IT’S come to something when you’ve got to form an orderly queue to wait for the train into town.
Instead of milling around on the platform, those of us who wished to catch the 7.04 from Slawit last Saturday found ourselves lined up behind a cordon, with five men in luminous jackets guarding the station.
Only when the train arrived (late, as ever) was the cordon lifted.
The reason for this strange security system is obvious to anyone who lives in the Colne Valley – the Real Ale Trail.
Every weekend hundreds of drinkers descend on Slawit and Marsden.
Many are rowdy, some are in fancy dress and a few are unable to make the crucial distinction between a railway platform and a urinal.
After a couple of years of this, I’m prepared to put up with a few traffic cones at the station if it calms down the boozers for a bit.
Last Saturday’s cordon succeeded, the 30-odd Real Ale Trailers toned down the raucousness when they approached the station and glimpsed the hi-vis tabards.
Once on their way to Huddersfield though, it was back to type.
With no security on the train, the well-oiled revellers roared and yelled all the way into town.
On Monday the Examiner reported that many pubs on the trail, including the Commercial in Slawit and the Riverhead in Marsden, are taking further measures to try to tone down the raucousness.
From midday to 8pm on Saturdays – when the rowdiness is at its height – these pubs will not serve any lager or shots, the preferred tipples of many Real Ale Trail participants.
I hope it works.
It would be great if the pub crawl could get back to what it was in 2009/10 before the stag parties started coming – a friendly journey through the beautiful Pennine countryside accompanied by a few pints of fine ale.
