Pub Of The Week: Jubilee Refreshment Rooms, Sowerby Bridge Station

I’ve already started the journey, and who knows what might happen before my train arrives in Halifax?

You certainly get a sense of that here, and it’s not just a great caff knocking out bacon butties, good espresso and homemade cake – though it is – it’s also a pub.

Train enthusiasts and brothers Andrew and Chris Wright bought the falling down ticket office 10 years ago and spent six years rebuilding it. It’s a huge, airy, light room full of vintage enamel advertising signs, old posters and a collection of antique clocks.

The Wright brothers’ other passion is beer, and there are half a dozen well-kept, local hand-pulled real ales including the magnificent sounding Maximum Darkness from Elland Brewery. Also available at time of visit (the beers rotate), Two Roses “Summer Special” from Barnsley and Huddersfield-based Mallinsons Brewing Company’s wonderfully pale gold Amarillo; they also sell English wine, Leventhorpe, made by George Bowden – in Leeds. No small wonder in 2012 they won Camra Pub of the Year.

The no-nonsense menu promises beef and veggie-burgers, jacket potatoes with a variety of fillings and how’s about this for a bargain – hot pork pie (locally made “by a lady in Cragg Vale”) and mushy peas with a pint of real ale for £5.50?

Sit under a ticking clock with a pint and a train-related hardback and wait for the 2.30. Hang on – is that Trevor Howard who’s just sauntered in, looking for someone?

AMANDA WRAGG

The Jubilee Refreshment Rooms, The Station Building, Station Road, Sowerby Bridge HX6 3AB. 01422 648285, www.jubileerefreshmentrooms.co.uk

THE VERDICT

Welcome*****

Drinks selection*****

Atmosphere*****

Food*****

Prices*****