Branch meetings
Monday 21 October - 19:30
Tap on Tower St, Harrogate
Social events
Friday 20 September
York Beer Festival - 11:06 train
Saturday 5 October
Malton crawl - 11:06 train. Meeting at Brass Castle
SEE MORE >
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 a micropub.
From one-eyed rats to unicorns, this cathedral city has a variety of real ale watering holes.
We need your help to survey our branch pubs. Find out more here.
Latest news
Harrogate pub news
The Circle Bar at Harrogate Theatre, historically an interval bar, is now open to the public Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 4pm. https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/news/posts/2019/july/the-circle-bar-opening-soon/ They are also holding a charity beer, gin and arts festival, 'Culture Hop', on 20th/21st September.
A new cafe bar, District Bar has opened at 61 Cold Bath Road with four keg fonts, no real ale.
Harrogate Brasserie has reopened as The Inn at Cheltenham Parade with Adrian Sykes, formerly of the Royal Oak in Ripon, as the tenant manager.
Husk Beer Emporium, a bottle and can shop with one handpulled beer, has opened at 18a Kings Road (opposite Christies Bar).
Little Ale House now opens until 9pm Sundays.
At the Old Bell, the manager, who had also been managing the Swan since the end of last year, has left the company (Market Town Taverns).
A new bar, Jack's Bar is to open soon next door to Trotters on Cheltenham Parade.
The Pit has re-opened under Arc Inspiration's Manahatta brand, though still not expected to serve any real ale.
Zinc on John Street, formerly Zinc Cafe, is now more of a bar, serving keg beers and some cans, e.g. Rooster's.
Knaresborough pub news
The Commercial (formerly Borough Bailiff) has re-opened with a new managing couple after a closure of over six months.
Six Poor Folk is now open seven days a week.
Ripon pub news
The Unicorn (Wetherspoons) has a 'Meet the Brewer’ day booked in for Wednesday 18th September, from 17:30 to 19:30, with York brewers ‘Rudgate Brewery’. They'll be showcasing their core range of beers and even some of their seasonal and special release beers as part of the event.
Staying with The Unicorn, Wetherspoons 2nd International Real Ale Festival commences on Wednesday 9 October, but CAMRA members have been invited to a pre-festival launch night on Tuesday 8 October to sample some of the beers a day early. Light snacks will also be provided.
Other towns and villages pub news
In Beckwithshaw the Smiths Arms (Chef & Brewer, Greene King) are piloting serving real ciders from boxes, so far with some success.
In Grewelthorpe the villagers and the Parish Council are campaigning to save The Crown Inn, the village's only pub, from purchase by the same developer as owns the Henry Jenkins in Kirkby Malzeard where the villagers there continue to fight against development of that pub.
The Greyhound in Killinghall is closed again after having been re-opened just six months.
At the Scotts Arms in Sicklinghall, Punch Taverns have applied for planning permission for two dwellings.
Club news
The following is the complete list of clubs serving real ale which have recently been surveyed and all welcome Camra visitors on production of a valid Camra membership card:-
Social clubs:-
Bilton WMC – Daleside Old Legover only
Harlow Hill Club (Otley Road) – Tetley Bitter plus one changing beer
Harrogate Conservative Club – Tetley Bitter only
Harrogate Londesborough Club (Club of the Year) – Theakston Old Peculier (from the wood!) and one changing Morland beer
Knaresborough WMC – Theakston Best, sometimes Old Peculier (and fantastic views from beer balcony)
The Oatlands formerly Oatlands Mount Club – Daleside Blonde and Tetley Bitter
Starbeck Conservative Unionist Working Mens Club – two changing beers
Pateley Club (Pateley Bridge) serves Theakston Best Bitter plus one changing beer, e.g. Timothy Taylor (awaiting survey).
St Robert's Club (Robert Street, Harrogate) serves a regular Black Sheep variety and is open Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings.
Sports Clubs:-
Harrogate Cricket Club – Black Sheep Baa Baa and Tetley Bitter plus one changing ale, often including a second Black Sheep variety.
Harrogate Golf Club – Wainwright plus one changing beer
Harrogate RUFC - serves a regular Black Sheep Best Bitter and one changing ale from Greene King.
Knaresborough Golf Club – Theakston Lightfoot plus one changing beer.
Masham Golf Club - Theakston Best Bitter only.
Oakdale Golf Club (Duchy) – Tetley Bitter plus one/two changing beers.
