Food & Drink
Food & drink in the North York Moors
By Jon Cosson · Updated 17 October 2026
In the North York Moors, what matters most isn't so much where you eat as where what you're eating came from. Moorland game and rare-breed meat from the hill farms, fish landed on the coast that morning, cheese and cake and ale made just down the road. Here's how to eat and drink well across the area, from a stone-floored moorland pub to a portion of fish and chips on the harbour wall.
Winter on the moors is firelight weather: the low-beamed bar of a traditional moorland inn, where the view gives way to the fire.
Moorland pubs
The proper Yorkshire pub, thick stone walls, a fire that's lit by noon in winter, and a kitchen that knows the farmer who raised the lamb, is one of the real pleasures of the moors. Famous names include the Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, a 16th-century free house standing at one of the highest points on the moors, and the Fox and Rabbit Inn on the A169 near Dalby Forest; many walks here finish at a village local, like the Horseshoe Inn at Levisham on the Hole of Horcum route. Most moorland pubs get busy and many need booking for food, especially at weekends and in winter. Always worth a call ahead.
North York Moors Pubs With a View: the Full List
High-moor free houses, ridge-top beer gardens and sea views on the coast.
Dog-Friendly Pubs in the North York Moors: the Full List
Where muddy paws are welcome after a walk, and what to check before you go.
Sunday lunch
Roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, which inns to book and when.
Pubs with rooms
Inns where you can eat, drink and stay the night without driving.
Find a pub by area and recorded facilities. This guide is independent: no pub pays to be listed, and nothing is ranked.
Find a pub
The finder covers 67 pubs and inns across the moors, the coast and Ryedale, each checked against the pub's own website in September 2026, and filterable by where you are and what you need.
67 pubs match (no filters set).
A pub only matches a filter where it publishes that detail itself. If a pub does not appear, it may still take dogs or serve a roast: it just does not say so on its own site.
Allerston · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Cayley Arms Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A refurbished roadside inn with separate bar and restaurant seating and five bedrooms fitted with handmade solid oak furniture.
Worth knowing: Closed Tuesdays, and opens only from 5pm Monday to Saturday, so not a lunchtime pub except on Sundays. Dogs are not allowed inside; guide dogs excepted. Note there is a different Cayley Arms at Brompton-by-Sawdon.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Ampleforth · Southern moors & Ryedale
The White Horse Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A recently refurbished village inn cooking locally sourced food from scratch, with an outside bar and a private dining option.
Worth knowing: The restaurant runs Wednesday to Sunday only, though the bar opens daily.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Ampleforth · Southern moors & Ryedale
The White Swan
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Dogs
- Real ale
Reopened in November 2024 under new owners after the previous landlord retired, cooking a seasonal menu of classic British food, with a large beer garden.
Worth knowing: No food Monday or Tuesday, though the bar opens 4 to 8.
Blakey Ridge · High moors
The Lion Inn
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A 16th-century free house standing alone on the watershed at the highest point of the National Park, at 1,325 feet, with Rosedale falling away one side and Farndale the other.
Worth knowing: Dogs are welcome in the bar areas but not the dining rooms. Food is served 12pm to 9pm without a break, which is unusual out here.
Burniston · Coast
Three Jolly Sailors
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Real ale
A Grade II listed village pub doing proper country-pub food, steak pie, Whitby scampi and stone-baked pizzas, with vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options.
Worth knowing: Both Cask Marque and CAMRA accredited, the clearest real ale credentials of the southern coastal villages.
Byland · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Abbey Inn
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A nineteenth-century inn facing the ruins of Byland Abbey, doing pub classics and a Sunday roast built around filled Yorkshire puddings.
Worth knowing: Closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays all year. Dogs in the pub but not in the accommodation. Breakfast is not served on site; guests go a mile to Oldstead.
Carlton-in-Cleveland · Western moors
The Blackwell Ox Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Real ale
A privately run inn with a resident Thai kitchen cooking alongside English pub food and a grill, directly under Carlton Bank and the Cleveland Way ascent to Lord Stones.
Worth knowing: Rooms are lodges with hot tubs rather than inn bedrooms. The children's adventure play area is warmer months only.
Castleton · High moors
Downe Arms Country Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A country inn run by a husband-and-wife team from a hotel background, pitched squarely at walkers and dog owners coming off the moor, with Sunday vegetables brought to the table in bowls.
