The Sheffield Tap, Sheffield
Train stations are rarely as convivial as they are at Christmas. People are heading home for the holidays. Giddy colleagues are parting after long, boozy afternoons. Many are, basically, “in their cups” and far happier and chattier than normal. There are few better places to soak up this atmosphere than the Sheffield Tap, a beautiful Edwardian Grade II-listed refreshment rooms on Sheffield station, now reborn as a craft beer hub. Beyond its tapped beers – brewed on-site on a small gleaming copper kit – the Tap tends to focus on the best new-wave northern breweries. It is particularly tight with Derbyshire’s Thornbridge. Don’t blame us if you miss your train. Or the next one.
• Pint from £3.20. 1B Sheffield Station, Sheaf Street, 0114 273 7558, sheffieldtap.com. Open Sun-Thurs 11am-11pm, Fri-Sat 10am-midnight
The Marble Arch, Manchester
Looking for sanctuary far from the madding Christmas crowds? Then take a short walk down Rochdale Road to this extraordinary pub. Designed by Salford architect (and Manchester Guardian art critic) Alfred Darbyshire, its Victorian tiled interior is stunning. Now owned by the excellent Marble Brewery, the pub is popular with craft beer fans – and postal workers from the nearby sorting office – who are as warm and welcoming as the pub’s gas fire. Marble’s darker seasonal specials will be appearing on the pumps this month, such as Extra Porter and Chocolate Marble. On Christmas Eve, everyone gets a mince pie and a free half of Stouter (a port-laced stout).
• Pint from £3.20. 73 Rochdale Road, 0161-832 5914, on Facebook. Open Sun-Thurs noon-11pm, Fri-Sat noon-midnight
The Brewery Tap, Chester
The Tap has installed a snazzy 12ft Christmas tree this year, but this magnificent Jacobean great hall is an aesthetic marvel at any time. Nowadays, Gamul House functions as the tap for Cheshire brewery Spitting Feathers, whose dark and seasonal beers – Old Wavertonian stout, a gingerbread latte stout and its spiced Christmas Cracker – will be prominent this month. If that is not enough to keep the cold out, the Tap also serves gutsy, rib-sticking food, such as corned beef hash, homemade brawn and potatoes or devilled kidneys on toast (mains from £8.95).
• Pint from £3.10. 52-54 Lower Bridge Street, 01244 340999, the-tap.co.uk. Open Mon-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-10.30pm
Whitelock’s, Leeds
“It’s got a Christmassy feel all year round,” insists general manager David Herbert, and you can kind of see what he means. Hidden down a ginnel in the city centre, this low-ceilinged, historic (established in 1715) Leeds classic is – with its splendid period interior and glowing coal fire – a self-contained pocket of good cheer; a cocoon of boozy comfort in a cold, harsh world. Its adjacent sister bar, the Turk’s Head, pushes a more radical line in craft beer but Whitelock’s is no slouch. Alongside its traditional real ales you will now find cask beers from adventurous UK micros and two craft keg lines pouring Northern Monk’s Eternal session IPA and Thornbridge’s Jaipur.
• Pint from £3.60. Turks Head Yard, 0113 245 3950, whitelocksleeds.com. Open Mon-Thurs 11am-midnight, Fri-Sat 11am-1am, Sun 11am-11pm
Errigle Inn, Belfast
Opened on 13 December 1935, this family-owned pub has always backed Christmas enthusiastically. A big old space of five self-contained bars – each fully glitzed with Christmas lights and decorations – the Errigle offers something for everyone at this time of year, whether you want to catch a band or some comedy upstairs; watch the Boxing Day football; meet family and friends in the lively main bar; or enjoy the peace of the wood-panelled Oak Room – which dispenses an impressive range of craft bottle and cask beers. Star names such as Magic Rock and Beavertown are stocked alongside Irish craft pace-setters Knockout or Farmaggedon, and – any day now – the Errigle will unveil its canning machine, which will allow drinkers to take their favourite draught beers home.
