Just booked 3 nights in Croft Mill and need up-to-date recommendations for
a) drinking b) eating and c) off road cycling. Not necessarily in that order. Anything else people would suggest we do in that area?

Heres an off road route for you.

http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/hebden-bridge-singletrack-route/

Blazing saddles bike shop in town can also advise on routes, ask for the peckett well and blue pig descents.

Old Gate for Beer and Food.
Mooch, Rim Nam Thai, Organic House good for food.
Strava for routes 🙂

Don’t forget….

Anything else people would suggest we do in that area?

Hardcastle crags is a nice area to walk through.

Er, buy some chips, look in shop windows?

The chippy on Crown Street is nice.
Avoid the Shoulder of Mutton in the main square – horrible beer, tourist prices.

Heptonstall is great if you like a bit of history.
Lovely ruined church, Sylvia Plath’s grave if you have any teenagers.

Lots of live music at the Trades Club, always loads going on around town.
Visit the Tourist Info place when you arrive – they’ll have a flyer giving a day by day breakdown of wha g’wan.

Are there any good pubs in Hebden other than The Old Gate?

Most of the people who’ve come to visit me in Calderdale have been surprised to find fewer pubs and cafes than they expected there.

Fox and Goose would be a good call for an ale or cider.

Are there any good pubs in Hebden other than The Old Gate?

Stubbing Wharf is fine.
New Delight has camping and mountainbike parking.

I don’t go anywhere other than OldGate as I like it there, except on Friday nights when it’s horrendous.

If you fluke your timings you could get a beer at the Blue Pig club at the bottom of the Blue Pig descent, probably not at night though – opening hours are a bit random. Olive Branch Turkish restaurant is good – certainly better grub than most Hebden restaurants. The hideous Vine restaurant has thankfully shut down. Ask around in town for tip-offs about gigs and under-the-radar club nights.

Heaps of great riding – really depends what you’re after. Blazing staff are very helpful and friendly. Pack all your wet weather gear. Enjoy yourselves.

The Railway is OK.
Lots of damp canal dwellers, always a lurcher around somewhere and a real fire on the go in the winter.
Can be a bit ‘local’ but always friendly.
Good juke box. No food.

Really like the white lion pub in heptonstall. Great choice of beers. First pint normally goes down well if you have walked up from Hebden Bridge. Our lass just said the fox and hounds is good as its a cooperative pub.

fwiw – Stay well clear of The White Swan pub in the town centre, unless you feel the need to buy some A-team stimulants, or bump into big bubba, that old cellmate who still gives you nightmares, despite the fact ‘he was gentle with you’

Old gate etc, as above

What’s that place next to moyles called.

The Railway

Cheers Brant. Only been there once. Liked it in a proper pub way.

sports and social for real hebden. old gate if you’re from london 😉
to be honest, most of the pubs are fine, wouldn’t really go in the white swan, albert, railway unless i was dragged in, fox and goose good, old gate better tho not cheap, blue pig great.
you could try riding up the buttress for riding. for entertainment, people in hebden seem to smoke an awful lot…
enjoy

Come out of your digs and turn right. There you will find the “Pennine Club”.
My dad is one of the younger members (he’s 83) and on the committee and likely to nursing a pint all night.
Your custom for even one pint would be appreciated as they are on their uppers a little and new faces are always welcome.
And they have a nice snooker table upstairs, if that’s you thing.

Job sorted.

Old gate is nice too.

Il mulino on the square is a nice Italian restaurant.

Oh another one. Good for a meal and drink is the White Lion, this time in Hebden it self.

Both Heptonstall pubs are good. The New Delight up at Jack Bridge is an absolute shit hole.

If you want to go further afield for a really top notch meal hop on the train to Sowerby Bridge and 5 mins walk from the station you’ll find Gimbals. Best restaurant I’ve ever been to…

Bear Arts in Tod is a gem. Mahoosive selection of bottle conditioned beers and a nice food platter to have with them

Thank you one and all. Greatly appreciated.

All of the above, plus Cafe Solo – on the bridge on the main road – for top coffee.
Have fun.

If you venture to sowerby bridge, two good curry houses, shyiba and village. Good pubs too…

I only ever hear bad stuff about the White Lion – overpriced mediocre food, catering for tourists who like that ‘branded’ feeling in their drinking holes. Old Gate is a bit branded too, but at least is has decent grub for a pub, and there’s a wide choice of beers, some not ridiculously priced, plus there’s some atmosphere there. Not been in the White Lion for a while though, so I can’t comment from personal experience. Cafe in Heptonstall is supposed to be a very good bistro in the evenings.

Yep, cafe in Heptonstall is top notch. Nipped in for a sarnie or something the other week during Heptonstall Festival and had a really good bite to eat. Evening menu looked really good.

Both Heptonstall pubs are good. The New Delight up at Jack Bridge is an absolute shit hole.

Agree with the former- disagree with the latter. We camped next to New Delight and the pub was fine for getting really loaded/shitfaced in.

I don’t go anywhere other than OldGate as I like it there

Agree with the former- disagree with the latter. We camped next to New Delight and the pub was fine for getting really loaded/shitfaced in.

I’ve not been in for a few years. It’s now run by the owners, rather than a resident landlord. The owner is Ben Tasker, who’s brother Dan runs Bridestones/Hebden Bridge Brewing Company, so they have much better beer on now.

Old Gate it aint, but I would hope Ben isn’t keeping it resembling a “shit hole”.

I ‘think’ we camped there in August 2012 (when there was the massive thunderstorms).

Not a fan of Oldgate. Mrshora is tighter (and more vocal) than I am. She didn’t like the prices in there and I was giggling as she was complaining…

Personally I’d prefer an ancient pub thats not renovated into a mix of new n old. Just not me. 🙂

Whats the pub called straight across from Cafe Cali? Their food was boiled to within an inch of its life.

Yeah we stayed at the new delight. It did the job.

Dark, dingy, looks like it was decorated about 40 years ago, full of guys wearing John Deere fleeces getting battered and swearing non-stop when we were in there with the kids for a meal when we camped next door. One of those places where you walked into the bar and the guy playing the banjo in the corner with no teeth stops playing and everyone turns to look at you. Seemed to be some kind of kids nursery going on at the back as well with about 6 kids not talking to each other with their heads stuck in phones/tablets playing games whose numbers dwindled over the course of our meal when adults arrived and removed them from the New Delight Nursery.

The food was marginally better than the surroundings though. Decent steak and kidney pud.

Compared to many (all?) other rural pubs I’ve been into in Calderdale, I’d reckon it must be down there at the bottom of the pile.

Maybe if I lived on a farm and drove a tractor I’d think it was awesome. But I don’t.

DaveyBoyWonder – Member

Dark, dingy, looks like it was decorated about 40 years ago….

Don’t go to Tod, for God’s sake.

Or the Roggerham Arms past Worsthorne – the locals nearly exploded when Mrs S ordered two pints then paid for the round herself.

Cycling related – Cycle-Recycle link – is worth a visit.
And if you’re driving through Todmorden, see if Harry Ingham’s is open, opposite Morrisons.
Proper old fashioned bike shop, you might just get a bargain.
I ended up with a road bike last time. 😐

If you like posh food, both the Old Hall in Tod and Aux Delices in Mytholmroyd (yeah, I know..) are both excellent.

Going to try Gimbals next.
🙂

beer in the new delight is sublime. 😀

DBW well you did come over from Halifax.. they were probably worried about their wallet/wheels on their car 😉 😀

+1 for the Trades Club, one of the best music venues in the country.
Whatever happened to the Hole in the Wall? Are there any plans for it to re-open?