The Calderdale town is now home to around 4,500 folks and went from being soot-stained and on the brink of economic collapse to being trendy and having words like 'bohemian' used in assocaition with it.
It also has an impressive list of pubs and bars - more than we could get around in one day. But we made a valient effort and here's how far we got..,
Our first port of call in the centre of town was maybe a little too smart for my liking.
'OG' logo on the glass front door; cake stands on the bar; remote-controlled awnings; £16 sandwiches.
But at least it's open early doors, primarily for the cappuccino and eggs benedict brigade, I suspect, rather than us uncouth real ale drinkers.
There was a hefty cask chice from Leeds Brewery, Amity, Marble, Thornbridge, Vocation, Kirkstall, and Timothy Taylor. Phew.
I slipped up and opted for the Amity 'Pippali' without reading the 'Ginger and Peppercorn amber ale' description on the pump clip. Interesting, but probably not the best beer to start with.Drinks were taken outside to the front patio, where the sun was trying its best to shine and we were well out the way of breakfasting gentlefolk.
Beers finished, we took a leisurely stroll through town and climbed a gentle hill to reach pub number 2: the fantastic-looking Fox and Goose...
I knew this was going to be a corker from the first glimpse - looking a little battered around the edges in a hillside setting with a fox mural on an unused door.
Stepping through the front door took us to a room with a splendid fireplace, flagstone floor and unusually-shaped ceiling.
We sat in the small right-side snug surrounded by some excellent breweriana and a handy guide to wine pronunciation.
Pub dog of the day too. "In the way? Me? Surely not."
Progress was slowed by the Totally Screwed hardware store which members of our group inexplicably needed to make purchases in. Personally I thought the shop name was upstaged by next door neighbours Ruby Shoesday.
Leaving Gareth and Tanya in Spirals gift shop, myself and John bowled into the craft beer bar...we've got our priorities right!
This is a bottle shop with enticing shelves and fridges of cans and bottles in the front room and a rather ramshackle bar counter in the back.
The lovely lady in charge of the bar certainly had the best sunflower-orientated clothing that we saw all day and was enthusiastic about the beers, as well as providing a comprehensive answer to John's "when did Hebden Bridge become cool?" question.
I settled on the Weekend Project 'Buttermere'. It's liberally hopped with tropical and stone fruit aromas.and it sure is murky...
With no space to sit downstairs, we took our drinks to the first floor room which includes a couple of repurposed bus seats.
Back across Hebden Beck, then up Bridge Gate, our fourth venue was tucked away between two restaurants.
This site opened as a micropub named Calan's in 2015 and has had several identities since. Post-pandemic it was The Pub (despite it being nothing like a proper pub), then The Hebden, before the current owners took over and altered the name to reflect it's discreet location.
We appeared to be the first to find it on this day.
Here's the quandary of a micro - too many people and you've nowhere to sit; too few people in with no music playing and it's uncomfortably quiet. That's what drove us out to the bench in the courtyard where we didn't feel we were disturbing the staff member tinkering with her phone.
My beer was just a half of Bini Brew Co. 'Cat's Eyes' - a brewery from Ilkley that I'd not heard of before.
A little further up the street was a picturesque triangle surrounded by eateries and shops with the Hebden Bridge Mill as a backdrop.
The pub facing this was the Shoulder of Mutton, a crowd of folk on the outdoor tables now that the sunshine had materialised.
This was formerly a row of three cottages. By the mid 17th century one of them was serving as a butchers shop, which would be inspiration for the pub name after it was granted a license in 1769. For years it was known as the 'Bottom Shoulder' being as there was another pub of the same name up the hill at Blackshaw Head.
A few walls have been knocked down since then to open it up a bit and it has those modern touches of grey paint, patterned floor tiling, sofas, and a sign reading 'Gin Palace'.
Once you've been to a gin palace or two in Liverpool and London, you'll appreciate that this is definitely not one...
A short stroll up the road took us to another traditional-looking inn.
This is possibly the oldest building in Hebden Bridge with a 1657 date stone above the door. It was originally the home of the King family, served as a gatehouse when a toll was put on the road, and has operated as a hotel and posting house.
It's pleasant enough within, open-plan, bright and airy, with a few glimpses of an historic past.
I picked the local Vocation 'Heart and Soul'...a session IPA which I've maybe not actually had on cask before. Another perfectly enjoyable, well-served beer on a day where cask quality was never called into question.
The Albert dates back to the 19th century and was built as an hotel with coach house and stables. It originally didn't have a license to sell spirits which ensured it gained a reputation as a 'respectable' house. Prop Up the Bar always sticks to respectable houses.
They've got the merchandise to prove that they've been on the telly...
The Albert has undergone an unplanned refurb after being badly damaged in the Boxing Day 2015 floods which caused a great deal of devastation throughout the town.
I reckon they've done a good job, making a couple of comfortable, homely rooms with leather cushioned banquettes and stools, stone floor and rugs, piano and Victorian fire place.
Sadly, we were about to abandon trad and return to craft bars.
This small venue is tucked into the right-hand corner of the 1920's Picture House cinema and serves as the tap for the Mytholmroyd based Nightjar Brew Co.
It has been open since 2017, delivering a selection of cask, keg, bottles and cans from Nightjar and other small breweries.
I thought it had a fair bit of character, with moody lighting, bare bricks, the Beatles and Supertramp on the playlist, and a decent crowd of customers. Everything which I thought Hidden Hebden was missing.
Our afternoon ended at Vocation & Co - the local brewery's Hebden tap room, having visited the Halifax version the previous day.
It looks like this...
I only seem to have taken one unuseable blurry picture inside Vocation which suggests my concentration was lapsing by this point. Time to catch the train.
Hebden Bridge had been great.
I came here in 1994 and brought some clogs. No idea why. Probably New Model Army's fault. I even wore them once.
I suspect it's changed a fair bit since then and the more I look at the Calderdale Valley the more I want to go back already.
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