Live Music — Pubs in Harrogate

Alexandra

11 Prospect Place, Harrogate HG1 1LB

Extensively refurbished and reopened under the Nicholson's brand, the Alex' has been decorated in an elegant Victorian style with dark grey walls and woodwork, cream ceilings and a tiled floor round the counter. The room is decorated with many prints and black and white photos of the Harrogate area as well as a small painting of Queen Alexandra when Princess of Wales. Three banks of pumps serve up to eight cask ales from a range of brewers both local and national. Sports screens dominate throughout.

Blues Cafe Bar

4 Montpellier Parade, Harrogate HG1 2TJ

Small single-room bar in the town centre overlooking the lovely Montpellier gardens, it is modelled on an Amsterdam café bar and has been going for more than 30 years. Noted for live music seven days a week with three sessions on a Sunday it is popular with music lovers and can get very busy. Upstairs is the ‘Gin Bar’ and 'Yorkshire Tapas' restaurant, a room with seating in large booths where customers can watch the band on a large TV screen while dining or drinking. Food is served at lunchtimes and evenings every day. Four handpumps dispense beers mostly from local breweries, often including one dark beer. This pub uses Autovac.

Charlie's Place

62 Otley Road, Harrogate HG2 0DP

A two room pub with a small, dark and intimate bar to one side and a larger brighter room with tables and chairs to the other. Motorbikes and Hollywood seem to be the theme in the left hand room and the bench seats have light pipes across the back, I suppose idiosyncratic sums up the place best. The atmosphere is a little bit like a sixties jazz club. There is also a popular outside smoking /drinking area at the front. No longer serves real ale.

Christies Bar

20 Kings Rd, Harrogate HG1 5JW

A long thin bar with the counter running almost the length of the back wall, it's at ground level but gives the impression of being a basement. Nice stone flag floor, exposed stonework and painted brick with random balustrades, it has a number of discrete little seating areas. There are several screens and machines in some of the little cubby holes. Board games are available.

Claro Beagle

Coppice Gate, Ripon Road, Harrogate HG1 2DR

Large, 1960s pub on Harrogate's northern outskirts. A single room is broken up into several drinking areas including space for two pool tables. In addition there are a number of fruit and games machines, and a big screen TV showing sports. Decorated in a mix of light greys and beiges with some mosaic walls. Pretty much an estate pub but fun in its way and it does get busy. There are four handpumps but currently only one cask ale.

Harrogate Conservative Club

61 East Parade, Harrogate HG1 5LQ

To the left-hand side of a central bar there are leather sofas and chairs, and to the right a number of tables and chairs. Outside is a heated smoking area. A single ale is served, namely Tetley Bitter.

Empress

10 Church Square, Harrogate HG1 4SP

An imposing pub on Harrogate's much revered “Stray”, a parkland around part of the town centre, and next to the roundabout that bears its name. The pub is divided into two areas, on the right hand side is a pool table and two sports screens, whilst the left hand side is laid out with tables and chairs and more of a dining area - the pub is well known for its Sunday carveries. There is a function room upstairs which is used also for dining. The pub was refurbished in the Autumn of 2017. This pub uses Autovac

Hales Bar

1-3 Crescent Road, Harrogate HG1 2RS

Harrogate’s oldest pub and with a regionally important historic interior which is listed on CAMRA’s Regional Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. The pub was used in the filming of Chariots of Fire. The lounge has a Victorian-style interior with original gas lighting over the bar and there’s a separate snug which is also used as a tea room. Food is served lunchtimes. There is acoustic music on a Sunday afternoon, acoustic open-mic on a Wednesday and karaoke on a Thursday night. The pub prides itself on its floral displays in season. This pub uses Autovac.

Knox

Knox Lane, Harrogate HG1 3AP

The Knox is a converted 300 year-old former farm house and farm building in a quiet suburb, on the fringe of Harrogate, a community pub well known for its home cooked food. The pub consists of a large comfortable lounge bar/dining area and a characterful “converted barn” bar where a pizza oven provides additional menu choices, and there is a quiz with pizza only menu on Tuesday nights. There is a large car park and a beer garden. Four handpumps dispense two regular Marston's beers and two changing beers one of which is sometimes from a local brewery. 2B buses from Harrogate stop on Knox Lane adjacent to The Knox. Buses run every 30 minutes up to early evening, then hourly until late.