Worth knowing: Dog-friendly bedrooms as well as a dog-friendly bar, which is rare locally.
Castleton · High moors
The Eskdale
- View
- Food
- Dogs
An 1865 village inn rebuilt around a seasonal menu of local produce, with a garden running down to the bank of the Esk.
Worth knowing: The bar stays open to 11pm but the kitchen shuts at 8pm, and on Sunday food stops at 5pm.
Chop Gate, Bilsdale · Western moors
The Buck Inn
- Food
- Rooms
A B&B and bistro in upper Bilsdale with camping and a hireable garden room alongside the bar.
Worth knowing: The only pub hereabouts advertising camping, which matters on the Cleveland Way and Coast to Coast overlap and for the Wainstones. Their own site publishes no phone number.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Church Houses, Farndale · High moors
Feversham Arms Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
A flagged-floor bar with open fires, two dining rooms and a beer garden, all looking down the Daffodil Valley.
Worth knowing: Severely reduced hours: closed all day Monday; Tuesday and Wednesday from 7pm for drinks only; food Thursday to Saturday 12 to 2 and 6 to 8, and Sunday 12 to 4, so ring before setting out. It offers a pick-up and return service for walkers, including from the Coast to Coast at Blakey Ridge.
Cloughton · Coast
The Blacksmiths Arms Inn
- Food
- Rooms
An oak-beamed dining room with eleven en-suite letting bedrooms, two with four-posters, which makes it a practical Cleveland Way stopover.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Cloughton · Coast
The Hayburn Wyke Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Real ale
A country inn in ten acres inside the National Park, and the access point for the walk down to Hayburn Wyke's waterfall onto the beach.
Worth knowing: The path down to Hayburn Wyke is steep, wooded and slippery, and the climb back up catches people out.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Coxwold · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Fauconberg
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A stone inn in Laurence Sterne's village, long known as the Fauconberg Arms, running a separate events space in the Old Cart Shed alongside the pub.
Worth knowing: Sunday lunch is pre-order only, in two sittings, noon to 3 and 4.30 to 6.30.
Danby · High moors
The Duke of Wellington Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
An inn overlooking Danby's green that predates 1765, used as a recruiting post during the Napoleonic Wars; a cast-iron plaque of the Duke found during restoration hangs above the main bar fireplace.
Worth knowing: Within walking distance of Danby station on the Esk Valley line, so one of the few moorland inns reachable without a car. The Moors National Park Centre is a short walk away.
Ebberston · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Grapes Inn
- Food
- Dogs
A straightforward village local on the A170, presenting itself as a traditional Yorkshire pub with all-day food.
Worth knowing: Closed Mondays. Food noon to 8 Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 6 Sunday.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Egton · High moors
The Wheatsheaf Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
A 19th-century inn of real fires and antiques, cooking a seasonal menu around fresh fish and game in season.
Worth knowing: Closed all day Monday. On the Egton Gallon Walk they advise going in reverse and starting here, and warn that the route circulating online is out of date, listing seven pubs rather than eight.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Egton Bridge · High moors
Horseshoe Hotel
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
An 18th-century inn on the bank of the River Esk, doing honest seasonal local cooking, with six en-suite rooms.
Worth knowing: A fixed weekly rhythm: curry night Mondays, fish Fridays, roasts Sunday. All dogs welcome at no extra cost, with rooms 3 and 6 suited to larger dogs.
Felixkirk · Western moors
The Carpenters Arms
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A dining inn using its own kitchen garden, with eight garden suites around landscaped grounds looking across the Vale of Mowbray.
Worth knowing: Presents itself for diners and overnight guests rather than boots, though it sits a couple of miles from Boltby and the Cleveland Way.
Glaisdale · High moors
The Arncliffe Arms
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
An early 19th-century former coaching inn standing directly on the Coast to Coast path, a straightforward walkers' and locals' pub with six en-suite rooms.
Worth knowing: A proper locals' pub with pool, darts and quiz nights rather than a dining destination. Glaisdale station on the Esk Valley line is a short walk.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Goathland · High moors
The Goathland
- Food
The pub that was the Aidensfield Arms in Heartbeat, though the family who run it say their pride is in Goathland and its moors rather than the television connection.
Goathland has free-roaming sheep. Keep dogs on leads.
