Gardeners Arms, Biltonback to pub details please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
The Old Brewery Bitter is now a whopping £3 a pint (cash only). We walked out from Knaresborough on a Friday afternoon and there were a dozen or so other customers. Can't see myself returning but, for a glimpse of how pubs might once have been, it was worth a visit.
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Lovely old pub in an excellent setting.Surrounded by land owned by Woodland Trust.Nice to see the sign "We donot sell food or hot drinks."A real pub not a licensed restaurant.
Visited on a beautiful September Saturday.Plenty of families with children and dogs out in the pleasant garden leading down to a stream.Outside toilets add to the rural feel of the place.
Sam Smith OBB at GBP1.80 a pint.Love it.
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Situated in the Bilton area of Harrogate, the Gardeners Arms has a wonderful interior. As you approach through a residential area, the housing suddenly disappears and the pub emerges. There are 3 or 4 small rooms where conversation dominates. It's a Sam Smiths pub. So it's also very easy on the pocket. Old Brewery Bitter is on handpull. We chose one of the two front rooms, one with a serving hatch to the bar. There was a nice, open fire. If this had a better range of beers, it would be one of the best pubs in the country. As it stands, you'd soon get fed up with the same drinks range. But I thoroughly advocate a visit, if only to see the unspoiled interior.
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I may be biassed here as this was the first 'local' I ever had. Now that I'm sufficiently old to be retired, I still call when in the area.
I fully understand why some people don't like the place or the way its run - but for me, I love the place.
A pint of really well kept beer to drink at leisure while reading a book by the fire is, I think, my idea of what I like best about pubs. No TV. No music. No 'place to be seen'
If you want an 'upmarket refreshment experience', don't come here.
If you want peace, quiet and a seriously good pint - then this is the place.
With a pint at about half the price it is elsewhere is just icing on a very nice cake.
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I may be biassed here as this was the first 'local' I ever had. Now that I'm sufficiently old to be retired, I still call when in the area.
I fully understand why some people don't like the place or the way its run - but for me, I love the place.
A pint of really well kept beer to drink at leisure while reading a book by the fire is, I think, my idea of what I like best about pubs. No TV. No music. No 'place to be seen'
If you want an 'upmarket refreshment experience', don't come here.
If you want peace, quiet and a seriously good pint - then this is the place.
With a pint at about half the price it is elsewhere is just icing on a very nice cake.
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post by becki on 4/7/10 is unfortunately still spot on. Service with a snarl continues to be the order of the day. Unwelcoming and rude lanlord, rules posted all over the pub. Don't expect to get served before any of the locals. Real shame as it could be a good little pub. Amazed that Sam Smiths don't sort this out - best avoided.
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wonderful setting but oh what a shame....
because you then enter an unwelcoming atmosphere, guy behind the bar miserable, not welcoming in the slightest, the only positive is that the booze is cheap. Cannot believe the signs - children behave or you and parents get kicked out , quotes from Samuel Smith Brewery about drinking time, etc. No climbimg trees, children out by 8, no bad language or else!!! totally off putting and in the dark ages.
If you have seen the the tv programme the league of gentleman with the saying
"this is a local shop for local people" - well that is this pub. Would not go back again unless there is a turn in direction ie: new staff and atmosphere. Oh what a waste of what could be a beautiful pub :(
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Used to finish work in town, go down to the beer garden on a sunny day for early doors and hear nothing but birdsong. Later, children may be there to play but they do not disturb, usually getting muddy in the beck.
A great place to relax, if you like Sam Smiths ale.
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Unspolit old pub at the end of a very long no through road on the north east outskirts of Harrogate. Remaining features like wainscotting, stone flags, and stone fireplaces assure its place on CAMRA's National Inventory of historic pubs. Four small rooms with names like the �piggery� and �wrinklies bar�. Sam Smiths pub so only chilly OBB on handpull plus Sam's bright beers. Friendly staff and customers, pleasant pub for a pleasant pint.
anonymous - 16 Mar 2009 15:54 |
This Sam Smiths pub is a multi-roomed old stone cottage situated a couple of miles outside Harrogate at the far end of Bilton Lane ( off the Skipton Road )
The pub features in CAMRA's National Inventory of Unspoilt Interiors for its wood pannelling, fireplaces and a curious mini-snug, just in front of the bar, which is probably only of use to those who are vertically challenged.
Needless to say, being a Sam's pub, there's no music, but there is a silent fruit machine in one room.
There's numerous old photos of the pub to add interest and also one of a Mid Winter Car Rally in 2007 taken outside the pub.
There's a meadow-style garden at the back leading down to a stream - also a few seats outside the pub at the front.
On the date of my late-September visit, the OBB was � 1.36p.
Cheap lunches are offered.
The pub is near a disused railway line ( now a cyclepath ) and there are several pleasant walks in the nearby Nidd Valley.
Worth seeking out, but I don't think it's on a bus route if you haven't your own transport.
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I have visited this stone-built pub on and off since 1976. Then the pub was so strange. They used to brew their own beer in the stables next door. The place looked like it had been furnished from an old works canteen; all formica and lino. When the eventually realised it wasn't the sixties anymore, they tidied it up a bit, and in pulling off the crappy panels, they re-discovered a huge fireplace in the first room. The bar has to be the smallest in the world, Jammed in under the stairwell. This pub was the subject of a poem.
Watch your head when you go in.
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Very old and small pub. The bars only a few feet long. Three small rooms would be cramped with 40+ people. Coal fires in the rooms and a great beer garden backing onto the countryside and Nidd Gorge. Great for walkers and cyclists (is on a cycle route). Sam Smiths beer �1.28 a pint (Jan 07)
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Pub surround looks great - it's in a superb location for walks. However, on asking for a variation to the menu, we were 'greeted' by an unfriendly landlord. Really off putting and not condusive to staying at all.
It's a shame when a pub which could be such a great place due to its location is spoiled by unfriendliness. Not returning!
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Very old Sam Smith's pub, excellent ale and a fine listed building. That means very small rooms, open fires (in winter of course), stone flags and immense character. No juke box or gambling machines, just fine friendly folk. Where? in A quiet, out of the place spot, with a brilliant beer garden.
Nigel Heptinstall - 20 Oct 2004 19:40 |
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