Harrogate Londesborough Club

10-12 Bower Road, Harrogate HG1 1BA

Members only social club close to Harrogate's transport hub, though Camra members are welcomed. To the left is a large open room with two full sized snooker tables, a pool table plus a darts board and a TV showing sports. To the right is a carpeted lounge area with separate bar, and upstairs a concert room available for private hire. The club serves a regular Old Speckled Hen, and a changing beer, either a second Morland beer or Theakston Old Peculier. Harrogate & Ripon branch Club of the Year 2019.

Ivory

The Ginnel, Harrogate HG1 2RB

Located in the ground floor of the Travelodge on the steep hill that is The Ginnel, it opens from 6.30pm or noon Friday to Sunday until 2:30 am (midnight Sundays).

Montey's Rock Cafe

3 Corn Exchange Building, The Ginnel,, Harrogate HG1 2RB

SO! Bar & Eats Harrogate

36 Otley Road, Harrogate HG2 0DP

Stone built open plan corner pub on the road leading to Harlow Carr Gardens formerly a Tetley's house now operated in tandem with its sister pubs in Knaresborough and Ripon. Totally refurbished in Summer 2012 to a modern theme. There's a kitchen on the ground floor and it's very busy serving food with an extensive menu and wine choice. Four handpumps dispense a regular Timothy Taylor's Landlord and one, sometimes two, changing ales, usually sourced locally.

Last Post Social House

30 Cold Bath Road, Harrogate HG2 0NA

Converted from the slightly shabby Slip Inn community pub into a modern bar in 2016 reflecting changes elsewhere in Harrogate. The internal area has been rearranged to give a clear modern space complemented with steel and wood furniture and fittings. Three hand pumps serve beers from Yorkshire breweries including Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor. with one changing beer. This pub uses Autovac.

Stone Beck

Grantley Drive, Harrogate HG3 2XS

Located in the middle of the Jennyfield housing estate it looks to serve its local community well. It has a traditional public and lounge bar layout served from a central servery. The front of the building has four odd turret affairs, under the one over the public bar is a pool table and under the one over the lounge is a table football machine. There are traditional buttoned leather upholstered benches with tables and chairs in the public bar, while the lounge is furnished with armchairs around tables. Only very rarely serves any real ale.

Tap on Tower Street

Tower Street, Harrogate HG1 1HS

Completely refurbished in modern style by new operators in 2017, however the three-room layout is unchanged. Food is available all day, mainly in the form of hot and cold snacks rather than formal cooked meals. Take away bottles and cans are available from fridges in the public bar and the rear room has a selection of over 300 board games. There are four handpumps in each of the front bars with up to six changing beers, and one pump devoted to cider. Harrogate & Ripon branch Most Improved Pub 2019.

Den

1 Nidderdale House, Cambridge Road, Harrogate HG1 1NS

A cellar bar, with four pool tables, table football and some large screens. There is occasional live music. No real ale.

Prince of Wales

49 High Street, Harrogate HG2 7LQ

A two bar pub in Starbeck High Street close to the station, the front public bar takes up most of the width of the pub with a smaller lounge to the side, and there's another room at the back with a pool table. The bar has been decorated in conjunction with its move from Enterprise Inns to its Craft Union subsidiary in 2018. There are two hand pumps in the front bar, but only one real ale, John Smith's Bitter, is served.

Inn at Cheltenham Parade

26-30 Cheltenham Parade, Harrogate HG1 1DB

Formerly the iconic Harrogate Brasserie, a mainstay of Harrogate for nearly 30 years, Timothy Taylor's purchased this establishment in 2017 continuing to run it as a restaurant and boutique hotel under the same name until September 2019 when it was refurbished and is now operating with more emphasis towards drinkers as suggested by the new name. The main bar area is in the centre with high tables and stools, and low tables in the window. There is a restaurant area to the left, and a separate raised carpeted area on the right-hand side. There are 14 rooms, and dinner, bed and breakfast packages are available for those wishing to stay over. The pub is open for breakfast 8am to 11.30am daily. Five handpulls on the bar serve a range of Taylor's beers.

Major Tom's Social

The Ginnel, Harrogate HG1 2RB

Described on its website as a 'youth club for grown ups' this is a cafe bar housed in a former antiques emporium upstairs from a vintage shop. It provides real ale, craft keg, pizza, music, and art all in one package. Simply furnished with wooden tables and chairs, and some bench seating. The décor is in a mix of styles to suit its eclectic customers, including some art work of pictures and pottery for sale. The four handpumps dispense a changing variety of ales, usually from a range of smaller breweries often including the local Rooster’s brewery, and Turning Point from Knaresborough. A cask cider, eg. Weston's, may also be available. There are interesting keg beers, and bottles and cans from the UK, US and Europe; the bottle shop offers a takeaway discount.

