May 2026. Masham. North Yorkshire.
Half a dozen pubs (well, two of them brewery taps) and a golf club bar for 1,205 residents of Masham;
time to see if the GBG has picked the right two (the red Ps).
It appears Dave and Joan joined me in not making it back to the Bay Horse and the Bruce in the town square,
hopefully not due to my lukewarm write-up in 2019.
Frankly, I was taken aback that the Guide newbie this year is our Sunday night Chef & Brewer hotel,
a bit like finding the new Sheffield tick is a Marston’s carvery.
But it’s got the range,
and more importantly, it’s got the obscure Bee Gees track,
best beer quality. A 3.5 for the Theakston, Black Sheep Best a crisp, chewy NBSS 4.5.
I don’t know how they do it, but I’d sure like to find out. Probably something fancy like cleaning the lines.
The second, long-standing Guide entry is Theakston’s only pub (it’s mainly free trade supply), though frankly it felt more of an upmarket “dining with rooms” affair, with greeter seeming to bar us from searching for the Southworths during the Bear’s Sunday afternoon break from serving plates of Sunday roast.
All a bit Peculier, which was obviously what we ended with here,
a rich pint (3.5) expertly matched with the world’s biggest Yorkie.
retiredmartin 
The beer in Masham was excellent overall. The XB at the Black Bull in Paradise was really good.
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Very envious of your NBSS 4.5 Black Sheep. (Not long now until it becomes illegal to give half marks.) I’ve not seen so much of it this year, especially with the Red Deer in Pitt Street taking one of its habitual dives into mediocrity.
I had a very good Five Points XPA at the Victoria Family & Commercial Hotel in Leeds Friday. And awarded that a 4.5 as well, because it’s such a good beer and had obviously been treated with the care and respect that it deserves.
If you’re ever in Headingley you should check out the Vinyl Whistle. https://camra.org.uk/pubs/vinyl-whistle-leeds-195286 I called in when I unexpectedly had 15 minutes to kill (traffic jam on the M62 or something) and the Rhinos game didn’t kick off until 8:15pm. It’s a record shop, with a very loud mixing deck in the middle and a couple of keg beers on the bar. I enjoyed it more than I could possibly have predicted. https://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/pubs/93328/
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I shall keep giving half marks on this site, Will. Retired Martin will be where the half markers have a safe space.
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A record shop with beer! Genius!
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It’s a shame the Red Deer seems so inconsistent. It’s probably the pub that made my mind up that James was going to Sheffield Uni a decade ago when I nipped in to escape the other Computer Science dads on open day.
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Who knew the BeeGees could write such a dull song. On further checking, it was made in under 10 minutes.
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It sounded interesting in the pub, less so at home.
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