The Mitre, Knaresborough

Modernised, split-level Market Town Taverns bar with a two-part counter. Separate dining room at one end and letting rooms above. Patio beer garden to one side and a narrow terrace along the frontage opposite the railway station. Fine choice from eight handpumps, with York Guzzler being about the most common real ale and rarer offerings such as Brass Castle Nut Mild (£3.22) also available.

This pub has now become a fully fledged member of the Market Town Taverns chain. The pub is on two levels and is quite narrow. There's a separate room to the left of the door as you enter and a brasserie downstairs. We finished off our Knaresborough trip here as it's next door to the station and we were waiting for our Harrogate train. It would be quite easy to miss a train here whilst drinking the well kept range of cask ales on the bar. Friendly and attentive staff on our visit. It's run by the same manager as The Swan On The Stray in Harrogate. Whilst this bar is a little clinical, it's nowhere near as Ikea like as The Swan. It's a good pub and we'll definitely visit again.

Owned by Ian Fozzard, the guy behind the excellent Market Town Taverns but not actually part of the group. Good range of microbrewery beers and some foreign bottles and draughts. Always well kept and extremely drinkable. Thankfully a very short stagger from the station,in fact next to the York bound platform. Elegant old building tastefully but perhaps clinically decorated in modern minimalist style much like the MTT bars. Staff were a bit lackadasical on my last visit.