Bilton WMC

Skipton Rd, Harrogate HG1 4LL

A long room with a bar on the right, with upholstered seating. At the right hand side is a separate concert room with its own bar. Bilton Martial Arts Academy are based here and practice Tuesday and Thursday nights. There are also jive classes on Monday evenings.

Oatlands

1 Coronation Grove, Harrogate HG2 8BY

Extensively refurbished in late 2019, The Oatlands comprises three rooms, a large room, to the right-hand side as you enter, with the main bar, pool table and darts board, a carpeted area with tables and chairs, and also a small private meeting room. To the left-hand side as you enter is a large concert room with bar and a low stage, and the room laid out with tables and chairs. Non-members are welcome but need to sign in and will be encouraged to join if they become frequent visitors (ask at the bar for an application form). This club uses Autovac.

Harrogate Club

36 Victoria Avenue, Harrogate HG1 5PR

Starbeck Working Men's Club

4 Forest Avenue, Harrogate HG2 7JJ

Little Ale House

7 Cheltenham Crescent, Harrogate HG1 1DH

Harrogate's first micropub, comprising one room with the counter at the back, and a downstairs cellar room. As with many micropubs, the beers are kept cool in a glass cabinet to one side. Five handpumps dispense cask ales usually including a dark beer and there is always at least one real cider. KeyKeg, Belgian bottled beers and local artisan gins are also available. Seating is at tables with a mix of chairs in the front part of the pub and there are high seats at a drinking shelf and standing room around a cask in the back area. Plain white walls are enlivened with pictures which are sometimes for sale, and there are some drink related objects on shelves and bunches of hops over the exposed brick fireplace. There is an outside seated area at the front as well as a pleasant covered yard with bench seating at the rear, with service at the window in summer. Card payments preferred.

Starling Independent Bar Cafe Kitchen

47 Oxford Street, Harrogate HG1 1PW

Relaxed café bar with a modern contemporary feel, it has stripped-back brickwork throughout and the downstairs wall features a mural of a murmuration of starlings. The pallet-fronted counter holds six handpulls with a well-chosen range of mainly Yorkshire beers offering a good mix of styles and strengths, usually including a dark beer, while the sixth pump is devoted to cider. In addition, there are 10 keg lines and artisanal gins. The beers are listed on a large black board on the bar back which is updated regularly, and on TV screens upstairs, with a live feed to the website. This old building offers three distinct areas, in addition to the downstairs bar there are two large rooms upstairs providing both family friendly space and café style drinking and dining. Teas and coffees are available from early morning together with a brunch menu, stone-baked pizzas are served from 12pm. Branch Pub of the Year 2018.

Harlow Hill Club

12 College Street, Harrogate HG2 0AH

A stone fronted building just off Otley Road, two full sized snooker tables and a pool table are situated in a room on the left at the rear of the building. There are two screens for watching live sport. Non members are welcome.

Harrogate Golf Club

Forest Lane Head, Harrogate HG2 7TF

A members only golf club on the road from Starbeck to Knaresborough, also close to the Knaresborough Round walking route. Social memberships are available, but Camra visitors are welcomed too. Serves two real ales. NB Opening times are as at April 2019, but may vary according to season.

Starbeck Conservative Club

5 The Avenue, Harrogate HG1 4QB

The club has a large L-shaped open room with two pool tables, a dart board and a number of screens showing live sport. To the right is a separate snooker room. Two changing ales are served, usually from local breweries.

Disappearing Chin

38 Beulah Street, Harrogate HG1 1QH

New bar opened April 2019 in a shop unit opposite the bus station accessible from either Beulah Street or Station Parade. A long, narrow bar, it has some soft seating at each end in the windows, and stools at the bar with some standing room as well along the wall in the centre, there is also seating outside on Beulah Street. Framed photographic prints of local scenes, which are for sale, adorn the wall opposite the bar. Three handpumps serve three changing cask ales, always including a dark beer, and there are eight craft keg fonts; sometimes there are tap takeovers. NB This bar accepts card payments only, not cash. Branch Pub of the Year 2020.

St Robert's Club

5a Robert Street, Harrogate HG1 1HP

Social club with one bar serving two downstairs rooms, The Den and The Lounge. Upstairs, there are two function rooms, The Library and The Loft. The club welcomes all, and serves one changing Black Sheep beer.