The Black Horse, Whitby

A pub that I think I will get more from, now I know what to expect. Walked in off the street into a tiny little front bar and immediately engaged in conversation from the locals and bar staff. We squeezed into the bench seating and I went to the bar to be surprised that the two beers on were from Suffolk and Cornwall. So much for LocALE. Settled in with a nice Adnams Bitter and admired the unchanged decor, the bar matted roof and wondered about the cultural appropriation of YAPAS. Yorkshire TAPAS apparently. What I missed was a rear bar (not obvious to the novice) that had a couple more brews on, according to the chalk board. Well worth a visit and a fine traditional.

The entrance to the Black horse opens onto a small bare boarded front bar with an L-shaped counter that faces limited seating to the front and the left. Standard and premium keg were available alongside six hand pumps that were drawing Rudgate’s Dinga Dinga, Adnams Southwold, Hambleton Brewery’s Black Dog Rhatas and Bootleggers as well as a couple of ciders. The Dinga Dinga didn’t taste of much, but I had just knocked back a lager in the previous pub. Another bar is found at the rear were the counter runs up the right facing padded benches up the left. There’s a raised seating area at the rear up a couple of steps. The service was polite so I’d pop back in if passing.

A no frills boozer located in one of the attractive pedestrianised shopping streets just around the corner from the bridge, it’s strikes me as more of a local’s pub than a touristy one, despite it’s prime position. Internally it consists of two rooms, a small bar at the front and a slightly larger, L-shaped room at the rear. The smaller bar is quite traditional and perhaps slightly dated, with varnished wooden boards on the floor, cream or white painted wallpaper on the walls and ceilings along with some dark stained wood panelling down below and fitted red banquette seating. A number of old black and white photographs were on the walls and there was some stained glass in the windows. The rear room was broadly similar in style, with the exception of a deep salmon colour paint on the walls and some white wood panelling on the ceiling. Being near the water, there was of course the obligatory display of different knot styles in a glass frame. The menu consisted of various Yapas dishes, which for those unfamiliar with the term, is apparently a Yorkshire version of tapas. Beers on tap were Salopian Lemon Dream, Adnams Southwold, Rudgate Jorvik and Rudgate Chocolate Stout with Black Dog’s Rhatas apparently having run out. Ciders meanwhile were Orchard Thieves, Stan’s Big Apple and Rosie’s Pig Rhubarb which is something of an improvement on the normal dross found around these parts.

This is a cosy traditional two bar pub with a prime location on the narrow street leading to the nearby Abbey steps. The pub is split into a front lounge and rear bar, both with exposed floorboards and dark tongue and groove wall panelling beneath plain painted uppers. The front lounge has nice comfy banquette seating under the front window with some padded benches and low stools in support. The servery is at the rear of the room and has a dark wood counter and matching bar back with a nice small stained glass sash window that opens into the porch space behind the bar, possibly a remnant of a former jug and bottle set-up. The rear bar is split-level, with the servery along the right-hand wall of the initial lower level space. Hard backed banquettes provide some austere seating options down the left-hand wall, supplemented by several low stools. The bar has a dark wood counter, similar to the front bar, adorned with various decorative struts and a matching bar back with frosted glass and patterned inserts. The room’s main point of interest has to be the fine leaded windows with their stained glass ‘Black Horse Vaults’ centre pane. Décor includes knot displays, lots of photos of locals and their dogs, various old maps and a few photos of the surrounding area. Two steps at the rear of the room lead up to a raised seating area with a couple more tables and access to the toilets. The pub seems to be quite enterprising, offering a menu of ‘Yorkshire Tapas’ which all sounded very tempting, and selling custom-made facemasks with proceeds going to RNLI. When we arrived, the pub was at maximum capacity, but a very friendly barman happened to be outside taking a quick break and he suggested we hang around for a few minutes, as he was fairly sure there were a couple about to leave, and lo and behold, two minutes later, we were in and seated with a drink in front of us. The capacity issue was based on the pub’s Covid restrictions at time of visit and such limits to customer numbers may no longer apply. Five handpulls offered a choice of Titanic Plum Porter, Adnams Southwold Bitter and Hambleton Untethered plus a couple of real ciders. I gave the Untethered a try and it was in excellent shape, slipping down nicely as we enjoyed the buzz from a full house. A few people were eating and the food we saw come past all looked very good – shame we’d already booked a table somewhere else. There are quite a few traditional looking pubs on this side of the harbour, but this was the only one that really appealed to me. Good service and beer (and good-looking food) combined well in a traditional setting to create a memorable visit and I would definitely be keen to revisit this one the next time I’m back in town.

Smallish place with a couple of weak real ales and two decent ciders Nothing that special.

Enjoyed our visit to this 2019 Good Beer Guide pub. Chose Shepherd Neame Hard Labour which was fine.

Nice looking pub which is listed. 4 beers on including Wainwright, Golden Hen and Black Dog Rhatas. I liked this place and would happily call again.