Sam Smith's nut brown ale is

I'm that bit older than some of you,but going back to the 60s around here there was Tetley's ,John Smith's ,Sam Smith's, Dutton's ,Ramsden's, Hammond's,Bentley's,Hemingway's,and of course there was Tetley's big rival which by the way I was too young to sup,but I know a lot of people younger than me say that I have heard say Melbourne bitter was much better than Tetley's.Tetley's took over Melbourne brewery circa 1960 and did away with the other famous Leeds brew "Melbourne bitter".As far as I'm concerned the only beer that came close to Tetley's in that era was "RAMSDEN'S" and I think Tetley's took over them too, and Ramsdens wonderful mild disappeared too.Times have changed and they will continue to change,and this changing era began with the the Thatcher govt making brewery's sell their pubs and the biggest change of all was all day drinking

I started drinking in pubs about 1996, and I've never had a decent pint of Tetleys. It seems like if you want to mourn something, mourn the demise of it as a decent beer 20 odd years ago.

I feel for lost jobs, but in a market place full of real ales which are increasingly available in pubs and bars again, I won't need to boycott Tetleys. I hadn't bought a pint of it in about a decade anyway.

I think until about 1994 you could still get a good pint of Tetley's in the Gaping Goose or the Miners in Garforth (might be a year out). And they were damn good pints at that time. Like the majority on here have said though, they were few and far between where you could get that, and since just nowhere.

I think at one point but I could be a couple of years out, the Gaping Goose was regarded as the best pint of Tetleys around that side of Leeds.

My local in Horsforth was (and still is, as far as I know) a John Smiths pub, but kept a smashing pint of directors. Not the biggest fan of John Smiths, but they always kept a good pint in there. I'd imagine they still do, although it's hardly local anymore for me!

I never had much need for Tetleys.

The Brown Cow at Whitkirk used to serve a good pint of Tetleys when I used to drink there . Unfortunatley thats over 18 years ago now. When I used to come home on leave from London always remember the Tetleys welcome to Leeds sign at the side of the railway, new I was home then. Mind you the platform was only 100m further on!

The supporters club used to be great for a pint of Tetleys in the early 1990's my mates dad had it,when i played out of there.He was called Gordon " rowdy" Yates and cleaned all the pumps through with cotton wool etc. He worked at Tetleys before getting the job and his son Roger worked there for a long time after.It was well known for a very good pint.

My grandad worked for Tetley's about 40 years ago and my old man grew up on Tetley's. However since i started drinking back in 2000 my old man always steered me away from tetley's unless you knew the pub. It wasn't a case of tetleys sending out rubbish beer, it was the way the pubs treated the pumps. Cracking pints were always available in the Shoulder of Mutton in Bruntcliffe.

However i have realised their are far better bitters to tetleys. The offerings from Leeds Brewery are cracking and with the demise of tetleys i really hope they flourish. On top of that I'll take Copper Dragons Golden Pippin and Black Sheep any day.

Its a sad day when a brewery leaves its home, just like when Boddys left Manchester. However their is no loyalty anymore in these big breweries, all they care about is brass. They say it wasn't cost effective to run the Leeds plant. To me that's a load of nonsense. lets face facts, the area that the site takes up is worth a hell of a lot of money if redeveloped, something of which the council are more than happy about. So i just wonder how much Carlsberg will be making out of the land sale. Considering its a prime area I'm guessing a hell of a lot

I was nodding in agreement about Sam Smith's, Leeds Brewery and Adnams ... then you mentioned Guinness.
That's not beer, it's nitrokeg mock-stout, a triumph of Blarney advertising.

Anyway, back on topic.
Many have mentioned how far apart decent pints of Tetley's were but there were dozens of places you could get a decent pint of it. You could hardly move in coughHunsletcough for places that sold good Tetley's.
When I did the pub hunt, I don't recall getting a bad pint anywhere and that was twenty pubs for a start.
(I didn't get the T-shirt, for some reason I got a Tetley's bath towel )

Back then my two favourites were Tetley's and Boddington's but my taste (and I guess, the average bitter-drinker's taste) has changed since then and I prefer a more-strongly hopped beer nowadays, such as Timothy Taylor's Landlord.
Or, if fancy a lighter, session beer, Copper Dragon's Golden Pippin takes some beating.

Never liked Boddingtons. Partly because it's Manc-water, but mostly because it smells of wet dogs. It probably tastes like wet dogs too, but I've never plucked up the courage to lick a wet dog for comparison so I can't be sure. Very unscientific of me I know.

Boddys is a terrible pint. Its the Fosters/carlsberg/carling of bitters

I believe that the Barbudo was speaking of the halcyon days of pubs from the 1970s when indeed a pint of Boddingtons (a proper pub-pulled pint not f'kin widget can crap) was nector in a creamy glass although very difficult to find on this side of the Pennines.

In '76/77 a mate of mine got involved with CAMRA and we spent most weekends chasing after his holy grail and ticking off the pubs in the guide, there were very few in Leeds but plenty of Tetleys pubs in Bradford who were still serving hand-pulled bitter and very acceptable it was too as was the Taylors in the Keighley area and Websters (yes really) in Halifax.

There is a story of The Turkey Inn at Gooseye nr. Keighley which for many years (like about 25 years) I thought was the legendary Brigadoon, we searched for it in '77 and after three weekends driving across the moors actually found the place, quaffed deeply of its product (one of the North East breweries at the time I think) on a foggy night in a similar scene to the pub in "American Werewolf in London" and then left, never to find the place again despite trying many times.

You may remember the poster known as Puig-Aubert, I was recounting this tale to him at his house one night and of how it was a ghost pub, he put me in his car and drove down an impossibly narrow and impossibly steep hil which was only 500 yards from his front door, and there in the valley was my Brigadoon, The Turkey Inn, and the beer, home brewed on the premises, was like Ambrosia, no you daft bugger, not rice pudding, Ambrosia, the drink of the Greek Gods.

I have not returned since and sincerley believe that The Turkey Inn only appears once every twenty five years, I will be 72 when I can next drink from its fount.

Websters? You're having a laugh. The worst bitter ever made IMO. Like brown dishwater.

You are young and too hasty Grasshopper.

I speak of the afternoon during the Christmas break of 1976 when armed with the CAMRA guide we sallied forth for the road across the moors from Hebden Bridge to Keighley and in doing so visited three Websters pubs during the short two hour afternoon opening period of the era - we got a lock-in in the last one after the dray men arrived and wanted their thirsts slaking - a lock-in in the afternoon.

I still don't know how I drove home.