Worth knowing: Sheep roam freely through Goathland, which matters if you arrive with a dog.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Goathland · High moors
The Inn on the Moor Hotel
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
A country hotel with a proper public bar and log fires, run by a family with farming roots in the area going back over a century.
Goathland has free-roaming sheep. Keep dogs on leads.
Worth knowing: An accessible ground-floor room is recorded.
Goathland · High moors
The Mallyan Spout Hotel
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A substantial stone hotel on the village edge whose restaurant looks across the Esk Valley, serving Whitby fish on a Yorkshire-sourced menu, with a separate bar doing pub food.
Goathland has free-roaming sheep. Keep dogs on leads.
Worth knowing: The path to Mallyan Spout waterfall leaves from beside the hotel. It also does weddings, so a summer Saturday may be busy with a private function.
Great Ayton · Western moors
The Buck
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A High Street pub with recently refurbished en-suite rooms above the bar, candid on its own site about noise until closing time.
Worth knowing: Dogs in the pub but not the rooms; they send dog owners to their sister pub, the Royal Oak. No food between 2.15 and 5pm Monday to Thursday in winter.
Great Ayton · Western moors
The Royal Oak Hotel
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A 17th-century former coaching inn on High Green that opens at 10am for breakfast, which is rare locally.
Worth knowing: Breakfast 10 to 11.30 daily. Wheelchair accessible. Sister pub to The Buck, and the one of the pair that takes dogs in rooms.
Harome · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Pheasant Hotel
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
A converted mill and smithy beside the village pond, run as a small country hotel with a dining room built on local and seasonal sourcing, partly from the owners' own farm.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Harome · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Star Inn at Harome
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A thatched, low-beamed village inn whose kitchen builds its menus around what the season is giving; rooms are across the road at Cross House Lodge rather than over the bar.
Worth knowing: One Michelin star, held since 2002. Normally closed Monday lunchtimes, dinner from 5.30pm. Assistance dogs only in the restaurant; other dogs at garden tables.
Helmsley · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Black Swan
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A large Market Place inn assembled from Elizabethan, Tudor and Georgian buildings with fifteenth-century origins, and the biggest bed-and-food operation in the town.
Worth knowing: Dogs up to two per room at a nightly charge, with designated dog areas in the pub and restaurant. Food 7.30am to 9pm daily.
Helmsley · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Feathers Hotel
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A sixteenth-century coaching inn on the Market Place, open from breakfast to late as a coffee house as well as a pub and dining room.
Worth knowing: The Pickwick Bar contains Mouseman oakwork by Robert Thompson of Kilburn. Open 7.30am to 11pm daily.
Helmsley · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Royal Oak Hotel
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
The most straightforwardly pub-like of Helmsley's Market Place trio: classic pub cooking to order, weekly specials and a takeaway service.
Worth knowing: A 1am licence Monday to Saturday, by some distance the latest closing time in the area.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Hutton-le-Hole · High moors
The Crown
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
The pub on Hutton-le-Hole's green, letting three double rooms that each have their own kitchen, bathroom and private terrace.
Worth knowing: Generally closed Monday and Tuesday in winter, though the letting rooms stay open all year. Hutton-le-Hole is one of the busiest villages in the Park and they ask you to book a table.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Ingleby Greenhow · Western moors
The Dudley Arms
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Real ale
Two businesses in one building: a café doing breakfasts and lunches every day from 9am, and a steak-led evening restaurant butchering in its own kitchen.
Worth knowing: Bars open from 9am seven days, which makes it the practical stop on the Cleveland Way between Kildale and Battersby Moor where there is nothing else. Closed Mondays and Sunday evenings. No rooms.
Kilburn · Western moors
The Forresters Arms
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
An old inn next to the Mouseman workshop, overlooking the White Horse of Kilburn, with eight rooms including an accessible one.
Worth knowing: Formerly The Mariners' Compass. The closest inn to the White Horse car park and the Kilburn end of the Cleveland Way above Sutton Bank.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Lastingham · High moors
The Blacksmiths Arms
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A village pub opposite St Mary's and its Norman crypt, built around local game, beef and seafood with a changing specials board.
