Trans Pennine Pub Ticking

The rail route between Manchester and Leeds contains several renowned station bars and celebrated pubs which has made it a bit of a favourite of enthusiastic ale-trailers.
And somewhere that I've been keen to get to for some time.

I didn't have time to complete all the traditional stops along the way (lightweight!), so set out to explore a select few.

The morning started with a journey to Dewsbury Station where you'll find the charming greenery-covered pub pictured at the top of the post. 

West Riding Refreshment Rooms (Dewsbury Station, Wellington Road, WF13 1HF - web)
This is a characterful three-roomed pub, with most folk sat in the central room by the bar.  Plenty of railway memorabilia as you'd expect, alongside a plethora of framed CAMRA awards.  The Grade 2 listed station building was converted into a pub in 1994 and has clocked up an impressive 25 years in the Good Beer Guide.

I was taught a lesson for picking the irresponsibly strong brown ale - you can see it looking very murky and tippable in the picture below.  Urgg - one of those 'don't know if it's off or if it's just supposed to be this way' moments.
Still drank my half - waste not want not - then nipped back to the bar for a single-hopped beer from Acorn which was much more enjoyable.

  

I felt a little guilty at not exploring Dewsbury at all - did I miss anything?

That's the trouble with this pubs by train lark - lots of clock-watching and drinking-up in time for the 13:04 to Huddersfield.

The station at Huddersfield can only be described as magnificent.  Built between 1846 and 1850 by architect JP Pritchett of York, it consists of three sections, each of which has a portico and grand Corinthian columns.
The central part was originally the waiting rooms and admin offices, whilst ticket offices were at each end: one each for the two railway companies operating from here - the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway and the London and North Western railway.

Nowadays all the railway business takes place in the middle and both those ticket offices have been transformed into pubs book-ending the station.
I veered right first to the Kings Head which immediately gets extra points for sticking Jimi Hendrix on the pub sign...

King's Head (St George's Square, Huddersfield, HD1 1JF)
The main room of the pub is cavernous, with mosaic floor, high ceiling and skylight. The bar is tucked at one end, whilst at the other is a stage area. As could be reasonably guessed from somewhere that decides to feature Hendrix on the pub sign rather than some stuffy royals, it serves as a live music venue with weekly gigs.
By ambling around on a weekday lunchtime I don't get to see the place in full swing and I don't get to see the Private Dicks or the G-Spot Tornadoes.

The Kings Head, originally opened in 1979 as the Railway Tavern

The beer choice is surely designed to de-rail ale-trailers who can only reasonably pick the one.  There's the temptation to work through the cask and craft keg options on the blackboard of beers and miss a train or two. 
I sensibly managed to stick to just the one: 'Thunderbridge Stout' by Small World Beers.

Down at t'other end of the station, you'll find the Head of Steam...

Head of Steam (St George's Square, Huddersfield, HD1 1JF - web)

This - if I'm not mistaken - is the original of the 90's Head of Steam pub chain, opening in 1996.  It was closely followed by the Euston Head of Steam, in which you'd find me being

every bit the real ale bore in the early noughties when it was my local.
Fullers eventually took over that location and turned it into the Doric Arch and Head of Steam's at railway locations all but disappeared.
The brand is now owned by Cameron's who've resurrected the brand name recently for a handful of city centre bars.

The pub is quartered into four rooms all surrounding a central bar, giving it an entirely different feel to the Kings Head despite their external similarities.

I walked all the way around until I reached the long bank of hand pumps, then walked all the way round again with my beer trying to pick where to sit.
It was a little too quiet and a very uneventful visit, sat in a room I had to myself most of the time.

I diverted away from the station in order to visit one of Huddersfield's heritage pubs...

The Sportsman (1 St John's Road, Huddersfield, HD1 5AY - web)
This is a 1930's pub which was given a 50's makeover by Hammond's of Bradford, which is what the big 'H's in the etched windows stand for.
The main lounge has a curved bar in the corner and nice banquette seating in bays either side of the door. 
There were another two rooms to either side that I didn't explore.
But I did read that the sporting-themed tiles in the gents were worth seeing, cue the suspicious odd-bod with his camera out in the lavatories again...

Worth it though - lovely tiling

The beer range looked quite familiar and that turns out to be because the Sportsman is owned by the same pub co (Beerhouses) as the West Riding Refreshment Rooms.
I avoided the brown ale here, instead picking an Almasty pale ale on good form.

Just 6 minutes further along the railway line was the next station: Slaithwaite.
This village in the Colne Valley has the river and Huddersfield narrow canal running through it.

But glancing at Google reviews of my destination pub, I was warned by Joshua that
"the pub have turned a once nice village into a tip"

That's a pretty mean achievement for one pub.
Slaithwaite doesn't look that bad, does it?

The Commercial (1 Carr Lane, Slaithwaite, HD7 5AN)
This is a proper locals pub, although it seems they're quite used to their share of ramblers and beer-tickers popping in.  It was reasonably busy with a bunch of folk who look settled in for the afternoon.
A touch of moderisation has opened up what would have once been several separate rooms into an open-plan design that I wasn't overly keen on.
But I was very happy with my local Empire 'Moonraker Mild' which was fantastic value and a really enjoyable pint.

Just one more stop along the line for me - at Stalybridge.
And as I've exceeded my picture and waffle quota for a single post, the Buffet Bar is coming up in the next edition.