12 Pubs of Christmas Crawl

A couple of my friends had a great idea to create a 12 pubs of Christmas crawl through Harrogate.  They put together an impressive list of pubs and had a very tight schedule to make sure we could all still be home at a reasonable time.  The goal was to drink a half pint at every stop.

We started at 1:00pm yesterday at Christies with around 9 of us.  The group got bigger as the day went on.  Unfortunately Dan wasn't feeling well, so he had to sit this one out.

My friend Tracy came prepared and brought a bag full of Santa hats for us to wear.  Many of the hats were from foreign countries and said Merry Christmas in the native language.  Mine said "Key West."  Not so foreign, but it did have a margarita on the end! 

PUB 1: Christies

The pub crawl gang

PUB 2: Wetherspoons

PUB 3: Hales Bar

Apparently Hales Bar is the town's gay bar.  I'm not sure what gives it that distinction because it just looked like a regular pub with leather booths and nice lighting.  The only real indication that something was different was their poster for their New Year's entertainment:

Sinderfella: Adult Filthy Pantomime

How can I convince Dan that this would be awesome?

PUB 4: The Old Bell Tavern

Three half-pints in and I was starting to feel it.  I needed to pace myself, so I sat this round out.

PUB 5: The Fat Badger

PUB 6: The Montpellier

On our way to the 6th pub we stopped to take some pictures in the Harrogate picture frame.  I love this thing.  It's right in the middle of the town square.  It was built this year to be a "living post card" from Harrogate to be displayed at the Harrogate Flower Show in April.  They moved it to the town square when the exhibit was over.

 PUB 7: Banyon

By 4:30 we were all starting to get a little hungry.  We stopped at Banyon for a light dinner and another half-pint.  I was too busy stuffing myself with cheesy garlic breadsticks to take any pictures inside.

 PUB 8: Pitcher and Piano

We were definitely getting a bit silly at this point.

 PUB 9: The Alexandra

I tried my first ginger beer here.  I only had a few sips of someone's (in addition to a half-pint of my own), but it was pretty much what I expected it to be.  I think if you like fresh or candied ginger, you would really like this.  If you're like me though and only like pickled ginger with sushi, you should pass on the ginger beer.

PUB 10: Muckles

And here's where I crapped out.  I was still having a great time and was feeling fine, but it was already past 6:30pm and I had been going since 1:00.  And, Dan and I had a skype date with our good friends Joey and Tati set for 7 and I didn't want to miss that.

While I can't say that I completed the 12 Pubs of Christmas Crawl, I had a fantastic time for the first 10 pubs.  It was really a fun group of people and a great set of pubs.  I hope this becomes an annual tradition!