This week the ‘old fart who likes to be alone’ (me) went to another beer garden.
Except this time, he brought his dog, well his sister’s dog on loan. As Dakota the Akita and the Old Fart sat in the beer garden of the Nag’s Head Inn, at Ainley Top, between Huddersfield and Halifax, a thought occurred to him.
The Nag’s is a very dog-friendly pub – Google “best pub dogs huddersfield” and it’ll be your first hit – and the Old Fart thought it more appropriate for Dakota to review it. Take it away, Dakota.
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I don’t mind going to the pub usually, but generally, I prefer the walk there. Once you’re settled under the table it’s like being in the dining room at mealtimes, except nobody has any food to drop on the floor. Gastropubs are OK but they’re expensive which means humans guard their meals like I guard my house when there’s someone at the front door.
This pub, however, was different. The sign on the door said: “Well behaved dogs welcome” (I can’t read but suspend your disbelief) for which I was actually glad. I doubt my pal Charlie Brown (a Sprocker Spaniel) would get in which I’ll bear in mind next time he won’t stop barking at his tennis ball.
(Image: Dave Himelfield)
In a way, I now feel sorry for Charlie Brown because not only was there a big bowl of water waiting for me in the beer garden, there was a large jar of dog biscuits next to the bar. This pub puts its dog biscuits where its mouth is. Sadly, none entered my mouth as the Old Fart has brought his own.
In his mouth, the Old Fart poured in some Sharp’s Atlantic Pale Ale. He said it was refreshing if a little underwhelming in its keg-chilled effervescence. Tasted “a bit like sparkling water with a bitter hop finish”, he said.
He liked the Magic Rock Hat Trick better. He’s not usually a fan of Magic Rock brews – too strong and too hoppy, he says – but this Huddersfield Town endorsed ‘modern blonde bitter’ was a heavyweight choice for the drinker who wants something light (it’s only 3.7%) but flavoursome.
The Old Fart went on about how “the blend of sour, fruity Bavarian hops and bitter Pacific Northwest hops really worked together” but I wasn’t really listening. I was pondering the well surrounded by a brown picket fence.
(Image: Dave Himelfield)
Why the fence? Because the well is deep, according to the sign, which as we’ve discussed, I would not be able to read.
The pub may be a suburban pub but the ivy coated walls of the main building and the semi-circular patch of grass and the mature trees opposite lend it a bucolic feel… the Old Fart says. I have no idea what any of that means but I felt very at home there.
One final note. As we go back to the car, I notice the car park backs onto a big, horrible noisy road which the Old Fart tells me is the “M62”. For a dog, it is deafening from the car park but surprisingly well muffled by the main building once you’re in the beer garden. There it sounds like relaxing “deep brown noise”.
Apparently, humans listen to “brown noise” to block out intrusive sounds so they can fall asleep. I pity them. I can fall asleep anywh… zzzzzz.
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