Thursday 11th August 2016
Bob Thompson
This likeable micropub, Scarborough’s first, is to be found at the point where Westborough, the town’s main street becomes Falsgrave Road. It is conveniently located less than five minutes walk from Scarborough railway station.
I had arrived that day on the steam-hauled “Scarborough Spa Express”. Whilst the crowd from the train headed out of the station and turned right down Westborough to the town centre and sea front, I went left and soon found myself outside this delightful little pub.
I spotted it from some distance as it has a very distinctive green fascia. There is a small outside drinking terrace with a couple of metal tables and chairs for eight people. Inside I was struck by the number of pump clips of beers that I have missed drinking covering the left side wall and half of the ceiling. The wooden bar counter is on the left side at the end of this small room.
Looking around in a clockwise direction I saw there was a wooden pew facing inwards from the window with another along the left wall. In between these and the bar counter were three small tables and a number of small stools.
I settled in an alcove on the right of the room where there were two short pews, a small table and two stools. The scene was completed by another pew, table and stools combination.
The right of the room is also host to a coat and hat stand along with a newspaper rack. The lower halves of the wall have green-painted wood panelling. The wall above is white and there are framed collections of brewery ephemera. A hop bine hangs along the ceiling here. There are shaded light fittings on the walls and an electric chandelier hangs in the centre of the room.
The pub is the inspiration of Brian Jacklin and he runs it with his wife, Michelle along with some other help as the Stumble Inn keeps normal pub hours. Brian first opened the doors to the drinking public in December 2014 and true to the ethos of the early micropubs, he only sells cask beer, cider and perry, not even wine. Food is limited to packaged pub snacks.
The beer range is impressive. They have six hand pumps on the bar and the stated policy of the pub is not to have the same beer twice. I don’t know how possible that is, but it certainly illustrates the fantastic selection of cask beers there are in this country.
The choice was from: Allgates (Wigan, Greater Manchester) Seven Fest American Pale Ale (4.3%); Whitby Brewery (Whitby, North Yorkshire) Black Death Stout (5.0%); Siren (Arborfield, Berkshire) Sound Wave American IPA (5.6%); Tapped Brew Co (Sheffield, South Yorkshire) Liberty Treacle Stout (5.2%); Red Brewing (Great Stoughton, Cambridgeshire) One Brown Mouse (4.0%) and Poachers (North Hykeham, Lincolnshire) Rock Ape (3.8%).
If their beer selection is great then the cider and perry choice is fantastic. No less than 22 of them were on offer, as is normally the case here. You are spared a list but I will show the types available. Of the ciders there were six dry, four medium, four sweet, six flavoured. There was one perry and one mixed (Pider). No wonder this pub was the CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year in 2015.
It has also been awarded CAMRA Town Pub of the Year in the same year. It is very dog-friendly and it should not be missed if you are in or around Scarborough.
Important Information:
Stumble Inn, 59 Westborough, Scarborough, North Yorkshire YO11 1TS. Tel: 07837 716774
Mon-Sat: 12.00-23.00; Sun: 12.00-22.30.
Scarborough is served by an hourly service seven days a week provided by Transpennine Express.
These trains run from Liverpool via Warrington, Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
There is another route down the coast to Hull via Bridlington and Beverley.
Frequency varies between one and two hours. This service is operated by Northern Rail.
The nearest bus stops are at Scarborough station.
They are served by routes 2, 10, 13, 14, 15, 36, 121, 555 and 843 amongst others.
