3 Miles
There are some cracking pubs in Huddersfield and this walk will take you to some of them. We start at Huddersfield Station and right in front of you there is a statue to Harold Wilson, who was born in Huddersfield and is the only Labour leader to have formed administrations following four general elections. From the main square turn left up John William Street underneath the railway tracks where it changes its name to St Johns Road. Cross over the main road, Castlegate and continue along St Johns Road to our first port of call.
You can download the route here – https://www.bar-trek.com/crawl/716
1. The Sportsman
1 St John’s Rd, Huddersfield HD1 5AY
This 1930s pub, with a 1950s refit by Hammonds (note the windows), is a previous winner of the CAMRA English Heritage Conservation Pub Design award. It is now a Grade II listed building, and it retains much of its historic signage including the stone panel sign and a Bass beer barrel hanging over a door. The main room has a superb curved central bar, a parquet floor and an interesting wooden entrance. Eight ales are arranged in strength order, with dark beer(s) always available. A ‘don’t miss’ is the unchanged gents’ toilets with a terrazzo floor, original urinals, inter-war tiling to two-thirds height on the walls with spaced out all around the urinal and WC areas are pairs of tiles depicting various sports such as game shooting, horse racing, soccer, angling and yachting (twice).
Now turn right up Fitzwilliam Street and a little way up the road there is a brick tower on your left. You should see a small footpath, take this passing a car park on your right. This tower was a hydraulic accumulator tower that supplied power to the goods yard and warehouse alongside Huddersfield’s railway station. Constructed around 1848 and it is now a Grade II listed building.
Follow this path to Brunswick Street keeping the main road on your right there is a footpath behind a row of buildings which take you to New North Road Baptist Church. Turn right here underneath the main road to Back Greenhead Main Car Park on the complete opposite side of the junction. From here follow Old South Street veering slightly right as it turns into Springwood Street. Ahead you can see two large circular brick towers. These are the ventilation shafts for the Huddersfield and Penistone railway lines which run underneath Springwood as an outlet for steam trains from the early days of rail. Passing between these towers looking slightly left you can see our next pub.
2. The Grove
2 Spring Grove St, Huddersfield HD1 4BP
The Grove doesn’t look much from the outside, but it has a style of its own, expressed through its eye-catching artwork, snacks and live music. A veritable drinkers paradise with 10 hand-pulled ales taking in the full range of styles and strengths. Featured breweries always include Kirkstall, Mallinsons, Marble, Oakham, Thornbridge and Vocation. Two craft ciders are always available and there is a superb menu of over 20 craft kegs, 100+ bottled and canned beers and a comprehensive spirits range. The Grove is also famed for its distinctive artwork, live bands and quirky snacks. It is a must for visitors to Huddersfield.
Head down Melton Street back into town to the main road, Castlegate. Turn right and follow Castlegate past the Fire Station crossing the junction with Outcote Bank. Continue to follow Castlegate passing Lidl’s. Cross over Manchester Road and immediately turn right into Chapel Hill walking down the hill to our next pub.
3. The Rat and Ratchet
40 Chapel Hill, Huddersfield HD1 3EB
This multi award-winning pub owned by Ossett, with the on-site Rat microbrewery. Nine hand pumps offer beers from a range of breweries including the firm’s own, with two permanent dark ales available.
Head back up the hill to the main junction. Right in front of you is the old Co-operative building but it is most famous for hosting the Heaven and Hell nightclub in the 1990s, has been one of Huddersfield’s most talked about eyesores over the past decade. It has now been repurposed as upmarket student accommodation. Cross over Queensgate towards the old Co-operative building then turn right following the footpath turning left into Alfred Street. Ahead of you there is Queensgate Market but follow the road into Princess Street. Right in front of you is the impressive Huddersfield Town Hall building incorporating a spectacular concert hall.
Sir Charles Hallé conducted the Huddersfield Choral Society at the official opening in October 1881. The concert organ, which was built by Henry Willis & Sons and originally installed in the Albert Hall in Newport, Wales, was bought on the advice of Sir Walter Parratt who played the new organ at the opening concert recital. If the concert hall is open, then certainly pop your head in the door because it is worth the visit.
Now head down Peel Street turning right at the end and through the ugly Piazza Centre. It was built on the site of the Market Hall, which was demolished in 1970. A town regeneration plan was published in 2019 which proposed demolishing the Piazza Centre. A campaign has since launched to oppose the demolition of the Piazza Centre, arguing that the spaces within it are beneficial to local arts communities. When you exit the Piazza Centre, turn left into Queen Street and our next pub.
4. Parish
The Old Courthouse, Huddersfield HD1 2SP
This place is nothing special in terms of beer, but the food offering is brilliant which is why it is included on this walk. The building was the Old Courthouse and the former Crown Court of 1825. Grade II listed and it retains the Royal arms above the entrance, and it was the county’s only lock-up.
Now head back down Queen Street to the main road passing St Paul’s Hall on your right. This is a beautifully converted Georgian church built in 1829 that now provides a venue for a range of concerts by student soloists, ensembles and guest artists in the University of Huddersfield’s Music Department. Walking past the Joseph Priestly building named after the man himself. Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) was a chemist and a (dissenting) clergyman.
In 1766 Priestley met Benjamin Franklin who interested him in electricity, and which led Priestley to discover the conductivity of carbon and write his History and Present State of Electricity (1767). In 1767 Priestley moved to Leeds, where he lived next to a brewery and soon discovered that carbon dioxide was being formed leading to his invention of “soda water”. He went on to prepare and study other gases such as nitric oxide and ammonia, collecting them over mercury which led to his greatest discovery of oxygen in 1774.
Walk down Queen Street South and you soon pass another building which looks like a church. This was the Milton Congregational Church whose founder members broke away from the Ramsden Street Chapel following disagreement in 1881. The church which opened in 1883, became a nightclub and disco in the early 1990s — a transformation that would have astonished and probably dismayed its founders.
In March 1995 the former church became part of the University and is the Students Union building. Continue straight down Queen Street South passing the industrial buildings of Bates Mill on your right which are now let out as event spaces or small factory units. Bates Mill started making woollen yarn at the turn of the century and are still doing it today, three generations later.
Keep on walking to the end and cross over the road where the car park is located. You should see a small footbridge that takes you across the River Colne. Once across the river, turn right down Queens Mill Road passing the modern trading estate. Keep walking down this road as it turns right and passes over the River Holme. At the end of this road is our final destination.
5. The Star Inn
7 Albert St, Lockwood, Huddersfield HD1 3PJ
A multi award-winning local that has featured in many previous Good Beer Guides and showcases numerous local and countrywide breweries, with dedicated pumps for Mallinsons, Pictish and usually a dark beer. It reminds me of someone’s front room when you enter the pub, nice and cosy, especially in the winter months when a fire is lit. I will probably plan another walk around Huddersfield because there are plenty of good pubs which I have missed on this walk so another trip is on the cards.
