Cubley Hall
A very popular place, as a pub, eatery or wedding venue and a particular favourite with yours truly. The main pub part has a posh side at the top end, a long family room (the conservatory) with easy access to the outdoor area on sunny days, a large and comfortable main area and a dark corner near to
the bar for more intimate gatherings or assignations. There is also a small room which is typically used for
private functions or meetings.
The food menu covers a range of styles and has vegetarian/vegan options, also a 'specials' selection on the large screens. Also a good range of draught and bottled beers, ciders, real ales and hot drinks such as tea or coffee.
Car parking is ample and well-lit at night. The children's play area is well set up and even tempting to adults. Also a beer garden in well-maintained grounds and a lovely bandstand. Plenty of room for a kick-about if you bring along a kid and a ball.
Cubley Hall is located a good distance from the centre of Penistone, up the steep
hill of Mortimer Road. It is a long but pleasant walk from penistone centre on a summer's day but is mostly downhill on the way back. No. 21 or 22 Buses come from Penistone every hour in a circular trip. (The bus information was true around 2010 but might have changed).
History
The leaflet from Cubley Hall says that it had been a moorland farm on a pack-horse
route in the 1700s, then a gentleman's residence with four acres of gardens and
grounds during the reign of Queen Victoria. According to the leaflet, it became a children's home in the 1930s (Penistone Almanack 1984 says 1950). The Children's Home was closed by Barnsley Council in 1980. An annual running cost of £100,000, inconvenient location for children travelling to special schools and a degree of unruly behaviour by some of its children attending Penistone Grammar School were said to be factors in making the decision to close it. A year later, Penistone Town Council attempted to find other uses for the community, including a swimming pool being suggested.
Way back in 1980, the former truck drivers John Wigfield and David used redundancy money to buy Cubley Hall, and didn't they do a good job? I recall snooping about the site when they were making their modifications and being enthusiastically shown around by one of them as the floor screed was still drying, just before it opened in 1982. They built it up into a popular pub, restaurant and hotel. In 1990, an old oak-beamed stone barn was converted into a large carvery and function room, useful for large wedding parties or the odd disco or two but it would also be used for live shows. Accommodation was added in 1995 with the addition of twelve en-suite rooms. In 2007 they proudly celebrated their 25th anniversary (bottom row pictures) with a series of events, including the New Orleans Strollers jazz band and children's entertainment. A Victorian-style 'Garden Pavilion' was built at the lower end of the site in 2008 with panoramic views over Penistone and distant hills, although everyone called the structure a bandstand.
Around that time, a wonderful assault-course-style facility was set up as a children's outdoor play area and proved to be very popular. The great Covid-19 lock-down of 2020 allowed them time to refurbish the building and to give the bandstand a coat of paint.
In 1921-22, a new housing estate was being constructed in Cubley to become a 'model village' for the Cammell Laird workers. It had been designed by architect Herbert Baker, who had worked on New Delhi with Sir Edward Lutyens. Unfortunately, the geat depression came along with the shut-down of industry and mass unemployment towards the end of that decade and the Cubley plan came to an end. The final picture on the bottom row above shows the original, symetrical street plan. It is still on display in Cubley Hall near to the bar. Take a look at the Cubley History page for more on the unfulfilled model village.
The resident and benign ghost, Miss Florence Lockley is affectionately known as 'Flo'. The story goes that she had been married at Cubley Hall in 1904 (another account gives the Methodist Chapel) and there are photographs of her and her family on the walls of Cubley Hall behind the raised area. Also see the Spooky Stories page for more about Flo from when the hall had been used as a children's home (for orphans, etc.).
Some more info
Address: Cubley Hall, Mortimer Road, Penistone S36 9DF
Telephone:
01226 76 6086
Charlton Heston (1924-2008): "Political correctness is tyranny with manners."