The Cross Keys, Knaresborough

A decent and proper Ossett brewery pub in the backstreets, well-supplied with their beers and the odd guest, plus craft from Salt, of course. My only grumble, similar to the previous reviewer, is that they take the Ossett habit of a ridiculously tight sparkler to another level (especially as the guy in front of me ordered 6 pints!). It really shouldn't take longer to pull a pint of ale than Guinness. A good pub otherwise though.

Cross Keys entry on the Ossett Brewery website - www.ossett-brewery.co.uk

Cross Keys entry on the Ossett Brewery website - www.ossett-brewery.co.uk

I didn't have this one on my planned route, possibly because it's a later opener, but the lad behind the bar at the Craft Union pub suggested it when he saw we were keen on real ales. This looks like a 1930s building, going by the external brickwork, but it looks like it's been totally rearranged inside, with plenty of bare bricks and stone-flagged floors, with faux rustic tables, a nice fireplace and an Ossett Brewery mirror. The bar has a traditional look to it, with brass elephants holding up an elbow rail. More importantly, perhaps, there are two banks of four hand pumps. Two of these were advertising ciders, and there were six Ossett beers. I went for the Butterley Yorkshire Bitter, which was pretty good, despite (or, to be fair, perhaps because of) the thrashing it got through a tight sparkler.