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All’s Well
That’s Oakwell!
Housing estates aren’t well known for having pubs that sell real
ale and I thought that Frankley was no exception when I moved there at the
beginning of 2004 until I heard a rumour that one of the estate pubs, The
Coldstream sold real ale. So, one Tuesday night I ventured inside and was
delighted that the rumour was true.
The pub is part of the Oakwell Brewery of Barnsley’s small tied estate and they
have two others in Birmingham; The Balmoral in Bartley Green and The
Woodpecker in Weoley Castle. There are two real ales on sale, the 3.8%
Barnsley Bitter, a dark brown fruity beer with a typically tight Yorkshire
head and the 3.4% Old Tom mild. To the brewery’s credit they don’t stock
keg beers from national breweries, so bitter drinkers have to drink real ale,
even the lager is brewed by Oakwell. The only non —
Oakwell beer on sale is Guinness. Even the pork scratchings come from
Barnsley! Even more impressive are the prices. The bitter is only £1.40 a pint!
Proof that you can run a pub without ripping the customers off.
Oakwell bought the pub after several years of being empty following a serious
fire and have succeeded in turning it into a friendly estate pub that
fortunately fails to attract disruptive and anti-social customers. The pub has a
modern exterior but the interior is enhanced by ceiling beams and imitations of
those doors you’d expect to find in a medieval castle. Inside it is spacious and
comfortable, and I particularly like the retro music played in the background.
The landlady and bar staff are friendly and talk to you as people rather than
customers.
Oakwell are to be congratulated on spreading real ale to areas where it wasn’t
traditionally available and I sincerely hope they buy more estate pubs and
spread the real ale message.
I used to think I had to travel 5 miles for a drop of real ale, I now
know only have to walk 5 minutes.
© Clive Walder
2006
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