Pannal Golf Club – Theakston Best Bitter plus one changing beer.
Ripon City Golf Club serves a regular Timothy Taylor's Golden Best and a Theakston Best Bitter together with one changing ale, usually Morland.
Rudding Park Golf Club – Rooster's Highway 51 only.
Brewery news
BAD Co brewery at Dishforth (text to follow from BW)
Black Sheep Brewery has won three silver and six bronze awards at the International Beer Challenge 2019. The silver awards were for Riggwelter, Black Sheep Ale and Limoncello Sour.
Turning Point Brewery is to relocate to the old Rooster's Brewing site at Grimbald which is about three times larger than their existing site at Kirkbymoorside; this should allow them to increase production by two to three times. They have already indicated that they would like to open a tap room at the brewery.
Branch diary
MEETINGS
SOCIAL EVENTS
OTHER
Monday 9 September 2019
19:30
Branch Meeting
Blind Jack's, Knaresborough
Monday 21 October 2019
19:30
Branch meeting
Tap on Tower Street, Harrogate
Tuesday 12 November 2019
19:30
AGM
Old Bell Tavern, Harrogate
Friday 20 September 2019
York Beer Festival trip
11:06 train from Harrogate, or meet at the festival.
Saturday 5 October 2019
Malton crawl
11:06 train from Harrogate, or meet at the Brass Castle Brewery Tap.
What Pub surveys
The Harrogate and Ripon branch has 180 real ale establishments in its area which stretches from Pool and Otley in the south to Thornton Watlass in the north, Middlesmoor and Lofthouse in deepest Nidderdale in the west to the outskirts of York in the east.
Over half of those pubs and clubs are in the towns of Harrogate (50), Knaresborough (20), the city of Ripon (12), and Boroughbridge (9) whilst Masham has seven and Pateley Bridge just four.
Over 100 surveys have been undertaken in the last six months and their details updated on WhatPub. However that still leaves a lot of pubs which have either never been surveyed or where the survey needs updating. Many of these are in the more remote places only occasionally visited by our members.
If you find yourself out in the Dales this summer visiting the pubs in our area please take a moment to log into WhatPub and check the details online, specifically the 'Last surveyed on' date at the bottom of the page (ignore the 'Updated on' date, this can have a recent date following batch updates etc.). If the last survey is over a year old, or absent altogether (never surveyed), then please do your bit by going to 'Submit Updates' and submitting an update for the pub. (Alternatively you can download and complete a survey form).
Ask the publican what are the regular beers and how many changing beers (with examples), and check that the opening hours of the pub and food hours are correct? Is it fully disabled friendly (including lavatory), dog friendly, child friendly, does it have wi-fi etc.? Importantly we also need to know whether or not a pub uses Autovac. Maybe you're reading this and you are a publican, in which case please check the details of your own pub and submit an update if anything at all is incorrect or missing.
Tip: If you use the desktop version of WhatPub instead of the mobile version, you will be prompted for most of the items to check.
Below is a map taken from WhatPub showing the north of our area where majority of the pubs outside of the main towns need surveying (P=Pub, C=Club, R=Restaurant). Below the map is a list of the pubs which we are targeting for surveys. Please help if you can by visiting any of these pubs this summer and carrying out a survey, and together let's get the remaining pubs surveyed and updated.
Also, importantly, if you think any pub is worthy of consideration for the Good Beer Guide next year, don't forget to submit beer scores too.
Thank you everyone in anticipation of your help.
Crab & Lobster, Asenby (restaurant)
Black Swan, Dishforth
Crown Inn, Dishforth
Black Swan Hotel, Fearby, Masham
Half Moon Inn, Fellbeck
Galphay Inn, Galphay
Grantley Arms, Grantley
Crown Inn, Grewelthorpe
Queen's Head, Kirkby Malzeard
Olde Oak Inn, Low Laithe
Stags Head, North Stainley (currently closed)
Freemasons Arms, Nosterfield
Yorke Arms, Ramsgill (restaurant, no real ale when last surveyed)
Sawley Arms, Sawley
Black Lion Inn, Skelton-on-Ure
George at Wath, Wath
Bruce Arms, West Tanfield
Also, in the south (not on the map):-
Royal Oak Inn, Dacre Banks
Stonehouse Inn, Thruscross
You can download a survey form below. It's available in PDF or Microsoft Word format.
Want to know more?
Email:
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For more information about CAMRA, or to become a member visit camra.org.uk