Worth knowing: Dogs in one restaurant area only, and not in the bedrooms, which is unusually restrictive for this area.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Levisham · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Horseshoe Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A nineteenth-century inn at the head of Levisham's green, family-run since 2007 by the same brothers as the Fox & Rabbit, and walkable from Levisham station on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
Worth knowing: Opens only from 3pm Monday to Friday. Sunday is the only day they serve lunch, noon to 1.45.
Lockton · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Fox & Rabbit Inn
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Real ale
A family-run roadside inn on the A169 at the edge of Dalby Forest, run by the same brothers since 2004, with panoramic views south over the Vale of Pickering.
Worth knowing: Dogs are not allowed inside; guide dogs excepted
Newton under Roseberry · Western moors
The King's Head Inn
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
An inn at the foot of Roseberry Topping run as a walkers' and families' refuelling stop, with a hand-carved carvery on Sundays.
Worth knowing: Breakfast from 7.30am, the earliest of any pub on the moors, and light bites 11 to 5 bridge the usual afternoon food gap. The obvious base for an early Roseberry or Cleveland Way start.
Pickering · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Bay Horse Inn
- Food
A Grade II listed Market Place local with a covered courtyard, doing traditional family favourites; they repeat a local tradition that Oliver Cromwell called in.
Worth knowing: Long hours for the area, 11am to 11pm Monday to Thursday and to midnight at weekends.
Pickering · Southern moors & Ryedale
The White Swan Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
A coaching inn on Pickering's Market Place, family-run since 1983, presenting itself as a place to eat and stay rather than a drinking pub.
Ravenscar · Coast
Raven Hall Country House Hotel
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
A country house hotel 600 feet above the sea looking down the whole sweep of Robin Hood's Bay, with cliff-face terraced gardens and battlements built by a Victorian rector who gambled the family fortune away.
Worth knowing: A hotel bar rather than a pub, and essentially the only hospitality in Ravenscar, so there is no alternative if it is closed for a wedding. Built 1774 as Peak Hall, opened as a hotel in 1895.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Robin Hood's Bay · Coast
Hotel Victoria
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
A Victorian clifftop hotel with sea-view balcony rooms and three separate drinking spaces, including one styled as a traditional Yorkshire pub.
Worth knowing: Dogs in the Captain's Quarters rooms only, not the main hotel.
Getting there: At the top of the bank, so the Robin Hood's Bay pub you can park near and the one that spares you the climb back up.
Robin Hood's Bay · Coast
The Bay Hotel
- View
- Food
- Rooms
The pub at the end of Wainwright's Coast to Coast, with Wainwright's Bar named for him, standing on the dock where three national trails meet.
Worth knowing: Wainwright's Bar is seasonal.
Getting there: On the dock itself at the bottom of the bank, with no vehicle access. Everyone walks down. The seaward frontage takes spray and can be cut off in a surge.
Robin Hood's Bay · Coast
The Grosvenor Hotel
- Food
- Rooms
A family-run public bar with rooms, established in the late 1890s and positioned as a walkers' base for the Cleveland Way and Coast to Coast.
Getting there: No on-site parking, but the Station Road car park is directly opposite, which makes it the practical first or last pub of a Bay visit.
Rosedale Abbey · High moors
The Coach House Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Dogs
- Real ale
A country inn converted from stables, a garage and a petrol station in the 1970s, and by its own account the one pub in Rosedale without rooms, which makes it the village's drinking pub rather than a hotel bar.
Worth knowing: Food Monday to Saturday 12 to 2 and 5.30 to 8; Sunday 12 to 8.
Rosedale Abbey · High moors
White Horse Farm Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A 16th-century inn set on the hillside above Rosedale Abbey rather than in it, so the bar, terrace and many bedrooms look down over the village and out across the moors.
Worth knowing: Food from noon on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but only from 5pm on other days. Breakfast is not included in the room rate and must be pre-booked. They run a motorhome stopover scheme.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Runswick Bay · Coast
Runswick Bay Hotel
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
An upper-village hotel whose own line is that every part of it is dog friendly, with a brown Labrador called Ted presented as the resident landlord.
Worth knowing: Winter hours vary.
Getting there: In the upper village, so you can park and walk in. The accessible choice for anyone who cannot manage the bank.
Runswick Bay · Coast
The Royal
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Dogs
- Real ale
A traditional pub whose beer garden looks out over Runswick Bay, with changing local ales and a private dining room sharing the same view.
