After Aberdeen I took a week off from pubs (“DryEarlyMarch”, anyone ?). I felt no better for it, mind.
And I certainly wasn’t prepared for another lengthy bus trip to Masham.
I can’t even blame Beeching for the lack of a railway station in Masham.
I’d allowed myself an insane amount of time to rediscover the town, having somehow imagined it to be a thriving metropolis, rather than little more than a village of 1,205.
First time here since Mrs RM and I spent a drunken night in the White Bear, the only other GBG entry back in 1996. Old Peculier to blame, I think, though that seems almost a session beer these days.
Just like trains, or is it buses, you wait 23 years for a new GBG entry and two come along in the same new Guide. Mind you, with six pubs (and a golf club) in town there was always that risk. And of course, by law every town over 1,000 people is guaranteed a micropub by 2025.
You can see both the Bruce Arms and the Bay Horse in this carefully crafted photo that nearly got me killed by those packs of Yorkshire cyclist rudely using the road I was standing in.
The Bruce, as its friend calls it, reminds me of one of those pubs you get in honeypots like Malham or Grassington ?
Is Masham a honeypot these days ?
I wrote about good pubs being not always serving great beer recently, and that applies to both these places.
“Ooh, you’ve been blown in like Mary Poppins !” said the frankly astonishing Landlady (I must see BRAPA’s report). Genuinely welcoming, unfussy, and running a delightfully airy if twee pub. Which sounds like something my Mum would say.
I felt a bit guilty that I didn’t eat, as they’d made so much effort with the menu, but they seemed delighted to serve me a half of Theakston Best.
The Best was a bit sherberty (Good) but also a bit sharp (Bad), but improved sufficiently to hit NBSS 2.75 and ensure the plants didn’t get a watering.
Elton John’s “Sacrifice” on a tinny HiFi was the musical highlight, which may indicate there were lowlights as well.
Oddly, though, I thought it was a great little pub, only needing a couple of dozen other customers to lift the beer turnover midweek.
The same could be said about the Bay Horse, with just a few diners and a dog that had probably not put much in the till.
Another six handpumps to give that all important choice to the real ale fan.
And another cool foamy half of Theakston, topped up automatically by an efficient lady who had to deal with queries about J20 and the reason the risotto wasn’t on the menu, which she handled with aplomb.
Good pub, average beer. As B*Witched were singing as I left “C’est la vie“.
retiredmartin 
I enjoyed our Masham visit. The White Bear is a great place to stay.
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Only a week off from pubs ?
Lightweight.
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I get lonely.
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Were you tempted by the salmon and broccoli bake ?
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Too soon after Scotland; now if it had been deep fried….
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Do you have a recipe for deep frying a Scotland?
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What? The whole of it?
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Get a large chip pan, fill with cheap sunflower oil and heat to 190C and slowly lower Scotland into pan. Fry until golden brown, turning occasionally. Remove from pan, drain and place on large iron rack (made from recycled oil rigs) and it’s good to go.
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I’ve seen that film.
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Undercooked.
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Do you think people will look back in 20 years and say why did these pubs have six or seven different cask beers on? No wonder people stopped drinking it!
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They’ll probably only have those keg beers that last two weeks by then 😕
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Of course Masham is a tourist destination. Beer tourists and GBG tickers are responsible for 7.37% of UK tourist expenditure.
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1.2% of that is Martin’s endless supply of flat whites in Spoons.
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Mrs B and I spent a lovely weekend in Masham a few years ago. The Bruce Arms looks to have changed a bit since then; was a bit basic but none the worse for that. Had lunch in the Bay Horse which had a completely mad black chihahua running around. Ate breast of pheasant stuffed with black pudding and wrapped in ham with mash and carrots for £7.95. THAT is what I call pub food. The beer was pretty good too.
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Bet you wouldn’t get breast of pheasant for £7.95 these days !
NB Just looked – Now £13.95. Looks a classy place though.
https://bayhorseatmasham.co.uk/main-menu/
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So I see. Mind you. back in the day it didn’t come with “jus” although there might have been a thing called “gravy”.
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Replace gravy with jus and charge 75% more – is that the future of pubs ?
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Chuckled at this: “though that seems almost a session beer these days.” –Indeed, I recall back in the mid 80s thinking that Guinness was an incredibly strong beer, and that attempting too many of them would have you flat on your back! How times have changed…
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Indeed. Anything over 4% was silly juice when I started using pubs, and the 5% beers were strictly for Christmas !
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