Officially my favourite place to drink and eat in Harrogate. It's definitely a pub first and an…read moreeating establishment second, but the food is so good. Like if you met a really nice person and chatted away for hours, thinking, this person is just really, really cool then they casually mention in a coy and embarrassed fashion that they wrote the book you're holding in your hand. Amazing. So they're really nice and they're blowing your mind, quite literally. Anyway, I'm drifting off the point here. The analogy is, this place is relaxed, welcoming and has a fantastic 8 page drinks menu then you find out their food is wonderful too
The beers are the main event. Bottled continental lager, black sheep, timothy taylors, 3 guest beers on tap, fruit beer and much, much more. They even have 2 pint carryout available if you want more for the way home! (NB: don't drink and drive kids, it's not big and it's not clever, besides, you might spill it)
They have an upstairs dining room that I haven't tried out, yet. They do food in the bar downstairs 12-2:30pm and 6-7pm, quite narrow time periods, just serving for an hour in the evenings. The bar food includes sandwiches (e.g. Applewood cheddar and chutney ~£4.50), pate, soup, fish pie (a personal recommendation, ~£8.50), sausage and mash (~£6.50). All excellent. I had the finan haddie soup (smoked haddock, £4.75) and homemade soda bread at the weekend and it was absolutely divine.
Dogs welcome in the bar when they're not serving food.
Fabulous atmosphere pre-christmas. Cosy, steamed up windows and packed out.
Recommended for chatting with friends, a first date, sunday lunch, reading the paper with coffee recommended for pretty much anytime :o)