Blues Bar, Harrogate

Cafe bar near park providing live music every evening. Large windows to the hill at the front, lots of music pronts/photos, cafe style chairs. 4 real ales.

This is a popular live music venue overlooking the gardens in the swanky Montpellier Quarter of Harrogate. The bar has a simple single room set up, with a small servery squeezed into the rear left corner and a stage underneath the large front window, which means that performers end up silhouetted during daylight hours. I happened to arrive just as a lively twosome were about to strike up and the place was already packed, with even more fighting their way in once the performance got underway. The servery has a nice 'Blues Bar' painting on the canopy and loads of old gig poster spilling across the ceiling above. Seating is at an absolute premium, with benches down the left hand side and the odd table and chair dotted around elsewhere, but the place is geared up more for vertical drinking whilst watching a performance. The décor obviously has a music theme, with a large mural on the right hand wall next to a staircase which affords some elevated viewing space, and various artist portraits to the left, alongside a collection of drumsticks and some particularly fine retro gig posters. A wheelbarrow suspended from the ceiling was highly incongruous, but there is no doubt a good story to explain its presence. The live music obviously has a leaning towards blues, but the act I saw covered a range of genres and there was a cracking atmosphere which I reluctantly had to leave behind mid-way through in order to catch my train home. Four handpulls were offering Ilkley Lotus IPA, Roosters Baby Faced Assassin, Saltaire American Nut Brown and York Minster Ale and my pint of the Roosters was in fine fettle, served to me by one of the friendly and well drilled bar staff who seemed to excel at serving people unable to quite make it through to the bar. I had walked past this place a couple of times during my time in Harrogate and thought it looked a little flat when there was no act on, so I'm glad I timed my visit well by arriving just as the band went onstage. There was a friendly, good natured atmosphere, well kept beer and decent music, which suggests that many a good night could be enjoyed here.

A small live music bar that nonetheless has a decent ale range. Plenty of musical ephemera, including a large collection of drumsticks(!), plenty of black & white pics of musos past and present and a large blues musicians mural on one of the walls. For reasons unexplained, there’s a wheelbarrow stuck to the ceiling. Four ales on, forgot to note exactly what but my Saltaire Brown was in decent form. If you have an extended session in Harrogate, this one’s worth taking in.