Thanks for the recommendation. Ticked all the boxes. You're lucky to have that as your local.

Excellent - happy to help.

Eric France's adverts RIP.

Does it still sell Kangaroo on its Specials board ?

That was the family birthday meal place for us many many years ago until parents divorced and we all grew up. I thought it was very dull as a pub though, although The Crown and The Weavers wernt much better either, but they had a pool table which kept my old man happy.

It's been through quite a few changes of ownership - it's now an Ossett Brewery pub that serves food. No Kangaroo that I'm aware of - the food is good though. Pie Nights on Mon-Thurs - pie and a pint for a fiver, happy days.

It's just a straightforward, proper local pub thesedays, with a nice outdoor seating area, pool table and a telly in the tap rom. Kids and dogs are welcome and the landlady knows how to keep beer.

I'm easily pleased thesedays.

It will have been close to about 15 years ago since I went in. I still return to my roots now and again as my dad still lives in Ossett, but I have to say pubwise it now is a ghost town. Gone were the nights of the teenagers packing Ossett town centre on a Friday night outside Cock & Bottle or Carps. Down to the Manhattan for a bit of a chat with the local dj's then either over the road to Sams Fitness Club / Nightclub to see a few fights kick off or down the road to the Thorn Tree for the lock in till 3am. And then Sunday morning football followed by a stripper in the Tavern I think (next to the social club, opposite OTT).

These days its just The Maypole and generally nothing else.

Sad really as Ossett holds so many memories for me.

All of that is indeed gone, and Ossett is much better for it.

It's not a pub ghost town though - you're making the mistake of assuming Ossett revolves around the town centre; we've got our very own real ale trail now, with the Brewers Pride down Healey Rd, The Tap on The Green and The Old Vic on Manor Road, all selling top quality real ale and two of them doing food.

Maybe it's an age thing, but what we've got now suits me just fine.

Your real ale trail would take probably a good few hours walking time to get around those three !

Used to live off Healey Road, but the Brewers Pride just seemed to be so way off the circumference as in, just situated in an odd place. You went there for a drink, where could you go next ?

The Tap, I hear good things off my mates who still live in Ossett. In my day The Tap was the The Masons and Id probably preferred to turn left to have a drink at the cricket club than right to the Masons.

I remember once been totally bored and had a few drinks with a few mates at home before we decided to venture out to a pub for a few hours. We tried something different to try and go out somewhere different instead of the usual places and put every pub in Ossett into a hat, did an FA Cup style draw and then rolled a dice for the scores to decide the winner and continued in Cup format till the winner was the place we went for the night. I think the Cricket Club won, so we chucked the names back in the hat and got a taxi to the Cock & Bottle instead !

Having been one of those teenagers doing the cock & bottle/thorntree/dirty thirties thing and now being real ale in the Tap fan I have to admit Ossett is a better, more easy going night out these days. Still has its moments though, with the maypoles drugs busts as regular as clockwork and the Tawny still able to draw a varied clientele!

Do I know you !! ??

Back on topic of Ossett... has the Wo Sang shut down yet ? Best Chinese takeaway in the area, but last time I called in to say hello, Im sure the owners were having to relocate because of the flats above. Owners daughter was in my year at school and always had a chat with their son too as he was mad on tennis at a time when I was high up the pecking order at Ossett School in tennis terms in our final years.

Wo Sangs Barbecue Spare Ribs can and never will be beaten by anyone, full stop.