Arch & Abbey, Whitby

Another lengthy essay from PSM below saves me having to desribe the pub, which is quite large for a micro. There's more decoration around the walls now 3 years on, but essentially it hasn't changed much. 4 ales available, friendly service and also a friendly dog on our visit. Both the beers we had were in good nick. We'll probably call in again next time we're in town.

This is a nicely presented micropub set in quite a decent sized former shop unit on a pleasant retail street, a few minutes’ walk uphill from the harbour. The room is relatively shallow but quite wide and has some nice dark floorboards throughout, partially covered in places by a few threadbare looking rugs. The place feels quite spacious by the usual shop-converted micropub standards, and is able to accommodate many small round tables, all served by a mixture of chairs and low stools, with a few bar stools along ledges to the left and rear of the room. Each table has an old jar filled with fairy lights on it, which combined well with the pub’s muted lighting during my visit in the dying light of the day, making the place feel a bit cosier than it might otherwise have. The front windows retain their display areas, which have been filled with various beer themed bits such as bottles and tankards, along with more decorative items including a few lanterns and some potted plants. The room has mainly been painted grey, with the ceiling in a darker shade and décor is surprisingly sparse, with a few traditional paintings and old photos mixed in with some breweriana, but plenty of empty wall space still showing, which leaves the place feeling like it’s not quite finished somehow. The bar is over to the left, along the back wall and has a simple timber fronted counter and plain modern bar back. There was a good crowd in on my Sunday evening visit and I was lucky to grab the last available table. The bar supports four handpulls which were dispensing Black Sheep Riggwelter and Pale Ale, Great Newsome Sleck Dust and Gadds Black Night. For some reason, I plumped for a pint of the latter – the only non-Yorkshire beer on the bar – and was pleased to find it was in pretty good shape. The barman was very friendly and the service all round seemed to be very prompt and polite. This was a perfectly pleasant pub visit that had a lot of the key ingredients in place – good service, well-kept beer, comfortable surrounds – without really doing anything memorable. The place could do with a bit more character to elevate it into the top tier of Whitby’s pubs, but would still make a solid addition to a crawl or a nice place to take friends or family who don’t enjoy typical pub environments.

Rather large micropub with the bar to the left hand side. Four hand pumps, one unclipped, the other three weakish real ales. Decent IPA on keg @ 5% ABV which I had. Not that bad a place.

Shop conversion micropub and cafe bar up the hill from the Little Angel. 4 pulls of small local brewery beers plus three kegs from Black Sheep with spirits and bottles, four ciders in box advertised. Impeccable service and decent beer. Furnished with cast iron tables and stools at one end and sofas at low tables at the other plus a couple of more normal tables and chairs. Very little in the way of decor apart from a couple of the obligatory Frank Meadow Sutcliffe photos, a clock and blackboard.

Pleasant café bar on west side of town, up the hill away from main tourist centres. A little bit Edwardian tea room with the rugs and pot plants but the 4 real ales are very good quality. Nice place

Crowd funded micro-pub due to open July 2018