PUB, CLUB AND BREWERY NEWS - Autumn 2020

 

 

Harrogate

 

The Swan (on the Stray) has not re-opened following lock-down along with a number of other Market Town Taverns pubs; the lease at the Swan is now up for sale, free of tie and at a nil premium.

 

 

Knaresborough

 

The Mitre (Market Town Taverns) re-opened on 11 th September with a reduced beer count, and now closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

 

Track and Sleeper is the name of a new micropub expected to open this autumn on Knaresborough’s station platform, it will be operated by the owners of the Rockingham Tap in Swinton, near Rotherham. Planning consent has now been approved by Harrogate Borough Council (20/02164/LB).

 

 

Ripon

 

The Black Swan now serves two cask ales, namely Doom Bar and Swan’s Best (Theakston Best).

 

The Golden Lion is under new management and now offers an interesting range of up to five good quality ales, both local and from further afield. Hambleton's 'Nightmare Porter' appears to be a regular.

 

 

Outlying areas

 

The General Tarleton Inn & Restaurant at Ferrensby has not re-opened since lockdown. The premises / business is now up for sale, offers over £1m.

 

The Lime Tree Inn is a new-build pub opened in Great Ouseburn. It serves two Rudgate beers and two changing beers. The pub was built by a local builder after the village’s only pub, the Crown Inn, was closed by Wellington Inns who then refused to sell the pub to the villagers despite its Asset of Community Value (ACV) status. https://www.thelimetreeinn.com/

 

Hideaway Kitchen at The Dunsforth (formerly Dunsforth) at Lower Dunsforth closed at the end of August.

 

The Three Horseshoes in Killinghall has now closed for good after an application for demolition by Punch Taverns and construction of a convenience store and four flats was approved by Harrogate Borough Council (19/04606/FUL).

 

The Anchor Inn at Langthorpe has re-opened under new management after the previous tenant quit following unreasonable demands by Red Oak Taverns. Oakham Citra is now the single regular cask ale.

 

The Cross Keys Inn at Markington is up for sale at £375k. This is a two-pub village with both pubs owned by the same owners; the Cross Keys closed in 2016.

 

The Staveley Arms (formerly Stags Head) at North Stainley re-opened in August after a closure of over a year. Three regular cask ales are served, namely Black Sheep and Theakston Best Bitter together with Timothy Taylor Landlord.

 

 

Club News

 

St Robert’s Club on Robert Street, Harrogate has not re-opened since lock-down.

 

 

Brewery News

 

All the breweries in our region were selling cans, bottles and/or mini-kegs during lock-down and most are continuing to do so now.  Check Pulling Together or WhatPub to go to the individual brewery shops online.

 

Cold Bath Brewing on Kings Road are now serving three cask ales.

 

Harrogate Brewing have increased brewing capacity  with new fermenters.  The Taproom is now open Thursday through Sunday every week.  Up to four cask ales are available. The brewery suffered an arson attack recently, but have managed to continue brewing, and to keep the tap room open.

 

Rooster’s taproom at Hornbeam Park is open Wednesday to Sunday. They are now using their own online ordering system for table service, instead of the 'Round' app.

 

Turning Point’s taproom in Knaresborough is open Fridays and Saturdays only.

 

Note that the above taprooms are now all card only, and, with the exception of Cold Bath Brewing and Roosters, they prefer you to use the Round app to order your beers!  If you do not have a smartphone / tablet or cannot use the app please speak to staff who will take your order and card/contactless payment.

 

 

Card/contactless payments

 

The following establishments are now only accepting card or contactless payments:-

 

Harrogate

 

Cold Bath Brewing

Disappearing Chin

Harrogate Brewing

Little Ale House

Major Tom’s Social

North Bar

Rooster’s Taproom

Starling Bar

 

Knaresborough

 

Bear at Carriages

Groves Inn

Six Poor Folk (online payments only)

So! Bar & Eats

Storm Bar & Restaurant at Dower House

Turning Point Taproom

 

Note that all Sam Smiths houses remain strictly cash only.

 

 

If any of the above is incorrect or out of date, please let us know by emailing harcamra@hotmail.co.uk or ‘Submit Update’ via www.whatpub.com

 

 

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