Markets, Parking, Regular Events, Paramount, Links

The Paramount
This building is nearly a century old now and serves the purpose of Town Hall, Cinema and Theatre. It even has a Masonic Hall. It has been a cinema from cinema's earliest days with a full programme of live performance and cinema events, much more than is included on the Penpictorial events list. For live event tickets/enquiries, Tel. 01226 76 7532 or call in 10am to 2pm weekdays or any time when the cinema is open. Credit or debit cards are gleefully accepted when pre-booking a seat. For the film schedule, Tel. 01226 76 2004, or see Penistone Paramount website. Films are cheaper on Tuesdays, at around £3.50 each (usually £5 in the stalls).

Popcorn, pop and sweets are available in the foyer and - see how civilised we are in Penistone - you can have a beer in a wobbly glass as you watch the film or live act. The bar room is open before events and during the intermission, when an ice-cream lady wheels out her little cart in the old style. The Yummy Yorkshire ice-creams are very good in their little tubs. Try the liquorice flavour. Best to wait for the queue to diminish first. Go on, say it: "I'd love a Kia-ora". Good old 'Pa-pa pa-pa-Pearl and Dean' have gone now but that old Green Kleens advert sticks in everybody's minds.

Other Websites
Please take time to visit these Penistone websites for other listings: 'This is Penistone' and 'Visit Penistone'. The new (and excellent) Penistone Town Council website lists council-inspired events. In particular, have a look at the Calendar Page for what's going on in council-run facilities.

This Page
Please note that the various Fitness/Zumba/Pilates classes are notorious for either suddenly disappearing from the schedule or moving their times about. If a contact phone number is given. it is wise to check up first. This page is not updated as frequently as the big Events List but JB keeps an eye on any notified changes and will quickly make any necessary updates.

PGS Lettings
New facilities at Penistone Grammar School are available for hire by the public after school hours and at weekends. These include: sports halls, football pitches, tennis courts and computer rooms. The school is currently being used for the local music festival, Penistone Young Farmers, and local dance and drama groups. For more information on school lettings please contact Mrs Atha: j.atha@barnsley.org, Tel 01226 76 2114.

Markets and Shopping
Don't just head towards Tesco, why not explore our town instead? Even if it is not properly signposted from the car park, there are some real delights in Penistone proper. Best if you park in Penistone rather than Tesco's. Penistone shopkeepers, pubs, cafes and market stalls are a friendly and talkative bunch and they need your support. You will enjoy discovering that they are real people that you can talk to, not megastore functionaries with plastic smiles. If you wish to explore our town, you would be best ignoring signs to the two-hour 'Town Centre' car park - but go to the unlimited Town Hall car park instead.

First, the basics. Penistone has a main street of small shops but it becomes particularly alive on Market Days and Saturday mornings. Half-day closing in Penistone is nominally Wednesday but some shops also close on Saturday afternoon. Market Day is every Thursday, 8.30am to 4pm, with a smaller market on Saturdays up to about noon. There is also a monthly Farmers' Market, 9am to 1pm-ish on the Second Saturday of the month (website 1, website 2).

Here's a picture from Thursday 23rd December 2010. It was very cold but quite busy and the first time that the new Market Barn was used by traders. It hadn't been finished and part of it was screened off.

The new market place has an acclaimed oak barn covering to keep the worst of the weather out. "Battle through the rain and gales!" was Barnsley council's radio advert for Penistone market. At our altitude, we do tend to have cold and windy weather but it's seldom as bad as all that. Even so, the barn structure is exposed to high winds from the supermarket car park.

On Market days, Penistone Church usually has light meals, tea, coffee and buns but there are also other places where you can get a snack or a meal. SK's cafe is very popular at the end of the row of shops and you can talk to real Penistone people at their relaxed best. We like to join in uninvited to any conversations that are happening. Ward's chip shop also has a popular cafe or you might like the genteel atmosphere of 'The Loft' coffee bar near the market place. The Spread Eagle has been renovated in recent times and is gaining ground as a good place for a meal. Further on, the Old Crown is also a comfortable place for a relaxing pint. You won't be drowned out by loud music in either pub.

In the Community Centre on Church Street (left of the church on the one-way street) on Market Day, you can find home-made produce and refreshments in the 'Country Market' (W.I. cakes, marmalade, etc.) The great Penistone Archive is also available on Market Day in a side room of the Town Hall (Paramount). Local historian Neville Robuck spent many years compiling information on just about any local topic. The church also has an interesting guide booklet for a good historical read.

Penistone has plenty to discover and some interesting shops. There are ladies' fashions which are a real magnet while the lads disappear into one of the pubs for a quick sneck-lifter. Have your hair or your nails done. Even a tattoo if you really must. There is also a dress shop, garden centre, hairdresser and two pubs near Bridge End traffic lights. Around the corner is a fireplace shop. From Penistone centre, you might pop down Shrewsbury Road to visit the traditional Wentworth Arms (opposite the Railway Station and easy parking) for well-kept real ales. While you are down there, Green Kleen's emporium is full of surprises and worth a look around, with everything from pet food to gas bottles to household wares. You will notice a very enticing smell of fish and chips from the Dolphin fishery across the road. They can be recommended. There's even a carpet shop on another corner.

