The Shambles Bar and Restaurant, Whitby A Pint Of Ale Pub Review
An old meat factory with 200-year-old exposed beams, The Shambles is a relaxing pub with good views over Whitby’s harbour.
We took off for a trip over the North Yorkshire Moors today for the historic coastal harbour town of Whitby. It was a grey, drizzly day when we arrived in the town famous for Dracula, Captain Cook and a very beautiful ruined abbey. The Good Beer Guide lists one Whitby pub, The Shambles, so we thought that if we happened upon it, we’d wander in.
Whitby seems to be full of pubs. I don’t know how many. Beer in the Evening lists 16, Whitby Online more than 50. However many there are, none must be any less inviting from the outside than The Shambles. We saw the blue sign, but underneath were some shabby public toilets and an indoor market. Once through the doors however, a clean, new-looking wooden staircase (complete with wheelchair lift) took us up into the large interior of the pub.
Leather sofas
The Shambles was once a meat factory of some kind before being a Burberry factory. The interior has probably not changed all that much. The wooden ceilings are high above and the bare wooden beams are over 200 years old. The dark wooden floorboards are probably just as old and the battered leather sofas are really suited to the room. A large island bar serves the pub and is well stocked. We spotted a full-size snooker table in another room which was a unique feature.
Sunday papers
Music was playing but was not too loud or intrusive. Smoking is allowed but there seemed to be good ventilation because I hardly noticed it. The Sunday papers were dotted around (a true mark of a good relaxing pub - the Sunday papers!) and a wide mix of people were sitting on the many sofas and around the tables. Next to us, an old man sat in contemplative silence as his wife, finger in a novel, slept on!
There was a good choice of ales on tap. Three offerings from the Copper Dragon Brewery, home of my favourite ale Golden Pippin: Best Bitter, IPA and Black Gold. These were complimented with a couple of Theakston’s offerings: Old Perculiar and XB. My pint of Copper Dragon Best Bitter was a lovely rusty colour, quite bitter and very refreshing. It would only have been improved if the sun was shining and we could have chosen to sit out on the small balcony/terrace overlooking the harbour and the pretty town across the water.
A comment by Stonch
April 23rd, 2007, 3.06pm
Whitby’s one of the many places to claim to have the most pubs per capita of any town in England. Almost certainly untrue, but there are a lot of pubs there. Great place.
A comment by ray hopwood
August 9th, 2007, 8.47am
i along with my wife, sister, brother in law and son age 14 went to the shambles for a meal and drink we ordered the meal and drinks that come to a total of £63 then sat down near the window we were then asked to move to the family room where it was full of young children running around. i tried explaining my son was 14yrs old and old enough to sit in a pub and have a meal but the staff said this was policy. throughout the day we visited several other pubs and did not experience any other problems by being moved to other areas with my son.