Worth knowing: Winter hours vary. Families welcome until 9pm.
Getting there: The lower village has effectively no visitor parking; the car park is at the top and the bank down is severe.
Ruswarp · Coast
The Bridge Inn
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Dogs
A traditional village pub by the bridge on the Esk just upriver from Whitby, with homemade pies the speciality and its own dog account.
Worth knowing: Reachable on foot or by bike from Whitby along the Esk or the old railway path.
Sandsend · Coast
The Hart Inn
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Dogs
- Real ale
A friendly pub and restaurant on the sea front, yards from the beach at the Whitby end of the village.
Worth knowing: Sunday 11am to 5.30pm only, which is unusually early. Sandsend parking is roadside along the sea wall and fills by mid-morning in summer.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Scalby · Coast
The Nags Head
- Food
A community local with a large beer garden and marquee, serving food from a converted horsebox rather than a kitchen, with a Saturday afternoon folk session.
Worth knowing: The food is street food from the horsebox with variable hours, not a substitute for a kitchen.
Scalby · Coast
The Plough
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A food-led inn with eight en-suite rooms, cooking on local and regional Yorkshire produce.
Worth knowing: Opens at 3pm Monday to Saturday with food from 5pm, so not a lunchtime pub except on Sundays.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Sleights · Coast
The Salmon Leap Hotel
- View
- Food
- Rooms
A hotel about three miles from Whitby whose rear beer garden looks onto the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line, so steam trains pass in summer.
Worth knowing: Accommodation-led, and their own site says little about the bar. With the Plough closed, it is currently the only pub in Sleights.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Snainton · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Coachman Coaching Inn & Restaurant
- Food
- Rooms
A 1776 coaching inn on the old Pickering to Scarborough road, run as a small restaurant with five rooms and a function room.
Worth knowing: Their own site publishes no opening hours at all, so ring before travelling.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Staithes · Coast
The Cod and Lobster
- View
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A pub standing on the seawall itself, with windows over the bobbing boats; their own site records the 1953 storm that washed the front of the building away.
Getting there: No vehicle access. Cars go in the clifftop car park on Staithes Lane and you walk down a very steep bank. Expect it shuttered in an easterly gale.
Staithes · Coast
The Royal George Hotel
- Food
- Rooms
- Real ale
A plain, proper village pub with B&B rooms a hundred yards from the sea, doing local crab sandwiches, steak and ale pie and fish and chips.
Getting there: Same steep-bank access as the Cod and Lobster.
Swainby · Western moors
The Black Horse
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Real ale
A village local on Swainby's beck-side High Street that leans on cask beer and a big beer garden, and makes a point of its Sunday lunches.
Worth knowing: Closed Mondays, and no food Monday or Tuesday, which matters for walkers coming off the Cleveland Way at Scugdale. Opens 5pm Tuesday to Thursday.
Thornton-le-Dale · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Buck
- Food
- Dogs
A village pub reopened in 2026 after a major refurbishment that kept the fireplaces and original features, with a walled beer garden and its own outdoor bar.
Worth knowing: Reopened during 2026; its own site gives no reopening date, so hours are worth confirming.
Whitby · Coast
Duke of York
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
An inn at the foot of the 199 steps whose upper windows look across the harbour mouth; the pub you fall into on the way down from the Abbey.
Whitby · Coast
Station Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A live music and cask pub across from the harbour with five en-suite rooms, known locally for its cask ales.
Worth knowing: This was the old Tap and Spile. Dogs throughout the bar, but not for overnight guests.
Whitby · Coast
The Angel Hotel
- View
- Food
- Rooms
Whitby's Wetherspoon, on the harbour side by the swing bridge, with two front balcony rooms looking straight over the water; commercial use of the site is traced back to at least 1795.
Worth knowing: The easiest pub in Whitby to reach from the station and bus station with luggage.
Whitby · Coast
The Black Horse
- Food
- Real ale
A historic Church Street pub in the old town, known for well-kept cask and 'Yorkshire tapas'.
Getting there: Church Street is pedestrianised with no parking; park in Whitby and walk.
YO22 4BHDirections →Whitby · Coast
The Endeavour
- View
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A small drinkers' pub on Church Street named for Cook's ship, with a monthly Irish folk session their own site says has run over twenty-five years.