On your way back up the hill you might call at the Paramount for a film, organ concert or live show or just to collect some interesting leaflets. Penistone centre has more or less two of everything, with newsagents, cafes, take-aways, hairdressers, butchers, pubs, fancy goods, dresses, furniture and Frank Platts electrical goods, along with the usual solicitors, banks, building societies, estate agents, opticians and a dentist. Now you can see why you need to park at the Town Hall. Two hours in Tesco's car park isn't enough for a proper visit and a sit down.

Parking
All parking in Penistone is free but main streets are restricted by double yellow lines. The road signs will direct you to Tesco's car park on 'Tescopoly Drive' but it is time-limited and you won't have much time in the town if you go there first. Other car parks are: Town Hall/Paramount Cinema, occasional spaces by Penistone Church and time-limited parking by the Spar/Co-op. The car park behind the Spar is not time-limited.

You can also park at the Railway Station or on the short hill opposite the Dolphin Chip shop (after a visit to Green Kleen's emporium, of course) but be prepared for a bracing walk up the steep hill of Shrewsbury Road, past the Town Hall/Paramount Cinema. You might be able to park in the Community Centre car park on the other side of the church, where a sign proclaims that it isn't for the community (that's a very Penistone quirk). If you don't mind a six-minute walk up a hill, you might park on Wentworth Road near the bollards which block the road. You would have to approach it from the Railway station end of the road. After parking up, go up the nearby lane to bring you out opposite the Cop Shop. Penistone centre is just around the corner.

How to Effectively Notify
A message to Club Secretaries:
Here's a nice little nag from a former Club Secretary. Too many events miss my Events List because you were slack or lazy. Your poster went up three days before the event and half of the details were missing. Here's how it often goes: you spend weeks organising and booking the hall, entertainer, caterer, bar, get the licence, bribe the council, organise the essential tea-brewing, ring up people to bring their stalls along, etc. Your lowest priority was publicity. "Never mind", I heard you say, "I'm busy and one week's notice will be enough, won't it. After all, the members know and other people will see it when they go shopping. Then they will tell their friends."

Well I have news for you, Sunshine, a lot of people go to work in the daytime or shop out of town or at T**co's. So you see that they won't see your misspelt, badly punctuated and uninformative poster until it's too late. And with the start time missing they won't even know when (or whether) to come.

Look at all of the 'Time not stated', 'TBC', 'Price not stated' and so on in the 'What's On' list. Those are nearly all wasted entries. Get the picture? So, take some advice from your sagely Uncle Jack, who has done all of this stuff before. Here's a little exercise for you. Pretend that you want to go to an event. Consider what you need to know and what you would like to know. There, you've cracked it; those are what should be in the advert. Add a postcode and the SatNav users will find it too. Bob's ya uncle and Fanny's ya aunt.

Get the rest of the committee to join in and slap a few posters up, seeing as it costs next to nowt. Accept no excuses. Advertise more than two weeks before the day, give plenty of information and don't assume that everyone knows your pet acronyms. Put a nice picture if you like on but most of all give useful details: Date, Place, Postcode, Parking, Start and Finish Times, Admission Fees, Concessions, Who is organising it, What it's in aid of, Suitable for Families?, Refreshments in the price?

Oh and don't forget a UK SpellCheck if you are printing the posters from a PC. Locals might regard US spelling in a local poster as sloppy. I will anyway. You might download Scribus free Desktop Publisher software (something like MS Publisher or InDesign) for a neat result. It is also useful for newsletters, ransom demands, etc.

People might then hear about it, turn up to make it a big success. This time you will be covered in shining glory and on your way to being the first Chairperson to make it from the slums. But if you don't bother they will all blame you when it bombs. I might join in too.

Here's the way: Posters in Robinson's News; Schofield butcher's shop window and other shops (including the Co-op); send it in to This is Penistone and Visit Penistone (email); contact Penistone FM (news@penistonefm.co.uk) for their 'Community News' slot; tell everyone who you know; put it my Guestbook (nobody ever does); put it in the Library's Events Book and contact Where Can We Go. Now you are cooking with gas. Brass Bands might also contact the band listing website.

Related Events Pages on this Website
Please note that old pages with external links will suffer from linkrot. The links were valid at the time.

• Current Events List
• 2011 Events List
• 2010 Events List
• 2009 Events List
• 2008 Events List
• 2007 Events List

• Penistone Parades and Galas
• Folk Festival 2011
• Star Search 2011
• Emley Show
• Penistone Show
• Bonfire Night
• Dressing Well
• Remembrance Ceremonies
• Yorkshire Day 2006
• HM Queen's visit to Huddersfield 2007
• Christmas Lights Ceremony, 2009
• Penistone at Play