The Disappearing Chin, Harrogate

Pub SignMan left this review about The Disappearing Chin

This is a very small micropub with a good location just down the road from Harrogate station. Like most micropubs, it’s a shop unit conversion, but unusually, it has entrances at either end of the short, narrow premises. The servery dominates much of the room and has a nice, glazed brick counter front and a bar back painted in warm shades which matched the rest of the bare boarded room’s colour scheme, with a beer board to one side and a ladder hung above the counter, strewn with fairy lights and plastic hops. The first thing I noticed on entering was the strange seat in the front window - essentially a very low table on a raised platform surrounded by rugs that you sit on – it felt a bit Arabian or maybe South American in origin, but no one had dared to sit there when we arrived. Elsewhere, bar stools run along the servery, two tables with chairs are squeezed in past the end of the bar, and a plush sofa with a chest for a table fills the space along the back wall. Both front and back windows have pub branding and some attractive stained-glass panes across the top and the walls have been decorated with a few arty photos and a couple of pub t-shirts for sale, but for the most part remained plain. Tunes were playing quietly in the background and the whole place had more of a wine bar vibe thanks in part to the heavily muted lighting on our evening time visit.
There were two handpulls in operation, dispensing Kernel Export India Stout and Three Brothers Northern Pale, and despite having travelled all the way here from South London, I couldn’t resist trying the Stout, which turned out to be in excellent shape. Seven craft keg options and one cider helped to flesh out the options and the fridges looked like they offered a good bottle and can range. Service was friendly and aside from the aforementioned front seat, the place was just about as busy as it could get without becoming uncomfortable and impractical.
Sadly, the pub has closed since my visit, which is a shame as I thought it was a decent little bar with some excellent beer, a relaxed vibe and a cosy environment. It perhaps lacked a USP to set it apart from some of the other micropubs and craft beer bars around town, and I can imagine it becomes a little too cramped at peak times, but I enjoyed my time here and am sorry that they had to cease trading.

Date of visit - 8th November 2024

On 24^th January 2025 - rating: 7
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