Join us
We hold monthly branch meetings and social events in Harrogate, Knaresborough, Ripon and beyond.
BRANCH DIARY
Beer festivals and events
Find out about upcoming beer festivals and beer related events in our area.
EVENTS
Ale Trail 2025
The Ale Trail is back for 2025.
Full details of the participating bars can be found on our Ale Trail page.
ALE TRAIL
Latest branch news
Awards
Pub of the Year was awarded to The White Bear in Masham.
Camra's Allan Gauld presents the certificate to manager Sue.
Joint winner of Brewery Taproom of the Year is Theakstons Black Bull in Paradise in Masham.
Photo shows Camra's Allan Gauld (left) presenting the certificate to Nichola (visitor centre manager), with staff members Dave and Bea behind the bar.
The award was shared with Harrogate Brewing Co's taproom. Award presentation date TBC.
Most Improved Pub of the Year was awarded to The Unicorn Hotel in Ripon.
Allan (centre) presents the certificate to pub manager Rob and duty manager Dawn.
Harrogate news
At the Harrogate Tap (Pivovar) the manager, Tadhg, has moved on and Josh has taken the reins.
At Husk Beer Emporium; Bar cask ales are £3.50/pint on Wednesdays.
At The Shepherd’s Dog (Mitchells & Butlers) the tenants of 12 years have left and the pub is now closed.
https://www.yourharrogate.co.uk/local-news/harrogate/shepherds-dog-pub-closes
Little Ale House’s new side room is likely to be open in the second week of July.
Harrogate Brewing Co. (formerly The Old Bell) has a planning application alteration to turn the upper floors into holiday accommodation (25/01640/DVCON and 22/02231/FUL), the pub is unaffected.
The Devonshire Tap has a function room for hire.
Knaresborough news
1858 has changed hands and is now being operated by Appetite For Life (So!Bar, Tap on Tower Street, Devonshire Tap House). Currently no cask ales. Expect pizzas in due course.
Blind Jack’s is one of six finalists in the Best Beer Pub category of the Great British Pub awards competition. May we wish Christian and Alice every success at the awards in September. The other Yorkshire pubs are Granville’s Beer & Gin House in Horsforth and the Riverhead Brewery Tap in Marsden.
https://www.yourharrogate.co.uk/local-news/harrogate/iconic-knaresborough-pub-nominated-for-national-award
The Cricketers (Marston’s) which was destroyed by fire in April is up for sale for £100k.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163782878
At Mother Shipton Inn (Admiral Taverns) the tenant of over 15 years has retired and the pub is now closed with the pubco continuing to advertise for a new tenant.
Six Poor Folk are to hold a music festival on Saturday 19th July. Tickets £25.
The Old Royal Oak had a car crash into it! Pub still trading.
Ripon news
The Ale House at The Ripon Inn (The Inn Collection Group) has closed, never really having lived up to its name and therefore not successfully attracting ale drinkers. The hotel bar remains open serving at least one cask ale.
The Golden Lion (Greene King) has re-opened again, one changing beer, often from Greene King.
The South Lodge (Star Pubs) has re-opened following a five-month closure and a £360k refurbishment. It is currently serving Theakstons Best and Quencher.
Other towns and villages news
The Black A Moor at Bridge Hewick is now open seven days a week (from 3pm weekdays). Pizzas available Wednesday to Saturday evenings.
The Black Swan at Burn Bridge (Star Pubs) has closed.
General Tarleton at Ferrensby is set to re-open later this year after being taken on by award-winning TV chef, Tommy Banks and others as part of a new venture, Jeopardy Hospitality.
https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/25173136.tommy-banks-takes-general-tarleton-knaresborough
The Moor & Pheasant at Dalton Moor (closed 2018, formerly West Park Inns) is up for sale at £600k together with the caravan site at the rear. A planning application to North Yorkshire Council for change of use to a convenience store together with four apartments remains undecided from March last year (ZB24/00643/FUL).
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/163467368
The Grantley Arms in Grantley (closed 2022) has been acquired by nearby Grantley Hall and is to re-open this summer.
https://www.yourharrogate.co.uk/local-news/harrogate/luxury-ripon-hotel-to-open-its-own-country-pub
The Sawley Arms in Sawley is up for sale at £1.39m.
The Ship at Aldborough has closed again. (MB)
The Black Lion at Skelton on Ure is still looking for a tenant/manager, the coffee and cakes are still being served.
Brewery news
Harrogate Brewing Co is to hold its Hookstone Hooley beer festival, 8th - 10th August. Tickets available at https://harrogatebrewery.co.uk/beer-festival
Note that the taproom will be closed to non-ticket holders for the duration of this event.
Rooster’s Brewing Co is to hold its Suds with Buds beer festival on Saturday 5th July, 2-8pm. Full details at
https://www.roosters.co.uk/pages/suds-with-buds
Black Sheep Beer Festival at the Visitors Centre 29th - 31st August.
If you have any pub, club or brewery news that we are not reporting here please email harcamra@hotmail.co.uk
Plan a local pub crawl...
KNARESBOROUGH
This small market town boasts a diverse selection of great real ale pubs.
HARROGATE
RIPON
The spa town with victorian inns, modern bars and micropubs.
From one-eyed rats to unicorns, this cathedral city has a variety of real ale watering holes.
Branch boundary map
You may be surprised by how large an area Harrogate and Ripon Camra covers, from Thornton Watlass, near Bedale in the north, to Pool in Wharfedale on the edge of Otley in the south. The map below shows the branch boundary.
Branch diary
MEETINGS
SOCIAL EVENTS
PRESENTATIONS
26 July 2025
Branch meeting
Tap on the Tutt, Boroughbridge.
12:30pm.
Saturday 26 July 2025
Boroughbridge walkabout
Following our branch meeting at Tap on the Tutt. (See meetings tab for details).
Saturday 2 August 2025
Harrogate Ale Trail social
Starting at Rooster's Taproom at 12pm, The Oatlands at 1pm, and Harrogate Tap at 2pm, then continuing the trail around Harrogate.
Sunday 17 August 2025
Knaresborough Ale Trail social
Meeting venue and time TBC
Saturday 30 August 2025
Ripon Ale Trail social
Starting at The Portly Pig.
Time TBC
Saturday 2 August 2025
Club of the Year presentation
The Oatlands, Harrogate at 1pm.
Beer festivals and events
Beer scoring and the Good Beer Guide
You are probably aware of the ‘Good Beer Guide’, National CAMRA’s flagship publication which lists the best real ale pubs in the UK. But what you may not know is how those pubs are selected to appear in the Guide. The answer is that it is largely via beer scores submitted by CAMRA members from all over the country. If you are a CAMRA member you can send in beer scores. If you’ve ever wondered why your favourite pub isn’t in the Guide, this may well be because you, and others, haven’t entered scores rating the quality of beer there. By beer scoring, you can contribute to the process of selection of pubs that go in the Good Beer Guide. Here's how...
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 30,000 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.
How do I edit my scores?
If you submit an incorrect score by mistake or decide you want to change a score, here is a link to step by step instructions on how to edit your submission. EDIT MY SCORES
Want to know more?
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For more information about CAMRA, or to become a member visit camra.org.uk
