Bridge Inn, Richmond

Fine old Marston's pub with an elongated layout featuring a very traditional bar in the centre with a comfortable large dining room on one side and a more plainly decorated, stone-flagged dining room on the other. Also has a plenty of wooden benches out front to catch the afternoon sun. Just two of the five handpumps were in use, offering Wainwright and Swale Trail Pale from the local Yorkshire Dales Brewing.

This pub has been well described by other reviewers, and nothing seemed to have changed when I was there a few days ago. The main bar room was originally two smaller ones, so there's a massive pillar holding things together, but it's a pleasant room nonetheless, with a lovely stone fireplace against the wall to the left. The board outside declares that "quality" food is available all day every day, and this seems to be what most customers are here for. The four hand pumps on the bar had beers exclusively from the Marstons stable, but perhaps a little more adventurous than when other reviewers have been here: Jennings Cumberland Ale (in my view the least interesting of the Jennings regular brews), Marstons Single Hop Citra (the hop that gives your beer the aroma of mango and lime, according to the pump clip), Ringwood Boondoggle (all the way from the New Forest in Hampshire) and a new one for me - Jennings Little Gem. This did not, as the name might suggest, have anything to do with lettuce, but was a pleasant if unspectacular brew that slipped down well without bothering the taste buds too much. The landlord said that he hoped I would call again as I was leaving, and I had half a mind to as I was staying at the youth hostel just up the hill, but the cold, dark night and the state of my feet decided me against. Maybe another time.