Harrogate

At the Coach and Horses, renovation works continue by the new owners, Provenance Inns. The pub is now expected to re-open early July.

Cosy Club (part of the Lounges chain) have received planning consent for a new bar on Cambridge Street (22/01063/FUL). They have also applied for a premises licence and a pavement licence. Cosy Clubs used to serve at least two real ales, however only a very few still serve any ales.

https://thestrayferret.co.uk/cosy-club-plans-new-bar-on-harrogates-cambridge-street

Frog is a new restaurant and bar on King’s Road. No real ale, but nine keg taps.

Husk Beer Emporium, who currently operate a bottle shop on King’s Road, have been granted planning consent for a new ‘craft bar’ on Station Square (22/00622/FUL).

Knaresborough

The Half Moon has been sold by its independent owners of over nine years to Trust Inns. The good news is that manager Tom, and partner Molly, will stay on as tenant managers. The pubco are not enforcing any beer tie, so we should continue to see an interesting and varied beer line-up.

Storm Restaurant and Bar (at the Dower House Hotel) is no longer serving real ale following its acquisition by The Inn Collection Group at the end of last year.

Turning Point taproom has re-opened following its winter closure. Open Fridays and Saturdays, it now serves just one cask ale, together with eight of their keg beers.

The Wellington, Knaresborough’s last remaining open Sam Smith’s pub is to close, the managing

tenants having resigned.

Ripon

Ripon Rugby Club beer festival is 25th June. Tickets £7.50. www.riponrugbybeerfestival.co.uk

At the Turks Head (aka Yorkshire Rose) which has been closed for some years, the application for change of use to residential has been approved by Harrogate Borough Council (21/04086/LB).

The Unicorn Hotel (Wetherspoons) has a series of monthly tap takeovers scheduled. Breweries include Roosters, Saltaire, Rudgate, Grey Hawk and York Brewery.

Outlying areas

The Ship at Aldborough has re-opened following a six-month closure after a fire in their kitchen.

The Askwith Arms (formerly Black Horse) at Askwith, between Ilkley and Otley, is currently up for sale for £595k freehold.

The Horsebreakers Arms at Hutton Sessay (no real ale) at the White Rose Holiday Park near Thirsk re-opened in March following a long closure which pre-dates the pandemic.

The Blue Bell Inn at Kirby Hill, which was up for sale at £475k since last July, is now under offer.

The lease of the George Country Inn at Wath is up for sale for £100k. The pub re-opened last July after a long closure.

Club News

At Bilton Working Men’s Club the Committee and membership have agreed to change the name of the Club to more accurately reflect the diversity and inclusivity of its current and future members and guests. Members are to be asked to suggest and vote on alternative names.

National Reserve Club (no real ale) closed last year following the dissolution of the club after 108 years. Planning consent has been refused by Harrogate Borough Council for change of use to convert the property into two dwellings (21/05205/FUL).

So how do I score the quality of the beer?

You don’t have to be an ‘expert’ to begin scoring your beer.  However, it is not about your personal favourite beer receiving the highest scores!  You may try a beer that isn’t to your normal taste but what you need to consider is the quality of that beer, how well the pub has kept it and served it, and score it according to the general guide below.  It is a simple 0 to 5 point system, with half points being used if your opinion of the beer falls between two categories:

0.   No cask ale available

1.   Poor.  Beer is anything from barely drinkable to drinkable with considerable resentment

2.   Average.  Competently kept, drinkable pint but doesn’t inspire in any way, not worth moving to another pub but you drink the beer without really noticing

3.   Good.  Good beer in good form.  You may cancel plans to move to the next pub.  You want to stay for another pint and may seek out the beer again

4.   Very Good.  Excellent beer in excellent condition.  You stay put!

5.   Perfect.  Probably the best you are ever likely to find.  A seasoned drinker will award this score very rarely

How do I submit my scores?

In order to submit your scores you need to either login to CAMRA’s online pub guide www.whatpub.com on a desktop computer or a smartphone, or you can use the GBG app on a smartphone.  On WhatPub you will find over 35,000 real ale pubs from all over the UK; these are not all Good Beer Guide pubs, merely pubs that serve real ale.  The same pubs can also be viewed on the GBG app or you can just select the Good Beer Guide pubs.  In order to start submitting scores via either WhatPub or the GBG app you need to:-

1.      Login to WhatPub.  To do this you need your membership number and your CAMRA password.  Or, in the GBG app link your CAMRA account by following the ‘Profile’ icon in the bottom right-hand corner.

2.      You can then search for your pub by name.  Be careful here as there are many pubs in the country which share the same name.   Try searching the pub name and the town or postcode.  The What Pub web page on a mobile device also gives you the option to search for real ale pubs nearby, very useful if you are in an unfamiliar town.

3.      Once you have found your pub, go to the ‘Submit Beer Scores’ box on the right-hand side of the screen (on the WhatPub desktop version), tap ‘Submit Beer Scores’ on the tab bar underneath the pub photo (on the mobile WhatPub version), or tap ‘Beer Scoring’ immediately above the pub description (in the GBG app).

4.      Simply fill in the date and your score, then as you begin typing, the brewery name should automatically appear underneath where you are typing.  You do not have to enter the name of the beer you are drinking but if you wish to do so once you have entered the brewery name you should  be able to click on the arrow in the beer box and a drop down list of that brewery’s beers should appear.  In some cases the beer you are drinking may be new or a one off by the brewery so may not appear on the list, if this is the case you can simply type in the beer name.  Select the beer name, click ‘submit score’ and your score will be entered into the database.  (You can also optionally include the price per pint and comment on the beer under ‘Advanced options’).

It is as simple as that.  An added bonus is that a record of your scores is kept so you can look back (on either WhatPub or the GBG app) to see the beers you’ve had and how you rated them.

Find out more at https://camra.org.uk/nbss