Worth knowing: No real kitchen. They invite you to bring in fish and chips and buy a ploughman's or cheeseboard.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Whitby · Coast
The Green Dragon Ale House
- Real ale
An unapologetically beer-first ale house with a bottle shop and ticketed tastings rather than a food operation.
Worth knowing: The strongest specialist beer destination in the town, but no food at all.
Whitby · Coast
The Pier Inn
- View
- Food
- Rooms
- Dogs
- Real ale
A Pier Road pub whose balcony hangs directly over the harbour, one of the few places in Whitby to drink outdoors above the fishing boats, with ten en-suite rooms.
Whitby · Coast
Whitby Brewery
- Food
- Real ale
A working brewery taproom in the Abbey grounds at the top of the 199 steps, brewing since 2013, doing pizza until it sells out and gigs in the brewery.
Worth knowing: A taproom rather than a pub. Getting there means the 199 steps or the Abbey car park, which closes in the evening, so the walk back down in the dark catches people out.
Whitby · Coast
White Horse & Griffin
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Rooms
A restaurant with rooms in one of the oldest buildings on the east side: Cook and the whaling captain William Scoresby recruited crews here, and the first Whitby to London stagecoach left from the inn in 1788.
Worth knowing: More dining room than bar.
Check before travelling: the pub's own site had no recent dated information when checked in September 2026.
Wrelton · Southern moors & Ryedale
The Buck Inn at Wrelton
- Food
- Sunday lunch
- Real ale
A small village pub two miles from Pickering, pitching quality pub food built on Yorkshire ingredients alongside local cask ales.
Worth knowing: Closed Monday and Tuesday all year; open Wednesday evenings only from March to November; Sunday closes at 5pm from January to March. Sunday roasts run from noon until they are gone.
Pubs that have closed (9)
These are listed so nobody drives to a pub that is no longer there, as stale listings for some of them are still online.
- Milburn Arms, Rosedale Abbey. Established 1776, last traded in 2017 and now awaits a new future. Booking sites still advertise it with current prices; they are stale listings.
- Blacksmiths Arms, Hartoft. Semi-derelict and on the market for lease.
- The Stiddy, Lythe. The owners are seeking a new tenant and the property is vacant, so Lythe currently has no trading pub.
- Royal Oak, Nunnington. Closed December 2017 and converted to a dwelling, so Nunnington has no pub.
- Malt Shovel, Oswaldkirk. Closed since 2017, so Oswaldkirk has no trading pub.
- The Plough Inn, Sleights. Sold and reported as set to reopen in 2027. Not trading now.
- Black Lion Hotel, Staithes. Closed permanently in 2012.
- The Whitestonecliffe Inn, Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe. Closed long term since 2020. The obvious A170 stop below Sutton Bank, so visitors still look for it.
- Blacksmiths Arms, Aislaby. Long closed and converted to a private house.
The Feversham Arms, Farndale
The inn keeps severely reduced hours, so ring before setting out. It also offers a pick-up and return service for walkers, including from the Coast to Coast at Blakey Ridge.
The coast: fish, chips and seafood
The coast is the larder for seafood. Whitby is the heart of it, home to the celebrated Magpie Café overlooking the harbour and a handful of long-running, family-run fish restaurants, plus fresh crab and lobster straight off the boats. Fortune's is a family smokehouse that's been curing Whitby kippers since 1872. Up the coast, the fishing village of Staithes serves its catch almost within sight of the harbour. Eat your fish and chips on the harbour wall at least once, more on the shoreline in our guide to the coast.
Market-town food: Helmsley and beyond
Helmsley has a real reputation as a foodie market town, independent bakers and delis, the Vine House Café in the beautiful Helmsley Walled Garden, and its own small brewery, with a busy market on Fridays. The other market towns are well worth grazing too: Pickering and Kirkbymoorside have good independent bakers, butchers and cafés, and a wander round any of them turns up something worth carrying home.
Farm shops and local produce
Farm shops sell local produce; places like Beadlam Grange near Helmsley pair a butchery and deli with a café, and shelves across the region carry Yorkshire staples: rare-breed and moor-reared meat, moorland game in season, Yorkshire cheeses and rapeseed oil, and local preserves. Pick up a picnic and you've the makings of a proper day out.
