Pub of the week

DUKES HALIFAX

A quiet renaissance has been happening in Halifax down the last few years, with good restaurants, cafes and bars proliferating. At the miniscule Grayston Unity, you’ll find not only great beers but a varied live music programme, København in Westgate Arcade has a craft ale and Scandi vibe and now there is Dukes, a cool bar at the northern entrance to Borough Market.

Elly and Sean Pattison-Walker have transformed what was a charity shop into an attractive space; the main room is lightfilled and lofty, with tall stools by the floor-to-ceiling arched windows overlooking the Victorian arcade, comfy banquette seating and bold colours on the walls.

Upstairs there’s an equally pleasing room with old brick walls currently featuring an exhibition of extraordinary portraits by local artist Alan Coulson.

The range of beer is extraordinary. Cask-wise, there’s Northern Monk Eternal, Brass Castle Misfit and a still cider, Pulp Raspberry. Among the 15 on keg, you’ll find the likes of Lost + Found, Wander Beyond’s Maple Dream, and Vienna Pale from Pilot. In the fridge, there are 17 alcohol-free beers and a wide range of natural wines. Not much is on offer in the way of food at the moment, other than nuts and crisps, but there are plans for something more substantial in the future.

Above tables and chairs outside is the swinging sign with a jaunty elephant design – the logo of the Halifax Dukes, a speedway team which operated at the Shay Stadium.

■ Dukes Halifax, 16-18 Market Arcade, Halifax, HX1 1NX. Tel: 07305 100054. Open: Tuesday to Saturday, 12-10pm; Sunday, 12-8pm; closed Monday.