Thornhill Arms, Calverley A Pint Of Ale Pub Review
Lovely looking from the outside, The Thornhill Arms is a decent local pub with good ale.
A rainy Wednesday evening took us to this pub that we’ve always thought looked like a decent boozer. An attractive Yorkshire stone exterior with hanging baskets and tables lies beside the main road through the village.
The interior of the pub is deceptively large, with the bar taking up one end of the main room. This room is split into three main areas, one of them more private with a wall blocking the view of the bar.
It was quiet when we visited. Most of the clientele were gathered around the bar area as is the wont of the locals, making it seem busier than it was. There were three beers on tap, Theakston’s Best, Timothy Taylor Landlord and one other (pintofale.com’s memory not being what it once was). We opted for the Landlord and it was served in top condition and made a refreshing pint to warm away the dampness outside.
The walls are adorned with pictures, many being watercolours of Calverley. The odd cricket picture and mounted shotgun completed the decorations. Commercial printed adverts for Fosters Twist took away some of the atmosphere.
The pub is completed by a no-smoking bistro upstairs but we did not venture up there. The smoking-permitted downstairs was well ventilated.
We’ve always driven past the Thornhill Arms and thought that it looks like a wonderful pub. If we’re honest, perhaps wonderful is not the right word, but nevertheless a decent place for a pint on a rainy (or sunny) day and we will go back for more!
A comment by From little Acorns… « Rodley Jotter
September 8th, 2006, 1.33pm
[…] If only a pub in Rodley was to start carrying some decent guest beers, then I wouldn’t have to fill the larder with bottles. Or walk for half an hour to the Abbey Inn at Newlay (more info here as well), Calverley’s Thornhill Arms, or even contemplate just as long a walk up the hill to Horsforth. The Barge’s house beer, as suppable as it is, is as close as to my doorstep as I’ll get. […]
A comment by J Scott
August 28th, 2008, 10.04am
Copy of letter to be sent to the Landlady of The Thornhill Arms —-
I am writing to say how appalled and disgusted at the way myself, my husband and my dog were treated in the Thornill Arms last night.
After 10 years of frequenting the Thornhill, we are suddenly turned away for bring in our small, elderly dog who has come to the pub most weeks for the entire time that we have been. Many years before you arrived I might add.
We were treated as if we had “called in while passing” and not as regular visitors, which you are well aware of. Your reason for asking us to leave was that “dogs are not allowed for food hygiene reasons”. Having done some research on this, I can make the following quote “There is no law stating that dogs cannot be in a pub or indeed for that matter a restaurant. It is up to the management and their discretion.” Food Standard Agency.
I accept the fact that some pubs are unhappy to allow dogs in and make this clear by whatever means necessary. However, you know that our dog is no bother to anyone (in fact most people have not even known she was there) to just have a change of heart about this with no apparent reason is deceitful and underhand. Clearly, you have had a change of mind about our visiting the pub, but do not have the guts or the decency to be truthful about your actions. Instead you quote a law to us that does not exist, and try to pass the pub off as a restaurant/bistro. You appear to be extending your eating area to downstairs as well as up now, and so I assume that it is your intention to concentrate on the dining service that you provide and discourage pub regulars. You are successful in this in so much that you have lost custom both from us and many others that we know who visit the Thornhill on a regular basis. These people are as astounded as we are at what happened last night and, in the current climate whereby pubs are closing everyday due to poor attendance etc, we all find it unbelievable that you have chosen to head down the same route.
I wish you every success with your new restaurant/bistro, but would suggest that if this is what the Thornhill Arms has now become, you spend some effort into providing decent toilets, giving the place a lick of paint and sending yourself on a “How to get on better with the public, without lying to them” course !