Tea rooms and cake
Yorkshire takes its tea and cake seriously, and the moors are full of proper tea rooms, scones, home baking and a pot of Yorkshire tea after a walk. Whitby's Botham's has been baking to Victorian family recipes for well over a century, and there are lovely tea gardens tucked away in the countryside, like the one by the waterfall at Falling Foss. Check opening times before making a special journey.
Real ale and breweries
The area brews and distils a great deal of its own. Helmsley Brewing Co in Helmsley, the Great Yorkshire Brewery behind the New Inn at Cropton, Ryedale Brewing at Sinnington, Brass Castle at Malton, North Riding at Scarborough and Whitby Brewery out at the abbey, along with the monks' celebrated cider at Ampleforth Abbey and Whitby Gin, made in the shadow of the abbey. Two pubs brew on site, the New Inn at Cropton and the Helmsley Brewing tap, so you can drink the beer where it is made. Many offer tours or a taproom, check their own sites for times.
Where a pub is recognised by CAMRA we say so, with the year, because the Good Beer Guide is reassessed annually and certifies one thing: cask ale kept well. According to CAMRA, the Black Horse on Whitby's Church Street has been in the Good Beer Guide every year since 2007; the Sun Inn at Pickering has twice been the local branch's Rural Pub of the Year (2017 and 2019); and the New Inn (Cropton), the Helmsley Brewing tap and the Grapes Inn at Slingsby were Good Beer Guide 2023 entries. The Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole is rarer still, on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, and a former Pub of the Year, a tiny, unaltered two-bar gem on the Goathland to Grosmont rail trail. Always check the current Good Beer Guide (WhatPub is free) before making a special trip.
For pubs with accommodation, see the guide to pubs with rooms, so you can drive out, stay over and drive home unhurried the next day. In Plan My Day you can filter for real-ale pubs and build a day around a good pub, a walk and somewhere to look at. What is on cask, and what is on the wine list, changes week to week, so treat the specifics as a starting point and confirm with the pub.
For a special occasion
The Moors and their fringes also hide some serious kitchens, the area around Harome, Oldstead and Ampleforth has gathered a cluster of celebrated, even Michelin-recognised, dining pubs and inns making the most of the local larder. Worth booking well ahead if you're marking an occasion.
A few practical notes
Country pubs and tea rooms often keep seasonal hours and many require booking for food, particularly on weekends and over winter, so it's always worth checking ahead or calling to reserve a table. For harvest-season eating and drinking, see the North York Moors in autumn, for the practicalities see plan your visit, and for a base see where to stay.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the highest pub in the North York Moors?
- The Lion Inn on Blakey Ridge, a 16th-century free house standing at one of the highest points on the moors.
- Are North York Moors pubs dog friendly?
- 35 pubs in the guide record dogs as welcome. Dining areas and bedroom policies vary, so check the recorded restrictions and confirm before travelling.
- Do you need to book a table in moors pubs?
- Often, yes. Remote inns and Sunday lunch fill up, and country pubs keep seasonal hours. It is always worth checking ahead or calling to reserve a table.
- Where should I eat fish and chips in the North York Moors?
- On the coast, Whitby is the heart of it, with long-running family-run fish restaurants and fresh crab and lobster straight off the boats. Eat them on the harbour wall at least once.
- Which North York Moors pubs are in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide?
- Recent entries include the Black Horse in Whitby (every year since 2007), and the New Inn at Cropton, the Helmsley Brewing tap and the Grapes Inn at Slingsby (Good Beer Guide 2023). Check the current guide on WhatPub, as entries are reassessed each year.
- Which pubs brew their own beer?
- The New Inn at Cropton (Great Yorkshire Brewery) and the Helmsley Brewing Co tap both brew on site; several other local breweries supply pubs across the area.
- What's the most characterful pub for real ale?
- The Birch Hall Inn at Beck Hole: a tiny, unaltered two-bar pub on CAMRA's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, on the walk between Goathland and Grosmont.
- How many pubs are there in the North York Moors?
- This guide lists 67 trading pubs and inns across the high moors, the southern moors and Ryedale, the coast and the western escarpment, each checked against the pub's own website, along with 9 that have closed. Use the pub finder on this page to filter them by area, food, rooms, dogs, a view or real ale.
Stay within walking distance of a good pub
Base yourself in the villages and the inn becomes part of the holiday.
Browse places to stay