• Pint from £3.90. 312-320 Ormeau Road, 028-9064 1410, errigle.com. Open Mon-Sat 11.30am-1am, Sun 10am-midnight
Bow Bar, Edinburgh
This plain Edwardian-style pub, complete with vintage booze and cigarette advertising, prides itself on being a mature, civilised seat of considered alcohol appreciation. If you want to swerve the hordes in Christmas jumpers and comedy antlers thronging the Royal Mile, this is the place to do it. Pointedly, the Bow Bar eschews all Christmas decorations. The staff, however, will happily point you to a suitably festive drop from the bar’s award-winning collection of 310, mainly Scottish, whiskies. Try the heavily sherried, Christmas cake-y Glendronach or Glenfarclas single malts. Bow Bar’s beer selection (eight cask taps, six keg) is impressive, too. Its bottled menu is a Rolodex of the hippest names in US, UK and Scandi craft beer.
• Pint from £3.40. 80 West Bow, 0131-226 7667, thebowbar.co.uk. Open Mon-Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11.30pm
Cambridge Blue, Cambridge
The two Belgian and US craft beer-stacked fridges that greet you as you enter the Cambridge Blue lay down a marker. This is both a charming spot, pleasantly hidden away on the edge of town, and a pub that – with 100 malt whiskies, 14 cask beers, 12 craft keg lines, up to seven real ciders – is serious about the drinks it serves. It celebrates Christmas in style, too. On 17 December, the Cottenham Brass Band will swing by for its annual evening of carols and mulled merriment.
• Pint from £3.40. 85-87 Gwydir Street, 01223 471680, cambridge.pub. Open Mon-Sat noon-11pm, Sun noon-10.30pm
House of Trembling Madness, York
Tucked into the eaves of a 12th-century Norman house, suitably decorated with animal skins and taxidermy, House of Trembling Masses (HOTM) has character to spare, even before it switches on the Christmas fairy lights. It is also a very useful place to do some Christmas present shopping. Downstairs, the HOTM bottle shop contains a huge selection of superlative, often rare, world beers, and it also sells seasonal gift packs and more than 20 Christmas ales. Staff are currently raving about Gordon Xmas ale (“It’s designed to keep the damp out,” enthuses one), an 8.8% Belgian take on a traditional Scotch ale. Note: HOTM’s bar only holds 55 people. At peak times it may have to turn people away.
• Pint from around £3.50. 48 Stonegate, 01904 640009, tremblingmadness.co.uk. Open Mon-Sat 10am-midnight, Sun 11am-midnight
Bank Tavern, Bristol
In the Bank you have the best of both festive worlds. This is a back street, town centre boozer where, on cold nights in the manic run-up to Christmas, you can escape the melee. Park yourself by the open fire and enjoy this tavern’s traditional ciders and local cask ales (Arbor, Beer Factory, Twisted Oak and more). Yet, on Saturday 10 December, the Bank gets bang into the Christmas spirit with its annual festive knees-up. From 7.30pm, there will be live reindeer, a brass band, carols, snow machines and mulled cider as the party spills out onto the street.
• Pint from £4, 8 John Street, 0117 930 4691, banktavern.com. Open Sun-Wed noon-midnight, Thurs-Sat noon-1am
The Cumberland Arms, Newcastle
This cosy 19th-century pub (traditional, basic wood-panelled interior, stained-glass, log-burners), effortlessly blends the old – regular folk/Irish music sessions – and the new. Not least by inviting Newcastle street food stars such as Sghetti Monster and Fat Hippo in to feed its drinkers on Friday nights. December is a busy month for the Cumberland: its upstairs live venue will host a festive bluegrass evening, Ho Ho Hokum (10 December), and the 18+ panto, Impro Pantso (23 December). Then on Christmas Eve, amateur musicians from across town will gather for the pub’s annual carols session. All of this can be enjoyed with a cutting-edge selection of craft beers and cask ales, including Northern Alchemy’s creations, brewed in a shipping container behind the pub.
• Pint from £2.90. James Place Street, Ouseburn, 0191 265 6151, thecumberlandarms.co.uk. Open Mon-Wed 5pm-11pm, Thurs 3pm-11pm, Fri 3pm-midnight, Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11pm
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