HARROGATE ALE TRAIL
We hope you enjoyed our first Harrogate Ale Trail.
Thanks to all of those who submitted their entries for the prize draw. We were impressed by how many of you visited all 14 venues during the ale trail week.
And the winners are:
Star prize of a meal and drinks for two at Starling
Paul Horner
£25 Husk voucher
Nigel Macdirmid
£25 Little Ale House voucher
Bill Sutterby
Case of Daleside beers
Sarah Hocquigny
Case of Daleside beers
Nicola Crane
6 cans of beer from Tap on Tower Street
Molly Dunn
CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2024
Alex Hocquigny
Bottle of spiced rum from Devonshire Tap House
Megan Brecken
Congratulations to all!
The prize draw took place at The Harrogate Tap on Sunday 8th October.
All winners have been notified.
You can still download the ale trail leaflet, and use it as your guide to the best real ale bars in Harrogate.
Download Ale Trail
Latest news
Harrogate
The Stone Beck at Jennyfields (Punch Taverns, rarely serves real ale) which closed in August ‘temporarily due to a licence irregularity’ remains closed. The pubco are seeking a new tenant.
Knaresborough
Blind Jack’s have been brewing some collaboration beers with local breweries in preparation for their sixth birthday in November. The pub has also introduced a loyalty scheme offering points for every £1 spent in the pub. See website for details: https://blindjackspub.co.uk
The Mitre (Market Town Taverns) has new managers, together with a new menu, including pizzas. Currently four real ales. The lease of the pub remains up for sale.
The Track & Sleeper which won our ‘Best Newcomer’ award this year has introduced ‘winter’ hours, now even shorter, opening at 2pm Tuesday to Thursday (closed Mondays) and closing at 6pm on Wednesdays. Also opening an hour later (1pm) on Sundays. They may also close early at quiet times. You are advised to check before visiting!
Ripon
The Golden Lion (Greene King) is closed again, and advertising for a new tenant. It is not expected to reopen until January at the earliest.
Portly Pig is a new bottle shop and taproom on Kirkgate in the former police station, latterly Oasis florist and prior to that the Ripon Gazette office, opposite the Royal Oak. Three real ales from local breweries eg. Hambleton, Pennine, Wensleydale, together with five keg options.
https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Portly-Pig-Ripon/100094889937843
The Ripon Inn has re-opened after a three-and-a-half-year closure during which the former Ripon Spa Hotel went into administration and The Inn Collection Group purchased and refurbished the hotel. The pub is called Ale House (formerly Turf Bar & Bistro) and serves up to six local real ales, e.g. Black Sheep, Helmsley, Rooster’s.
South Lodge (Heineken) has re-opened with a new tenant after a six-month closure. Two or three real ales, eg. Timothy Taylor Landlord, Theakston Summit (extra chilled).
https://thestrayferret.co.uk/ripons-south-lodge-to-reopen-tomorrow
Other towns and villages
The Crown Inn at Grewelthorpe (closed February 2023) has been put up for sale by Admiral Taverns for £350k following the recent offer made by the community campaign trying to buy and re-open the pub.
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/140458259 The campaign is still accepting share pledges, if you would like to make a pledge to help save this pub, please see the campaign website: https://fotc.org.uk
..and just down the road in Kirkby Malzeard, the campaign to save The Henry Jenkins (closed 2011) has taken another step forward with the awarding of a £330k ‘levelling up’ grant.
https://thestrayferret.co.uk/campaigners-toast-330000-grant-to-relaunch-village-pub
Meanwhile, owner of the eastern annexe has submitted a planning application to develop outbuildings adjacent to the pub into a holiday cottage (ZC23/03121/FUL).
The Black Lion at Skelton on Ure has had its application for Government levelling-up
funds approved. https://www.skeltonblacklion.com
Club news
Bilton Club (formerly Bilton Working Men’s Club) has increased its cask line-up from one to three. Two Daleside including Legover, and Tetley’s Bitter to replace the keg Tetley’s.
St Robert’s Club now serves two Black Sheep ales, one from the upstairs bar. The club is now open every evening Monday through Friday.
Starbeck Working Men’s Club has renamed to The Forest Club. At least one real ale served here.
If you have any pub, club or brewery news that we are not reporting here please email harcamra@hotmail.co.uk
This small market town boasts a diverse selection of great real ale pubs.
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
OTHER
Monday 13 November 2023
AGM
Winter Gardens, Harrogate
7:30pm
Sunday 21 January 2024
Branch meeting
Harrogate Tap
11:30 (opens 11:00).
To be confirmed.
Saturday 18 November 2023
Thornborough Cider Trip
A visit to the cidery located between Ripon and Masham.
11:40 bus from Ripon.
10 minute walk to the cidery.
Saturday 16 December 2023
Knaresborough Christmas Crawl
Meet at the Track and Sleeper from 12:30
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...
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.
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