs. It is a strange mixture : fruit-machines and video display screens share wall-space with a marble fireplace and a mahogany display cabinet. In the latter part of the nineteenth century my grandmother was a barmaid in a Keighley hotel : I rather hope it was the Albert. 

The pint I sampled was a pint of Timothy Taylor's Landlord. It could be little else - this is Keighley the home of Timothy Taylor's and the Albert is still a Taylor's house. The pint was well-kept and a decent pint of Landlord is always a pleasure. A true bitter which goes about its business without too much show or fuss.