The Worlds End, Knaresborough

I arrived a few minutes before 12 noon to find piles of glasses on the counter and two or three lasses cleaning the shelves. Thinking they were not yet open, I was on the point of turning round and coming back later, but they exclaimed that the pub was in fact open but that it was so quiet they thought they'd do a bit of cleaning. Once the space around the two hand pumps had been cleared, I was served a pretty good Daleside Worlds End Ale, which is just Daleside Bitter with a different pump clip, I guess. I quite liked the contrast here between the "Victorian" interior at the front of the pub, with gorgeously plump, crimson leatherette on not just the banquette seating but on the front panels of the bar counter too; and the oh-so-classy flock wallpaper; and who could forget the garish and/or flamboyant carpet. A moment of sobriety is introduced by a large scale Ordnance Survey map showing the "World's End PH" on one side of the river, and across High Bridge, the no longer extant George Hotel. And then we have the dining room extension, all modern RSJs and bare stone walls, trying its damnedest to look like it's been hacked out of the sandstone cliffs above the River Nidd. I had quite an enjoyable few minutes here while I supped my half, despite the somewhat intrusive background music and the hard to ignore smell of fried onions escaping from the kitchen. I was saddened to think that the pub is not open in winter.