Rose & Crown, Beverley: The historic Yorkshire pub standing the test of time thanks to a makeover
The last time I visited the Rose & Crown was around a dozen years ago, when it had recently undergone one of those minimalist conversions that were bafflingly popular at the time.
I never understood the appeal of uncomfy furniture, grey walls, weird metal animal heads, over-hoppy ales and stupidly expensive sandwiches. Still don’t.
It was empty and unfriendly and felt like mistakes were being made, which they clearly were.
Since then, it’s trod the same precarious path as many so boozers – open, shut, bought by a pubco, redecorated, series of frustrated landlords, shut, open, shut, forlorn – but it now seems to be in settled hands and has been increasing in popularity for the past half-decade at least.
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They’ve even opened rooms upstairs to cater for tourists, which I never even knew the pub had.
You’d think, sitting as it does just outside the North Bar in the heart of Yorkshire’s popular Beverley, that it’d have no trouble pulling punters.
Well, when I finally visit again on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it certainly doesn’t. Most of the pub and half the beer garden are already full and its only just past midday.
This may be on account of the current management of the Rose & Crown taking the bold decision to open for breakfast at the weekends.
Or perhaps it’s the latest redecoration (which apparently cost a pretty penny) with paintings of horses on nearby Beverley Racecourse gracing the walls.
Or it could be down to the fulsome menu, which I’ve not yet thoroughly sampled, but what I have had was noteworthy.
It may even be down to new rear beer garden or the recently adopted dog and walker-friendly policies. All of it adds up to quite a welcome sea-change.
Whatever the reason, it’s good to see.
There’s supposedly been a pub on that corner of Beverley for more than four hundred years - although the building itself is ‘only’ a century or so old - and it serves a part of town otherwise under-represented by decent boozers.
Beverley needs the Rose & Crown.
Welcome 3/5
Food 4/5
Drinks choice 3/5
Prices 3/5
The Rose and Crown, North Bar Without, Beverley, HU17 7AB
www.roseandcrown.net